Stepping Out, Horse Edition

 Camaro and I have been working a lot lately.  4-5 days every week, no matter the weather.  And we've had some really hot and oppressively humid weather.  But it's amazing how much you can accomplish just at the walk (hello bending, walk-halt transitions, leg yielding, perfecting the arc of 10m and 20m circles, square halts. . . )  Sessions don't have to necessarily be longer than 20-30 minutes to be productive. . .

We've worked outside more, both in the outdoor arena and just wandering the farm.  And I've been doing up his mane and forelock in braids and riding with those in place so that he gets used to them and they don't signify any reason to be tense.

Because. . . 

We're going to a show!!

It will be the second time in my life, and the first time in over 30 years, that I've shown dressage.  It will be Camaro's very first dressage test ever (fingers crossed he doesn't have issues with the little fencing/rows of white cones that will outline the arena; we only have a mish-mash of colors and sizes of cones taking up one side of our impromptu dressage arena in the indoor where I board).  Like me, he's shown before, but it's been at least 3 years, which is probably pretty equivalent in horse-years to my 30 year absence from showing.

I'm so excited!  And so nervous.  And apprehensive that my family (mostly DH) can handle me being unavailable to them for the 3 days Camaro will be at the showgrounds.  

We are riding Into A on Saturday, and Intro B on Sunday.  Just two tests.  One each day.  Both are walk and trot, no canter.  

I think we can handle that without getting overwhelmed.  I just pray he keeps consistent contact with the bit and doesn't revert to camel-mode with his nose horizontal to the ground.

He's definitely not as excited about his braids as I am.

Sewing Update, June

 This was almost titled I Didn't Sew A Thing.  Because until a few days ago, I hadn't touched my rotary cutter or my sewing machine since before the May update.  But, over the weekend, I decided I wanted to do a small project, something decorative, something in red, white, and blue.  So I found a pattern I thought would work, and picked my fabrics, and got my strips cut, and sewn.

And that's it, to this point.  My strips are sewn.  They still have to be cut to the correct lengths, and I have to cut out my background fabric yet, but at least I've started.

It was actually nice to sit down upstairs in the "sewing room" again.  It's been well over a year since I've sewn at the desk there, where I can look out over the garden via the window right behind where the sewing machine sits.  My last few projects were just too big (and the room too cluttered) to sew at the desk there.  Perhaps I should plan some smaller projects to work on this summer.  Maybe even on a weekly basis.  What a novel idea!

Some Pre-gardening Work

Earlier this Spring, DH and I did some work in and around the garden.  Some was in preparation for planting, other work was the type that either had to be done before the garden was planted or not until after everything is harvested this coming Fall.

Because it was a dry, but not consistently warm enough to plant Spring, I asked DH to turn the garden over with the 2-bottom plow we bought last fall.  It hadn't been deeply plowed since I carved it out of the main crop field (that we rent out to a local farmer) 18 years ago when we were finishing up construction on the house. Prior to purchasing the property and building our house, it all was crop field with the exception of the 10 acres of woods.

In the 18 years since designating the garden space, I added in literal tons of composted horse manure, changing the soil from extremely nutrient deficient dense clay to nice friable loose soil.  But, it had gradually developed a hardpan about 6" down due to tilling with the rototilller year after year.

I was hoping that by turning the garden with the plow, we could break up that hardpan.  And we did, but the clay that it brought up reminded me of how nasty the original garden soil was.  I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake. . . I guess we'll know by the end of this growing season if it was a good idea or not.  Meanwhile, I will be scouting a source for lots and lots of free composted manure this Fall.  LOL.

The plow that I failed to mention until today, was part of what we purchased from the estate sale of my friend and mentor who died last year.  We also bought her small set of discs (which we used in the garden after plowing and before tilling) and barely used brush hog.  Our own brush hog had rusted into Dangerous To Use condition (it was ancient) a few years ago, and DH is loving having a working brush hog again.  The perimeter path is once again mowed and walkable, hooray!  (For those who don't know, we've created and tried to maintain a path around the perimeter of our property.  The four sides add up to enough linear feet to make approximately one mile.)

The "new" brush hog

The other heavy-equipment related project at the garden was to add some very large rocks that DH was tired of mowing around (and also needing to weed whip around) from various points in the yard.  All of these rocks (as all of the rocks in our rock wall that separates the yard from the garden) had come from our property.  Some were excavated when digging the basement of the house pre-construction.  Some came from the hay field before we planted it in hay and the front and back yards before they became lawn.  Some came from various rock piles we found when cleaning up overgrown fencelines and along the road frontage.  

Anyway, DH decided he didn't want 'statement' rocks anymore, and we added them to the lowish part of the rock wall, moving them with the tractor one at a time and setting them in place.

We would like to move one more big rock, that marks the west end of the rock wall, as well as about a 6' section of the wall that proceeds eastward from that large rock.  Over the years they have become buried underneath the lower limbs of a now 25+ foot tall spruce tree that was just a wee seedling when we planted it 6 feet away from the wall 17 years ago.  But that will have to wait until Fall, or next Spring, since we ran out of non-gardening weather this Spring and now it's full on grow vegetable season!
 

Knitting Update, June

So much to do, so little time!  Here it is (a day past) time for a knitting update, and I don't think I've even touched my knitting needles in a week!  I have gotten the vast majority of the 1/4 acre garden planted though, so that counts for something, right?

Since the May knitting update, I finished my early spring shorty socks.  The picture doesn't do the yarn justice.  Think Crayola crayon green.  The green in the simple 8 pack of crayons, and that's the shade of these socks.  My favorite color.  

I love the color.  Love the pattern, even love the (new technique to me) short row heel--it was definitely smoother on the second sock than on the first.  What I don't love is that these are short shorty socks.  Barely covers what my tennis shoe touches.  Definitely shorter than what I like, even in an ankle sock.  In the future, I'll knit an extra inch or so before starting the heel compared to what the pattern calls for.

Next up on, and off, the needles, was a pair of  Have a Heart Valentine socks for K3.  You see, next month, DH and I are taking K3 and Toad on a vacation that will include lots of rugged terrain and hiking.  Since all she has is thin cutesy ankle socks, I decided to knit her a pair of nice wool hiking socks.  Not too tall though, just tall enough to work with shoes/boots that are tall enough to have ankle support.  Pattern was free, and yarn was 'free' too, being leftover sock yarn from past projects.  Bonus: the blue self-striping yarn is yarn that she'd admired when I was knitting with it last year, so I know she's going to love these socks.

Currently on the needles, and needing to be done before June is over, is a pair of hiking socks for Toad.  Can't very well give his sister special vacation socks and not have some for him too!  Plus, I doubt he has any good durable socks with cushion for hiking either.  Not really using a pattern for this one, just same stitch count as K3's, all in stockinette, and using some Opal yarn leftover from making socks for DS1 (their dad) several years ago.  So. . . more free socks!  

Sock #1 is nearly done, just have the toe decreases to go.  Sock #2 won't take long, once I actually sit down long enough to knit it.

 

I haven't been good with reading in the past month, either.  I did enjoy The Late Bloomer's Club, like I thought I would. I hope this author writes more books.  Other than that, I haven't finished, or even gotten halfway through another book.  Maybe because I have three going at once:

--given to me by Faline's other grandma when she was done reading it, and kept in my bag for reading while Faline napped: Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly.  I have to admit, I'm a little distracted by similarities in storyline to another mystery series I've read regarding a microbrewery. . .  hoping to stick it out and finish this book even though I'm done babysitting Faline for the summer.  But, no promises, as I've got more interesting reads going on.

--my read it slow and digest it horse book:  Four Legs Move My Soul by Isabell Werth and Evi Simeoni.

--from the library (actually had a request for last year, and was 2nd on the hold list when the book was purchased, then first person must not have returned it or something, because it was listed as due in January to person #1 with 5 more holds after that, then still on my hold list but not actually found in the library catalog for 4 months, then suddenly I got an email that it was available for pickup?!?): Horse Brain, Human Brain; the Neuroscience of Horsemanship by Janet Jones, PhD.  This has been my main reading focus for the past week since I received it from the library.  So far, a lot of the content I all ready knew, but there have been some interesting added details to a few things.  I'm going to read just this book for the next week in an attempt to finish it before it's due back at the library on the 10th.