Did You Know?

 Did you know that you can smell corn in bloom?

I'm guessing probably not.  As, well, corn is a vegetable, we don't think of it as having flowers, and you have to be near a big field of it at just the right time to pick up any aroma at all.

Several years ago, in late July, I noticed a really lovely flowery smell one evening as I was driving home from the horse farm I was boarding at at the time.  I can't really describe it, exactly, but if I say kind of like the sort of smell that lilacs have, or hyacinth, hopefully you'll get an idea.

It took me a few days, and a few more exposures in the evening as the sun was going down and the night air is coming in, to figure it out.  The corn was fully tasseled, and the delightful smell was coming from the cornfield!

Now I look forward to that smell every summer; I eagerly await the night that the corn first smells like the best floral perfume you've ever experienced.  This week, that night happened.  And for the last several days, when I go out in the evening to shut chickens in their coop for the night,  I take big breaths and savor the smell of the corn in bloom.

We Went to a Show (and Didn't Die!!)

Camaro and I went to a show last month.  Our first as a team, my first in 30 years, and his first in several years.  Also, his first as a dressage horse and my second dressage test ever.

We were supposed to ride one test (Intro A) on Saturday, and one test (Intro B) on Sunday.  Except about two hours before our ride time on Saturday, the heavens opened and it poured.  And poured.  And poured.  The dressage arena flooded.  I watched horses and riders that were much more seasoned than Camaro and I slip in the saturated footing while riding their tests.  And I decided that I really didn't want to die that day.  No way were Camaro and I going splashing and sliding around to perform our very first test. He was all ready pretty wired, and I had a wonky left knee giving me pain.

At first, I thought I would scratch Intro A.  But then a friend suggested that I see if I could reschedule my ride from Saturday afternoon to sometime on Sunday.  That would mean seeing if there were still slots available for Sunday, and if so, riding two tests in one day.

So many people scratched on Saturday afternoon and just hauled their horses home that I was able to reschedule my Intro A ride to Sunday morning.  There was a slot available an hour after my Intro B ride time.  Which is how we rode the harder Intro B as our debut test (which Camaro was waaayyy better than I could have hoped) and Intro A as our second test (in which Camaro was about as distracted as I'd feared he would be).

Oh, and Sunday was a beautiful day weather-wise, as you can see by our picture below.  And the dressage arena had mostly dried up, with only a few wet spots to splash through.

 

As I said, Intro B went well.  Intro A, however, was a challenge.  The judge was kind, and gave me a pointer after the final salute in Intro A.  She pointed out to me that I had fallen into one of my old nemeses in riding: burying my hands (see in above picture).  Ugh!  As soon as I repaired my position, Camaro rounded nicely through his back and onto the bit.  And with that correct connection, his brain was less distractable by the things around us.

Camaro sporting his home permanent forelock once I took out his braids.

We had to wait until the end of the show on Sunday to see our test sheets and find out how we'd scored. Once the final rider had finished the final test, and scores compared in the show office, the test sheets were available for pick up.  And I was honestly amazed at what marks Camaro and I had received.  To read the tests, with the scores for each movement and the judge's comments was really great.  Really affirming that I do, actually, know what I'm doing and my horse is capable of his new career.  

We scored mostly 7's and 7.5's.  Honestly, I'd been hoping we'd at least get a 5 on everything.  I dreaded anything less than a 5, and was quite happy to see our lowest score was a 6, on our rough Intro A ride.  We totaled a 70.94% on Intro A, coming in 3rd in that class, and a 72.19% on our nicer Intro B ride earning 4th in that one.  Oh my goodness, I hadn't counted on taking home ribbons!! 

                                                                                        

                 

What have we been up to since our show?  Well, earning scores in the 70's on our dressage debut tells me that we can't keep showing the easy walk-trot Intro A and B tests.  That we really should be upping our game and cantering.  There is another show in September that I would like to go to, and my goal is to show Intro C, which has cantering in it. Maybe even going out at Training Level too.

I've bitten the bullet, and since the beginning of July, Camaro and I have been cantering.  Some days he's really balanced and relaxed in his departs, and some days he kinda falls apart and stresses to the right.  But he always nails the correct lead, and his balanced canter is beautiful, smooth, and I'm really looking forward to developing it further.

The picture I sent my barn owner/friend the first day we cantered.

I'd told her to hold me accountable and ask me at the end of July how many times I've cantered him.

She offered to print out a calendar page for July and tape it above my saddle rack for me to put stars on for each day we canter.

Where Have I Been?

 I just realized it has been an entire month since I posted here.  Oops.  Certainly not what I intended.

Where have I been?

Well. . . 

. . . I've been to a horse show, but I'm going to post about that next week in the upcoming horse-related update.

. . . I've been in the garden a lot, and have no photos to show for it, but trust me, it's looking great. We've eaten asparagus, radishes, and the first green beans so far. Peas were late, but should be coming on soon.  Harvested a handful of hot peppers yesterday, and the first zucchini is plumping up in today's rain.

. . . I've been knitting very little, and obviously didn't post a knitting update for July.  I finished Toad's hiking socks, and started on the second Christmas stocking (of the 3 I need to make by December)

. . . I've been sewing a bit, but didn't quite get my Fourth of July banner finished an hung in time for the holiday.  It still needs the hanging tabs sewn on. I also didn't post a sewing update this week because, well, busy.

. . . I've been strawberry picking,

and mulberry picking--using the tractor to lift Toad and K3 high into the tree--and making mulberry muffins and mulberry pancakes.

. . . I've been selling hay off the wagon (90 bales) and putting about 125 more into the hay loft. First cutting yields are way down all over this year.  We've had a lot of rain since the fields were cut, so hoping second cutting will be a bumper crop.

. . . I've been to my parents' house to load and haul home some box elder trees they had cut down (that I used to climb as a girl and sit way up in the top of, reading a book while swaying in the breeze.)

. . . I've been raising some broiler chicks, and took them to the same Amish processor that I used last year.  Another batch of meat chicks are due to arrive at this little place here next week.

. . . I've been in the chicken coop, taking care of my hens, and letting one try to hatch a few eggs of her own. (Mainly because she is aggressively broody and I got tired of her pecking my hands every day when I gathered eggs).

. . . I've been driving the trusty rusty Suburban to over 278,000 miles--only 22k to go until I hit my goal!

. . . I've been hanging out a little with Rascal, the busy, curious 2 year old;

and a little with Faline, who is crawling and pulling herself up and beginning to furniture walk (and just turned 8 months this week);

and with K3 and Toad, whom DH and I took on a vacation to Colorado this month (and why I didn't post a knitting or sewing update).  That trip will definitely get it's own picture-heavy post.

In short, I've been really busy!

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.