Owner: One Room Note House URL:http://notehouse.blogspot.com Join Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:43:49 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Adventures in Arizona, Alaska, New York, and Virginia Site statistics:Click here
On the Other Hand 2007-06-07 17:05:00 I took my car to my dad to get my oil changed and the lug nuts loosened (Dad said it must have been a baboon that put my car back together because I couldn't get the oil cap off either). He sent me to the NAPA down the road to get some oil, a filter, and some Seafoam and since my car was on the lift so he could start draining out the oil, I had to take his car. Well, my car's a manual and I've had it for working on three months. During that time, I've not had much time behind the wheel of automatics. So I got in the car and the first thing I do is fumble around for the clutch. And then I remember it's not there. Then, I look near the floor to put the car in reverse, but his car is one of the ones that has it on the steering column. I got to the stop sign at the end of the road and I was looking for the clutch and gear shifter again. And driving the Lumina (Dad's car) was really boring. The acceleration just isn't there like it is in my car. *grin* I know, it's bad. Y
Learning a Manual 2007-06-06 14:46:00 Looks pretty big, huh? That's where Tony started teaching me how to drive his car (a manual). The only problem is, when you're learning how to drive a manual, that space gets eaten up really quickly. He probably looked at it and thought, "That's really big. Good enough for now." Once we started driving it, I thought, "I wish we'd gone somewhere bigger!"Sorry it's short. It's another long day at work. I'm about to head back to work to finish up for the day.P.S. Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad. Read more:Learning
One Smart Cookie 2007-06-11 13:56:00 Horses are smart. I know, you probably already know that. Sometimes, it's irritating how smart they can be. Bam and Dakini get put in the Far Field at night and in the morning, I go to get them. Patience told me that I could just open the gate from the Far Field to the Big Field and they would wander to the gate of the Big Field and it'd be that much easier to get them to the barn. Well, I tried it twice now and both times it failed to save me any time (she's all about efficiency). Both mornings Dakini has been harder to catch, but not impossible. Last time, it took a while, but I finally managed to catch Bam. This morning, when I tried again, it was like trying to catch a horse on the ranch, but he was much more determined that I not catch him and he had a lot more space to run. I tried running him between one of the double fences, but that didn't work. I tried working him like a horse works a cow, but that didn't work either. Finally, I went to Patience and told he wh Read more:Smart
, Cookie
Not Really New Trails 2007-06-10 06:56:00 Yesterday, Tony, David, and I went hiking. We tried to avoid the heat and humidity, but didn't succeed as well as we'd planned. When we got to the Ivy Creek Natural Area, we noticed they had a new topographical map, so we stopped to look. That's when we saw something we'd never noticed before: the blue and purple trails. We usually take the red trail, which is the main trail that is the bare-bones loop, but we'd decided today we were going to do something different, so we figured, why not this? The purple trail was disappointing in that it was like a walk around the field, but the blue trail led down by the water, which was nice. This picture is from the main part of the trail, but I have a picture from the blue trail here. Tony's not very cooperative when you try to take his picture, but I got a pretty decent one of him yesterday. I was really happy with the way it turned out. The pictures I took of him and David together were fuzzy, though, which was sad. It was a co
Notes on the Horses 2007-06-09 17:31:00 And now, the moment you've all been waiting for.... I now present to you, the horses of the barn at Keswick. Well, minus Perry and Dewey, of whom I have no pictures currently. Eventually I will and when I do, they'll be here. And now, without further ado, the horses!First is Dakini. She's referred to by everyone at the barn as "Princess." She's a seven year old mare who is owned by a friend of Patience's, but is at the barn to be trained. She's usually the first horse ridden in the morning as she's a challenging horse who needs more attention than most. What I appreciate most about her though, as I don't ride, are her incredible ground manners. She might not be perfect, but I have to lead her with another horse to and from the pastures as the other horse has eye problems and has always been jumpy anyway. I have yet to experience her misbehaving, even when I am at so vulnerable to her.I guess the next logical horse to introduce to you is Amethyst. Well, that's his who Read more:Notes
, Horses
Escapees 2007-06-14 14:41:00 Well, for the other excitement of the day, Dewey and Perry (the two I don't have pictures of yet) managed to leave the pasture last night and went for a stroll to the neighbors'. If it weren't so dangerous for the horses and hadn't worried Patience so much, I would have enjoyed going to get them a lot more. It was something out of the ordinary and it kept me busy for a while. For the story in whole:This morning when I got to the barn, the colts weren't anywhere in sight. I figured they were just doing one of their somewhat usual disappearing tricks and they'd appear with time. After I got Rion in, I went for a brief look, but didn't see them. Since I have to take Dakini and Bam through the Big Field, I was a little worried about the colts getting out when I took Dakini and Bam in, but since I didn't see the colts, I didn't figure there was a lot to worry about. I was right; the colts didn't come back and sneak through the gate. I was getting a little worried, but I th
Rain, Rain 2007-06-14 14:04:00 You know, if it weren't for the good the rain does, I'd wish it never rained here. Drivers here seem to let their brains turn to mush when it rains. You'd think when it rains, people would back off, but people seem to tailgate even more in the rain. That and pulling in front of people. No, it's not all a selfish rant, but it's really annoying.
Another Church 2007-06-13 19:26:00 Since nothing happened the other day, I'll put up the other picture from the day I was driving around and taking pictures (last Tuesday, I guess). This church is probably about 15 minutes from the barn. I was just driving around taking pictures when I saw this church. I didn't stop the first time I went by because I didn't see it until the last minute, but on my way back to work I stopped. There was someone moving stuff around outside, but it was like they didn't even see me. It was nice because I always feel self-conscious when I'm taking pictures and people are around. Anyway, I thought it was really nice, so I stopped to take a picture. Unfortunately, this is the best one I have. The light made the parts in the sun really bright, while the parts in the shade were really dark (in other pictures). Read more:Church
A New Pair of Headlights 2007-06-12 19:42:00 Monday, when I was driving to work, it was really foggy, so most people had their headlights on. About five minutes from work, one person flashed their lights at me, so I started looking for a policeman. When I didn't see one, I started to wonder. That curiosity only increased when at least two other people flashed their lights at me before I got to work. I could only think of one thing: my headlights. When I got to work, I looked, and sure enough, I was out a low-beam. This afternoon, after doing the afternoon chores, I went to AutoZone (I've seemed to have the best luck getting people to consider me a person there) and bought a pair of headlights. I've never replaced a set of any kind of headlights before and it was a lot easier and a lot harder than I expected.The easier part was that I didn't need any of my tools, except for some kind of pointy object to get under one of the covers on my engine. It also wasn't terribly difficult to get replace the bulbs. The hard part
Long Day and Friendly Gestures 2007-06-18 14:00:00 I got to work and about the time got halfway through bringing all the horses in for their breakfast, a big truck pulled into the driveway. At first I thought Anna had taken the farm truck home with her again for some reason over the weekend, but when I looked for it, it was where it belonged. That's when it dawned on me...the farrier was supposed to be there today. So things were a little different today. I washed more horses today than maybe ever in my life. Patience and Anna left the cleanup of the horses to me (which was fine with me) after they rode them. There were still two horses to do when I left at 1:45 this afternoon, but there wasn't anything for me to do, which is why I didn't stick around.When I left the barn, I decided to take 64, since I was going to stop for a minute at my house to pick up some stuff up. This church is at a "T" intersection and I have to take a left from the straight road onto the intersecting road. Anyway, I took my left and saw a truck in t Read more:Friendly
, Gestures
Random 2007-06-16 12:42:00 Tony went home for Father's Day. I'm sitting in his house listening to various songs on my computer and I really want to do is write. The only problem is, I don't know what to write about. I have a project that I could work on (writing related), but I don't really know how to do it. I'm supposed to be writing reviews of websites and then asking the webmasters of the websites I review to link back to the parent page. The only thing is, I don't like the first review I wrote and that's kind of keeping me from doing anything else on it. I guess I really should just get over it and work to make this next one even better. But the webmasters that come and look, are they going to look at other reviews and see how much better I did reviewing this one site than some other one and decide that I didn't do a good enough job of promoting their site and decide not to link back? Or even if they do link back, the idea that someone might be upset because I didn't write as well for their Read more:Random
Movies (Make Sure You Read the Warning) 2007-06-16 10:05:00 Warning: If you've not seen Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer OR Pirates of the Caribbean: At the World's End and plan to do so, you don't want to read this post.Tony, David, and I went to see the new Fantastic Four movie last night. Not a movie I would recommend. It was so boring I could have walked out of the theater and not cared that I was missing the ending. If you know me, you know I have to know what happens at the end. I read the ends of books first, usually. Not only that, but when the girl died, I didn't care. I mean, you figure the main character can't die or else he'll be brought back to life somehow, but I couldn't have cared less if they'd left the lady dead. I know that's mean of me, but the movie was that boring.The third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, on the other hand, was really good. I liked it a lot. I think one of the things I really liked about it was the way all the questions weren't answered in the end. It was rather unsatisfactory
Broken Computers 2007-06-21 15:32:00 Last night, Tony decided my computer was broken (I've figured that was the case since Safari broke, but didn't figure it was a big deal, since I have two other browsers that I use) and so he started booting it in target disk mode (or trying) and lots of other stuff that didn't work. He said he worked on it some more this morning, but it's not taking input from the keyboard. Don't know what's wrong with it, but he said we may have to send it to Apple (applause for AppleCare goes here). In the meantime, I've got Tony's desktop, which is going to be useful, I think. There is also the IBM I loaned to my sister, but she bought a new computer, so maybe I can get that back from her and use that until my MacBook gets fixed. I miss it already. Read more:Broken
Riding 2007-06-20 17:04:00 I talked to Patience today and asked if the offer she made when she first hired me of riding time was still open. She said it was and asked if I'd like to ride. I said yes and she asked if I had any pants to ride in. I told her I only had my jeans and she said we'd have to see if there were some britches I could wear in all the people at the barn because my jeans would rub. So, I guess I'll be learning dressage now. I'll be one of those people who knows a little of a lot of things, but not a lot of anything. I guess knowing a little of a lot of things will let me pick something I like with a lot of information. Whatever the case may be, I'm looking forward to learning, but I'm a little nervous. The things I hear from the ring are things I don't know how to do ("push him forward a little on the hind," "feel his back loosen up," etc.). Patience is really good at making someone feel good about themselves, though. She keeps on telling me how happy she is with the way I'm Read more:Riding
Edit Broken Computer 2007-06-25 13:19:00 I didn't actually end up sending my computer back to Apple, as it wasn't a hardware problem. I don't know what I did, but apparently, I broke my computer. Hope it doesn't happen again. The strange thing is, David's is broken right now too. But it's looking like his is going to have to go back to Apple. Read more:Broken
, Computer
Outdoor Websites 2007-06-25 13:09:00 I'm working on a project over at the Blue Ridge Outdoors Campground that involves reviewing outdoor websites (especially those that focus on the Blue Ridge Area). I don't really look at outdoorsy websites, mostly because when I want to know something about being outside, I go outside. Anyway, my question is, does anyone know of a good outdoorsy website? Read more:Websites
Olympic Vet 2007-06-29 14:18:00 When Patience told me the vet that works with the horses that compete in the Olympic
s was coming, I didn't really know what to expect. She said he was a busy man and that pretty much everything gets dropped to do what needs to be done for him so he can go on his way. When he arrived 30 minutes early and nothing was ready, I think people kind of panicked, but better than that, I think we did a decent job of collecting all the horses we needed (they all were out since they were kept in last night because of the threat of storms) and getting them ready.For a while, he was just a face and a name with an impressive title. I didn't really do much to help them because there were already three people there other than the vet. At any rate, I was hauling (in a wheelbarrow) some sawdust/shavings/whatever horse people want to call the stuff into one of the stalls. The pile of shavings are outside the barn and the bump to get into the barn is pretty impressive. Usually, we put down a board
Summer Plans 2007-06-28 15:36:00 Looks like I'll get to go back to Arizona this summer. Not for two months, like the last couple of years, but a week. A week isn't really a long time to be out there, but that's all the time Tony can take off and that's all the time I'm willing to take off. More time than I can afford to take off, but it's the ranch, after all! I'm so excited.In the nearer future (as in next week) Tony, David, and I are going up to the National Cathedral for the fireworks show (I think). It took some work getting all the replacement people (people to fill in for me while I'm gone), but I'm going and I'm looking forward to it. I think I'll be hiding my ears in my hands (I don't like loud noises), but the lights will be, as one of my friends from school says "pwetty." Read more:Summer
Rion's Dilemma 2007-06-27 19:43:00 Today was just another Wednesday until I went back to work for my afternoon "shift." I was getting ready to put Rion out, but I noticed he had a really hard time walking as his left hind leg was stuck out behind him. I called up to Patience and she came down to take a look. Fortunately, she knew right away what the problem was: his patella was sticking. I don't really know what that means, but I think it's something kind of like your kneecap getting stuck so you can't move your leg. Anyway, she called the vet, who said to give him two grams of bute, keep him in overnight, and call again in the morning to schedule an appointment since it wasn't technically an emergency. It was really pitiful watching him hobble around, but Patience said it'd happened before and he seemed alright until this afternoon, so I guess we'll see what happens. Perry and Dewey didn't seem to mind too much that they were missing their pasture-mate. I suppose that's not really surprising, as they go
Smelling Fly Spray 2007-06-26 17:23:00 Patience tries to control the flies in the barn with a timed-release fly spray. There are little boxes you put a can of fly spray in and every 15 minutes, somehow, the thing knows to spray the can and it puts out fly spray. You only have to replace the cans every 4 weeks. For the last three weeks, I thought this was great. It's hands-off fly control. At least, that's what I thought. The last couple of days, however, I've been learning the cons that come with such luxury. The smell gets all over and it's all you can smell for quite some time. Only today did it really start to bother me.Fairly late in the afternoon, I went to the tack room to get a drink from my water bottle, but when I put it to my lips, all I could smell was fly spray. At that point, I thought the fly spray had somehow wormed its way into my water bottle, so I decided I wasn't going to drink anymore. It was near the end of the day and I figured it wouldn't be too bad. After the morning was over (I had Read more:Spray
Three Weeks of Testing 2007-07-06 18:45:00 Patience is leaving tomorrow for a trip to California with her husband. For three weeks, Anna and I are going to be taking care of the barn ourselves and for a couple days I'm going to be taking care of the barn pretty much alone (Tanya and Tristan will be available on their phones if I need something), as Anna will be moving to New York City a couple of days before Patience gets back. I'm looking forward to the challenge, and it sounds like while Patience is gone, I might get more riding time. That would be exciting.The first week is going to be the hardest, though, because Tony is going to the beach with his family this week. Since he's the cook in the house, I'm going to have to try to keep track of everything at work and make dinners.It's looking like the next couple of weeks are going to be an adventure. Sure am looking forward to it. Read more:Three
, Weeks
, Testing
, Three Weeks
So Young 2007-07-05 20:46:00 This evening, I was at Tony's house for dinner and some guy knocked on the door. He wasn't dressed for company and told me to answer the door while he put on a nicer shirt, so I went to the door, opened it, and said, "Hi." The guy who was on the other side of the door asked, "Are your parents home?" I wasn't quite sure what to say (I don't live with my parents anymore, even if I were at home), so I told him to hang on a second. I kind of shut the door in his face (I wasn't sure what to do with it at that point) and went for Tony, who did the rest of the talking. I was kind of surprised that he assumed I was living with my parents. The worst thing, though, was that I didn't know what to say or do twice. Of course, I feel that way a lot in social situations.
July Fourth Festivities 2007-07-05 05:50:00 Tony, David, and I went to their parents' house to celebrate the Fourth of July. At first, we were planning to go to the National Cathedral and watch the fireworks in D.C., but when Mrs. Aiello heard that it was supposed to storm, she decided (and we all agreed) that it would be nicer to stay at their house and just do things in their yard and completely miss the fireworks. They had boules and croquet set up and since there were 10 people there, it was a good thing there was a variety. I realize people like to sit around and talk, but sometimes people want to do things.Oh, I guess I didn't explain how 10 people could come of five, did I? Well, I guess that's become my job. Tony's parents and the three of us (obviously). Then, right before Tony, David, and I went to pick up their grandmother, some friends of their parents drove up - a family of four. So counting the three of us, the Aiellos, the family of four, and Mrs. Aiello (Tony and David's grandmother), there were 10.Ba
Riding the Silly Horse 2007-07-03 18:59:00 Today I stayed at work pretty late because I was going to watch Anna ride Moo. Patience was working on the tractor and she'd said something about teaching me to drive the tractor. So once she got the piece of equipment moved, she told me about driving the tractor and had me move it around a little. Once I got done with that, she said that since Anna likely wouldn't wear Moo out, I could ride a little as long as I had my britches and helmet. When I said I had both, she sent me to get them and put my britches on. I got back to the ring and watched Anna ride for a little while before she got off and Patience told Anna that she was in charge of my riding for the day and that she would watch.Anna explained that really good dressage riders ride with really long stirrups, but that people generally start out with shorter ones. Then she sent me off so she and Patience could watch and see what there was to see. It was interesting because Patience could tell that I am left-handed because Read more:Riding
, Silly
, Horse
Long Hikes Turn into Long Days 2007-07-02 16:38:00 Tony, David, and I went for a hike on the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday afternoon. We planned one (kind of), but missed the parking area and had to drive for a couple of miles before finding a place to turn around. By that time, we decided we would just hike what looked like a fire road instead. It ended up being quite an adventure. We walked for a while and were passed by some mountain bikers, but a little farther up the road, we caught up to them again (they were taking a break) and asked what they knew about the road. They said they didn't know much about it, but that the path they were stopped next to went down to Lake Sherando. Tony thought it might be fun, so we started off.The first sign we saw said it was four miles to Lake Sherando, so we started considering how long we would be walking. If it was four miles to Lake Sherando, we still had to walk along the Parkway back to the car. Quite a bit later, we came to an intersection that was marked. It said we'd come only a
Summer Storms 2007-07-10 13:12:00 Ok, I guess there can be storms of heat, which we've definitely had the last several days. But what I'm talking about is the kind of storm that you get in the middle of a summer day. Kind of intense, but doesn't usually last very long. Today's was more than kind of intense. It was intense. Back to the beginning, I guess, huh?Anna and I were just finishing up the day at work when we saw some thunderheads had formed. I figured, "No big deal, just a summer storm." Boy was I wrong. I decided to take the interstate because that doesn't go through Pantops and I just didn't feel like dealing with it today. By the time I got to the interstate, it was raining pretty hard and I was wondering if I shouldn't just take 250. It led to Pantops, but I wouldn't be on the interstate in all the rain.I made the mistake of choosing to stick with my first choice (enough choices for you?) and take the interstate. It was the longest five miles I remember from Keswick to Pantops. We were dr Read more:Summer
, Storms
It's Been Hot 2007-07-09 16:43:00 It's been really muggy here the last few days. Last night, I went to Aunt Denise's house (she invited me for dinner) and we ate outside. It was nice other than how hot and humid it was. Aunt Denise's friend Beth was there from Atlanta and had talked to her husband on the phone and he said it was cooler there than here. I guess I really ought not complain, considering the conditions in the West.Then, today, Anna was riding and I thought about asking if it was alright if I rode Moo, but when she made a comment about it being brutal outside (I was in the barn most of the day...even if it is open, it's shady), so I didn't. I guess I should have known it was so hot since as soon as I went out of the barn, sweat started pouring down my face. I figure I'll ask earlier tomorrow since it's not supposed to be much cooler. I'll do my work after I ride some...as long as Tanya doesn't ride.
Hike Pictures 2007-07-08 06:44:00 Like I promised, a picture from the hike Tony, David, and I took on Sunday, July 1, 2007. This is some random pole in the middle of the woods. There aren't power lines or anything attached. Didn't make sense to any of us, but there was some buzzing noise that was like a really loud mosquito, so we decided it was time to leave. Tony wanted to go before I got the picture, but I really wanted it, so I took it. Read more:Pictures
So Irritating 2007-07-07 09:30:00 I don't have any number of free text messages on my phone. I've gotten a couple of text messages from people who don't know this (one of my friends from school sent me one at Christmas) and that's fine. I'm willing to put a little change from my pocket to hear from people I care about. That's one thing. But yesterday, I got a spam text message. So, not thinking, I deleted it. Immediately, I regretted it. I called Verizon to see if they could do anything about it, but they said I was going to have to pay for it. I have to pay money to read ads??!! It's ridiculous. If I'd not deleted it, I'd think about going to Richmond (since there's not a Verizon store closer) to get something done about it, but I guess it's too late now. Grr. Read more:Irritating
Lots of Work 2007-07-14 16:34:00 I'm not a very good housekeeper, so in all the time I've been at Tony's house, things that I should get done have been piling up. He's getting here in about an hour (or he said about an hour and a half about half an hour ago). I did all the dishes (except for one thing I used for lunch) and straightened his kitchen a little, but not much more than that. I need to go to the grocery store, and while I'm there I'm going to stop at the car store and get some Leather Therapy. Then, when I get back (or before I go), I need to weed some. And since Tony's coming home, you won't be seeing much of me for a while (like a couple of days). That brings up another project I've been putting off: the Blue Ridge Outdoors stuff. I've got to get something done for that today. So I guess I should go and stop procrastinating. *grin*
Recommend Site To A Friend
