Overwhelm

It’s been…a lot lately. The return to the workplace is making me realize a whole bunch of truths, namely that I need a big change and my sabbatical won’t be coming soon enough.

Just want nice sunny weather again- is that too much to ask?

Things only change if you change them.

Also, I hate working in the workplace and I find it very distracting. And the time? Oh lord. My time management has gone to hell and back, namely I spend all of it sitting at work and then rushing around at home trying to get all of my life stuff done, like my animals, showering, preparing lunches, etc. Fun times.

Oats had a difficult week last week- he was spooky as hell, seeing things in every single corner of the arena, slamming on the brakes, half rearing, etc. I know him well enough now that this behaviour is seasonal (unfortunately or fortunately…) and it too will pass, but damn, I just wanted a fun pony to ride? Likely there is a big tie-in to his disease and the medication, as this only became a bigger issue the past two years he was diagnosed. 😦 blows either way.

And then he was foot-perfect at my Thursday lesson! Such a lovely little dude, we jumped cross rails one-handed and had the funnest time, which was great b/c mentally I was NOT in a good place (thanks, work). And then I free longed him on Friday and he came up lame. GREEATTT

But no swelling, heat, etc so I chalked it up to stiffness, and his leasor longed him on Sunday and he looked fine. I rode him last night, and while he was still stiff and moving quite ‘flat’ going to the right, he did improve and worked out of it, leading me to believe that it is indeed stiffness?

His leasor is going to ride tonight.

I don’t think the weather has been helping though- it’s been miserable. Freezing cold, unseasonably cold, raining, snowing, wind at 100km/hr almost every day? WTF? Just such a shit spring. No day is a respite. Our allergies also went completely bananas, and poor Gidget had the worst weekend with her ‘reverse sneezing’- honking and gasping allllllll day and the nasal spray we use didn’t work 😦 WTF life. Thanks guys…

Just the usual spring- I hate everything- blahs…

Christmas part 2: Royston Xmas

I forgot to write about this AT Christmas, and I finally have a moment to do so. Over the holidays I took a big chunk of time off (had to for work basically) and at that time, I desperately needed it. Things got reeeallly rough in my horse life, personal life, and work life. It was very challenging.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I then headed off to Kelowna for a good old fashioned family Christmas, which went better than I could have hoped for! When I flew home, I had 1 night at home and then we were driving off for another family Christmas- at Royston, for the first time! Ian’s folks moved just before the pandemic hit and therefore we couldn’t spend any time at their place over the holidays the past two years. This year though, no prob!

It went really well, the weather was insane though. UGH. It had snowed a bit before we got there and it was very rainy and slushy, but on Xmas eve? Blizzard with no power!! We spent about 4 hours shovelling, woof. That I do NOT MISS about living in the North, ha.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We also had a chance to visit with my friend and her mom who moved up right near Ian’s parents too, so that was really nice, and Ian surprised me with a lovely Xmas gift- visit to the Hydropath! It was sooo nice. On Christmas Day I booked x-c skiing for a half day for me and Ian, and it was just lovely. It was cold, there was a ton of fresh snow, the skiis were way better than when I went with my mom, and we had a great time!

The only thing that really sucked was driving home. It was an absolute, hair-raising nightmare on the roads and I now have more grey hairs because of it. Jesus, I never want to drive in a black-ice, blowing snow blizzard ever again. Yikes.

WordPress is pretty much broken and other Xmas fun

When I last left, I had a nice time in Kelowna visiting family, despite the growing spectre of bad weather + Omicron threatening most of everyone’s Xmas holidays!

I came home (flight was only delayed for over an hour) in the evening and then by morning we were up and packed for Christmas in Royston with my in-laws! When we left it was chilly and rainy, but that would immediately change…

But first, we visited the lovely Kingfisher hotel and spa to check out their beautiful lights display with my inlaws. They live quite close to it, and it is really a gorgeous place.

We cruised around Courtenay to look at the Xmas lights and were amazed by this guy- as it turns out, this house and skeleton are owned by an acquianteance of mine’s parents. Small world!!

Then my husband generously got us visits to the Kingfisher’s Hydropath experience, which I LOVED. Soooooo nice and relaxing, it’s a very expensive but super nice things to do and wow, you leave feeling tired hahah.

But we still had Christmas! It snowed a TON up in Royston on Christmas and we also lost power at his parents house, booo. We also spent three hours shoveling. Three of us! The worlds longest driveway?? Snow sooo heavy and thick, man. At least it wasn’t super cold out, but it did make me feel excited for our next adventure- back to cross-country skiing! 🙂

And on Xmas eve we visited with my friend and her sister and mom, of whom also bought houses close to my in-laws. That makes four people I know who have moved up-island…Maybe the writing is on the wall? Should I move to Cumberland, Courtenay or Comox???

We swam around in her mom’s AMAZING giant hot tub/therapy swim pool and it was sooooo cool. I loved it!

And were all limbered up for skiing the next day too! We hit the slopes in the afternoon and I rented everything online, so it was a breeze to swing up to the Alpine Centre at Mt. Washington and go for a good few hours of x-c skiing. The weather was pretty good, considering it was basically a blizzard the day before (we walked to my friends’ mom’s place, lol). A bit tricky to drive but wow, such a gorgeous day for skiing. Of course, I took Ian on the longest route possible by accident (Far East) and we had to hustle our buns to get back in time before the rentals closed and so did the trails, eek!

We did get a chance to feed the whiskeyjacks though, so cute, I just love them!

It felt nice to get out and get active for sure. The only downer part was the absolutely miserable weather we drove home in on Boxing Day. WOW it was nightmarish. Basically a blizzard with black ice most of the way back, with a special shout-out to Nanaimo for their absolute HORRENDOUS highway conditions. We got caught waiting after two minor accidents, so it was a good 5.5 hours home. At least we made it alive, jesus. It was bad.

And waiting for me at home? More snowstorms!! 😦

Man!

Being active over the holidays!

I traveled a fair bit over the Christmas holidays (narrowly avoiding what turned out to be an absolute disaster of travel later, as many airlines cancelled due to their staff getting Omicron… ) and it went well!

Outdoor skating! I was so bad at it

I wasn’t in a great headspace due to the issues mentioned earlier (colleague dying, being way understaffed at work, Oats lame with what turned out to be a months-long abscess journey- thankfully that was it though?!!) but I figured it’s better to be away from all of that nightmarish mess, isn’t it?

Actually yes!

I visited my family in Kelowna and it went completely fine. We had lots of activities and I enjoyed being in a winter wonderland for Christmas, we we don’t normally get snow here (and as I write, we have had the WORST weather in all the years I have lived here sooooo yeah we have a lot of snow here this winter?!).

Very Christmassy

We enjoyed skating outdoors in a beautiful little outdoor rink in downtown Kelowna, we went to Mission Hill winery for a truly fantastic little private tasting event, we went to see House of Gucci, we decorated gingerbread houses, I took my mom cross-country skiing to a hill near their place, and we went to a lovely and extremely pricey dinner at the Eldorado Hotel.

Mission Hill

It was a very nice experience and something I didn’t know I needed- to get away from my own life.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Next up- actual Christmas in Courtenay at my in-laws house. And they had a ton more snow? Why/how is this winter weather chasing me?!

The weekend peanut butter turned on me

I have written GLOWING accolades to my favourite peanut butter, Planters, but today I come with some sad news. It turned on me, in the worst way.

Remember what we had, Crunchy? Why turn so ugly! 

In two ways: I tried the new Blizzard (Reese’s Peanut Butter Lovers) and also my beloved Planter’s Peanut Butter Crunch had ROCKS IN THEM! And I bit into a rock! It was in the middle of the jar way deep down. Yuck!! ☹ I have reached out to Planter’s and they got back to me within 10 minutes for photos and to get my address to send a Fed Ex to pick up the rocks! Fast service eh? Rocks pictured below.

The two offending small rocks. Luckily my teeth are ok! 

And the Blizzard- don’t get it. It SUCKED!

Here is a big hint- it was NOT EVEN CLOSE to being that full. OR filled with cups?! UGH. I want my money back.

First of all, Ian got the Summer Berry Cheesequake Blizzard and his looked really good, chiefly because they filled it to the top AND they left mine with the top 1/6^th empty…So already, one for the shit list. For reference, this is at the Hillside Dairy Queen.

The Blizzard itself, aside from my griping that they ripped me off for my $6.50? A big shrug. Eh.

Mildly peanut-butter flavouring mixed into ice milk, with some frozen chocolate shards. I guess they were supposed to be blended Reese’s peanut butter cups, but they were frozen and miniscule so I couldn’t really tell. Anyways, it was bland and lousy. Don’t buy. 10/10 do NOT recommend. It was like eating a McFlurry (which I don’t like, and I haven’t had in about 10 years. On par with quality).

Ian’s was good though, so I ate some of his! Hey he needed some help eating it, because it was so big!

 

Snow Weekend

And week…

Tucker came to work with me on Friday. He was so good! 

I want a weekend do-over! The weather was soooo bad here. Windstorms, snow storms, -15 with windchill and tons of ice. 😦 Not good. Needless to say, after walking home in the beginning of the wind/snow storm on Friday (after enjoying appetizers and drinks with a friend) I was so over it!

I went to ride Oats on Saturday and my friends warned me against the indoor- the hurricane force winds were making a terrific slamming sound and trees were slapping up against the indoor. As you can imagine, the horses were NOT having it. Neither was I, as it turns out!! I tacked up Oats and we slipped and slid our way to the indoor. The wind was hammering at us, and I hopped on him and was flinching every single time the wind slammed a tree against the indoor. NOPE!! This is not the way I want to go, honestly?!

He was a total saint, but even for a saint, there are indeed limits. And I’d hit mine. I hustled Oats back up the hill (he was confused but pleased that he didn’t have to do anything) and he was huffing and snorting and VERY excited as the wind blew straight up his butt the entire way up the hill.

So yeah, no riding Saturday. Similar story to running, except that it was very icy, and every time I turned around a corner, wind blasted me and sent me reeling off-balance. Greeeeattt….

It was horrible. The rest of my weekend was spent on the couch, reading, drinking wine and napping with my dog. There are worse things, I guess? I did ride on Sunday with a friend, and fortunately we got our ride in before the wind/snow storm picked up again for Round #2. It was a lovely ride! So dusty in the indoor though, with freezing temperatures we have not had water in the indoor, and there is like zero moisture in the air right now either. UGH!!

Got home, planned for another run, and thought the weather would hold for that. Newsflash- it didn’t. I was surprised because it didn’t look that windy, but yeah, it was horrible. I got to the small hill at Clover Point and gave up when I got blasted back UP the hill by the wind. Add in snowflakes into my eyes and NOPE!!! I gave up, and ran home. It was miserable, just so miserable.

Back to the couch!

And I was supposed to ride today…there is another blizzard. SIGH!! I guess I will struggle back home, and reschedule my ride for Wednesday (traditionally Oats’ day off, but I have to be flexible with this terrible weather). I’m just so glad I got my ride in yesterday! Man!

 

 

Snow Day

And lucky for me, it landed on the day I take off from the barn!

Not so lucky for me- snow was sticking to the ground and coming down quite hard, in big flakes, blasting right into my eyeballs the entire way I was run-shuffling home. It was very cold, and slippery and the snow in my eyes was painful. ARGH.

The animals liked the snow a lot though! Gidget was tearing around in the field (I took her running in the field with me, since I could’t go for a regular run like I do on Wednesdays…the roads/sidewalks were slippery deathtraps). She does suffer from snoball feet though!

Tucker was unsure about the snow at first, and then he really got into it was was racing up and down the deck!

All in all, it looks very pretty today but I will be very happy for the snow to go, and for spring to come in earnest!

Hot moment: Week update?

So this week. Yeah….

Not much riding happened- 1 ride on Tues where Oats was hot to trot, and I loved it! And then it blizzarded again on Wednesday, so I walked home and didn’t leave the house all night…

And then a jump lesson Thursday after all the snow melted and it was a slushy mess everywhere!

So, my week and my winter…

My lesson was pretty good, some big oops moments (like, disunited canter and me turning Oats too fast and him slipping so badly I swear I thought he was going to FALL ON ME) he saved my freaking butt!).

We worked on a gymnastic- canter-in bounce to four strides, and then coming around to a single fence on the outside line, and then the gymnastic, but we then did a bending line the second time around to a small oxer. That’s where I screwed up a bunch of times, grabby hands on my left hand pulling Oats’ face around. Shit!

Some days you ride better without hands. This remains true…

We then went from the small oxer to the angled fence, and then angled it the other way, and then to a small ‘step’ type jump, back to the oxer, and to a single fence on the diagonal.

We made some big mistakes, Oats got surprised by the angled jump and slammed on the brakes but it was like, oh hey no big deal, let’s try that one again. And he jumped it totally fine, phew!

So, even though my lessons aren’t perfect or necessarily really nice looking, I am working through some things and enjoying the process. I didn’t want Nicole to put them up though, so that’s my next goal- be ok with the course, be slower through my turns, rein in my rogue elbows & left hand, and BE BRAVER about jumps going up. The jumps themselves? Totally fine, not a problem.

So, do it, ME!

Also work has been a nightmare this week and I have been having a lot of trouble sleeping. UGHHH.