We’re preparing for my sabbatical, piece-by-piece, and when we pack, the animals think that they’re helping! Goofs 🙂
I get by with a little help from my friends
bunny
Happy Halloween!
So in typical me fashion, I very much overscheduled Ian and I for the Halloween weekend, it was nuts! Great, but nuttsss!
On Saturday we were doing a 5k fun run in a town nearby, as a fundraiser for the food bank. I signed us up on a whim, and when we got there I didn’t realize …it was FREEZING out. Like, 3-4 deg freezing. Wow, what a shock! So we weren’t really prepared to be that cold and we had to do a lot of waiting around at the start as it was a very small scale fun run. My muscles tightened up so much that when we started, my arms physically hurt from being so cold. I kept my toque on even?! I felt like I wasn’t wearing anything on my bottom half because my legs were so cold I couldn’t feel my shorts.
So we ran, and it was pretty brutal, ha. My lungs were DYING. It wasn’t very flat, I will say that lol and the turnaround had a lot of confusion there (ah, fun runs) but we made it to…4k and finished? So I guess we paid very little $$ and we get a 4k not five hahah. That’s more than fine with me, I was pretty much dying!!
When we finished (Ian was ahead of me, but there weren’t any other women near me) I was drooling incessantly and felt like my lungs were going to burst out of my chest- they hurt so much, wowza. That set us up for a nice strong emphysema coughing fit for the next two days, ickkk just what you want in a pandemic amirite?
I picked up my prize (which was really nice!) for being the first woman finisher 🙂 and we were off to task #2- ride Oats! I had a pretty ok ride, he was a touch resistant about doing shoulder-fore and I couldn’t quite capture the magic of our lesson, but that’s always the case, isn’t it??
Then we were home again for our next event: Beer tasting/tour with Hoyne Brewery, hosted by UVIC alumni society. It was a blast! I learned so much and Sean was the best storyteller ever. Plus the beer was good too, yessss!
And then it was time to get our costumes on and take the bus to our friend’s place- they bought a historical mansion and had the most AMAZING Halloween party at it. It was phenomenal!!!!!! Creepy coloured lights, pumpkins, snacks, candies, a great treasure hunt (one of the clues had an infrared camera?!!) that basically stymied us for the whole night, lol, and get this: Dry ice cocktails?!!! OMG. I was in heaven!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xr9cJNTy2WAhttps://www.youtube.com/shorts/xr9cJNTy2WA
We had such a nice time I didn’t want the night to end 😦
Until the next morning, when I was in hell….And had to get up for the barn’s Halloween fun show, that I promised I was going to do…Good lord why do I do this to myself?
to be continued…
Tucker bun
Living his best life when we pulled up the broccoli plants and let him enjoy them!
I would never do that: Wordless Wednesday critters!
Love my animals…and my in-laws animals too! 🙂 They brighten our days and hearts.
Lay low
It was chilly for Gidget too!Â
We’re firmly entrenched in a deep freeze here in the normally very mild climes of Vancouver Island. And I hate it. So much. I would honestly rather have rain (an unpopular opinion, but rain doesn’t make my fingers freeze walking home, and sit at my office cubicle, freezing my ass off, my pony very stiff for riding, feet frozen, frozen water buckets…I could go on).
Ian syringe feeding the patient.
I wanted to cry walking home I was so miserable- and yes, I was dressed warmly with a winter jacket, hat, gloves and scarf. And I was miserable!! I spent all day freezing and then had a lousy walk home, and then walked my dog, and then went to spend more time at a freezing barn. Luckily the activity at the barn warmed me up and my ride, while painful and frozen, wasn’t too long and I was able to get some chill out of my bones.
Still!
I had a very nice weekend when the weather was good, just before it took a real turn for the worse…Oats in particular was feeling lovely on Sunday, so smooth..Good..Just, amazing. I love his flowy movement! I felt so lucky to ride him Sunday and just enjoy him for his fantastic gaits. I did a lot of running on the weekend, it was pretty mild out except turned cold on Sunday.
Doing good work here.Â
Went out for dinner (Dine Around Stay in Town is on right now!) to the Livet. A new restaurant to me, and I really enjoyed the $30 menu that they were offering- it was fantastic and a really decent deal too, for the level/quality of food (charcuterie starter, crispy rockfish main and chocolate-banana bread French toast with currants for dessert). YUMM!!
And best of all, the animal drama that has been plaguing me for a few weeks is starting to resolve, thank Christ. My bunny is on the mend, and eating really well and drinking water too. Phew!!!!!!
On to this week, in which I try just not to freeze. Oats gets ridden by an adult amateur on Tuesdays, so I have Tues/Wed off now. I am going to a hockey game on Wed now too, with a friend! 🙂 And maybe another dine-around event on Friday with my other friends? We’ll see!
Cross you off my list
After completing an arduous three-day week coming back from my holiday (exaggeration obviously), I actually wasn’t feeling well at all. I felt tired, weak, run-down and kind of unwell. This manifested in a Friday of feeling terrible, and a nap (the horrors!!) on Saturday. A nap instead of a run? Wha? In what world do I need to do this? Clearly, I did though.
Tucker is not so sure about what happened this weekend…Crazy windstorm!Â
Gidget loved it, she loves naps so much. We got a Christmas tree on Saturday morning before I left for the barn, and they only had 4-5 left, kind of all scrawny rejects, haha. Ours is short, but not scrawny. So, like half a tree? Weird they didn’t have any. I guess there was a Christmas tree shortage this year?
We left the tree to put it up officially on Sunday, and I took it easy with a nap and some baking in preparation for our riding stable’s annual Christmas holiday party. We had a lovely time! I ate wayyy too much good food and we did a gift exchange and I loved my gifts from my secret santa, they were fantastic! (Reese’s clusters, yummm, a new mystery novel that I had actually gotten from the library to read myself but hadn’t yet, and a very cute fox mug ‘For Fox Sake!’).
Oats got Friday off, and then was ridden by moi both Sat/Sun. And he was such a good boy! I feel so glad when I ride him, he’s my favourite. We worked on some flatwork/lateral work on Saturday, and Sunday I decided to do some strength work for me- two point intervals. Good, except that my foot kept slipping wildly out of my stirrup- something was wrong with the grip pad on it. Ugh. I checked the pad after and it looks like it has worn away and is now totally slick? Frick!! It’s actually kind of hazardous now, outright slippery and my foot slips straight out if I try to get leverage on my heels. Shit!
Oh well, Oats was a saint! The weather, not so much. It poured on and off allll day. I packed my run clothes though and out I went! It…kind of sucked. I got soaked. Oh well!
Home time, and we put up our tree and decorated it that evening 🙂
If you see me, say yes
Another long weekend for me! I love it!!
Piles of ribbons and awards from back in the day. Good memories!
Victoria Day weekend here, and it was fairly quiet for us. Lots of yard work, house work, organizing, running, riding and family time. We put up a trellis, rabbit-proofed the yard (mostly) so Tucker could enjoy the outdoors with me, and we put up a rack so I could display some race medals and ribbons. I took a real walk down memory lane sorting through some old awards…Ah memories… I am planning to donate old ribbons and medals, just have to find the appropriate place to do so.
Riding was good, I mixed up my outdoor and indoor rides to keep Oats’ feet happy (he does get very footsore very easily). The weather could have been nicer, it was cool and grey on and off, cloudy as well and it rained on us on Saturday!
I ran on the weekend too, staying away from longer runs at this point, not ready to go long yet so ended up doing 11km on Saturday, a bit of trail running with Ian in Cobble Hill on Sunday, and then 7km on Monday mixed terrain (some beach, some grass, mostly pavement). We were able to visit with Ian’s parents at their farm on Sunday, which went well. I even found a decorative knife (kirpan?) that had washed up on the beach. Crazy eh?
The weather really cleared up on Monday late afternoon/evening and it was clear and so gorgeous! Chilly though, woah. We wrapped up the weekend by walking to the breakwater, and then enjoying a beer on the patio at the Breakwater Bistro. A great way to end the weekend.
Happy Easter~
Ah what an awesome long weekend. I started it by having a great jump lesson on Thursday- Oats was slow and sticky, but we worked through it and ended up having a very successful ride!
Friday we went and I did a super looong run around Elk/Beaver Lake. Hours! Certainly taught me the importance of fueling appropriately yikes. A good day though all around.
Saturday I got up early-ish for a dressage lesson with Oats with my normal jump trainer. It was very interesting and showed to us a few holes in Oats’ education, namely encountering some resistance through transitions. Hm….
And then we were up Island and off to the farm! We had a HUGE great turkey dinner at the farm, and enjoyed some games, hot-tubbing and hiking.
Sunday we were back home and I had another dressage lesson, this time with my regular dressage trainer. More insight- Oats moves crooked at the canter, and it’s because, gasp, I am HELPING HIM be crooked. Wha? It was a strangely difficult ride!
Monday I was back at the barn! Did a fairly casual ride on Oats because as it turns out, I was tired, haha. My allergies have been out.of.control these days and man, they are sooo horrible. I came home after some unsuccessful swimsuit shopping (styles are SO UGLY right now. No WAY am I wearing a high-waisted granny panty swimsuit) and made myself some sangria and sat on the deck to enjoy some sunshine.
With me was Gidget and Tucker, who do not get along. At all. HA.
A great long weekend and much-needed.
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!
Meet Tucker!
I have an announcement to make….We have a new family member joining us for 2018.
A Christmas Bunny.
That’s right, Tucker the bunny joined our family on Monday! I had a rabbit-sized hole in my heart after my dear Buster Bunny tragically died while I was on holidays this summer.
I had that rabbit for 8 years- he lived with me in Whitehorse, flew back to the Island with me when I moved to Victoria, was with me even before I got married, before I got my dog and horse…It was really tough. I was sad for a long time after that.
I wasn’t sure if I could handle having another rabbit. But I always wanted one and you know what? Life is long, and you have many chances and opportunities to explore the life you want. And my life will include rabbits, hahah.
So I took a chance on a new bunny who kind of desperately needed a new home. He is quiet right now but shows a real curiosity and boldness when he gets more comfortable. He does have really bad urine scald on his feeties, and I am going to have to start treating that (we rubbed his feet with a warm cloth yesterday, today we are going to do a more serious foot-soak with glycerine soap to clean the bacteria off them). I do have to be careful we don’t rub more hair off his poor feet and legs.
Welcome to the family Tucker bunny!
The adventures of Mr. Oats 