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Is it snow? Or something more sinister… January 29, 2008

Posted by kimayars Ramblings Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 8comments

My fears this morning were realized: The snow has not only started to melt, but it’s raining too. Yet, there’s too much of it for it to disappear quickly.  The result? Slush that has the density of lead and the water absorption power of one of those wonder chamios you see on TV (and ONLY see on TV at that).

We have a three-car garage.  LOVE the three-car garage.  It’s more like a two-car + lots of crap garage.  HATE the three-car garage driveway. Especially when there is “wonder slush”.

So my cardio/strength workout today was shoveling two-thirds of the driveway (the Porsche doesn’t make it out much in weather like this so why bother?). Took me an hour, and I forgot to switch sides while shoveling.  I fear my right obliques will be a little more tender tomorrow than my left.

I also discovered that I must have clinched my butt a lot when I walked/skated with Beth on Sunday.  I’m pretty sore through my core and my ass.

My reward for my efforts today was that Jeff took the van to work. The van is inside the garage. The Excursion (which is what he left me with) is outside the garage.  It’s raining. I have two kids to load in a few hours.  Additionally I need to clean out the truck so the kids can ride in it.  (It’s still fully loaded from an event that I volunteered for this past weekend.)  The Excursion was fine for him to take yesterday, but for some reason it’s “safer” for me to have the Excursion today.  Oh well, I’m probably just crabby.

So no gym again today, no pony, and I’m going to weight myself (egads).  It can only get better, right?

I must confess that I have finally investigated something that I heard about a while ago but never checked out.  Karl told Liz about Google Reader I’m guessing about 6 months ago.  While I love the new Sweat365 layout and improvements that have been made, I feel I have lost touch with the blogs that I used to read regularly because I would access them from features within the Konamoxt Sweat365 home page that are no longer there. Enter Google Reader.  I’ve been using it for a few days now and I love it!  I feel like I see the dialog across the blogs that I enjoyed in the Fall. Very cool.

 I’m off to go step on the scale.  I think my heartrate just went up.

Two steps forward, one step back. January 28, 2008

Posted by kimayars Uncategorized Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 3comments

Or maybe it’s one step forward, two steps back?

I was SO excited to work Tigs today under the guidance of my trainer. But, we woke up to 3 inches of snow. Where I live this means three things:

1. No school.
2. The arena won’t be rideable.
3. I will be ready to sell my children by 4pm.

As it turns out it’s 5pm and I haven’t put them on craigslist. At least, not yet.

So, no lesson today.

No trip to the gym.

BUT, I had a great day with the kids. We went out sledding today. In the past, this means about 20 minutes of sledding before a chorus of “I’m cold” and “This is too hard” are ringing in my ears. Instead, the girls sledded for 2 hours this morning, and another 2 hours this afternoon. AND I found a worthy opponent for a snowball fight in our 3rd grade neighbor boy. He plays baseball and has quite an arm. Luckily I haven’t forgotten all my moves from 3rd base softball. (I also play dirty. I got a couple of sideways looks from the other moms when I charged him yelling “MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN!” when he slipped into a snowbank.) I think I should be able to count that as exercise as I was breathing pretty darn hard when his mother called him in.

All-in-all, a good day, even though it wasn’t the one I had planned. More than likely school will be cancelled again tomorrow. We have 4 inches on the ground and it’s still snowing heavily. Definitely a winter wonderland. And definitley no pony time tomorrow.

I’m Cantering! Wheeee! January 27, 2008

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The very first thing I did when I got to the barn today was lunge Tigger.  I booted him up, put a bridle on him, and grabbed the lunge line. (Actually, it wasn’t that easy. There was about 45 minutes of futile grooming.)

When we entered the arena, I knew it was going to be a cowboy kind of day. He had a spring in his step that had “I WANT TO GO” written all over it. And he did.

One thing I love about this horse is that even when he’s acting like an idiot, he’s still soft.  He rarely pulls or gets strong. And I do have to give him credit — he started out at a brisk walk, and then gave me a cursory trot when I asked. But then he just couldn’t hold it in anymore.  I think in a previous life he must have been a fish.  I describe his buck to be like a porpoise: He leaps in the air as if he were trying to crest a wave, and then as his front legs hit the ground his backlegs kick out and up. I also call it “the back-cracker”.  But he truly was having fun, and as long as he wasn’t pulling and he and I were both safe, I let him have a go at it.  I tell you, if he ever decides to buck while I’m on his back I don’t have a prayer of staying on.

It didn’t take him long to putter out. So we made sure the canter transition was in there, then we worked on walk-trot transistions until they were both smooth.  He’s a good listener, and has picked up voice commands on the lunge line well. He’s sensitive enough that I don’t use a lunge whip with him. Simply raising the hand that has the coiled end of the line is enough to send him on or create an up transition within the gait. The downside is that if I ever give him too strong of an aid, I can make him worried. 

So overall it was a great session. He got a good little workout in, I got to watch him move from the ground (which I still think he has a really cute trot), and we spent some quality time together.

Tomorrow is my lesson with Cindy, and I’m hoping to get some additional instruction on the lunge line. He needs some straightening and I’m not really sure how to go about that.

New Goal: 20-minute miles! January 27, 2008

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It is icy and cold out.  Beth and I were gung ho to get back into our relaxing Sunday runs (the paniful memory of training for the LVHM is still too fresh).  The weather is NOT cooperating.  Last night it looked promising, but a quick freeze since then has made it challenging to stay upright on the sidewalks.  Not to be discouraged, we took her adorable little puff balls for a walk (If anything ever happens to Kirk and Beth, I hope they give us the dogs in their will.)

So, it was slow, but we walked up to the water tower on the other side of the development which is a decent sized hill. We then enjoyed skating down it.  It a pretty morning, though, and the company was much appreciated, numb body parts and all.

(Side note: I thought I over-dressed with 4 thermal tops. This was not the case.)

So I’m about to have a nice hearty breakfast and then go see my horse. I’ve really missed him, and I think he missed me (or at least the treats I provide).  I saw him last night to put an insulated blanket on him, and I remembered that he’s just fun to be around.

I’m off to go lunge him now.  He’s been off for two weeks, so I imagine he’ll be a little stiff.  I’ve been trying to figure out what I can do to prepare for the show, fully realizing that I may not be able to ride him between now and then…  Hmmm…

Logbook Activity

Gotta Get Movin’ January 24, 2008

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The tummy bugs are still running amuck… I actually don’t feel too bad as long as I stick to yougurt, bananas, and rice. So today I went to the gym and went for a nice long walk in one place. It was way too cold to walk outside, at least for my tastes. I also wanted to stay close to a certain facility.

Logbook Activity

Tummy Bugs January 22, 2008

Posted by kimayars Ramblings Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 1 comment so far

The “Fabulous Tummy Bug” must have read my last post that I was feeling better…  I’m definitely worse today.  I stopped at the store after dropping my daughter off at school and picked up some yougurt with the “live” stuff in it and some new-fangled pro-biotic bars in fantastic flavors (double chocolate and white chocolate vanilla blueberry). ”5x The Live Cultures of Yogurt” it brags. However, I think it exits the other end before I reap any benefits from it.  I’ve got some rice cooking, and I’m hoping I can thicken things up a bit.  One thing is for sure, I’m developing a substantial fear of food.  Maybe that’s not such a bad thing…  :-)

To make things more interesting, I can’t remember if I registered for the Intro A test or the Intro B test for the schooling show.  Since ride times are posted the Wednesday before the show, I will have to memorize both of them.  Luckily, neither are too hard. I just have to be careful not to get them confused.  At least one tracks left and the other tracks right. That key difference might be the ticket to keeping me on the right test. Sherene is going to come with me, so I will probably beg her to call the test for me.

Mmm… My rice is done. Bon Appetit!