The road to success is always under construction

The house is creeping closer to being done.  Upstairs is pretty much there with all but carpet complete.  Downstairs, this wknd we were insulating and vapour barriering (yup that's a verb) the last two rooms.  For those who have not had the dubious pleasure of experiencing vapour barrier, think about wrapping a giant, house-sized present, from the inside.  It even gets all taped up in fancy red tape.  And not red-tape of the paperwork style, but more of the "tie with a pretty bow" style.  Somewhat frustrating at times for those of us (ie me) not tall enough to reach the ceiling.  Had quite the dance going with the ladder, trying to relocate it while still holding a staple gun and trying to hold a giant sheet of plastic to the ceiling.  The fact that there are still giant holes in the floor just added a level of challenge. Like picking "expert" on DDR.  Except sadly, I am nobody's definition of an expert.  And then once it's all, successfully I might add, stapled up comes the tape...  ah the tape.  The tape that sticks to *everything*.  Think of what you'd get if you applied a thin coating of crazy glue to the back of a sheet of saran wrap.  It's a fun game, let me tell you.

That, however, at least I can manage.  It may not always be graceful, but I can get the job done.  The drywall otoh...  Oh dear.  Especially given the level of tired of my poor muscles by the time we got to this.  My whole job became "hold this" ;)   And sometimes in a creative fashion as we were trying to put it on the ceiling which, we've already discovered, I cannot, in fact, reach.  Blah.  Fortunately I can climb and Chris knows what he's doing so I didn't have to hold way too heavy things over my head for too long.   One of the things I miss most about the barn is how fit I was!  Could really use hay-throwing muscles now!

The rest of the house stuff though was outside and let me enjoy the amazing weather while Chris did useful things like hook up plumbing (I definitely have a new respect for simple things like heat and running water :). I tackled the mowing -- which on flat surfaces is fine, but turns out the lawn mower does not, in fact, have either four-wheel drive or roll-over stability ;)   Thus hills should be tackled at 90 degrees...   But not all our hills are accessible at 90 degrees...   There might or might not have been a few dodgy moments *sigh*.   But hey, at least the weather was good ;)   

Also tackled the garden, which was more enjoyable than I'd expected.  Would help a whole lot though if I had any knowledge whatsoever about local plant life ;)   Ie what is, or is not, a weed *g*  hahahha  Ah well -- maybe when we have a place I can make a little garden where anything I didn't plant is fair game ;-P

And, I am more excited than I should be about the brick wall I built.  It stands an impressive two bricks tall and could easily be demolished by Sasha chasing a ball, but it still makes me smile.  I can't even lay full claim to it, as it was half-way built already, but half the bricks were upside down which just wasn't acceptable (seriously -- not only did it look bad, but the little divots filled with pine needles.  Way too much unnecessary sweeping involved).  And the rest of the wall had to be built as we didn't have enough bricks the first time around (the "new" ones came from the chimney we tore down a while back).

The huge wall of Horsfall's Half Acre

And now I'm writing this while waiting for the mountain of laundry to complete.  The only thing that makes this, and every weekend like it, survivable is that it brings me one week closer to actually being able to live with my husband.  My friends who've been married forever think this is a fairly ideal situation, but for me, Sunday nights are always too sad.  But hopefully it shouldn't be too much longer!

Oh -- and I got my job :)  Yup, my year-long trial ended with being hired full time about 6 mths ahead of schedule.  Pretty stoked about that!  So yeah, that also made it a good weekend :)

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

So last weekend C and I went to the Stratford Festival.  Haven't been since high school and had every intention of going early, wandering around town for a bit, and getting some dinner.  But life being the way it is, none of this happened and we got there about 15 min before the show started.  Just enough time, it turns out, to visit the gift shop.

This is where I learned what a geek I really am.  Not in the hacking, super-hero watching kind of geek, but an academic geek.  Cause I could easily have spent entirely too much money in there without even trying.  hahaha oh dear.  Amused me though :)

The show itself was Hamlet.  I quite enjoyed most of the casting -- Hamlet pulled off the angst ridden young adult remarkably well.  Ophelia was just the right degree of crazy.  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern had the interchangeable prep-school yes-men thing down pat.  Wasn't a huge fan of the queen, although couldn't pin-point why precisely.

As for the interpretation itself, the only thing I didn't care for was that it was chronologically challenged.  Various pieces came from various time periods.  And while part of my brain pipes up with "it goes to show the timeless nature of..." the greater part, the one trying to be lost in the story, didn't appreciate it at all as it continually jolted me back to "well that's not right".   I was impressed with the ending though -- that was quite well done.

No photo or video allowed, so instead, here's the Reduced Shakespeare Company's version.  Enjoy.

Regardless though, it was a fun night and a nice change from endless renovations.  And did you catch the part where I mentioned my husband went to watch Shakespeare with me???  hahaha yup, I picked well ;)

It's amazing the peace horse time can bring to your soul.

I was on my way home from dinner and it was a reasonably nice night out and I didn't entirely want to go home, so I figured I'd go out to the barn and see my pony -- she's due to be wormed anyways and if I stretch my imagination a bit, it's on the way.

But then I actually got in my car and decided I was really tired.  Maybe I should just go home.   I was in an area I don't know all that well, so I decided if I found the hwy that goes to the barn, I'd go there.  Otherwise I'd go home.  All good.  Except I couldn't find the hwy for the barn and was so incredibly disappointed, I realized how much I really wanted to go to the barn.   Hmmmm that, in itself, is a good thing.

So I got myself turned around, found the right hwy, and headed up to the barn.   Sunset over the pond...  Cherry trees in full blossom...  Only person there...  Pretty much heaven :)

Now Lexi had been kicked a little over a week ago and needed stitches.  She was on stall rest till Monday.  Yeah, you can imagine how that went ;)  On Monday night I let her trot a bit, just to see how she was doing, and she was remarkably close to sound.  Cool.

So tonight I decided to lunge her a bit.  And by lunge, I mean "trot around in circles" -- halter and lungeline style.  Not working proper training lunging by any stretch of the imagination.  Alex would not be impressed ;-P  

She was *wired*.  hahaha the most beautiful lengthened trot, and balanced uphill canter.  Admittedly also some moderately excessive airs above the ground, but we don't need to mention those *g*.   She's a rather impressive horse when she wants to be.

After we finished playing in circles, I took her for a walk around the track.  It was a power walk -- the kind I wish I could get in dressage! -- but she was remarkably good about it.  Her Royal Greyness' brain is, maybe?, finally catching up with her age ;)    I suspect there would've been more drama if I'd been mounted, but I was still impressed.  Did a couple laps, let her munch some clover and dandelions, and went back in.

The first time I ever tried to deworm Lex, she threw me across the stall.  I worked *really* hard with her to get her over that and it's never been a serious issue since.  It's never been easy either though.  But this time?  It was actually possibly the easiest worming I've ever done.  On any horse.  Ever.  She took it very much as she would a carrot.  It's distinctly possible she, in fact, believed it was a carrot ;)  hahaha but I'll take it.  And it was promptly followed by an actual carrot.

So then spent a long while grooming and just enjoying peaceful pony time.  Left feeling happy and relaxed and super glad I chose to detour.  And that, is why I pay her bills :)

So this is Nick rather than Lexi,
but it's about how I was feeling tonight and the only pic I have like it

A train leaves station A at...

This morning I was running late.  I take the train to work so a couple minutes can make a big difference in arrival time.  Leaving Oakville, the trains are every 10 minutes.  They alternate express and local trains.  I like the 7:15 which is express to Union (the other express trains stop at Clarkson).  If I miss that train, I need to hang out for 20 minutes.  This is because the 7:35 express will actually get to Union before the 7:25 local.

Starting to feel like you're back in a junior high math problem?  Welcome to my life.

Anyways - I was running late so, figuring I had 20 mins to the next train, I puttered and took my time.  But when I got to the station I could see by the number of people on the platform that it hadn't come yet.   I could've made it w just a little effort.  Blah.

So I was pretty unimpressed w that, and sure enough the train pulled up as I was leaving my car.  I park in the garage so it's a long hike to the train.  If it's on the platform, I won't make it.  But then I got downstairs, waved my pass at the machine, and the train was still there!  Sweet.  Booked it up the stairs and jumped on just as last call was happening.

And then promptly jumped back off.  It was *packed*.  It's often standing room only, but this was sardine style packed.  Ummm no thanks, I'll wait.

Was going to wait for the 7:35 but there were still a ton of people on the platform, leading me to believe the next express would be packed too.  So I got on the 7:25 (which starts at Oakville so hangs out there for about 10 mins).

Before it left however, another train pulled in on the express track.  Hmmmm interesting.  The one I was sitting on called last call for the doors so I jumped off and hopped on the one on the express track.  So random.  No idea what train it was, but it was pointing the right direction ;)

And better yet, it was deserted.  I ended up avoiding the sardine train, getting an entire block of seats to myself, express to Union.  Pretty good start to the day ;).  Admittedly we had to stop a couple times due to train traffic, but still pretty happy.

That being said, I'm not actually at work yet.  We shall see ;-P

My dog does this amazing thing where she makes my world better simply by being in it.

So. Much. Randomness.  I figure at least four posts in one. Consider yourself forewarned...

Sasha has taught me all sorts of things since I've had her -- some more important than others ;)   She's taught me to be wary of squirrels, and diligent about keeping the yard free of them.  She's taught me that frisbees are a little part of Heaven and that one should never walk when you can bound with enthusiasm.

She's shown that one should always go adventuring with a friend, that trying new foods is bad, and that even those with the most energy need a nap once in a while.

But today she taught me some new lessons.  Let's see:
- the kindness of strangers really is a thing
- sometimes you have to let go
- sheer determination is not always sufficient

It was one of those "did that really just happen?" moments...  She was with me at the barn, so I went with her to play at the pond when I was done teaching.  She loves playing at the pond.  She found a stick that I threw for her -- a favourite game.  This pond is the best of the ones she gets to play in because she can run in rather than jump.  So all good.   Except, there's a hose in the pond, and a little part of it was sticking out.  So she jumps in after the stick, but loses site of it and fixes on the hose instead.  Uh oh.  She grabs the hose, all proud of herself, and it doesn't move at first, but with some effort she starts pushing it toward the shore.

Okay, prob not the best for the hose, but it's pretty solid and seems all good.  Except about 3' out from the edge, the hose stopped moving.  So she swam harder against it, and it still didn't move.  And I could see her getting progressively more exhausted.  "Leave it" is not a command we've ever schooled in the water -- she's great at it with anything when she's on her feet, but apparently not swimming :(   Ugh.

I was just about to go out and get her (water would've been about to my knees), when Fraser stopped me -- he had big boots on and taking in the situation promptly stepped in and pulled the hose, and therefore Sasha, to the shore...   Poor Sash was very wet, tired, and stressed.  She very quickly decided Fraser was a great new friend though doing her"you're the best person ever" bum shake.

Poor bedraggled puppy

She slept all the way home and then bounded into the house to play with Bailey, so all good.  But still.  Sheesh.

On the flip side, this reminds me of this article I came across the other day.  It's a thinly disguised advertisement, but it has an interesting point.  "When does being tough become a liability rather than an asset?"  It suggests it's when we'd be more successful if we got help.  This is one of these things that I only began to understand when I was running the farm -- I actually *can't* stack 20,000 bales of hay by myself in one weekend, so I had to ask for help.  That was the easiest to accept, because it was actually needed.  Same with our house renos -- some of it is simply too heavy for me to move; I actually need help to get it done.  Frustrating at times, but sobeit.  But learning to ask for (or even just accept) help that's offered when not entirely necessary is one I still find myself struggling to master.  Spend your life learning to be independent only to have to unlearn it.  Classic eh?

And as for our house -- we have walls!!!!   Never would I have thought that'd be the highlight of my week, but here we are.  And even more exciting -- next weekend we might even have plumbing :) hahhaha Spent the weekend sweeping and vacuuming.  Not just floors, oh no, that'd be average.  Sweeping and vacuuming walls, ceiling, AND floors.  Craziness.  All this for the ever-exciting priming.  hahaha ah well - at least it's visible progress.  There's something to be said for this.

I actually considered writing a mini-post in the dust,
but in the interest of productivity, and amused by using the vacuum to write,
I left it at this.  And maybe a happy face.

So the non-renovation part of the week involves taking the train daily.  Wow.  That's a special experience.  I think it could actually be a blog all in itself -- might amuse me for the duration ;)  I *love* the quiet zone (for those unfamiliar with the wonders of GO Transit, the quiet zone is the top floor of the train that, during rush hour, is quiet.  Electronics silenced, little to no conversation, just quiet.)  This is a fabulous idea. Although always have to laugh at the guys (and it does always seem to be men) who break the silence with their snoring.  hahaha the one sitting across from me the other day was snoring in a "white noise" style -- he sounded like static.  Seriously unfortunate.

But since lots of people like the quiet zone, I don't always get a seat up there...  Listening to conversations of strangers makes me fear for the future of the human race.  Most of the time what I hear is so stupid or ignorant it's actually painful to listen to (when you don't have anything accurate or intelligent to say, make up for it by speaking louder!).  I really need to invest in a good set of headphones *sigh*   But - I was quiet pleasantly surprised to spend the ride the other day listening to the very intelligent conversation of two teenage girls -- based on conversation I'd say they were likely senior year of high school.  They ranged from critical evaluation of homework that had been returned (rather than complaint of the grade, a discussion about why the grade was given and what would've improved it), what they were doing at their current jobs, and even some discussion about seniors and how to improve quality of life in retirement homes.  So random, and they switch topics as quickly as Jen and I tend to ;)   It was really cool to listen to.   

Then there's waiting on the platform...  For those who like to people watch, that's the place to be.  There's always the one person who either thinks they're super cool to be talking on their phone, or who is brand new to a cell phone and feels the need to yell into it.  There are the lemmings, standing perfectly still, staring straight ahead and seeing nothing.  There are usually at least a couple people be-bopping to whatever music is playing in their headsets.  There's generally one person who wants to stand in the middle of the platform, but keeps darting up to peer down the tracks and see if the train's coming yet, and then darts back again.  Of course copious amounts reading or on their phones; I admit I'm often in that category.  And then there are the ones that you just don't really know what they're doing.  They're what keeps life entertaining :)

Today it was two ladies -- my guess would be in their 50s.  They were heavier, blond of the sort that comes in a bottle, and very happy.  Standing directly across the tracks from one another.  I did a bit of a double take because they looked very similar, but then didn't think anything of it.  An east-bound train came through and kept driving.  When it passed, both women were laughing.  Always good to be easily amused.  Next train came and I realized they were making faces at each other through the passing windows.  Let's be honest -- I'd probably do the same thing with my friends ;)   Although most people I know go to the same platform when they're travelling together.  So this one actually stopped, and the other platform doors opened first.  I saw the lady on my platform give her friend a thumbs up.  hahaha apparently they were concerned enough about getting seats that they parked one on each side so whichever door opened first that person could save a seat for the other.  Not an entirely bad system, although the timing isn't so far off that you couldn't get a seat from either side...   Amused me anyways -- and seemed to amuse them too, so all good.

And completely unrelated (how's that for a segue?) since this is the most random blog post ever, I have to include my recent entirely random experience.  Tonight the doorbell rang.  I figured it was a sales person of some form but the last sales person was like 10 yrs old and selling girl guide cookies, so I answered it.  A representative of Ontario Farmers who would like to give me a free steak.   Ummmm I'm sorry, what?  hahaha absolutely the most random thing ever.  Sadly I am not, in fact, the house owner so couldn't help relieve him of his dead cow, but I was definitely amused by the whole experience.

And the other day I went for a walk at lunch (imagine that -- I actually had a lunch break!) and discovered that Tim Hortons downtown does the Canadian tourist thing to a whole new level:

But far more importantly, I discovered this random city-beach.  Carved out of the cement is this nice rectangle of beach with umbrellas and Muskoka chairs.  It was so lovely.  Kinda made my day.

Love this!

Bailey's telling me to go let Sasha in, so I'm off. I suspect that's for the best *g*  Night!

Maybe she's here to stay?

So in follow up -- neither Lex nor I were particularly tired today.  And I had the same super-fun-new-and-improved Lexi!  Woohoo!  No bucking or bolting, but forward, responsive and generally a pleasure to ride :)  Yeah!   A little overly enthusiastic when we went "hacking" (read riding around a paddock she's never been in) but otherwise just all-round lovely.

Also had all kinds of Toronto silliness adventures which I'll post...  But later - off to be social now :)

A gallop down memory lane...

I'm not sure which horse I tacked up today.  She looked an awful lot like Lexi, and was the same snuggly social butterfly that my horse generally is.  But when I got on her?  That was a creature I've never sat on before, and one who reminded me far more of Zel than Lex.

For those who don't know Zelli (aka Princess Pony) was my horse.  *The* horse.  The one I'll always regret selling despite all the logic in the world that said it was the right thing to do.  But she was pre-blog.  So you had to actually know me, in real life, to know Zel...

Zel always made me smile.
This was our first XC school and I'm pretty sure I'd already 
hit the ground once before this photo was taken.

Zel had all the flashiness and all the personality to go with it.  She cleaned up in dressage.  Always. Pretty much Sasha could have ridden her to first in dressage.   Well enough that I actually did a year of just dressage.  Me.  I'm not even kidding.   And she had a super-cute jump and an awesome gallop. Sadly not quite enough power to do the levels I'd hoped to do at the time.  But everything else was there.  However, did you read the part about the personality?   Yup -- if you touched her mouth, you were likely to get bucked off in protest.  If *she* made a mistake at a jump, no worries.  But if *I* did, I'd better hang on when she finished saving us ;)   All drama all the time.

Gratuitous Zel/Summer/XC shot.  Mostly cause it made me smile.

But where Zel was the little sports-car model.  Stop, go, turn on a dime and always forward.  There was no laziness in that mare, ever.  Lexi...  Tends to be the opposite.  Big, generally calm about life, and - lately - nappy.   She *does* have far more power than Zelli ever did; Lex lopes over fences Zel would've struggled with.  And while she'll never match Zel for movement, she can at least hold her own.

So I got to the barn and the heavens opened.  So much for riding outside.  Booooo :(   But by the time I was actually ready to go, the rain had stopped.  There were approximately hurricane-force winds happening, but no rain.  So of course I rode outside.  Why not? ;)

Lex passaged her way to the sandring.  Arguably that should've been my first sign...  But she stood quietly enough while I rebuilt the course that had blown over.  I could still leave her and she'd stay about where I put her, but she wasn't her usual puppy-dog self.  Wait, maybe she was actually *more* like my puppy dog!  hahaha alert and enthused but not being ignorant.

Hop on, warm up in walk/trot with no issues.  She was actually being remarkably good given the weather.  Trailer door banging in a nearby shed, things blowing around, jumps falling over randomly. All nbd.  She was definitely high, don't get me wrong.  We did nothing that even vaguely pretended to resemble relaxation or submission, much less dressage.  

Yup, kinda like that.

I don't know why I decided not to canter in w/u.  Intuition maybe?  hahaha Instead I pointed her at one of the jumps.  And lets put in perspective, the biggest jump was maybe 2'3".  She could easily step over any of them.

And all of a sudden I was on a TB.  A very enthusiastic TB.   About a stride out she charged, landed, bucked (in stride fortunately) and charged.  

Athletic displays while moving forward are much easier to stay on ;)

I was totally run away with.  The sandring is *not* big enough for that and when I insisted, she tripped over her own feet and gave one of the giant "that did NOT happen" bucks and then was off again.  Fortunately at a more reasonable speed *g*

So okay.  That's new.  Not sure who this horse is, but glad she's at least enjoying jumping ;)   Probably best if I get it under control though -- this would not be a good game for her to decide to play on a regular basis.  

This time, I have the brilliant idea to jump one of the fences pointed into the corner.  Maybe with no obvious straightaway she won't run away.  Brilliant.  And it worked.  One flaw...  She was still super enthusiastic.  So since she had nowhere to go, she went up.  Bronc style, back all kinds of round (why can't I get that in dressage???) leaping in place.  Sweet.  Fortunately managed to get her going forward again before hitting the ground, but I feel like that one was close...

Tricky.  Maybe two fences in a row would help?   Yup.  Backed her right off the first one so she took it super quietly.  And then promptly charged the second *sigh*   And gave me a giant Zel-style F-you when I dared to touch her mouth.  This is my unfit horse who has never shown a true TB side before.  Hmmmmm okay.   I credit Zel entirely with the fact that I didn't hit the ground today.

This game was admittedly less than fun.  And when I started, I was alone.  Definitely had a moment of "maybe I should wait till someone else is here" but so did NOT want Lexi to figure out that if she does this, she doesn't have to work.  Do you remember the liverpool game?  She's a *very* smart pony and all about using her powers to best suit her ;-P

So instead we jumped fence after fence after fence.  Keep in mind, these “jumps” are really no bigger than a canter stride for her.  Just as well as I don’t want her hurt.  But quickly enough (yeah lack of fitness) her brain came back.  I still had tense and enthusiastic but the buck/bolt options seemed to have disappeared.

And then all of a sudden I had the most amazing, floaty, uphill, balanced canter.  I could make wickedly tight turns, balanced and in rhythm.  Not once in all the drama or the beauty did she miss a distance.  We were jumping lines and combinations and turns with all kinds of suppleness that I would've sworn wasn't even close to within her abilities.

Okay so Lexi's were maybe the size of the first rail over the flowers, but some day...

So then I lengthened my stirrups and did some of the flat work I'd originally hoped for.  She was still alert, but way more focused and soft.  I got some absolutely amazing results!  Of the "think of transition and it happens" variety.  I've missed that ;)   She was entirely off my seat, and the upward gaits (which have been ugly since the nappiness games began and tbh, never great) were gorgeous! Connected and  through and required so little effort.

At least we only had wind and no torrential rain

It was absolutely amazing and gave a tantalizing tease of what could be...  I suspect tomorrow I'll have a very tired horse.  And rider ;)

The latest Lexi adventures

So as some of you know, my horse has been essentially feral since...  ummm about September.  She had an abscess, which blew out a good part of her hoof and basically killed the last of the nice riding weather.  And then I began working full time but was still teaching every night and, well, shall we say my motivation did not exceed my exhaustion.   And then I moved her and she wasn't even at the same barn I was teaching!   At that point at least she was being ridden by Steph and slowly considering getting something that might, one day, resemble fit.  And then she went lame.  Fail.  And, to be honest, I was rather focused on my wedding.  So I deemed my pony could be on vacation until I returned to take care of her.

So we got back and she was still nqr.  And we played the mystery lameness game for a bit.  I finally decided that she must've pulled something in her shoulder -- if I had to guess I'd've said playing a little too hard outside.

Gave it a little more time and then sure enough one day she randomly trotted out sound.  Sweet!  Conveniently just as the weather began to consider turning :)   Gave her another week, just to be safe, and then started bringing her back.

That first day was the nappiest mare ever.  Have I mentioned I own an oversized Thelwell?

I am not even kidding.

Yeah - I was alone, so not *quite* that dramatic, but I definitely got a pretty solid No.  In the way only mares can truly manage.  Until today I would've said only pony mares.  It wasn't the chestnut TB temper-tantrum -- that, I'm used to ;)   This was just uh huh, you can't make me.  And let's put this in perspective -- I was asking for a 10 min walk and 5 min trot.  But, I will say, when she did finally go, she was absolutely lovely.  And sound.  Sweet.

Day two was Steph's turn.  In retrospect, I probably should've finished the behaviour discussions before letting Steph have a go, but it was an interesting exercise.  Steph's never really dealt with either mares or nappiness before.  And, well, they didn't make it very far *sigh*

So then Lexi got a day off, because despite her less-than-ideal behaviour, I was A impressed that there was no drama or insane athletics surrounding the first rides back, and B really taking the whole "bringing my horse back slowly" thing seriously.

Next day I get on and she was lovely.  There was a moment or two of nappiness at the very start and then just awesome.  Walk/trot through and connected.  Stopped while things were good. Sweet!  Next day, she was super high going in; I was fairly excited.  First few mins fine, but then she took an odd step.  Obviously she felt it too because she instantly hit the breaks :(   Got her to walk on and seemed sound, but I'm playing the over cautious game and so stopped.  So very disappointed.

Gave her the weekend off, and then it was Steph's turn again.  This one was way more successful and she had two gaits, seemed sound, and both directions.  Yeah!  Progress.

So now you're caught up to tonight.   Ah tonight.   Did I mention it was sunny out?   And the sandring footing was almost perfect?   And well, she was so sensible about her first ride back, why wouldn't she be equally sensible about her first ride outside?  Because clearly that's the logical thing to do.

And you know what?   She was.   Yeah - I know, boring story.  Yeah for grown-up horses ;)  Hahaha I was alone, so I was smart about it and wandered around the sand ring before I mounted.  She was high for a bit and nappy again (horses she's never seen before turned out next to the sandring were her new best friends!) but not horrifying and eventually we were walking and trotting quietly all around the ring.  We even did a *gasp* canter each direction with no drama!   You have no idea how excited I was by that.   A plastic bag fluttered near her feet which was definitely good for a moment, but even that had no recurring issues.

But then, while we were quietly walking around, a GIANT LION attacked us from its hiding spot behind a fallen jump wing.  Holy Epona, you do not understand the severity of the situation.  The *only* reason we survived was due to Lexi's incredible escape!

Yup.  That happened.  Or so Lexi would have you believe.  In *my* mind, what happened was a slightly overweight orange cat woke up from its nap by the standard, strolled over to where the sun had moved, and flopped back down to continue tanning itself.  But, it would seem, my horse is afraid of cats.  And seriously afraid of cats -- like not going anywhere near that end of the arena and must keep an eye on the monster at all times, afraid of cats.

Just to put this in perspective...  Look to the left, by the wings.

Remember though, I'm trying to fit her up slowly and quietly.  So mad gallops from fearsome predators is not, exactly, in the plan.   So we wandered to the edge of her comfort zone -- where she tensed and grew an extra hand, but wasn't spinning or running away.  And we stood there.  And we stood there.  And thankfully the well-fed feline lacked any ambition and was quite content to provide a training moment.   And we stood there some more.  Until eventually Lexi got bored and relaxed.

I got bored long before she did.  Apparently I lack self-preservation.
Take a moment and compare mane in this photo, with the Thelwell example above.
Oh dear.

She got some pats, we walked forward a bit, and we repeated the process.  It was very long and very boring.  But it was, at least, productive.  And while still with all senses on high alert, by the end we could at least walk calmly around the vast majority of the ring (still giving a healthy respect to the lair of course!)  I parked her in that corner and dismounted there -- which was good for a healthy shy.  Clearly the lion had pounced and tackled me!  Despite not actually having so much as moved.  hahaha ah dear.  She eventually chilled and we went for a bit of a walk.  I wanted to take her to meet the cat, but it was on the owner's lawn so I didn't feel that was appropriate.

But, the real takeaway from today, is that I Got To Ride Outside!   Woohoo!   And that is all.

A truly Canadian morning

Was all kinds of Canadian this morning.  Chris and I went to the sugar bush for Sunday pancake breakfast. Apparently this is a thing -- I never knew that :)

For three weeks a year, some of the farms that magically turn sap into syrup, sell pancakes to go with their product.  Actually seems like an awesome idea.  This one was the Maple Ridge Syrup & Pancake House.

And then a miracle occurs...

This particular farm had a little shelter built with long wooden tables and benches.  Breakfast choices were 1, 2 or 3 pancakes (toddler, child, adult) with ham or sausage, a fruit cup, and a drink of the coffee/tea/juice variety.  It was a simple as it gets and super yummy *g*    Turns out there were free refills on pancakes too, which amused me for some reason.  I don't usually even like maple syrup, but in this instance it was a must.

I was surprised by how few children were actually there, although it's plausible we were after the kid rush.

Anyways it was really quite a pleasant and reasonably amusing start to the day.  And sadly the last, at least there; they're retiring this year and it was the last weekend of their last season.  Guess I experienced it just in time :)

Several steps closer to escaping reno purgatory

We have new stairs!  Hahaha this should really be Chris' blog post since I wasn't even there but, well, he doesn't write ;-P   And since I was fairly fascinated by this whole thing, I'm stealing his pictures.  Given that I wasn't there, the story will be either super light or entirely fictional -- I haven't decided which yet ;)

Once upon a time there was a house.  It was an older house that had been, shall we say, modified.  A few times.  And in this house was a flight of stairs.  The stairs were narrow and steep.  They had a turn at the top, designed in such a way that if you happened to slip in that section would lead to a pretty substantial drop -- before you'd plummet the rest of the way down said steep stairs. 

In an entertaining example of structural design, these stairs blocked a window.  The window did, in fact, allow some light into the dark ally that was the staircase.  And, presumably, into the closet beneath.  But it was awkwardly positioned.

It was deemed that in the new amazing house-to-be, this staircase had no role.  And thus, it had to disappear.  Kinda wanted to watch that, but alas real life called and I was at work.  Fail.  But magic happened and volia! 

This tunnel used to be our staircase...

Okay so that's the largest ladder we own… hmmmm  Here's hoping new stairs make an appearance :)

So in what used to be the kitchen, construction commenced…  Sharks' teeth that would eventually transform into safe, normal sized, stairs.  Awesome.

While admittedly still a tunnel, at least now it's a comfort-lane-sized tunnel.  And the death drop at the top has been eliminated.  Sadly, so has Sasha and Tucker's sleeping space, but I feel like they've got more comfortable ones ;) 

On the old steps

So now it seems when I go home on the weekend there'll be all sorts of civilized stairs!   Apparently no electrical ;-P but that's a story for another post.  For now, we celebrate the stairs.  Woohoo!

Not only did we get new stairs, we also got new walls :)  Sweet!