Merry Christine

Dont judge me yet! bad posture, reigns to high...SHUT UP!

I will get back to some physical fitness talk.    Like I have said before, I jog and pump iron as consistent as brushing my teeth.  But when it comes to the extra cardio, I get bored like anyone else.  For the past few weeks I have had a lot of orders to fill, so not going to gym, I use my stepmill, and use the free weights here.  I finally have time to go to the gym, and when I got there I decided to use this Nordic Track.  I needed some sort of challenge and it is the only machine that I have not used, or, at least not used in the past twenty something years.  Soooooo….I get on this thing, strap myself in, figure level 4 since I am an amateur, 60 mins, and start……Uh, about 3 minutes into it, I stop, clear, and reprogram at 60 minutes, level ONE.  I gotta say, that kicked – my – ass!  It does not matter how fit you think you are, if you haven’t used it, you are sure to have your ass kicked.  The funny part about this is, I bought a beautiful Ishmash, Russian Biathlon rifle two years ago with every intention of getting into cross country skiing so that I could enter a local amateur Biathlon.  I live one hour away from Steven’s Pass, which has a cross country course.  However I have conveniently always been too busy, for the beginning of the year my order file is FULL, plus the horses.  Well, I am humbled, and thrilled, and I will use that damned thing everytime I go to my Granite Gold’s, and my goal is to get to at least level 6 in two months, for 60 minutes.  Then MAYBE I will not be afraid to get that cross country ski package.  And keep shooting. 

NOT – Finished.  Here’s the best one.  I have three different breeds of horses to ride, and just about every type of saddle one can imagine, for I see it the same way a car enthusiast would purchase various cars.  For the ride.   Every type except a side saddle.  So I started doing some research, bought many books, for I know this is not something you can just jump on and go.  Surprised, all that know me???  NO, I am not THAT crazy!  I have five different books and went online and bought a cheap side saddle made in Pakistan.  When I got it, I realized this will only fit my skinny withered Thoroughbred Magnum.  Fine.  Then even reading the books the girth totally confused me.  So I researched some more online.  Found www.sidesaddle.com .   Of course they have consignment side saddles, so I clicked on.  There, before my eyes was a draft horse side saddle.  Yea, I bought it.  The best part was the lady, Linda, filled me with a plethera of information.  So I will be getting that saddle, a Champion and Wilton, extremely rare saddle….THIS COMING WEEK!!  So today, I decide it is time to suck up and put the Pakistan side saddle on Magnum………….Oh boy…..humble, humble, humble, …HUMBLE TWICE IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS!!  I have never felt insecure on a horses back.  We walked around a bit and he was just as nervous as I was.  As soon as I got my legs into the position Linda told me to, my gracilus and adductor muscles were fried in less than two minutes!  I was comfortable with my balance, but my inner thighs were in agony.  Hehe….Then to boot, Magnum decided to freak out and I know it was because of the new girth and the next thing I knew I was in the barn in one of the stalls!  Okay, I get some credit because I DID NOT FALL OFF!  The whole entire incident I was trying to figure out HOW to fall off.   So after I got Magnum to calm down, we came back out of the stall, out of the barn, and walked around a bit more, just so he knew it was all good.  He and I will both learn slowly and again, like the Nordik Track, I will conquer this, oh, I say in a few weeks.  On top of that, I am SURE the Champion and Wilton, on Sir Tankus will be  much easier to learn on. 

Mark my words, by June for sure, I will be riding up back in the woods side saddle.

LIFE KISSES US ON BOTH CHEEKS DAY AND MORN,

BUT LAUGHS AT OUR DEEDS EVE AND DAWN.

A while back, I was out on my front porch and I looked over yonder.  There was a strange, beautiful black dog at the far end of my front yard.  I quietly told him to go home, for I did not want my Lucy and Lola to see him.  He barked a couple of times and ran off.  Periodically, he would return and I would watch him.  Each time he would come further into my yard.  I still did not want him to get use to the place, for one, I did not want to have to clean his shit off my lawn. 

Then one day I came home from the gym and as I drove up the driveway, I interrupted him sleeping on my front lawn in the sun.  He took off when he saw me, but I sort of felt bad, for he was so relaxed until I came home.  It turns out he lives across the road in a little white house that is in a center island between my road and the road that runs along the lake.  Not much of a yard and no fencing.  So now I was feeling like he needed my space to feel free and relaxed. 

As I drove past his house one day I saw a girl in the front yard so I stopped and asked his name.  It was Oliver.  I let her know he was crossing the road and it could be deadly someday with the traffic going by.  He continued coming over.  But now I know his name.  Finally the inevitable happened.  Lola saw him.  Now I have both Lucy and Lola following him to the edge of the property.  My girls are smart enough not to go to the road.  One of the mornings he came up I gave him a milk bone.  Another day he came up when I was ready to take one of my horses up back and he went with me!  Now I am liking him VERY much!  Another morning he comes up early enough to run with us.  So here I am running with 5 dogs and he is just the best mannered boy.  My girls and my moms puppy are terrorizing him and he is just as happy as can be to let  them do so. 

It has come to the point where he comes almost every day.  Walks right into my office, eats the dog food in the bowl demands his Denta Bone, Milkbone, and Chicken strip, takes naps with my dogs, like he is one of mine.  He is beautiful, black, shiny, muscular, and so sweet AND he loves to run up back with me.  I enjoy him soooo much and one thing I have learned from the past is, I will enjoy the time he is here, feed him and treat him well, and never get to know his other side.  If the family that owns him doesn’t give a crap where he goes when he is let out the door, then it is not my place to let them know.  And if I did, who knows, they might chew my ass out for even letting him into my space (Been there before).  But the way I look at it is, my dogs would NEVER leave my place because they KNOW where their home is and how much love there is here.  Any dog that strays, is looking for attention because it is not given in thier own home.

Made me realize that goes the same for some humans out there too, and I have known some in the past….

Oliver