So Much To Do...

Last night I spent more time thinking about my "to-do" list than sleeping.  Every time I tried to empty my mind so I could sleep, another item popped up.  It was very annoying to say the least.  Brett got home from work around 1 am and once he came to bed, that helped.  There is something about listening to his regular breathing and bumping up against him that allows my brain to shut down and sleep to come. 

But Brett was up at 5:00 am to take Flash on a group trail ride.  Of course, I started thinking again and gave up on sleeping pretty shortly after he left.

I started working my way down the list.  First, barn chores.  Brett had fed the horses but it was too dark for him to muck.  I let the dogs out and headed to the barn. 

The chickens had a nutritious breakfast -- fruit loops and apple cobbler. 

The dogs beat me to the barn.  Kersey will find anything that isn't nailed down and "retrieve" it.  The trouble is, sometimes it takes us days to find the retrieved item.  Fortunately, she left this one in plain sight.

It was about 7:30, the sun was shining, the heat was rising, and the moon was still out.  A beautiful morning.

Jackson had finished his breakfast so I turned him out in the pasture.  I think he was hoping for a second helping of hay. 

Last week, I started turning him out for a few hours in the afternoon.  This weekend, I am increasing it to a full day.  He's been doing great. 

After mucking, I took the dogs back up and fed them before heading to the goat shed.

It's so peaceful before the door is opened.  They spill out in the same order every morning: Bear and Bella first, then Cowboy and Whiskey, with Thistle bringing up the rear.  He hangs around for attention before joining the others at the hay feeder.

Go on, Whiskey.  Thistle will be there in a minute. 

I made myself a quick breakfast and looked at my 101 Dressage Exercises book.  I also charged up the battery for the video camera.  I decided to try a new exercise that helps supple the horse's body and thereby improve his gaits.  It sounded promising.  Basically, you side pass then do a turn on the forehand, then sidepass some more -- eventually making a 15 meter square.  Like so:

  On my way to the barn, I set up the video camera on an overturned trashcan at A.  When I reviewed the video after my ride, I could see that it was pointed at one corner so the footage was pretty useless.  Not only was it a lot of empty time with me riding through the corner periodically, the camera was at a slant so it looked like I was riding on a hill... in a corner... once in a great while.  Sigh.  I'll just have to do video when Brett is home.  Jackson was very good.  We sort of did the square thing.  He had a little trouble with the concept of sideways but his trot was very nice afterwards so I think it did help. 

I spent the rest of the day doing laundry and working my way through the CSA basket of produce.  We are going to be out of town next weekend celebrating our anniversary so I need to use up all the produce by then.  I transferred my fermenting pickles into jars, pickled beets, and made roasted eggplant and goat cheese dip.  Tonight I'm going to make a ground beef, chard, bechamel sauce, cheese topped thing for dinner.  I bookmarked the recipe from this blog.  Looks yummy!


Tomorrow my parents arrive to visit for the weekend.  I'm going to make an apple pie -- which is why I cleared out the rest of the cobbler. 

I should sleep well tonight.  I made a huge dent in my to-do list.