Post Thanksgiving

T'giving dinner was early, but if we had not gotten to the O's when we did, we would have eaten at midnight. Even though the turkey was fully cooked, we had to warm it up for about an hours, then warm up the potatoes, stuffing, gravy and make biscuits.

Sara and I ran our 5K, and I won a pie. I picked a pecan pie since I had already "baked" an apple pie the day before. The pecan pie was delicious and tasted even better since I didn't have to bake it. Always works that way.

Friday I rode Smash, but didn't do too great. On Sunday I figured out with her gait I have to put up my stirrups until I get used to her because I spend most of my time just trying to keep my feet in the stirrups. After I put the stirrups up going to the canter was a LOT easier than it had been.

Yesterday I splurged a bit and bought a small piece of tuna for dinner last night; it was good, but I may have overcooked it; it didn't taste horrible.
Monday it is and back to work. Bleh.

Thanksgiving Around the Corner

Here it is Tuesday, two days before Thanksgiving. Tomorrow MARC train has a special 2:00 p.m. train. No one can figure out why they have this special train at 2:00. Even the government workers say they have to take vacation time to catch this train. Fortunately, I am able to leave early to catch the train tomorrow as my office will be closing at 4:00 p.m.

Sara and I are signed up for a Turkey Trot in Laurel Thursday morning. I'm hoping the weather will be a tad bit dryer than it is now. I guess we need to figure out car pooling, time we are leaving to get to Laurel to get our numbers before the race.

Dave is still a "GO" for his trip to Uruguay to attend a wedding of our cousin's nephew. Not sure what that makes him to us, relative wise. We went to the Sugarloaf Crafts Fair last Saturday and Dave bought the wedding gift and a few other gifts for people who are putting him up while he is there. The weather looks to be in the mid-70s and sunny. Certainly hope it stays that way while he is there.

Sara and I did a practice ride on Sunday, and Bella and I went through her Celtic Musical Freestyle. It wasn't pretty because I kept getting lost, but I got the feel for the ride. I'm hoping Bella will bring it back from her memory bank and help me through the test next time. It's something new and it is scary only because it's something different. Aileen will give me the music, but I don't need it any time soon.

On the Knitting Scene: I made two small Christmas stockings for decorations; can't decide if I should block them because once I stuff them with, what else?, stuffing, it may be enough. I plan to put little Christmas gift boxes, etc. on the top to look like presents from Santa. Now, I'm back to knitting the Debbie Bliss fair isle sweater. It looks really nice; hope I can finish it soon as I have found a really nice Christmas stocking I want to make for next year.

Waredaca Show Recap -November 6

Sara and I prepared for the postponed Unrecognized Starter Trials on Saturday; we cleaned up the horses a bit, put the finishing touches on our costumes, and loaded up the trailer as much as we could. Sunday, albeit too early, we took off for the barn to get the last-minute gear and horses on the trailer. Off to Waredaca hoping for a good day.

Sara started off with Smash dressed as clowns and off to her dressage test.













Then, it was my turn:





Bella and I as a Dressage Ring.









Unfortunately, our jumping efforts were not so great; we were both eliminated at the stadium jumping. However, I was told I could go to XC, and I did. The stars were not aligned with Venus or something, and I couldn't get over the first "welcome log" at XC. I was done. We packed up and went home; I was in 4th place after dressage, but eventually was eliminated. And so it goes. We have the winter to work on our problems and have a better spring season next year.

Maybe I should stick to running.

P.S. Sara won 2nd place for her costume: $30.00! Better than a ribbon, I say.

Worrying: New Show Date November 6

Last week we were worrying about our ride times for the show on October 30; then we worried about our costumes; then we worried about the snow that was coming into town. Rides times were good for Sara; however, my times had a waiting period of 3 hours after my dressage test before I did my jumping. Then the show was postponed and we worried about that

New ride times: Sara: Dressage 9:48 a.m.; Stadium Jumping: 12:36 p.m.; XC: 12:54 p.m.

Me: Dressage: 1:25 p.m.; Stadium Jumping 3:02 p.m.; XC: 3:20 p.m.

It's not as bad as the first round of ride times we had; I was not scheduled to do my jumping until almost 4:00, and Sara's dressage was 10:something and her stadium jumping conflicted big time with my dressage time. Anyway, we will still have a few moments of Cathy running back and forth, but we will get through it.

Better remember to turn the clocks back on Saturday night; we have to get up early enough and this will give us a little more sleeping time, but who sleeps the night before a horse show, anyway?

Sunday I have to leave the house at 6:00 to pick up Sara, make our Starbucks Stop and get on the road to Cathy's so we can both do last-minute work on our costumes. (Priority) We'll leave Cathy's about 7:30; Waredaca is not that far away from her place.

To top it off we have registered to run a 5K Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day at 8:00! We must like to get up at the crack of dawn, and exercise.

Ran to the Jefferson Memorial today at lunchtime! The weather was perfect, the sun was shining, and now I am beat! Exhausted! Tired!

And, our cousin in Uruguay, Matias, is getting married in December (summer down there) and Dave has decided to go attend the wedding. Sara and I will stay home and take care of the respective animals. It will be another nice trip for Dave to go on and get some respite from taking care of his parents. He definitely needs it!