Horse Show Weekend Update

Let's start with some pictures.







Sara and Smash at the halt.





















Sallie and Moonie in their Intro A test.





















Bella and I at the halt.














Bella giving Smash some advice on the Intro A test.

Bella and I performing the Intro A test.

Sara, Sallie and I signed up for the third in the series of the Loch Moy Short Course event. To recap: I did the first one by myself and placed fifth; Sara and Sallie came with me too the second series: I came in fourth; Sallie got second; and poor Sara was eliminated during the cross country course. We found out later that Satchmo had a hurt back and was not feeling well at all. We all did the third in the series, but I was the only one who did all three. I was very lucky and placed first in my division. Sara rode another horse, Smash, and came in second in her division. Sallie had a good dressage test, but did not make it through the cross country course.

As excited as I was about placing first yesterday, I got an email from Loch Moy Farm saying I placed third overall for the series. What? Get out of town! Never did I think this would be me winning something like that.

MARC Train Update

SooOOoo, here we go, again.

Monday night: Get on the train; at some point before departure we are told the train set is one car short because the usual train set is broken down in Baltimore with no time in sight when it will be fixed. OK, we can deal with that; the train was very crowded.

Next announcement (which I knew was coming): The train is here; however, the crew for this train is going to be late because of the broken down train in Baltimore; they are at New Carrollton and will be here within 5-7 minutes. We have a golf cart at the track where they will arrvive, and it will bring them to track 7. We wait and wait and wait. Finally, at 6:16 (remember, this is a 5:51 p.m. departure) we leave Union Station. By the time I get to Dorsey it is 6:55, 25 minutes late.

Tuesday night: Get on the train; we have a full train set with 5 cars. We depart Union Station, go at a reasonable speed(we did slow down a few times, but what else is new?) to all the stops EXCEPT Dorsey. After Savage the train does a 5 MPH trek to Dorsey. No announcement why we are so slow, but we all have ideas:

1. Switch Problem
2. Signal Problem
3. Track Work
4. Freight Train in Front of Us.

We trudged along from Savage to Dorsey for 25 minutes! It should take only about 10 minutes to get to Dorsey. Again, 6:55 p.m. by the time we get to Dorsey, then there is the drive home. By the time I get home, change, eat dinner, it is almost 8:00 p.m. What a way to spend another short evening before I have to get up and go again.

The reason for the slowness? TWO FREIGHT TRAINS, NOT JUST ONE!

Oh, wait! Yesterday the train was 7 minutes early in the a.m. to Union Station, then the train home was 25 minutes late - Subtract the 7 from 25, which gives me a net time of 18 mintues on the train! It works mathematically, right? However, I think being delayed far more outweighs the times of being early. I think I'm still in the hole here regarding time on the train.

Oh, yes, I will continue to ride MARC. I am a captive audience because I know I will never drive into D.C. every day and battle the traffic on the highway and the traffic in D.C., which can become a parking lot at a moment's notice.

Good thing I can read, knit, listen to music or nap. However, sitting on the train for over an hour can be cumbersome and tiring. Many times I think I should just stay on the train because it's not that long before I have to get back on it. :)

Halloween Horse Show

Sara, Sallie and I participated in a horse show on Sunday. We were able to dress up; here's my skull and roses jacket that I wore. Unfortunately, my "Pinney" covered up the vest I had made.

Sara dressed up as Amelia Earhart.

Bella's Saddle Pad with skeleton, who lost a leg somewhere along the way. The skeleton, not Bella.

Part of the cross country course. Very pretty.

The water event.

The weather was perfect - not too hot, not too cold. We all had a great time. And we're going to do it again in two weeks. We must be gluttons for punishment.

Update

As you know, I finished the Kimono shawl a few weeks ago. Finally have pics:




































































Don't understand how this works sometimes, but anyway.........

Sara, Sallie and I are gong XC Schooling tomorrow in preparation for the show we are doing on October 31 - Halloween. In that vein, I made a skull/roses jacket that has a semi-tuxedo look to it. Also made a skeleton vest to go with and am using a skull and cross bones saddle pad for Miss Bella.

Sunday a.m. I am running a 5K - gotta keep the exercise and goals going or I'll become a blob. Fortunately, this race is at Long Gate, so I don't have far to drive and it starts fairly late - 9:00! usually these races start at 8:00, but there will be lots of the day to go afterward.

Dave is going to a wedding at the Willard Hotel tomorrow to photograph, and we are hoping that it will be a good experience for him. He is helping out another photographer, and so far some pictures will be taken at the Willard and at a few of the monuments! Dave was told he will be there from noon to midnight so he'll be quite tired on Sunday.

I have so much leave accrued that I am taking Fridays off for the next five weeks so I don't lose any of it. Today is the first day of my Fridays off, and I'm so confused. Last night I kept thinking it was Friday because I'm so used to working a five-day work week. It does feel nice not to have to have gotten up and get dressed, drive to the station, sit on the train for who knows how long, etc.

Baby blanket was completely tossed. I did not like the way it looked, so I changed patterns AND got new yarn. I'm waiting for the yarn to come in so I can start anew.

One mitten is finished for riding instructor; now, on to the task of the second one. I have cast on the second mitten, but have only a few rows of the ribbing done so far. Do you know how difficult it is to cast on, then divide the stitches onto four needles and start knitting while on the train? And someone sitting next to you keeps bumping your arm? Well, I do. It's not easy, but in the name of knitting, I persevered.

Yarn Crawl Tomorrow!

OK. I don't really need any more yarn, but it's an excuse to be with friends and have a nice day together. However.......

As you know, I was commissioned to knit a baby blanket; the pattern was great if I used only two colors as required by the pattern; I wanted to use all "baby" colors, and attempted to do each repeat in a different color. Unfortunately, only the original blue and white looked really pretty. I would have continued in just those colors, but my client wanted all pastel colors in the blanket. Looks as if I'm going to have to go to a varigated yarn that has the pastels in it, and I will have to use another pattern. Drat! But, to paraphrase those Project Runway contestants, I can't send anything to a client that I don't like. I must be true to myself as a knitter!

Riding lesson on Sunday; probably more flat work as I need that just as much as jumping. Next Saturday, the 23rd, we will be going XC schooling in preparation for the show on October 31. Sara, Sallie and I are going together for the show and XC schooling. It will be nice to have other people come with me this time.

Ran on the TM yesterday, and wore myself out! I'm still tired, but since I won't be doing any exercise until Sunday, I'm debating with myself about going to the gym today and at least getting my heart rate up today. Definitely not in the mood.

Status: Finally on the last few rounds of the first mitten for Cathy. Then, I do the thumb and then get to start the second mitten. It's a good thing I started this project back in June; it's October now and the first mitten is not even done!

Another Race Finished

Well, got up early on Saturday; drove to Hains Point in DC (took us bout an hour to get there); got my number, chatted with a few people and it was time to run! The course was the flattest course I have ever run! Apparently, my hill training on the TM has paid off! I was able to run for a quite a long time before I even thought about being tired. I ran and ran and ran; came in at 33:22; still haven't made the 30-minute 5K, but getting closer! To my surprise, I got a second place in my age age group! Dave and I met a really nice lady from OK, who was in DC with her kid's class who was sightseeing in DC. She got up on Saturday, googled if there wee any races going on, took the metro and cab to Hains Point to run while everyone else was still asleep. Kudos to her for getting up and running while on vacation.


Sunday was another early morning as Sara and I had our riding lesson. I struggled with my left bend for most of the lesson. I think I need to tie my left shoulder back so it doesn't keep moving forward! The good news is, my halts are really looking nice.

Spent the rest of the day working on my skull/roses jacket for a Halloween horse show. There is a vest that needs to be finished, but it should not take very long. Then, I'm done. After tht, back to a sweater coat I'm working on and having problems with. Oh, well, never a dull moment.

No MARC trains are running to day, so I took advantage of that and took the day off; beats having to drive to Greenbelt, catch the Green Line, transfer to the Red Line, then coming home and having to drive back up 95 to get home. Why should I pay extra to go to work? My sentiments exactly.

Semper Fi! 5K at Hains Point

Tomorrow is the first annual Semper Fi 5K fundraiser. For a race in its first year, it has done amazingly well. Over $15,000 has been raised and 350 people have signed up to run/walk the course at Hains Point. This means we have to get up early to drive to DC and get my number, etc. Sara is going to PA to run a Road Warrier race through fire! I can't wait to see the pictures from that.

Finished the shawl, blocked the shawl, now have to take a picture of the shawl to post. It is the perfect color for the person for whom it was made.

Back to the baby blanket once my pink yarn comes in. It should arrive any day now! I would like to have that done, and it is a quick knit (well, only if one follows the directions properly!).

The Christmas mitten is looking nice now that I have the right sized needles. I may never finish this one, let alone getting the second one started.