Okay, let's start with the "Photo A Day" project.  I've successfully taken and shared (multi-shared, overwhelmed, god-help-you-if-you-follow-me-in-multiple-places shared) thirteen photos; most, it seems, are of my dogs and my horse.  I think that's truly indicative of my life.  Because of this project, and the little guidelines I've given myself, I added a tab at the top of my blog to go over the "rules" and what apps I'm using.

Whoo.

So... life stuff.  My oven didn't get fixed the night he said he was coming over.  I texted him at nine to ask how much longer.  And subsequently, we've got $100 off next month's rent.  But he fixed it the next day!

Friday, I had a shit day at work.  I'm surprisingly nice to work with and go out of my way to be the best little peon I can, but I do have a pretty strong personality.  And if you piss me off, you'll hear about it.  I work with another strong personality, but she isn't as nice as I am.  (Seriously - people outside our department complain.)  We had a butting of heads and I walked in to her office while she was telling our boss that I was a smart ass.  My response?  Yes, I am.  (The general consensus is that I should take this as a compliment and that it's considerably better than being a dumb ass.  I agree.)  (Later, when asking my boss if I could get a nametag that read "Smart Ass", he asked if I was letting her words bother me.  I scoffed and replied, "Takes one to know one."  He laughed and agreed.)

Recover food:  El Guapo's infamous salsa and a giant Diet Vanilla Coke.

After the bullshit that was the rest of the day, I went directly to the barn.  Kid was pretty disgusting and I gave him a quick rub down before riding.  For whatever reason, he felt off.  The only thing I could think was that the sudden heat wave wasn't agreeable or his feet were still tender from being done on Tuesday or Wednesday or whenever that was.  So we kept it easy and mostly walked.

Failed PAD.

Because our schedules have been at the mercy of our landlord, the hubs and I hadn't made it to the gym for most of the week.  So, Saturday morning, I cooked a quick breakfast and we headed off.  I've started incorporating a new program with my routines, primarily to track what I'm doing and at what weight: Stronglift 5x5.  It came highly recommended.  The only downer is that the program only gives three exercises to do, so I add my own.  And I can't keep track of anything, so I've started writing notes in my iPhone.

After an intense arm/ab workout, we went to Logan's to eat.  I'm not a big fan of the place (except the Roadhouse Teas are phenomenal because they'll knock me on my ass), but they had sweet potatoes and I needed one.  Then it was home to veg out for a little while, until I regained arm function.

At the barn, I checked over Archie and couldn't find any issues.  So we mounted and he was amazing.  I think I figured out a trick to get him a little happier tracking right.  I'm still demanding that he do it and I'm still asking him to bend and bring that shoulder in, but now I'm adding more counterflex while we're still tracking left.  I'm still doing downward transitions and still trying to work that back, so what we did:  three laps regular trot (warm up the spine/neck?), with regular inside bend; lap to cool (hot as shit for January); two more laps trotting fifteen strides, walking a few strides, trotting fifteen at a counter-bend, walking a few, etc.; immediately canter two large laps.  Reverse and repeat.  When we started tracking right, I had a steam engine underneath me - fluid, incredibly strong, bending right.


I bathed him after our ride.  I'd pulled a disgusting tick off the underside of his chin and gopped antibacterial soap on it, so he also got a full facial scrubbing.  One of these bored days, I'll list our bathing choices.

This is a tick.  Welcome to Georgia.

Went home, covered in grossness myself, and shaved Scarlette.  She gets really hot really easily, so I've gone to a year-round shave.  The "colder" months, she gets a lion cut.  The warmer months, she gets a flower head.  She loves it.

Shaved dog on a log.

We went to dinner (pizza and beerrrrr).  Savannah ate the clippers.

I ate them.

Sunday was much of the same.  Super early lunch at Atlanta Bread Company.  Photos at the Humane Society.  It's my week for walking into conversation about me.  They were lamenting the lack of photos.  I'm the only photog, dammit, and I volunteer my time.  I spend two hours a week taking the actual photos and another editing and resizing.  One chick was proposing that they take crappy initial photos at intake, just so they have something.  I ended up photographing fifteen dogs and five cats.   When I purchased my first camera (thanks, Husband!), it came with a few filters.  I didn't know how to use them.  I've since read up on them and used the polarizer on my 18-55mm while photographing the dogs outside.  I think I got some good results, definitely better color than normal.

After photos, it was gym time.  Home to recover.  Horsie time.

Super stretchy pony.

I was super excited to jump.  Archie was less excited.  I guess he was tired from the day before and the sudden heat, but I had to really push him forward.  After adequately warming him up (no downward transitions, so I counted fifteen strides of inside bend, fifteen of outside bend to get that shoulder going), we were forward and in frame and it was fucking beautiful.  He was almost on the buckle, he was so long in the neck, but I still had contact.  And then BO chopped a large branch down across the street, landing in the bed of her truck, and spooking Archie.  It was comical.  When that head shot up, I realized how little rein I actually had.  But he was still good and immediately relaxed.  The rest of the ride was uneventful:  jumped our little jumps (though he trotted over most of them), cooled out on the trail by the meadow, and did our stretches.

True story.

Irony.