Let's start with yesterday.  And then go backwards, because that makes sense.  Right?

So the hubs left me a love note and I went off to work, all giddy and happy.  Then the man sent me flowers.

I love flowers.  Not roses.  Other flowers.  Yellow roses work, because they're different.

And then I photographed animals at the Humane Society.

Side story:  remember me briefly mentioning that I fell in love with a German Shepherd while photographing on Sunday?  Her name is Shewbert and she was an amazing example of breeding for brains and not for looks.  I had to explain to the handler about the two classes of GSD: working and show.  This is not well known, I guess.  Or I'm a nut.  Whatever.  But they classified her as a GSD mix because she doesn't look like what they expect her to look like.  I explained that she's full GSD (from what I can tell - not an expert), but that she's from the working line and not the show line.  She doesn't have the grossly sloped spine and she's petite.  She also picked up the exact cookie that I had dropped on the ground, when there were multiples.  This is a diamond in the rough and, while I'm not special and it's not special that I found her, I have to wonder if anyone else would have realized exactly what an amazing dog was just sitting in a kennel.

This is the quality photo that I give them for their website.

So my in-laws are adopting her on Saturday.  :)

Isn't SHE ADORABLE?! (Holy quad, Batman.)

After photographing, I met D at home, changed dresses, and we headed out to a quiet dinner at our favorite seafood place.  They make an awesome pasta dish for me with tons of cheese and veggies.  Then it was home to exchange gifts and eat the last of the birthday cupcakes I got him.


I mentioned wanting this watch probably six months ago.  Amazed at this man!

Back to Tuesday, at the barn.  That shit was hectic.  BM's kid was riding and the Eventer was riding and I was riding.  And we were all doing different things and trying not to bump into each other.  The Eventer's SO and kid were there, trying to get video of her riding.  You could hear loud kid yells interspersed with pony praise.  I kept my headphones in and tried to focus on my own pony without making anyone else's ride harder.

And the Davis are dying.

I was able to do some consistent two-point to get my baseline for the October kill-ourselves thing.  Surprisingly (or not?) it wasn't my calves that ended it.  It was my back.  It started screaming at me in that old spot where I have the arthritis.  Unexpected!

Not ashamed!

And here's the most interesting note that I have to end on:  the Eventer is show-crazy.  There are shows or clinics or somesuch almost every weekend or so that she wants to go to.  I sort of fuzzed out because I was still thinking about how she pulled my horse out of his pasture without my knowledge or consent so that he could calm down her horse.  Okay, I was still irrationally pissed off.  But she's looking for people to split gas with and has a trailer.  She wants some dressage trainer to come do a clinic and needs a minimum number of riders.  But all I could think is that for $85, I could have 1.5 more lessons with T3.  And that it would just confuse me.

But I did say that I would be interested in taking Archie to some shows.  I don't think he's ready to compete (me neither), but I think it'd be good to get him traveling and to school some.  Maybe take a flat class?  I've got a lesson with T3 next week; I'll bring it up.