detour: Point Reyes

road trip!

On the day the world stopped I was on an anniversary road trip. Literally it was announced that the county I was in was shut down right after we checked into our cabin (here in Nor Cal that was March 16). So, no going out for that anniversary dinner, we got a few extra supplies at the grocery store and tucked into our cozy retreat for a couple days.

iconic much photographed launch

The parks and beaches weren't closed (they would be in a week), but everyone was home. It was a strange ghost-town feel. During the week Point Reyes is pretty quiet anyway, but it was eerie…and awesome for this introvert, who thinks someone on the beach 100 feet from me is too close!

new to me, yeah!

I had a good book, but there is too much to explore. The roads are rough in Point Reyes, but this was a first road trip for my new-to-me car! The exact same car I had, just 17 years newer! So many "fancy" features, like syncing your phone to the stereo, nice! Other than that, it is much the same (literally, it is still silver, with a sunroof and seat heaters, my main desires, but without a funky transmission, yeah!)

empty beaches

sand reflecting clouds

wind and sand create art

riders (how fun, but please wear helmets!)

Empty beaches beckoned, a brief morning walk along the beach turned into 5 miles of beach walking (that my legs felt the next day!), but we also sat in the sand to eat a picnic lunch and just enjoyed the quiet (as we would any other time, just with a hint of worry behind it this time).

sea pearls treasure

aliens among us

sea stars await dinner

One afternoon the tide was negative (I always use my tides app, so handy!) and I love exploring tidepools. I caught a few hermit crabs but mostly tried not to fall in and be cut by the sharp mussels while taking precarious pictures!

poppy path

the huge National Register of Historic Places barn

lichen on old fence

Out on the peninsula is the Pierce Point Ranch and tule elk reserve. We hiked the narrow trail down to the beach, and also around the historic hay barn, an immense structure, 65 by 180 feet, it was a 300 stall dairy barn! The elk are contained in this peninsula since their reintroduction, but there certainly seem to be a lot. A huge herd were all by the roadside, and I was just watching them from right outside the car when they all decided it was dinner time on the other side of the road! It was awesome to watch them streaming across the road, clattering hooves.

just quietly watching the herd

It was a strange vacation, and it seems so very long ago. But I know we'll be back, because sometimes there is something about a place, and this is one of those places.

monday moment: purple

on my own two feet for a lupine picnic

out among the rocks and lupine

There are years with wildflowers, and then there are lupine years. This year is LUPINE in all caps year for sure!

the best purple field

Seems like every 3 or 4 years is a banner year, and we were able to go out and ride just as it got wonderful. This year the biggest fields were in a different location, but still amazing. Major had to put up with standing still while I took photos too many times to count.

the annoyed to be stopping again ears

I enjoy the purple, he wants to go home, that way

It is a time so fleeting, and now the flowers are fading, seed pods abundant. On to the next season.

fading flowers and rising lake

coping

Though I am working, and riding, these times are still unsettling.

To keep my brain occupied I’ve done crafts, and house projects, and I never turn on the TV (and very little social media). But when I feel overwhelmed I turn to the one activity I can always lose myself in…reading.

my reading corner, winter/spring 2020

My entire family reads voraciously, and always have. After chores for the weekend were done you could find each of us in a favorite spot with a book. Many discussions were had over the merits of characters or places in books that we all read. I have never left that behind, and the last two months have found me in my corner “library” chair, devouring many books. I’ve been reading new-to-me books, that I usually buy at the used book store or thrift store. But with all being closed I’m now digging into the old favorites too. I like the feel of actual books, no electronic books for me. I recently purged my library, and left myself with just ones I’ll read again, but luckily that is a lot!

I keep a running list on my phone with title, author and letter grade of everything I read (helps me when buying new books!). Here is what I’ve read in the last two months with very brief description/opinion. Have you read any of these, love or hate them? Anything sound interesting?

3/16/20: Heaven's Fall, David Goyer and Michael Cassutt, B
Final book in this decent sci-fi trilogy, not amazing but easy read.

3/18/20: The Enceladus Mission, Brandon Morris, C+
Concept and science good, but hated all the characters

3/19/20: Isaac’s Storm, Erik Larson, B
True story of a horrible natural disaster (1905 Galveston Texas hurricane), and the meteorologist who made some bad decisions

3/19/20: Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt, A
Classic of children’s literature, I still love it.

3/20/20: Orphan Train, Christina baker Kline, A-
An interesting fictional look into a true story I’d never heard of (orphans, many Irish, from cities being distributed throughout the midwest and adopted into servitude)

3/21/20: Alaskan Laundry, Brendan Jones, B-
Standard fiction, predicable plot, dumb predictable ending

3/22/20: A Million Open Doors, John Barnes, A
Love most of John Barnes sci-fi, this is different but very good.

3/24/20: Earth Made of Glass, John Barnes, B+
Sequel to the above, not as good, but pretty decent

3/27/20: Midworld, Alan dean Foster, A (re-read)
My all-time favorite light sci-fi book. If you’ve seen Avatar, this is where the ideas came from (and this is way better).

3/29/20: Seeds of Earth, Michael Cobley (first in humanity’s fire trilogy), C
I liked the premise of this sci-fi book better than the execution, don’t think I’ll read the rest of the series.

4/1/20: Robopocalypse, Daniel Wilson, B
Quick read and entertaining

4/5/29: Drowning Towers, George Turner, A
Loved this alternative future, seems scarily realistic

4/7/20: Tides of Light, Gregory Benford, B
Sci-fi, 4th in a series, interesting ideas, didn’t like it as well as the previous books.

4/10/20: The Nebula Awards 28, B
Mostly good, solid short stories

4/13/20: Insane City, Dave Barry, B
Silly as only Dave Barry can be, entertaining

4/17/20: The Lost City of Z, David Grann, A-
Amazing true story of crazy south American/Amazon adventuring (don’t watch the movie, not half as good as the book)

4/18/20: Eternity Road, Jack McDevitt, B+ (re-read)
Apocalyptic future, entertaining, needed a horse person to help him, as one horse is described as a "chestnut gray."

4/19/20: The Last Policeman, Ben Winters, A (re-read)
4/20/20: Countdown City, Ben Winters, A (re-read)
4/22/20: World of Trouble, Ben Winters, A (re-read)
World-is-ending mystery trilogy, great read, Edgar-winning, but maybe not the best for right now, a bit depressing

4/24/20: The Stars My Destination, Alfred bester, B
Vintage sci-fi, a bit weird

well worn and well loved favorites

4/26–now, on the last book:  (re-read)
Farseer Trilogy: Assassin’s Apprentice, Royal Assassin, Assassin’s Quest
Tawny Man trilogy: Fool’s Errand, Golden Fool, Fool’s Fate
Fitz and Fool trilogy: Fool’s Assassin, Fool’s Quest, Assassin’s Fate
Robin Robb, A
This is my favorite fantasy series, I re-read this every few years. Great characters, world-building, and animals too. (There are 7 other books in the series, which you have to read before the final trilogy, but I've read them all enough to just read my favorites!)

What are you reading? Or how are you coping?

Jack keeps me company in the other library chair

17th birthday!

not 17 carrots, only 2.5

anticipation

oh boy, carrots on grass, pretty great!

Happy 17th birthday to Major! Still going strong, and being mightily annoyed by his hat.

the carrots almost make the hat worth it

are there any more down here?

This year his present is carrots.  He didn't need anything else, and they're his favorites anyway (or apples, or treats, he really can't decide!). He thought there should be 17 of them, sorry to disappoint you buddy.

what's that? oh, just a bike.

can you pose and not have a weird angle and giant head?

no, i'm done with posing, nap time now.

Every year I keep thinking he will "grow up" and behave um, more adult, slower maybe? But then he doesn't, and I think I'm glad, it is just his nature, not his age.

Justice: you look dumb in that hat. Major: Well, you look dumb in your fly mask!

Here is to another year of silliness, exploring and adventures!

as long as there is grass too…

organize it

The vet clinic had rightly fully cancelled our stables vaccine clinic, which was scheduled right in the middle of March. They needed to assess protocols, evaluate what was important, etc. I was a bit worried because mosquitos are already out in force, but they know best and humans come first! They rescheduled with some tight parameters: only the barn owner would get and hold horses, most people did not need to be there.

Except for tricky Major. My delicate flower needs to be watched all day, as every single year he has had a reaction. They are milder now that we have a better protocol, but I still like to keep an eye on him.

So Major went first, I tied him and left the area, the vet (my favorite one!) walked up and gave Major what he needed this year, very minimal! And no IV banamine. For a few years that had really helped…but then it gave him ulcers. The vet laughed at that memory, how difficult can you be Major?! He did a quick assessment on Major and noted his weight was about 1050 (that is what not riding gets us!). (Note: if you do a few simple things with this clinic including dental, basic health exam, vaccines and fecal test, you get the colic protection plan, worth $5000, and other benefits.)

The vet stepped away, I untied Major and put him back in his pasture to finish breakfast. Now I had about six hours to kill, and needed to stay out of the way of the barn and vet. What to do…it would have been more fun to sit in the wood chair under the oak tree and just listen to the horses chew their breakfasts (I did that for a bit) but then I started my yearly chore: clean my trailer.

Major judging all my his stuff

Now the trailer has not gone anywhere for a month (nor it is planning too), but a year of grime had definitely built up inside. How does that much dust make it into even the corner behind piles of buckets? Of yeah, because horses and everything about them (ride camps, staging areas, tack) is dusty!

I started by just emptying most of the stuff out, having a keep pile, toss pile and donate pile. I was a bit more ruthless than in previous years, because if I haven’t used that green beta halter-bridle that I bought at the tack sale ten years ago maybe I don’t need it! A few other things resembled that: a thin girth Major doesn’t like, four soaking boots (they can live at home), a glue gun for a product that isn’t made anymore…

much neater, the floor is not gray dust!

I went to check on Major, he was done eating breakfast, but I took him out to eat some grass, good for the digestion I say. I kept an eagle eye on him, which he was mostly annoyed at, but he seemed ok, temp normal.

I'm fine mom, don't bother me, I'm eating

So back to work, and it took quite a while to wipe out all the dust (and cobwebs, and flyspecks!), and I finally re-organized my larger shelves: blankets/coolers, tarps/rope/safety, fly masks/towels. My smaller shelves are trailer needs (high-ties/ropes), and bathing stuff (sponges/soaps).

and found Major's birthday hat, soon to be used!

oh so organized…for now…

Went to check on Major again, oh great, now he’s laying down. Worried, but it was just a morning nap, whew! I finished my trailer chores, glad to have gotten that accomplished, and headed home. I checked on Major again that night (a bit stiff) and the next day (subdued and a little stiff, but eating grass and normal temp). Though I feel bad because some banamine might have made him feel bit better, I don’t think the ulcers are worth it in this case (mild reaction).

on the left, portable battery fan, been great this winter to keep mold away!

So we’re all dressed up with no where to go, but that’s ok. When we do finally travel somewhere it’ll be great!

seriously, I'm fine, can't you just let me eat without staring?

d.i.y.: beaded horseshoe

I’d been working on cleaning the house, organizing closets, doing my regular work, and was getting burned out. I needed a craft!

In organizing my shed I randomly found about 10 horseshoes I’d collected over the years. Four were from my first horse, the rest were random finds. Though Major may be barefoot, I’ve nothing against this traditional horse accessory, and figured to make the most of it! I looked at a couple ideas online, but most were too gaudy for me. Then I did what I usually do: wing it.

gather all the stuff (and more!)

get the worse of the rust/dirt off (leave some for character if you like that!)

First, gather all the stuff, though this is a pretty basic project. Horseshoes, wire, beads of any sort, sandpaper/steel wool to clean up the shoes (if they are as dirty as the ones I had!). Not pictured: I did use a nail and hammer to push out the leftover bits of nail rusted into the holes, you want the horseshoe nail holes available when beading!

beads and estimated placement

The next part of fun: figure out the beads you want to use. My sophisticated bead layout device (plastic food storage top) was very handy, about the shape of a horseshoe and easy to see to many I needed (FYI: I did overestimate).

sometimes easier to take the wire to the beads (rather than try to pick up tiny, tiny beads!)

begin wrapping by inserting wire through horseshoe nail hole

continue by weaving up and down and back till filled

The wire I found worked best was some 28 gauge craft wire. There are few pictures of my process (since I only have two hands, sorry!), but I’d wire some beads, enough for between 2 holes (about 3/4 inch), then go down one hole and up the next, wire some beads, repeat, sometimes backtracking to fill a gap. The back of the horseshoe has wires twisting around and about (and no beads), but when complete I wrapped them and trimmed the wire, making sure the wire end was not going to stab someone. You could also wrap wire around the shoe, but it was too much for me, I preferred the simple look.

completed (just add hanger!)

I did like my addition of some letter beads. I could only spell things for letters I already had, which was limited, but I think they worked. I added a rusted chain hanger for some and a ribbon hanger for another. Those connect to the excess wire in the back of the shoe.

the four horsemen horseshoes of the apocalypse

This was fun, cute project, that I’d love to share! In the summer (hopefully) when stay-at-home gets lifted and I feel like going out, I’d love to mail these off to anyone who wants them (I’ll also be donating to the organization I belong to that has a horsey raffle). I hope this simple little project inspires someone to create!

brave, luck, bold and trust

monday moment: vintage

While organizing my feed storage space, I re-found this old wallboard panel in the garage. When remodeling my house we cut this out and saved it, because how epic is this bucking horse and cowboy paper?

vintage wallpaper

I love the details: bucking horse, roping a calf, wrestling a steer, some branding marks, riding the bronco, even a fancy sheriff star.

love this bronco detail

This was behind 70s paneling, in a closet, behind an installed dresser. That part of my house was built in the late 1930s, but this looks more like 50s maybe? I’d like to meet the kid who had this in their room…

my favorite detail