Been A While

I still can't believe it's been more than a year since Fox and I last went riding. We got a late reservation this time, the latest we've ever been out. We got there early for our 1600 scheduled ride, but the group was fourteen people so it took time to get us all set. I believe this was also the largest group we've ridden with. There were only two guides and I think they could have used a third in the middle of the column. We had to stop a few times to let the straggler and rear guide catch up.

I rode Mango, an amazingly light-colored chestnut mare. Her mane and tail were that bright fiery red color like Renée O'Connor's hair. Mango was a fitting name. She was a mellow enough horse, but she really hated walking in the mud. She would walk next to the trail (you know, where the trees are) to avoid walking in the mud.

Fox rode Dancer, a lovely cream-colored horse with a black patch on her face and intense blue eyes. Dance was good at following Mango, and didn't seem to mind so much when Mango broke the line and picked her own way around the mud.

There were more than a few people who seemed to claim to have more riding experience than they did. Either that, or more than one horse in the column who didn't like the mud!

We've been to this stable three times previously, but this was the first time we went through water. We crossed the stream and then spent a good time walking back through the stream. It was a hot day, and the last ride of the day so the horses were tired, so I bet the walk through the water was nice. Mango didn't seem to mind the water where she hated the mud. Dancer pranced through it, splashing my back as she went.

I had so much fun yesterday and I'm so glad we got the chance to ride. I think my roommates are up for going too, so hopefully it won't be so long between rides again.

That's Not Fair

Fox and I are going riding this afternoon. This will be my sixth ride, his eighth. The thing that isn't fair is that it's been more than a year since we last rode.

I'm glad I affirmed that, of all the things we could be doing, I really wanted to ride today! That's just too long!

If I Only Had a Brain

I support nuclear power. It's usually very safe, it's usually very clean. Sure, there's that tiny bit of a really big problem when something goes wrong, and the waste it produces needs to go somewhere, but otherwise, it's one of the most efficient and safest ways of generating valuable power.

There is a nuclear power station in Maryland, not fifty miles from my parents' house. It's innovative, it's advanced. It was the first facility to be granted an extension on their operation license since the disaster at Three Mile Island in '79.

Apparently some genius in the company that owns the plant at Calvert Cliffs decided to make use of the vast, secured, forested land that is part of the grounds of the facility by opening - wait for it - a firing range. Firing. As in guns. With bullets. WTF with me in 3... 2... WTF?!?!?!?!

The Washington Post reported yesterday that five bullets were shot in the direction of the plant, which each hit a few buildings and someone's car. The article said that people "usually shoot away from the plant" but for some reason someone was...pointing the wrong way? Wait, what??

Granted, it would take a lot of bullets traveling through quite a few obstacles to be a problem for the reactors, but come on! What idiot thought that would be a good idea?! Seriously, just the potential for "oops" should be enough to make anyone with two neurons to rub together in their grey matter think it was a bad idea.

People. Really.

A New Blog

Like I need another.

I'm finding myself in a very difficult situation, dear blog readers. I've started a new blog for it. It's enough that it must go in its own place, to help catalogue this leg of my life journey. And I need it to be separate from here.

It's been on my mind a lot lately, and I feel there is no outlet other than this.

I tell you about it with one request if you should go to look at it, and you must remember this always and in your dealings with all people: Please don't judge me by the actions of my friends.

I will do the same.

http://shackledlife.blogspot.com/

Nostalgia

In my bedroom at my parents' house (and if I were there, I'd be holding it now) is a small blue plastic bookmark with an owl on it. It's one of the kind that is like a money clip, meant to clip a section of pages. I don't think I ever actually used it as a bookmark, but it was a treasure. I found it in a Cracker Jack box.

Who remembers with me when Cracker Jack prizes were neat or fun little toys? I mean, I like baseball as much as the next fan of a perpetually losing team (I shouldn't say that, there was a game-winning grand slam on Sunday, after all), and I understand that baseball and Cracker Jacks are forever entwined, but I remember when Cracker Jack prizes were good.

Now, they're pieces of paper. Sure, there were pieces of paper before (baseball cards, anyone?), but there were also durable, plastic toys that could actually serve a fun purpose. I still have that bookmark, more than twenty years later, it was the best Cracker Jack prize I ever got. Now, I get a glossy piece of paper with a team logo on it. Whoop-de-friggin-do.

I lament that they stopped putting plastic rings in Cracker Jack boxes long before I ever found one. Even now, every now and then, I'll buy a three-pack of Cracker Jacks and hope they've gone back to actually putting toys in the boxes like they used to. They haven't. The Cracker Jack, while still yummy, has lost the magic that many urban legends are built upon. Children today will never know the joy of opening that little package and finding something wonderful, like a blue plastic bookmark with an owl on it. Or a plastic ring. And they won't understand the pop culture references that haven't died down even though such things are no such things anymore. Sad times.

Early

I left work early because I'm still feeling crappy. I had a nice nap, some meaty dinner, a glass of cough-syrup flavored brandy and some unicorn fart tequila.

I better sleep well tonight.

Memorial

I live my life the way I want to because there are people whose names I will never know and who don't know mine who work, and die, to give me that right. It is a debt I could never repay.

With thoughts, I bless them.

With love, I keep them.

With living, I honor them.

To all who serve, have served, or will serve, like my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather: be bold, be true, be blessed. Know you have my love.

Too Much

I met my mother for brunch this morning. We went to this lovely little place that looks like a hole in the wall but serves the best Irish food this side of the Atlantic. It was great, just as it always is. And more food in one sitting than I've had in the past three days.

I'm feeling amazingly better. There's still some fluid in my head that shouldn't be there, but I'm better. A stomach full of soda bread and shepherd's pie didn't quite help, though.

It's ok. I was all better after a two hour nap. We're going to kayak tomorrow. I'll take it easy. I promise.

Sleep All Day

That's all I want to do.

Many Things

There are so many things going through my mind right now. I'm too sick to repeat them anywhere near concisely.

If I can get all my work done, I only have to be here until 12:30. I hope I can. I want to sleep.