Character names

I'm trying to decide on a name for a character in a piece of fiction I have been working on... and I've come up with a few choices that are bearable... it's hard, because I've been calling her something else for so long that everything else seems wrong.

So here are the choices. If you read this, can you help me decide? I put her current name in as well... if you know what it is, maybe try to pick something else? If you don't know what it is and that's the name that get's the most attention, perhaps it's meant to be.

Muiel
Cadwyn
Lilith
Meridith
Morgaine
Wynnifred

And, I'm sorry... I'd give you more details on the character, except that I'm already horrible about following up on this project and the pressure would become intolerable :) I swear I will finish it and at that time, you'll understand more.

Tag in the snow

Here's the cutest dog in the world experiencing snow for the first time. :)



Isn't he so cute?

Bad book reviews

No time for a long post today, but in lieu of that, I thought I'd leave you with this little gem of an article from Salon.com

All I have to say is... "COME ON, people!"

It's late

It's late. I should be in bed... I have an early start in the morning. But I can't bring myself to break the magic that is my living room at the moment.

In one corner, the squirrely orange kitty twirs and darts up and down his cat condo, lost in his own frenzied imagination. His sister crouches under the fish tank, watching the orange kitten antics and waiting for her moment to pounce.

The more civilized elder kitties have taken up their respective posts. Gray nameless kitty is cozied up on the red chair cleaning herself and occasionally glancing up to see what nonsense the young ones are up to. Now she's staring at me and wheezing a little bit (probably from eating too much fuzz earlier today).

On the back of the couch next to my right shoulder, my lovely tuxedoed companion is curled and squeezing his eyes shut. He's pretending he isn't interested in the kitten antics either, but we all know he is paying very close attention. He's been with me the longest of all of the furry critters in this house. He's my sweet Bangs.

To my left lies the best dog you will ever meet... my Tag. He's been crashed out on the couch with his head hanging off the side for about an hour and a half now... Noah went to bed a while ago, but Tag sticks by me. I love this dog. He's so cozy and affectionate. He checks in every now and again, flipping his head up and grunting lazily.

In a moment I'll go to bed, too, and break this magic moment, but here I am surrounded by all my animals... and I am content.

This week at the barn

So, we've been furloughed since Wednesday. That means extra time for me to do the fun things I always hold a grudge against work for keeping me from. I've been busy!

Monday evening is my usual night to ride Watson for practice. So as usual, I went to the barn and Debbie was there teaching a small child a riding lesson (so cute)... and I went to pull out the old boy and tack up... except that Watson was missing his front right shoe. Bummer... that's the third time in 2 months he's pulled off his shoe. Debbie was not pleased. Nor was I as I was likely to lose my ride that evening and I need to maintain a steady schedule if I'm going to work through my nonsense anxiety, etc. Luckily, I didn't have to go home without climbing up... but all W and I got to do was walk around for 40 minutes. At least he got out and stretched.

Yesterday was day 1 of furlough time. I did NOT go to the barn to ride. I stopped by to unblanket some horses for a friend and then Noah, Tag and I headed for the coast. We went to Dillon Beach by Bodega Bay. (Cue lovely photos)











Today, day 2 of furlough, I spent at the barn. I watched W in a lesson with another rider, watched Debbie have a lesson, then came back in the afternoon and rode HoneyBee, an appendix Quarter horse. Debbie needed to work her and her own horse, Diego... so after I warmed up Bee, Debbie let me get on Diego, her gigantic thoroughbred gelding. All I did was sit there on Diego, and concentrate on breathing and not moving my leg AT ALL. Diego took me all around the arena at a walk that leaves Watson in the dust!

Truth be told, I'm a little scared of Diego. He's stepped on me before and it hurt. My toe was purple for a week. And getting on his back didn't make me complacent... he can't step on me from there, but he could break my neck... still... riding him, even so basically, was encouraging. I didn't die, didn't fall off, and didn't go rocketing off into the great beyond. Whee!

Tomorrow we're going to look at a new horse that may be coming to stay with us at WC and be used for lessons. Furlough = More barn time!!

Horses, dogs, and sheep oh my!

It's been a jam packed weekend, as usual. I'll start with Saturday...

I rode in a lesson on Saturday without Leslie :*( because she is in LA for spring break this week. Miss you Leslie. Debbie and I talked a lot about elbows and hands... I am having trouble freezing my elbows and not being flexible enough. This is likely because I find myself clenching to try and ward off Watson's head disappearing act (where he throws his head between his knees and trundles off to who knows where... very hard to stop him when this happens). So I went around in circles working on changing my posting diagonal and keeping my elbows FLEXIBLE.

After that we worked on a mini course with some poles and a couple of cross rail jumps. Debbie says I should ride in the cross rail class at the show at the end of May... so the challenge for me now is to see how many obstacles I can make it through before I lose my head (or Watson's). The more obstacles we do the more excited Watson is about them and the more likely he is to act up. And so I clench... and so Debbie yells at me.

Truthfully, Watson isn't going anywhere very quickly... it just feels like he is, like I can't control him... something mental is going on with me and I have to keep working on it to get it out. So the lesson today was a successful one. I learned, have more to practice, and didn't freak out.

I did miss Leslie.

In other news, Tag got to have a go at being a sheep herding dog today. Collies were bred originally to herd sheep in Scotland. They don't all have the instinct however, and so we took Tag to Performance Dogs In Action where he could have the experience in a controlled environment.





It went fairly well, all things considered. I don't think Tag is a motivated herder. He didn't try to KILL the sheep... which is a good thing... and he was mildly interested, but when he was rebuffed by the trainer for chasing the sheep, he quickly lost interest. Not his idea of fun, apparently.





It was well worth the experience, though. Now we know how he will do... maybe down the road he'll change his mind, but for now I'm going to focus on building our relationship in other ways.

A flash of inspiration

I had a wild moment of inspiration last evening and went out and bought a 100 pack of markers... It seems like a lot, but they are pretty distinct shades of color, and it cost relatively little...

Anyhow, this is what I got out of it... it's called Middaydreaming... inspired by the work of my good friend Scotty Voyles... a true artistic master.