I decided to try my hand at a little "cowboy poetry". If you don't know what that is, I'm afraid I can't help you. I don't really know either. From what I can gather, it's a very simplistic style of poetry (oh good, my favorite!), very "rhyme-y" since cowboys were largely illiterate and the rhymes helped them remember the stories, anecdotes, etc.
Anyway - I call this:
"Ode to my Mare"
A stocky mare, buckskin or bay
With lots of heart, who will try for me
A Quarter Horse type, for all the ranchin’ I’d do
Is what I wanted, ‘til I saw you
A hardscrabble grade mare of no stock to one’s knowing
All spotted and painted with too much white showing
As I headed down the hill toward your pasture, I sighed
A waste of my time was this scrawny ride
I resigned to come closer to take a good look
Slowly lifted your fly mask as my hands shook
For all the physical traits I was hoping to see
I saw in your heart how you’d try for me
The End
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Back The F&%$ OFF!!
Just kidding. Or practicing! No....kidding.
I'm not a fighter. Unless we're talking "Dance Off!", in which case I WILL....kick....your....ass.
But lookie here at my Christmas present from Santa Rob!
It's a Boker Trapperliner with a red bone handle. It has a cool one handed opening feature and all sorts of other details that sounded necessary and awesome. It's a must have for any cowgirl out on the trail. Not for protection so much (I'm afraid I might do more damage to myself than a would-be assailant), but to get out of potential sticky (stuck?) sitcheeashuns (that's 'Cowboy' for "situations"). It cuts through leather, rope, whatever we might get hung up on. Hopefully I won't have to use it, but I better practice cutting stuff just in case!
They are raw, vegan, and pretty tasty! Here is how you make them:
Combine:
3/4 Cup Old Fashioned Quaker Oats
2 Oz Chia Seeds (this is the Chia seed part!!!)
1 Oz Sesame Seeds
1/3 Cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/3 Cup Peanut Butter
1/4 Cup Flax seed Meal
1 Tbl Coconut oil
1 Tbl Agave nectar
Smush it all up, press it into a baking dish lined with plastic wrap, cover with plastic wrap and smush it down even, then put it in the freezer for two hours. Remove from freezer, flip it out of the baking dish and onto a cutting board and cut it into squares. It's supposed to make 12 servings, but they would be the size of caramel chews, so I say more like 8 servings. Enjoy!
I started Weight Watchers again this week because I love to cook and their recipes are the BOMB. Seriously, the best recipes I've made. I'm down 1.5 pounds since Sunday and I think...I KNOW...that if I can just stick with it, I will finally lose those 20 pounds that crept up on me after I quit smoking and met the love of my life! This is my year....I can feel it. : )
I'm not a fighter. Unless we're talking "Dance Off!", in which case I WILL....kick....your....ass.
But lookie here at my Christmas present from Santa Rob!
It's a Boker Trapperliner with a red bone handle. It has a cool one handed opening feature and all sorts of other details that sounded necessary and awesome. It's a must have for any cowgirl out on the trail. Not for protection so much (I'm afraid I might do more damage to myself than a would-be assailant), but to get out of potential sticky (stuck?) sitcheeashuns (that's 'Cowboy' for "situations"). It cuts through leather, rope, whatever we might get hung up on. Hopefully I won't have to use it, but I better practice cutting stuff just in case!
It's all part of the "Cowgirl Essentials" collection that I'm amassing for my complete Cowgirl transformation. There's still some other things I need. To quote Cowgirl Red (blogger), a "spanks/chaps combo" would be delightful! I could also use some jeans that come up higher than my belly button but don't look like mom jeans or the godawful armpit waisted Wranglers that the FFA kids in high school used to wear, and are still being manufactured I have noticed. Some cows would be good too I suppose.
This is what I have to work with. A shamefully muddy horse.
Don't let her crestfallen look fool you. She is extremely proud of her mud jacket. She can blend in with her surroundings and she smells like crap. No predator animals will pay her any mind.
I made the decision not to blanket my horse after doing a lot of research. She has shelter she can go into, we're in California, not Nebraska, horses can self-regulate their body temperature and blanketing them can impede their natural abilities, etc. etc. The down side is that I have a ridiculously dirty horse. But that's ok (eye roll, long suffering sigh). She deserves to be a horse.
Hey, remember how I was complaining about Chia seeds? Well, I found a way to eat them after all! Actually, I do this for my husband. I'm not much of an "energy bar" person, but Rob eats a couple of those overly processed, sugar filled, protein bars a day. So this is his new alternative!
Combine:
3/4 Cup Old Fashioned Quaker Oats
2 Oz Chia Seeds (this is the Chia seed part!!!)
1 Oz Sesame Seeds
1/3 Cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/3 Cup Peanut Butter
1/4 Cup Flax seed Meal
1 Tbl Coconut oil
1 Tbl Agave nectar
Smush it all up, press it into a baking dish lined with plastic wrap, cover with plastic wrap and smush it down even, then put it in the freezer for two hours. Remove from freezer, flip it out of the baking dish and onto a cutting board and cut it into squares. It's supposed to make 12 servings, but they would be the size of caramel chews, so I say more like 8 servings. Enjoy!
I started Weight Watchers again this week because I love to cook and their recipes are the BOMB. Seriously, the best recipes I've made. I'm down 1.5 pounds since Sunday and I think...I KNOW...that if I can just stick with it, I will finally lose those 20 pounds that crept up on me after I quit smoking and met the love of my life! This is my year....I can feel it. : )
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Happy 12/12/12!
It is a glorious day. I can fit into my fat jeans again! I actually stole that line from a friend. I love it! Let's celebrate!
Chia Seeds don't work. Well, they might if I actually ate them, but I found them to be a bit...uh...crunchy and distracting. I probably just didn't eat enough of them. Think of taking a mouthful of sugar to cure hiccups (have you tried that?) or a handful of peanuts when your mouth is already dry. That's what it's like to eat them. I even mixed them in with my yogurt and cereal. There are only so many foods you can mix them into/add them on top of. I'm just not committed enough to risk my home made Mac 'n Cheese tonight by adding them as a topping in lieu of bread crumbs!
Anyway, I'm in one of those moods where I have a love/hate relationship with my body. My Neanderthal brain is trying to high five me for setting myself up to survive the winter and attract my mate with my ample and obvious "health". I don't hate it. I feel like I'm supposed to hate being this size, but I don't want to.
My modern brain is another story! It's not being very helpful, in fact it's being downright hurtful.
You wouldn't believe some of the things I catch myself saying to myself when I pay attention (I can only imagine what I say to myself when I'm NOT paying attention!). I'm beginning to suspect some trickery and high jinks. I really wish I knew where those feelings of anger, disgust, and inadequacy stem from. I really like Neanderthal brain. Much nicer!
So let me think on that for a while....
My horse doesn't care! : )
Speaking of my horse (really smooth transition, I know) I sure picked a challenging one! She's emotional and sensitive, and very good at expressing herself (and because she's a horse, she really doesn't care if it hurts my feelings). When I show up, halter in hand, she turns and walks the other way a few steps (at least she only goes a few steps). But if we're going out on a trail ride, I swear it looks like she's watching me hitch up the trailer and she waits for me in her stall (no walking away!). It's weird. FYI - horses don't generally like trailer rides like dogs like car rides, and they don't like to be away from their familiar surroundings and horse/herd friends either.
When I try to work her in the arena, we don't really see eye to eye a lot of the time. She has moments of brilliance, which give me hope, followed by days of complete sullenness that leave me frustrated. On days that are more mediocre, she cooperates somewhat (because I've worn her down, probably!) but she's got one eye on the gate and tries to hurry through our schooling session so that it will be over.
I can't really blame her. She's had 5 owners in the past 7 years, not by any fault of her own. She's not a bad horse, not a problem horse. She's had good, kind owners. I don't know of any abuse in her past. She just hasn't had a whole lot of consistency. We're coming along, but horse time is much slower than human time. As much as I appreciate the advice and help of well meaning horse friends, it really is our own journey to travel together. We'll figure things out. I have no problem taking the long and hard way. I don't know when we'll have that "magical bond" that happens between horse and rider. I see a glimmer from time to time....like when she comes to me while I clean her stall just to say hello and get a scratch (I have to be careful not to love on her too much or she freaks out and goes away!), or when we're out on the trail, just the two of us, and I can feel her relax underneath me and we both seem to move into the same, slow, time-zone for a while.
I had my last horse for 25 years, and I'm pretty sure we didn't have that bond after just one year, maybe not even after 10! I can't tell you when it happened. Maybe it was the day she died and she tried to stay with me because I was so sad. It's different with every horse and human. I have a feeling Maddie is going to really make me work for it, which is just fine with me. I'm here to stay, Baby Girl!
Chia Seeds don't work. Well, they might if I actually ate them, but I found them to be a bit...uh...crunchy and distracting. I probably just didn't eat enough of them. Think of taking a mouthful of sugar to cure hiccups (have you tried that?) or a handful of peanuts when your mouth is already dry. That's what it's like to eat them. I even mixed them in with my yogurt and cereal. There are only so many foods you can mix them into/add them on top of. I'm just not committed enough to risk my home made Mac 'n Cheese tonight by adding them as a topping in lieu of bread crumbs!
Anyway, I'm in one of those moods where I have a love/hate relationship with my body. My Neanderthal brain is trying to high five me for setting myself up to survive the winter and attract my mate with my ample and obvious "health". I don't hate it. I feel like I'm supposed to hate being this size, but I don't want to.
My modern brain is another story! It's not being very helpful, in fact it's being downright hurtful.
You wouldn't believe some of the things I catch myself saying to myself when I pay attention (I can only imagine what I say to myself when I'm NOT paying attention!). I'm beginning to suspect some trickery and high jinks. I really wish I knew where those feelings of anger, disgust, and inadequacy stem from. I really like Neanderthal brain. Much nicer!
So let me think on that for a while....
My horse doesn't care! : )
Speaking of my horse (really smooth transition, I know) I sure picked a challenging one! She's emotional and sensitive, and very good at expressing herself (and because she's a horse, she really doesn't care if it hurts my feelings). When I show up, halter in hand, she turns and walks the other way a few steps (at least she only goes a few steps). But if we're going out on a trail ride, I swear it looks like she's watching me hitch up the trailer and she waits for me in her stall (no walking away!). It's weird. FYI - horses don't generally like trailer rides like dogs like car rides, and they don't like to be away from their familiar surroundings and horse/herd friends either.
When I try to work her in the arena, we don't really see eye to eye a lot of the time. She has moments of brilliance, which give me hope, followed by days of complete sullenness that leave me frustrated. On days that are more mediocre, she cooperates somewhat (because I've worn her down, probably!) but she's got one eye on the gate and tries to hurry through our schooling session so that it will be over.
I can't really blame her. She's had 5 owners in the past 7 years, not by any fault of her own. She's not a bad horse, not a problem horse. She's had good, kind owners. I don't know of any abuse in her past. She just hasn't had a whole lot of consistency. We're coming along, but horse time is much slower than human time. As much as I appreciate the advice and help of well meaning horse friends, it really is our own journey to travel together. We'll figure things out. I have no problem taking the long and hard way. I don't know when we'll have that "magical bond" that happens between horse and rider. I see a glimmer from time to time....like when she comes to me while I clean her stall just to say hello and get a scratch (I have to be careful not to love on her too much or she freaks out and goes away!), or when we're out on the trail, just the two of us, and I can feel her relax underneath me and we both seem to move into the same, slow, time-zone for a while.
I had my last horse for 25 years, and I'm pretty sure we didn't have that bond after just one year, maybe not even after 10! I can't tell you when it happened. Maybe it was the day she died and she tried to stay with me because I was so sad. It's different with every horse and human. I have a feeling Maddie is going to really make me work for it, which is just fine with me. I'm here to stay, Baby Girl!
