To the Moon and Back

 Gosh I love going to the quarry! It's like a weird trip to the moon or a surreal dreamscape. How many of you have ever been?! Our visits there give me the opportunity to share the joy and unusual visuals...

As you wind your way through, you experience piles of gravel, sand and quarry dust taller than your house. And weird structures where they do god knows what- creating smashed stone and asphalt. Additionally, trucks five times bigger than the average pick up whizz by and provide a sense of danger.

Oh I almost forgot to mention why we're here again. Neko the Wonder Pony's stall had been taking on water in a big way. Between torrential downpours and the frozen ground not soaking up water, quite a lot had flooded her stall on a regular basis. I had bailed it out multiple times, but was at my wit's end. And after years of cleaning the barn and several horses stomping in and out, the floor had actually been scraped down by like a good six inches. So we set off for the quarry to fetch a pile of processed stone.

You have to wait your turn! That truck is way bigger than us, so we hover until the coast is clear. Then this giant bucket loader approaches the truck and carefully lets loose 3/4 of a ton of rock into the truck bed. I'm sitting on the passenger side so I get to see the up close and personal back hoe in action. Kinda unnerving!

Yikes! Here it is approaching. But the operators are good and we're loaded and heading home...

It doesn't look like a lot once you get it home but believe me, after shoveling it out onto the wheelbarrow and pushing it into the stall, you get a much better idea of how much 3/4 of a ton is!

 

Many trips back and forth to the barn! And we returned to the quarry the next day for a second load. We sure do know how to have fun.

Here's a view of Neko's stall after the first application of stone. The center of her stall was really remarkably low. And here's the completed stall: nicely filled up after 1 and 1/2 tons of stone:

I couldn't be happier. We had rain and no water in the stall! I'm sure Neko is happy as her barn was not the high and dry refuge from inclement weather that it was supposed to be. But now it's ready for the deluges of spring...

You Learn Something New Every Day

 

So I apparently experienced something delightful called a "migraine aura". I was minding my own business, finishing up drinking coffee in the morning, and I suddenly had this truly weird visual sensation. No headache, no dizziness- nothing!- except this entirely original phenomenon that there was a disco ball's worth of odd, colorful, geometric shapes dancing in my visual field. It looked sort of like the fringe on the piece above. Hard to describe, but like overlapping translucent shifting shapes. I think the fact that they were geometric was the strangest part. All of this only lasted a couple of minutes and then it was gone.

While I thought it was a singular experience, I thought maybe it had occurred because I had some like sleep goobers in my eyes or I had looked at the window where it was much brighter and the light had scrambled my brain and eyes for a minute. I actually forgot about it for a week.

Then I had a second episode in the middle of last Sunday afternoon. Bango! I'm feeding Robin the Good and Lo! The little geometric visitors were back!! This picture captured from the Internet is actually close to what I "saw". I decided I'd better make an appointment with my eye doctors as it was really odd and pretty alarming. Once? Okay... but twice? My eyes or brain was onto something, and I've known several people who had retinal detachments so yikes!

I played phone tag with the doctor's office on Monday (gave them my cell and they called the home phone, unbeknownst to me!). But in the meantime, my sister Cathy said it sounded like migraine aura and I have to admit that was a more attractive alternative to brain tumors and retinal detachments. And the pictures and description sounded accurate. Although I've never had a migraine in my life!

So the doctors (all three of them waltzing around in my head and behind my eyes) confirmed my sister's diagnosis. They said it was unusual for it to only last a couple of minutes- typically it's more like 15 or 20minutes. (*1) They asked if I'd been hit in the head. No. Have I had sleep disturbances. Yes. Was I under any stress?!?!!??! To which I blurted out, "Half the country in under stress!!! Things have gone crazeee and who can sleep or feel normal??!?!?!" The young doctor who was administering to me at that point laughed and agreed there was plenty to be stressing about. At least he understood!!

So I'm fine; which is a good thing to be assured that you're not nuts- the whole world is nuts. I'm also really, really glad that I got the aura minus the migraine!! And- I realize this is going to sound really peculiar, but the colors and shapes and general aesthetic of the episode was kinda cool. Like if you have some weird visual anomaly or medical sensation, make it look good! (*2)

(*1.) At which I informed my doctor that if it had lasted that long, I'd probably be screaming!!! I mean it was creepy enough for only a minute or two.

(*2) And I will amend here that I actually have consciously reduced my exposure to the news and "him". We watched part of that interminable address to the Congress last night but I half watched. And we turned it off and I got a good night's sleep!! I think I need a week of sleeeeeeep! 

The Things We Do For Fun Part #7693302

The last thing I was considering doing this morning was going to get 20 bales of hay. But a quick reminder from The Weather Channel assured us that 1.) Today it's going to snow, 2.) Tomorrow it's going to rain and 3.) Monday we're supposed to get high winds... so today it was! Having fortified ourselves with coffee and breakfast, off we went.

Bob stacked the hay on the truck as a previous outing had four men throwing hay up on the truck while I furiously attempted to stack and keep track of how many bales were being flung at me. I thought my shoulder was dislocating, so I switched places with Bob. Much better!

Here's the conveyances we use to transport the hay to the hay area of our small horse barn. You will understand that because of recent snow and icing events, we can't drive down to the barn (Hahhaha! Much easier!) So... we drag them across the ice field that is our back yard.

I think this is great practice for when I'm spirited away to Siberia for dissing the current administration. Nothing like physical labor in freezing temperatures, Comrade! Anyway, Bob was able to haul two at a time (then three!!) but I stuck with one as I know my limits. In no time at all (*1), we had them transported and stacked. I have neglected to mention that we were being supported by a unique soundtrack as Robin the Good was inside the house, howling her doggy lungs out as she was sure she was missing out on all the fun. Such fun!!

Bob and I were definitely happy to be done with this chore (*2). Neko thinks we're being dramatic as she oversees us hauling and stacking. She is appreciative, but mostly just like to eat.

Note sample of hay sticking out of her mouth...

(*1) Well, it felt sorta long as it was cold and haybales weigh like 40 pounds apiece. No need for additional working out today!

(*2) A BIG thank you to my Valentine, Bob for putting in the extra effort to make sure my little pony eats and is happy. Except for plentiful manure, he doesn't get the extreme joy that I do from riding and communing with Neko.

Tootling as Rome Burns

 

Well what can one do when the Democracy you've always enjoyed is being burned to the ground by orange bullies and their twisted billionaire pals? In my case, I togged up for a chilly- but pleasant!- tootle around the lower horse field. (*1)

It was slushy and icy in places so we took it easy... no cantering But Neko seemed happy for the diversion as this winter has put a freeze (so to speak) on riding as it's been alternately 1.) really cold 2.) super windy 3.) cold and windy 4.) icy and slippery. I've had to cancel several lessons and both Neko and I are getting fat and sloppy. Neko's ears were forward for most of my time aboard; a sure sign that she was having fun.

So while not astride, I have (of course) been producing political zingers... so much fucking raw material!!!! I would have wished for a different election out come and the ability to create pieces with different subject matter. Yikes! Here's one now:

A work in progress (WIP), you will notice the edges are not finished. But this word resonates at present. (*2) They are banning books all over and editing verboten words from government publications. I just watched a video of a young woman explain how she is a teacher, reporting to the education department. She and all of her fellow teachers had been given folders with texts of issues that were to be discussed at some conference. Their folders were taken and shredded- replaced by sanitized versions. How Soviet can you get!!!

So it's back on board Neko for me. Today I'm going to the newly refurbished Peabody Museum at Yale to view bones and butterflies. It will be a nice diversion... In the meantime, here's last week's image from atop my pony:

Happy Trails to you!

(*1) My booted foot looks so funny in my shadow! It makes Neko look as if she has an oddly placed penis or a short fifth leg. 

(*2) For those that don't know, "samizdat" literally means "self-published" in Russian. It was a term used for hand copied works of forbidden writing. Lots was banned in the Soviet Union!!

Prayers for the Upcoming Future

 

Well... Happy Martin Luther King's Birthday! It's a lovely cold, sunny day and a good day to remember the lessons of Martin Luther King and all he did for the furtherance of civil rights in our country. The picture above was taken of yours truly at MassMoca (in North Adams Massachusetts) back in November. It seems appropriate that this particular installation was about the Internet as a sort of modern day place of worship. Bob and I made good at the offered shrines.

Bob preaching his heart out at the pulpit, probably praying that the election results were a bad dream...

Anyway, let's all hope we somehow survive the next four years of whatever is in store for us. Heavens help us!!

Ai yi yi yi yi

This posting was supposed to be up the other day but the computer has been... well "peculiar" and probably virally infected (avian flu??). We took it to get repaired and it rewarded us by being exactly the same when we brought it home. Yowzah. And sometimes (like right now) it works fine... I'm taking advantage of that miracle!!

So Bob and I are on the way out to shop and there was a lot of activity at the road's end. Turns out (gasp!!) lil' ol' Jeremy Swamp Road is getting a traffic light at the corner of it and Route 67! Progress comes to our neck of the woods. And although this may signal the urbanization of Jeremy Swamp Road, it's a good thing because when they fixed all that flood damage, they installed a bridge that has so many cross struts and weird accordion uprights that it's very hard to see around. Bob and I were wondering when an accident would occur. So here's another picture on our way back home...

Thar she blows! Swinging in the Jeremy Swamp breeze! It hasn't been hooked up to work yet, but it's there. Hope it works better than our blasted computer and I sure hope it has nothing to do with Frontier!!! Maybe the town officials will have a champagne-fueled installation celebration. Maybe it will help with all the melon-head wannabes that use our road as a short cut. Maybe not!

And how's this for weird?! Looks like a moon-scape. This is occurring on the other end of town. I'm not quite sure why, but there has been a big bi-partison infrastructure project to redo the exit/entrance ramp off the highway. Lots of big dirt piles and large equipment... doing something. They engineered this in such an austere way: huge barren swoops of dirt. I certainly hope the plants some native shrubs or ground covers! (And you will notice hay in the rear view mirror of Bob's truck. We were on our way home form scoring 20 bales when I shot this picture.

And it isn't the loveliest time of year, but its is the Winter Solstice for which we actually received abit of snow. We're celebrating and I hope you are too!

Catch Up!!

 

So much to catch up about! First- and most importantly- it's Robin the Good's Birthday! Hooray for Robin; yes, the bestest doggo on the whole, entire planet.I can't believe she's 10! She looks great and acts like she's still a teenager... even the vet was impressed when he saw her last week (for routine shots). Let's hope to share our world with Robin for many more years!

And as if to celebrate Robin's birthday, nature gave us the first snow of the year. Kind of a heavy, wet snow and the wind is supposed to pick up this afternoon, but it was a charming surprise this morning. Neko's hiding in the barn; my horse definitely hails from a warmer, sunnier climate originally!

Another first! My first headcold (*1) since pre-COVID! I've been gasping and honking and my nose has been sheeding copious amounts of phlegm. I had forgotten just how stupid and unpleasant an old-fashioned rhinovirus is! (*2) 

And finally... I am sure that many things have gotten in the way and prohibited me from posting but let's be honest: The outcome of the last election threw me (and plenty of other sane, reaonable and intelligent human beings) for a big ol' loop. I mean really?!?!!?!?!? And as we count down the days until the orange menace assumes the throne for the second time, I guess we should take stock of all that is important to us- including this illusive thing we call "democracy". Fully one half of our country saw fit to send him back into office (despite all the awful things he's responsible for- like COVID deaths and a dreadful January 6th insurrection (and too many others to mention here!!) because of "the economy" and "the price of eggs". Just you wait; those things will pale in comparison to the disaster about to happen. Ugh.

*1). I tested myself as Bob had been sick a few days previous to my falling ill- although his symptoms were different. We've actually never had COVID! Let's keep it that way!!

*2) But you've gotta love Bob! He saw me photographing my old kleenex in the bathroom waste paper basket and never once questioned why I'd be doing such a thing. Artists understand...