New Family Additions

I love playing in the dirt.

Last year, I started a raised garden with my brother; we have 4 boxes situated on our south side of the property. While it's not a lot for a hard core gardener, it was a good start for us when we decided to undertake the task of growing some of our own food.

I've had gardens in the past. My parents supported our first garden attempt in a corner where the morning sun was warm and wonderful. We grew beans, peas, eggplant, tomatoes and a futile attempt at lettuce. It was an enjoyable project when I was younger but as life goes, things come up and that went on hold.

When my brother and I decided to undertake the garden, we visited the Home Show and met some garden guys who specialized in a) duck poop tri-mix and b) a new discovery: worm castings. I always knew that worms are good for your garden since they aerate and eat the dead stuff but I didn't realize that their poop is even better. In fact, people do a special kind of composting called vermicomposting. This got me thinking that I could do this at home; afterall, worm food is practically free. So, I bought a pound of red worms to help me with the home composting since we have a lot of kitchen scraps.

My mom wasn't too keen on the idea at first so I was surprised when she told me she added stuff this evening. I've had some trouble keeping pets that are not of a mammalian background so this will prove to be an interesting and challenging endeavour.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I've been channelling Tardar Sauce since snowmaggedon when I missed my riding lesson.

Un-Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!

A Whole Lot of Heart, in "Bell Bottoms"

Some of you might have spent your lunch hour today, talking with your buddies about the Super Bowl and how the game went (I don't know how it went since I don't follow!) or you watched the half-time show anticipating a wardrobe malfunction or even sat through every single commercial because let's face it, this is the one time that people will plan to be seated the entire game--even through the commercials.

Many large companies invest a lot of money and efforts to create the perfect 60 or so seconds for possibly the biggest audience during the year. My pop culture maven, Amber, was naturally watching or at least catching up on some of the highlights of the evening and sent me the commercial for Buddweiser this year. I found the extended version and cried my eyes out some more.

I've always had an affection for these gentle giants who look like they're wearing retro bell bottoms. I immediately thought of Bonnie and all the antics she's pulled on me in the last little while. Riding her has been challenging but it's probably some of the most fun I have during lessons since she's got such a sassy streak in her!

I checked out Twitter responses about the commercial and while I was touched at comments like, "I was drinking Buddweiser and then I see that... how does a man not get humid in the eyes??? Only natural", I am now intrigued with helping name the new little guy! Actually... they didn't mention if the foal was male or female. You can betcha I'll be thinking about names too!

Which Simpsons Character Are You?

At my workplace, there are employee affinity networks--similar to the clubs you had in high school. These groups have a common theme that unite them and members get together to throw events, work on career development or just provide informational workshops. While each network is open to all employees, they typically target specific groups. I took advantage of a network's recent career development workshop about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

The MBTI testing is essentially a questionnaire, used to determine basic personality types based on psychological studies done by psychologist Carl Jung; further extrapolated by a mother-daughter team: Myers-Briggs. The full assessment can take a full day to complete, if you're having it done by an accredited consultant but we got the condensed version.

There are 4 quadrants which are reviewed by participants:
1. energy
2. attention
3. decision making
4. lifestyle

Each quadrant has 2 choices which you tick and bop the descriptions closest to what you'd likely respond. From there, you will end up with 4 different letters--one from each quadrant.

My outcome is revealed as an Introvert-iNtuiting-Thinking-Judger. This doesn't mean a lot for most people who might think, "judger???" Well, to put things into context, someone has managed to MBTI various Simpsons characters. Guess who's the identified INTJ?

 

The Simpsons Myers-Briggs Test from Lina Trullinger

If you're interested to take a super condensed version of the MBTI to determine your Simpsons' character, check out this link. Remember to go with your first instinct.

Lesson #16: Progress

The weather held out beautifully tonight. It was a wonderful evening that was cold, but not snowy blizzardy or rainy! We arrived early and settled ourselves in. I'm riding Bonnie tonight and because we're early, she's waiting to be tacked up. While she's waiting, she's constantly looking for a snack from me and she's nosey-ing around my jacket and trying to nuzzle into my pockets. What a pig!

I tacked up Bonnie (yippie!) and notice that she's much more restless and lively than I've seen her in the past. I feel this might be a challenge tonight... after all, remember she has a tendency to do her own things when she feels like it; and unless you're firm with her, she'll take over.

She's a no muss no fuss kind of gal and I like that about her. Sassy and full of spirit. Even if that means more work for me, I'm ready for the challenge. Starting the lesson right was important; so that I would immediately have control with Bonnie and there would be less disagreements. I put on my leader hat and told myself that I would be the driver today. I've had enough crap to deal with at work and now it's time to practice getting my assertive face on. NO more Nice-Deb!

Warming up with the posting trot is a good way to get the blood really flowing and your cardiovascular system kick started. Sheri has us posting over the ground poles on the long side of the arena while post trotting. Thanks to Kim's lesson, I understand that there should not be a "double step" between poles and the horse should be trotting fast enough that there is a single foot landing within each space. Of course, Bonnie has this way of speeding up as she goes over them and also veering off to the left. I'm told to employ half halts with the outside rein to slow her down, as she steps over each pole; and we successfully slow down the pace but she's practically at the outside of the arena at the end of the poles set. Looks like it's a matter of outside foot aid + half halt; that should do the trick.

We move onto the Cavaletti jump with 2-point position. Bonnie's not too bad with jumping and I am looking forward to having her successfully make it over the Cavaletti while actually jumping, and not trotting over it. She's lively today--which I am super happy about since I don't need a crop with her. We work on things together but Sheri points out that I'm anticipating the jump and so I tend to lean forward on Bonnie's front-end so it is in fact more difficult for her to lift her front-end. This error in positioning also leaves me vulnerable to jump refusal; which Bonnie does just fine and I find myself face-planting onto her crest. No, not breast, you sick people! Anyways, I almost flip off her as my right foot is out of the stirrup and I'm clutching to her neck trying to pull myself back up. Phew. Crisis averted. So, we try again and she refuses AGAIN! The next time is going to be my last chance and I have to make it count... so I push her forward and hurrah! we make it over. Not that it was particularly graceful but heck, at least it wasn't as messy as it was before!

Though the lesson has been a good deal of physical work for me (which I thoroughly enjoyed!), it has also been an eye-opener to realize that, my riding has progressed since I last rode her, I am able to handle Bonnie more confidently than before, and I have physically and psychologically progressed so that I'm able to handle things that she throws at me.