I am an American Girl

I read today that there is a new American Girl doll. Her name is Julie and she is 9 years old in 1974 (so just barely older than I was). Ok, so there aren't a lot of other similarities - she lives in San Francisco, her parents are divorced, and she's into sports (apparently she tries to get on the boys basketball team due to Title IX. And she's blond. But still... I know, I'm such a kid - but I might have to read the books.

I wasn't feeling well this morning, so I called in sick. I spent the morning watching (and napping through small sections of) the second DVD of Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth version, of course). I felt better late in the afternoon, so I picked up the debris in the yard from the branches we had stacked there for over 2 weeks - the city finally got to our neighborhood to pick up the branches yesterday.

After that, I decided to go visit Lark. The drive took me less than 40 minutes. No one was around. Most of the mares were in, but all the geldings were out. Which was good, since I wanted to see how Lark was doing in the pasture. He was being his typical nerd self, just grazing by himself out in the pasture while the more aggressive horses came up towards the gate to see who would come in first. He likes to stay out of that stuff. Once the other horses figured out I wasn't there to bring them in, they went out for grass, too - so Lark went farther out (he's the one on the right, of course). But the pinto horse in the photo followed him, and then some of the others came over and hung out nearby. You can see the progression in my other pictures. So generally, I think he is doing fine. He's not in the same pasture as MC and Winston, though. I think he's out with Tuffy. I decided not to disturb the horses by going into the pasture, but I left an apple in a bag on his stall door.

Full Moon

It's dark when I wake up at 6 am these days. It makes me miss the summer a bit, but then I get mornings like this one. As I started out on my walk with Bravo, I saw the huge moon over the house across the street, so I went back in for my camera. I should have just taken that picture since it was just a bit darker then and thus the moon was more spectacular, but I still think the beach pics would have been better. This is only one of those I took at the beach - I may post more later. Technically, yesterday was the full moon, but it certainly was glorious to see this morning.

I didn't make it out to the barn tonight. I'd forgotten we had a visitor at work from our Chicago office, so Ejie and I took her to the MOA. We shopped at Nordstrom Rack and a little at DSW (didn't recognize any of the workers, though, Karis). Then she treated us to dinner at Johnny Rockets. I couldn't resist a chocolate malt.

I saw an article in the Washington Post online today about parents and their first-year college students called Orientation 101 for Parents and Freshmen: Letting Go. Here is just a bit of the article:

School officials are no longer surprised by parents who try to register their children for classes, argue about a grade or look up a future roommate on Facebook and demand a switch.

"I've heard four or five times this summer: 'I'm not a helicopter parent!' " said Tiffany Sanchez, director of new student programs at American University. She laughed. "Sure you're not."
....

At the admissions office at Hopkins, it's not unusual for parents to tell staff members, "We are taking the SAT next week," or "We are here for our 3 p.m. interview."

"It's the era of we," Conley said.

I know I was a lot more involved in Karis' college hunt, choice, and orientation than my parents were in mine. As I recall it, I sifted through all the college information on my own, and chose 3 schools to which I applied. My mom (or both parents? I no longer remember) took me to look at Duke, then quietly campaigned for me to go there instead of UVA. It was not a successful campaign as I disliked Duke on sight. On move-in day at UVA, it took about 15 minutes to unload the car, and then they were gone.

As the article points out, colleges have more activities for parents these days. But frankly, I think I've done pretty well. Of course, if I'm comparing myself to the parents described in the article, it's easy to look good. But really, I've tried to back off. I haven't been totally successful, but I've tried.

Jump, Bravo, Jump

Tonight was another agility weaves class. I was really impressed at Bravo's progress. He was able to enter the weaves correctly on his own, much of the time, and I was able to get farther away from the poles than I would have thought possible. Oh, he still missed some poles, but all in all, better than I expected. However, you can't do weaves for an hour. It's too boring for both the dog and the handler. Even waiting for turns and mixing in some of the other equipment, we were pretty much done after 30 minutes.

So then we started working on jumps. Bravo doesn't have a problem jumping, he just doesn't really care if he knocks down the pole. I've actually never taught him to jump correctly - just pointed him at the jump and asked him to go over it. So we learned some techniques for making him a better jumper. Basically, he needs to round his back more - just as a horse does when going over a jump. He tends to jump flat, which makes it much more likely he'll hit the pole. What we learned to do is just make him jump back and forth, with treats every time, so he really loves it. Anything for food. And the best thing about is that the dog gets tired out while I mostly stand in one place.

So now in addition to making weave poles, I need a jump. My obedience ones won't work, because the crosspieces attach by velcro, and the jump only goes one way. If you hit the bar going the wrong way, the whole jump falls over. I'll have to figure out if I can make the jump, or if I need to buy them.

Lark's new home

Lark moved to his new home today. We went out a little early to clip the horses and empty the tack lockers. When Ruth got there with her slant-load trailer, we tried to load Lark first. We should have remembered - not the best idea. After a couple of tries, Rae went to get MC. He went in just fine, and then Lark had no problems getting in. I guess he was worried that he was leaving his friends. Diana went in Rae's trailer.

Lark's new stall is across the aisle from his old buddy Winston. It's nice and big, and right by the door to the pasture. And he doesn't have to wear his halter all the time! Yea! I think he will be very happy. There is a little window - see below. I think it is really access for feeding, and won't be open the rest of the time, but at least I got a picture of him looking out.

The pastures all have grass and electric fences, so Lark will have no excuse to rub out his mane anymore.

The tack room is nice and big - also dry and heated. I think any tack we want to leave there will be safe. It's kept locked, with the key in a combination safe on the wall by the door.

A really nice place!

It's not easy becoming green

Jason is a green sash now. I'm amazed at how much material they have to know at this level. And the differences between some of the techniques seem so small. Keeping track of it all looks like a very difficult task. Anyway, it was fun watching, especially the free sparring.

Not much else to report today. Russ and I took a couple of walks with Bravo. I finished another Cara Black mystery (Murder in Belleville) and played on the computer. We had a nice dinner at home and watched a Monk and a Psych from a couple of weeks ago. That's it - quiet day.

HOW MUCH for that bag?????

So I read today that earlier this summer, thieves got into Kirsten Dunst's hotel room. They stole some credit cards, id's, an iPod, $2,500 -- and a bag worth $13,000. What??? I didn't know they even made bags worth $13,000. Another instance of "the rich are very different from you and me. " "Yes, they have more money." (Fitzgerald/Hemingway)

Speaking of money, I read today that those "debit cards" everyone uses these days (since so few places take checks) can open you up to a big loss. They look like credit cards, but they do not have the same legal status. You can lose much more if your debit card is used fraudulently than the legal limit of $50 for a credit card. And besides, if someone uses your credit card, you argue with the credit card company that you shouldn't have to pay the bill. If it's your debit card, you have to fight the bank to get the money back, since it is already gone from your checking account. Full article, including the safest ways to use your debit card, here.

End of Summer

It was foggy this morning when I left for my walk, so I remembered my own advice and took the camera (turns out my camera bag has a waist strap which makes me look dorky, but is effective for going on a walk). I took several pictures in the beach area (here), but this one just felt like the end of summer. In a perfect world, they'd keep the beach open until after Labor Day, but I suppose most of their lifeguards go back to college in the next week or so. Anyway, it made me a little sad...

Yesterday, I exchanged emails with my roommate from my first year at UVA. She is now an executive with IBM. She lived in Vermont for many years, where she married her partner. However, now she has to live in New York, which doesn't recognize same-sex marriage. I cannot imagine what that must be like, to go from a place where you had the same rights as everyone else, to a place where you don't. As we've said before, the country should really be in the business of authorizing civil unions, which should apply to any two people who are over the age of consent, and let religion handle "marriages" if they so choose. I do believe that in another generation or two, same-sex marriage will be more widely available, but that is much longer than anyone should have to wait. I guess in a way she has the last laugh - she says their taxes are much lower now that they are not filing as "married".

Fortune cookie of the day:
All progress occurs because people dare to be different.