Archive for September, 2009

Pony Sees Herself For the First Time

Sunday, September 20th, 2009
Pony Looking at Herself in the Mirror For the First Time Ever

Pony Looking at Herself in the Mirror For the First Time Ever

This morning, Calabey and I had our first lesson with Cindy Sydnor, a dressage judge and trainer who lives in Snow Camp, NC, right down the street from our place.

We worked on leg yielding and some other skills that have eluded us so far. However, the highlight of the experience for Calabey might have been enjoying the view: Cindy has huge mirrors mounted at the end of her riding ring, and Calabey got to take a good look at herself, possibly for the first time ever.

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All Fun and Games ’til the Snapping Turtle Finds Me

Friday, September 4th, 2009

tammy floating.JPG

On really hot summer days, there’s nothing that I long for more than a nice cool swim. But, since the nearest public swimming pool is over thirty miles away, I often settle for being doused with a hose or, when I’m feeling especially brave, a swim in our pond.

Yes, the water is murky and full of fish. Worse yet, the pond is home to all sorts of creatures, ranging from majestic herons to more fear-inducing creatures such as snakes and snapping turtles (Mr. Bitey and Bitey, Jr. are our two resident snappers, and they’re huge).

However, the denizens of our pond seem to take pity on me during the sweltering days of summer. This is evidenced by the fact that they let me float or swim around the pond without eating me.

Mindful to not wear out my welcome, I usually don’t hang out in the pond for too long. Once I’ve finished my dip in the spring-fed pond’s surprisingly cold water, I always breathe a sigh of relief: not only have I cooled off, but I still have all of my toes! Thanks Mr. Bitey.

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Dave’s Favorite Flower

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

ageratum.JPGAgeratum “Dondo Blue”
Most guys either don’t have a favorite flower, won’t admit to having a favorite flower, or truly haven’t even noticed flowers if they weren’t in the context of a florist shop on Valentine’s Day. Farmer Dave belongs somewhere between the first and second groups of guys. So, when pressed for an answer to my repeatedly-asked question “what’s your favorite flower?” (repeatedly followed up with “OK. But what if you had to pick one?”, he confessed that Ageratum tops his list of flower faves.

Since Dave is an extremely rational person, not prone to being fond of something “just because”, he backed-up his floral pick with a well-reasoned opinion.

1. Ageratum flowers are blue, which is a color that he can see even though he’s mostly color blind.

2. Ageratum plants make lots and lots of flowers.

I was thrilled that he actually had a floral preference, and bought ageratum seeds in every variety and color that I could find. Hopefully, he really, really, likes Ageratum because we now are the proud owners of enough Ageratum seed to cover half of Chatham County!

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