Finally ... getting cool

I sat out yesterday morning, for the dawn  and it may be the last one for a while. It is cold this morning. I am waiting for the sun to get up so I can go and put blankets on the horses.  I finished clipping all but one yesterday, but it was still too warm to blanket. Now, they are probably all mad at me 'cause it's not so warm. We are doing table decorations at the hunt club today and maybe a ride. Tho' I have two research papers in two weeks and I am not really thrilled about either one. Since I always wanted to write a screenplay about Blackbeard, one of the papers is about him. I had wanted to research his supposed 16 wives , but there is no evidence. What I did find was that pirates were one of the first "organizations" to "rule" by democratic principles! The Pirate Code was all about rule by the crew and captains were "elected" by popular vote. Sounds like an interesting paper! Happy Hallowe'en to all the Jack Sparrows!!

Rainy Wednesday

This is my favorite time of year and I have been very busy, so a rainy Wednesday is actually welcome. I can get caught up! We are not hunting because of the rain, even tho' it is unusually warm, which means I can do my blog post instead of running out the door at the crack of dawn to feed. This morning the horses can wait a bit! I love the colors of fall and am always sorry to see the lovely colors fall to the ground as the leaves drop which they are doing fast it seems this year. My twin maples are already bare at the top and the bottom is just changing to red! Cub hunting has been great this fall. One of our landowners moved away and his estate has rented the small house- these tenants are not very open to us hunting but the farmer /owner had been into trapping the fox. Now that he has gone we have a lot of fox in the area which has been great. We have viewed and chased three to four fox  each time , which for us is very unusual. Last time I stopped the hounds at end of day, as they were running into soybeans just before harvest- a big no-no - but as we roaded home, the chased fox was sitting in the field , at top of hill, just as if waiting for us to catch up. He was looking back as if to say, "What took you so long?" I was sorry I has successfully stopped hounds because we would have had a nice run back.  My college courses are still kicking my butt, I have two research paper to do - another reason a rainy day is welcome! And OMG - is is almost November and Christmas is around the corner.

post California

Sarah and I accomplished a lot in two days in California. The date is set and we found the location. It is on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Ventura and the wedding will be beautiful. Kevin's parents were very nice and we had a lovely dinner and they treated me to a Jack Johnson concert that night. Santa Barbara has an ampitheater just like Meriweather Post pavilion, but you can see the ocean from it - very cool. Santa Barbara was lovely. we walked the beach and pier and also checked out a rental home venue WAY up in the hills with incredible views . Ultimately picked place in Ventura tho'. Other things got done but they are secret!
Am now back in MD, prepping weanlings for Dec mixed sale and foxhunting. Oh yeah, did I mention homework!! This class is killing me. The weather out there was just as changeable as Maryland's. That surprised me- fog and dull, then sun, then cool at night.  But I would definitely miss the fall season out there- came home to crisp air and colors all around. Best time of year is the fall here. Geese are honking too in the dawn!

October dawn

The dawn sky at 7Am is a beautiful pastel of pinks and blues overlaid with puffy grey clouds. The sun ball is almost to the treetops and it all looks like an HDTV screen! The clarity is awesome LOL I think the summer humidity is gone, funny the cicada thrum was still here this morning, like a low background faint engine noise. I haven't heard any geese lately either. I am flying to L.A. tomorrow about this time to see my daughter and do some wedding planning!! I get to watch the sunrise all the way to California! We are checking out some venue sites on the coast up toward Santa Barbara. I am getting excited about it all, will be a busy spring but fun. My son and daughter -in-law-to-be have moved in for a time  and it has been really nice. Nice to have Sam around and very nice to get to know Stephanie. My son is a lucky guy. She is a lovely woman. We all have homework at night - it is so funny to all be studying. And yes, the Redskins won. Yay, whoopee . We are awesome and I love football.

after market

Things have slowed down and the one unsold yearling is back in the field. Back to working on my college course homework- I had no idea this was so difficult. The horses are much easier. It is too cold to sit on the patio in the mornings, even tho' the days are lovely. I want to snuggle back under covers at 6AM and put off dogs and horses, but three cold noses are most insistent that that is not going to happen!! THe yearling sale was more of the same. Expensive Kentucky -bred horses sold moderately well, but MD,PA,or NY breds were RNA or not even the stud fees. I will not breed again to anything outside KY and even that is not profitable. Just may not breed again. I do have some lovely foxhunting horses for sale! And this year's babies are very cute. The leaves are starting to change and the cicadas are silent. The stinkbugs are amusing- they just sit on screens and windows and are the most useless things in the world. Apparently they have no predators and are spreading- but what do they do! Even flies are nature's carrion eaters and breakdown garbage, but stink bugs don't do anything!

dark dawn

I still have to get up at 6Am or so to get chores done, used to be lovely to sit on patio and watch the crack of dawn. Now, the dawn is dark and sleeping in! Too dark to sit outside ( and chilly) , to wait for the sunrise! So the dogs stare at me as I let them out into the darkness and I get on the computer inside! Oh well, it'll be daylight savings soon and I will have some light again in the mornings, but darkness will come earlier at night. My clocks in the car will be right again tho- so that's a bonus! Didn't get the one filly sold, sale seems to be a little steadier than last year but Maryland-breds are dead in the water- nobody wants them. She is a nice filly, needs a home? by St.Averil.  Have two more selling today and I hope it goes better. My partner in horses got a call from Ft. Bragg while at sale, that her son was safe , but his platoon in Afghanistan had been attacked with a casualty.  She was very shaken, hard to concentrate on horses when you are a million miles away being a distraught mom. Troops need to come home, send your prayers to the ones that are still in harm's way and ask God to watch over them.

October

My horse breeding partner, Carol and I bred a Maryland Million winner! Baltimore Belle won the Maryland Million Oaks on Saturday and it was a thrill. I know it's not  Grade 1 but it was really awesome for us; she stills owns half, I sold to a friend and couldn't be happier- it was so cool. The yearling sale has started and it still seems very slow. I sure hope they both sell. English Channel looks great and he will definitely sell. Weanlings are next.  It is a rainy, kinda cold day and I am trying to make a dent in online college course work and then get to sale. These college courses are a ton of work- I had no idea there was so much homework and reading. I have much more sympathy for my kids now.

after the flood

This must have been what Noah saw the morning after- the sky is grey and clouds are scudding by, funny, they are racing in the opposite direction from the other morning. I m not sure I will be able to get over the bridge this morning. Looking down from the house all I see is water, may have to get the boat out!!  The mares may be swimming to their buckets. But we really, really needed the rain - so I am not complaining. The weanlings are in at night , so I will waterski behind them as I let them out this morning.  After chores I am going to a celebration of life for a friend who passed away last week. Life is so ironic, this friend's wife lived life to the hilt, traveling all over the world. Had many hair-raising, life threatening close calls in places like Borneo, Kilimanjaro, Mongolia, Africa. I think she is the most adventurous woman I had ever met, so sad that after so many near misses with death , it is her husband (who stayed home for most of the adventures) who lost a short battle with cancer. It is very hard and all her friends wish her strength and love.