end of july

Yesterday was a beautiful fiery sunrise.  Today the sky is simply open, pale blue and cloudless. It's not too hot right now but that could change, tho weatherman says this coming week is mid 90'straight across the board. I fear the stream may dry up, it is very low. I did drop hoses last month and fill a trough . It is funny to watch the horses go into stream and paw and paw like they are digging to China. I believe it is an instinct to rid a watering hole of snakes, but I swear some are just playing, They are like little motor boats, churning away. Then they try it in the trough and just make a muddy mess that I have to dump. Then I am not amused anymore! We are going to go skeet shooting today, Mike and I. This should be fun. We have worked together the last couple of days painting. The inside of the house was needing some TLC and weddings are the best reason to spruce up, so we decided to spackle, tape, prep, cut-in and roll paint, roll! It looks wonderful now, a lovely sandy warm beige, called Renoir Bisque. I do believe Renoir himself would like it!. Now we are going to decompress and go shoot things. Not each other.

little cooler

The last two days have been a little less humid and cooler. It took the heat of last week for me to say 90 degrees is cooler! It is actually pleasant to sit out this morning, there is a sliver of moon in the dawning sky and lots of birdcalls. I think even the birds were depressed in that heat.  My filly at the track has "bucked shins", so training is taken down a notch and we wait. Wait for bone to fill in and smooth again. She probably won't run until Laurel in fall.  Oh well, that's racing. I am not going to go to Saratoga this year for the sales. Carol has some lawyer agendas that cannot be changed and we are both sad about it. The Saratoga sales has become an annual rite of passage. We get to watch the fancy yearlings and spend time together planning the next breeding year. We have less money than ideas and plan, but we still dream big. I decided to hop out and visit Sarah at that time. I miss my daughter a lot and it will be really great to see her for a couple of days. Short and very sweet. I hope Kevin can deal with "mother-in-law" for a visit! Can't wait. Sam and Steph are gearing up for their wedding and I am getting excited about it too. The hydrangeas that I planted actually bloomed and filled in, the little wedding grove will look beautiful.

inspiration comes from the strangest places....

"It is easier to kill at night I have found, although my instincts and energy are at their lowest, emotionally it is more detached. As I pass through these lives, detachment has become my friend. A century ago there were more people around at night, parties continued into wee hours, not only for the very young lusty hormone -driven pre-adults, but for the jaded sophisticates looking for a jump start. They were my crowd, always have been, and certainly the easiest to drift in and out of over the centuries.  They live for the rise and fall of each other's fortunes, never really caring, almost happy at another's misdeeds or folly. So, to be in their lives for a decade or two and then vanish was simple, unremarkable,  and how I have managed to continue."
The sky was "bluer" this morning. Still hot, the sun is up and cooking. This will be the third day in a row of record-breaking temperatures. The horses just stand and sweat, even in the trees at the bottom of the hill. There is the tiniest of breezes and they seem OK. I check a couple times during day and feel bad for them , but it is cooler out of the barn at 100 degrees! The stream is still running , so I leave them out. The above "story" is how I might start my tale of a day-walking centuries old vampire. Look for installments. My crazy hawk was at the door this morning. Swooped past as I walked out to patio, and has been crying at treetop ever since. There is a strange connection here, I feel bad for him if the rest of his family has departed. He seems lost, calling and staying close to the house. I see him all day in various parts of the farm,  'tho he only cries at the dawning of day.  Remember "Ladyhawke" - perhaps this lonely bird is inspiring my story. Getting hot, I am off to chores, Stay cool.

second sauna soaker

This heat is sultry, exotic. It feels like another place, a more intriguing, tropical, menacing place. Anyone remember "A year of Living Dangerously", with Siguorney Weaver and a sexy, sane Mel Gibson, it is that kind of hotness !  And the cicadas are really loud this morning, the lone hawk is crying and crashing in the trees. I could really get into describing a scene from my tormented day-walking vampire story set in a smoldering Southern Maryland! Let the tension build along with the temperature , as the lonely vamp, Wicked, sweats and soaks in the humid, hot dawn. What do you think? ...
The sky is completely cloudless this morning, almost colorless, with the barest hint of pink edging the treetops. The crazy hawk is still calling for mom, actually its cry somehow personifies the angst I think the female vampire would feel, when her kind descends into dark sleep at dawn,  and she is alone in her world, to face the sunlight, every morning. I can feel the quickening as the glow rises on the horizon. It is simply a stronger pulse throughout my body as I "wake-up". This warmth also reminds me of the heated blankets that you are put into before surgery. Before you are "put under" with anaesthesia, they lay you into these soft blankets, with pumped hot air and the last thoughts I have always had was  "Oh this feels good", as all your muscles relax in the warmth. My muscles are very relaxed in this humidity, there is no other way to walk through the day. Languid, that's the word. This heat is languid; if I don't want to complain, I need to relax and enjoy the differentness of this. Remember the freezing January cold and I can deal with the heat!
So, as I muck stalls and feed hot horses, I will see myself as Siguorney, in a sexy tank top and short, shorts, flirting with Mel Gibson as the living gets dangerous. But I need another cup of coffee first.

sauna morning

It is 6Am, sun has not quite made the horizon and I am sitting in the world's biggest sauna. The new patio doors were completely steamed over this morning  and when I stepped outside it was really remarkable how hot and humid it was BEFORE daybreak! The cicada thrumming is very loud, they must love this heat although the birds seem subdued. I love their company in the dawn as we sit to witness the break of day. They are very quietly, just perched way at the tops of the dead branches, all facing the sun just like me. We are the dawn witness brigade!  I am a true Leo, as the sun breaks cover I can feel the blood quicken ever so slightly and my energy level rises like liquid in a test tube. At night my eyes close as the sun goes down.  My husband thinks I am part vampire, can't stand garlic, I like to bite, and Lestat is my true hero, but the big problem with this is I am dead to the world in the darkest part of night. I must be a daywalker vampire!!- could be a whole new series. Sun-worshipping blood suckers.  The sun has just crested  looking like a beautiful red hot disc, very worthy of worship, I think.  I could be a tormented female vampire, condemned to live in daylight when the rest of my species is "dead", looking for a soul mate but only connecting with horses!!!!  This would have a target audience of horse crazy "Twilight" fans- might be a small fan base. Hmmm,  I think I better get going on chores as it is starting to "look" wickedly hot. That could be a good name for my character- Wicked- knew a horse by that name once, seemed a little crazy!

Mid-summer morn

It is mid -summer and going to be very hot this week. The cicadas are humming already and the heat is filling up all the space. I should be doing stalls already but am slow to get moving. Stung by something a couple of days ago , took a Benadryl last night , hoping the swelling in arm would diminish but all that diminished was my ability to bounce out of bed and start. I wanted to sleep in this morning which is very rare for me but must be the drug! Kentucky was also hot. I felt very sorry for those consigners and yearlings. They were very mannered or dog-tired from days of walking and showing. Very good -looking, but the sales have still not really rebounded. Maybe they never will. We bought a breeding right to Paddy O'Prado  who was gorgeous and we hope becomes a stellar stud!! The only way to make money now is with the "right" horse and black-type mares. My two-year old bucked her shins and is going easy for awhile. Hopefully will start at Laurel this fall.  The one great thing this summer and I probably shouldn't say it, is that we have had enough rain to keep the grass green thus far. The horses are fat and lazy and I am just starting to think about legging up for cubbing. Which I will just keep thinking about until next month!! Wedding plans are gearing up for Sam and Stephanie. Sam likes his new job, Steph is making awesome jewelry, Will is researching investments and juggling 2 homes and a girlfriend in Chicago. I skyped with Sarah last night and marvelled at the technology that lets us do that. I actually remember musing about  a hand held device that would let you see the person you were talking to many years ago when the first cumbersome mobile phones came out. Remember those big boxy phones that we thought were so cool. I still want my Star Trek communicator tho'.

summertime, summertime

The dawn is very pretty in pink this morning. However, I was actually hoping for a grey dawn today because I want rain, buckets of it. The pastures are getting all crunchy again, the clover is drying up, turning brown and the horses are eating it all down too far. The little stream, barely a trickle now anyway,  may dry up which means I have to drop hoses from forever down to the broodmares. I am going to Kentucky to the Select Thoroughbred sale on Monday and had hoped for coolness and rain. Fat chance. We go down to look at the hot young sires ( I know that sounds remarkably obscene for two 50 yr olds) but before the next breeding season it is fun and educational to see what is selling well, what the offspring of  Big Brown and Into Mischief look like.  These are the big boys and the very expensive yearlings, but it is fun to hobnob with the rich and famous. As much as the horses and sires change fashion, so do the players in the horse racing world. There is the very old money, quiet and understated and there is always the monied nouveau riche who pay way too much for a horse someone else tells them is going to be the next Secretariat.  There are the ones who dislike each other and pay into ridiculous seven figures, solely so the other one doesn't get that horse! The auctioneers really like them! Anyway I was hoping to leave horses out but when the humidity and temperature get too high they really want to come into the barn and under the fans. Hard on the help!
I went skeet shooting yesterday, actually trap shooting as it was only one clay, and it was a blast! I found out I can shoot just as well with both eyes open. Apparently most people close one eye, usually the left  one, but it didn't matter as I believe I shut both eyes every time I pulled the trigger!. Couldn't bear to watch the clay die! Reaction I suppose to the sound. The very charming instructor  said I hit almost every target but suggested I try to keep my eyes open. Afterwards  I bought a very sexy Beretta shooting vest to match my girlfriend's, blue with pink trim. Isn't that hysterical, we want to look good to shoot those little orange beasts! Now, I am pretty in pink  and I have a shotgun . A lethal combination.

Happy Independence Day America!

Happy July 4th . We won our independence 235 years ago and have continued to champion the right to freedoms of all sorts. We represent Freedom and Liberty and Equality to the whole world. Thanks to the military and the people who fight still for our freedoms.  We are grateful and never take our privileges for granted.  Never will.  Thank you America !!!

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day to my northern family. 144 years young!