Poodle Noodle Battle

I'm watching an episode of "The Iron Chef" right now. The secret ingredient of the day is the staple of any self-respecting college student's diet: ramen. That's right, this episode is called the "Noodle Battle" This does *not* mean that the iron chef is chasing the defender about with a foam noodle, (though according to my poll of Japanese shows, this does happen frequently). Rather, the chefs are racing against the clock to make the perfect dish using the lowly noodle. Noodle battle... bring it on!!!

This reminds me of one of my favorite books growing up, "The Cat in the Cat" by dear Dr. Seuss. I'm not sure which I liked more, the wierd pictures, or cheering on my poor parents on as they tried to race through tomes of twisted prose.

"When beetles fight these battles in a bottle with their paddles and the bottle's on a poodle and the poodle's eating noodles, they call THIS a muddle puddle tweedle poodle beetle noodle bottle paddle battle"

I just never thought I'd see Dr. Suess' imaginations acted out on tv!

Leisure at the Lake

We're heading up to "the lake" this evening for the weekend. "The
Lake" is actually Mousam Lake in Shapleigh Maine. We'll spend the
weekend boating, swimming, reading, napping, resting from napping,
eating, watching movies, and generally just hanging out. We're
bringing 5 friends up with us, and the two dogs. Logan can go in the
water swimming this time, so we'll find out whether or not we have a
water dog!

Pictures of Mousam

Later, alligator

So here's something interesting that I heard this morning on the radio as I was waking up. Two alligators were spotted in a lake in Brockton, and there's been a huge hunt to try to find and capture them. Evidently, one got captured the other day, but the smaller of the two has eluded capture. Finding an alligator in temperate Massachusetts wasn't what surprised me though. It was the remark from the news commentator: "The smaller one remains at large, however the search has been called off for it, as it does not pose a significant threat." (!)
Hmm. We won't catch the alligator now, its just a widdle bitty alligator. No, an alligator floating about in your lake isn't really an issue.

I mean, for heaven sakes, these critters get big! How long before he's a
big gator, and eating little chihuahuas that stray out of their owner's
pocketbooks, and then moves on to bigger things like joggers and stroller
pushing mothers? Now, I can't verify through other news sources that the search has truly been called off, but for a commentator to even suggest that
a little alligator poses "no significant threat" seems absurd. One thing is
obvious - the commentator obviously doesn't live in Brockton!

Riding the horse you're on

I had a really excellent lesson with Tom Davis of Flatlands Equestrian Center the other day. Curly was over at the farm in Groton, and was hanging out in the shade waiting our turn when we got there. The clinic was running a bit late (and I was frazzled from racing from work to get there) so we took a relaxed little bareback hack around the property before the clinic. We started by warming up over some jumps, and I probably learned more in that little warm up than I did over the hour+ lesson. Tom had us begin by jumping over a little crossrail to finish our warm up. Curly started off as usual by jumping from almost one stride out... imagine unbalanced horse, unbalanced rider in poor form, cacthing pony in the mouth on the landing. Eeek. Not good.

So after two lousy jumps and one passable one, Tom pulled us over, and asked what was the reason for what was happening.In my tired mind, I blurted it all out. I've had her since she was little, I trained her, I wasn't a good jumper, and so I was learning as she was learning, and so I never taught her spots well, and she didn't learn to trust me, and....He stopped me there, and said "No, no, I don't want to know what happened 5 years ago, I want to know what was happening right now!"

Odd.... but *of course* he wanted to know what was going on right now. No wonder why I get so overwhelmed at times... I am still 13 years old on a 3 year old, unfit horse who doesn't know how to jump in a dinky arena. Never mind I'm *really* in my mid twenties on a horse at a supurb fitness level who's in her second year of eventing with two years of consistant professional eventing and dressage training under her girth, being ridden by an equestrienne with a decade and a half of experience. I still ride as though I'm that unconfident 13 year old at times. How can I possibly address the issues that are in the present if I am still beating myself over the head about things that happened ages ago?

So, lessons of the day:
1. Toes out at 45 degrees while jumping,
2. Keep 60% of the horse in front of you, and
3. Ride the horse you're on.