Sugar is Out of Jail

Most of you know that my beautiful 2 1/2 year old filly banged up her tendon shortly after I bought her. We think she put it through the fence but no one saw it happen. Sugar had only recently been broken and ridden and we were just getting ready to begin to train her more earnestly. The snaps are of Sugar on New Years Day which was warm enough to have her "cell" window open. She has been confined, except for short walks on a lead rope, since Nov 18.

Three ultrasounds and six months later, we got confirmation last week that she can begin exercising to stretch and strengthen the leg and tendon. We are going to go very slowly due to her enforced lack of activity. The plan is a few weeks on a long lead doing trots and walks eventually moving to canter. My trainer will ride her after that so she is getting some weight on her back and legs to help strengthen. Only after that will we turn her loose. She will explode with gallops bucks twists and turns so it will be in an indoor arena with no other horses. I can't predict when we will turn her outside with the other girls. I hope to get her on some pasture this summer while the grass is still good and I have a place to move her to for a couple months. She deserves to get out and she will grow taller on a grass diet.

There have been some upsides to the ordeal. I have spent a lot of great one on one time with her with hand walking and grooming and hanging out with her and I feel we are well bonded. She is very smart which can be good and bad. She will keep me on my toes (I mean heels...riding rule).

Sugar recently turned 3 so we will have plenty of time together.

Hail

Last week we got bombarded with hail larger than golf
ball size, the biggest hail I'd ever seen. This came from
the same storm system that devastated parts of
northern Alabama. The hail damage seems to have been
very localized. A mile away from our house
there's no sign of any real damage.

Obviously I need a new windshield and body work
for my truck. At least I can still drive it. Some cars
nearby lost glass entirely.

We just had a new roof put on in February. At first glance
it looks OK but when you really look at it you can see damage
from the hail. Some houses in the neighborhood have plastic
on their roofs.

Our house has wood siding so we can mostly take care of
the damage with a bit of sanding and stain. All the neighbors
with vinyl weren't so lucky. Lots of siding around with holes
and cracks. Lots of west-facing windows boarded over with
plywood too. Fortunately we don't have any windows facing
west.

Here you can see impacts from the larger hail on our driveway.
I'd say it was pretty good coverage.

New Roof

About a month ago we had a new roof installed.
We knew when we bought the house that the roof was
due to be replaced. We also wanted five different skylights added
as part of our upcoming kitchen remodel project.
It made sense to have the professionals install the
skylights as part of the roof job. I still need to build
the shafts through the attic but
the outside work is done.

Witt in Japan

As many of you know I went to Japan last summer for a month-long class on intercultural communication. There was some filming going on during the trip and Wittenberg finally released the finished film. It is only about 4 minutes long and features ME! I had no idea that my interview (out of about 7 other participants who were interviewed) would be so heavily featured. Needless to say I was tickled pink when I saw it.

Tokyo Field Study from Wittenberg University on Vimeo.

That being said this video is also bittersweet for me personally with the disaster going on in Japan right now. I am always afraid of seeing someone I know on the news, I can only half-watch it most days. Read the headlines to get the latest info and then click away. If you want news on the nuclear crisis without the media sensationalizing everything, try this forum. Good cut and dry information without attention-grabbing tactics. It's updated frequently too with a real-time translator of Japanese news. Western nations are "breaking stories" that are hours old.

ALSO If you want to help donate, I recommend the Red Cross. They don't do a big overhead fee like some other orgs.

Hiking to Abram's Falls

About a month ago we took advantage of being
in east Tennessee and took a hike in the Smoky's.
Our destination was Abram's Falls, about 2.5
miles off the Cades' Cove loop road. The day
was unseasonably warm and pleasant. Starting
out nice and flat the trail began climbing over a
hill. By the time we got to the falls we had climbed 3 good hills. The falls were nice and we had an excellent workout. A wonderful day it was.

Meet the Neighbors

We have some interesting neighbors. Don't know their names
but we see 'em around all the time. There is a family of
red shouldered hawks living nearby. Our property seems
to be in their territory. Now they're easy to spot since we still don't
have leaves on the trees yet, and they often "scree, scree..."
as they fly overhead. We had to look 'em up
in a bird book to figure out what kind of neighbors we had.

The New Cabinet

After we moved we decided our old electronics cabinet
just didn't fit our new space. It had been built tall and narrow
to fit the space next to the fireplace in our old house.
On a wide flat wall it just didn't look right.
This is the cabinet I built for the new house.
It's made with poplar we harvested from our former back yard.
It fits nicely in our new home.

Riding the Virginia Creeper

Third time's a charm, right? After two other attempts we finally
remembered our camera when we rode the Virginia Creeper Trail last November.
Above is a typical glimpse of the trail.

The trail winds up a ravine, crossing the same creek again and again.
In thirty two miles there are maybe thirty five bridges.

This was the first time we rode up from the bottom.
Most folks take a shuttle to the top for a leisurely ride downhill.
Starting in Damascus, VA however we rode the 17 miles uphill to White Top Mountain.
Including stops we were four hours going up.
We covered the same distance riding back down in just over an hour.
Above is Green Cove, a former train station near the top.

At the end of a terrific day we were treated to a terrific moonrise
over Damascus, a great way to end to the day.

GEBA 2010

Our Great Bicycle Adventure this year was a 260 mile
ride from Cleveland to Springfield.
We followed the Ohio to Erie Trail, a combination of rail-trails
and roads connecting them together.
Probably 60 percent of our trip was on trails.

Bob and Lorena hosted us the night before our adventure began.
Thanks Bob, thanks Lorena.

Our trip began at the terminus of the Ohio & Erie Towpath.

A blue herron taking off.

A muskrat.
As soon as we got this picture he disappeared.

A hiccup in our plans.

Fortunately the backtrack only added a few miles.

A look back at where we'd been.
This is the Sippo Valley Trail.

An Amish farmer using horse drawn equipment.

An Amish horse and buggy.
We never encountered any going the same direction as us.
If we had I'm not sure who would've been faster.

This is the beginning of the Mohican Valley Trail.

Another milepost for the collection.

The Kokosing Trail at Howard, Ohio.

Somebody we met along the way.

Julie on a train display at Gambier, Ohio.

Taking a break above Westerville.

All in all a great trip.

Cades Cove

Our house is only about half an hour to the park entrance.

Inside the park is Cades Cove, a meadow in the middle of the mountains.
A one-way one lane road loops around it. On Wednesday and Saturday mornings
the park services closes the road to all motor traffic.
It's a great place to ride the bike.

A bit foggy this morning.

A typical view of the road.

The road up to the cove winds along a mountain stream.
In the spring the water is really really cold.

Critters in East Tennessee

We have lots of critters in east Tennessee

This little guy was on our back porch.

Our horses. Actually they live in the pasture behind us.
They love apples and carrots.

A pileated woodpecker we spotted in Cades Cove.

Stump? No, it's a bear cub. I wonder where mama bear is.

Graduation

Our Emily this spring.

We knew she was smart. Now she has proof.

It was a beautiful sunny day.

Emily and her roommate, Andrea.

Things we learned in Tennessee

While searching for a new home in eastern Tennessee we learned a few interesting things. We once lived in Louisville Kentucky and learned the correct pronunciation is "Loo-a-vul". We're buying a house in Louisville Tennessee and locally it's pronounced "Lewis-ville". Nearby is Maryville. The locals pronounce it "Mer-a-vul". Siever County? It's pronounced "Si-veer" County. Gosh, we're gonna' sound like Yankees for a while.

Lenten Rose

Hellebore is also known as Lenten Rose and Christmas Rose. I have several but none have bloomed for me this early until this year. Most of mine bloom late February and into March.






A flash of color caught my eye yesterday when I was filling birdfeeders and I was very surprised and pleased to find this flower blooming near my patio. This little guy is mostly yellow which is unusual for Lenten Rose. I just planted it this year and since it was a seedling, I had no expectation that it would actually be yellow. It sure brightened my day!

The outside maroon color is much more typical for hellebore. I like the two toned effect it gives. The streaks in the face are good too.

The bonus for hellebore is the deer won't touch them! It's just since they bloom in winter, it's easy to miss them.

Happy Birthday Robin

Another December landmark birthday. We celebrated Robin's birthday during our Christmas gathering at Dwight and Julie's.

Happy Birthday Robin. It's good to have you in our family!