I Ain't Afraid of No Daleks

It did it again!!!!

IE has screwed up my toolbar--it's GONE. It keeps disappearing, then reappearing...what the heck is going on???

Can anyone help me get my regular good old toolbar back???

I tried everything I can think of. I can't figure out what the hell is going on!

I can't use the finding favourites is a massive hassle--it's like my whole computer suddenly decided to rearrange itself.

Wish I had a mac, windows sucks.

Just got my pics back from Walmart. Going to take a while to post them all, though.

I will have to re-post these pics, as they are way too big for this blog, so I have to go in and re-size them, so you can actually see them--unfortunately, I have to leave for work...and I don't know they're too big, until I actually see them posted on here--so, sorry if you see two of these pics twice, but, I'm not exactly an ace photographer.

Here's just a couple:

This is one of the cowgirls from the Wild West Show, showing off her new "dog and pony" act.

And gee whiz, I wonder who this wannabe cowgirl could be?

The horse's name is "Bailey."

This is the bigest cruise boat on Lake George, the Lac Du Saint Sacrement...the "Ticonderoga" in the foreground, is the town's fireworks barge, which they float out into the lake for the weekly fireworks show on Thursday nights in July and August. It was originally a WWII landing craft, that saw action in the European theater.

Suddenly, my Roasting David blog is getting dozens of hits from Twitter. What the???

I'm not on Twitter--so who the hell is linking to my blog??? Oh well, it's not that important, I suppose.

Probably some David Tennant fan twit, erm--Twitterer.

I found Twitter to be a failed experiment. Too mindless for my tastes--I mean, what kind of idiot considers the empty space between words, to be counted as a "word?" Twitter does, apparently. Seriously! If you write on Twitter (limit of 140 words), they count the spaces between the words, as "words!" Idiots.

And, what are the users who blindly accept this absurdity? If users objected to this stupidity, Twitter would fix it, be assured...but no one has the balls or the chest hair to speak up (except for me, and the only response I got was a generic automated response e-mail).

And, every day I was getting people "following" me, who very obviously didn't give a damn what I "Tweeted!" These sad souls were either spam twits, or pathetically insecure people, who were desperate to get anyone to read their blogs, no matter who the person was.

I feel sorry for anyone that shallow and/or desperate.

I forgot to mention something that happened to me, yesterday.

I took the trolley from Glens Falls early in the afternoon, with a few other riders--guys on their way to work in Lake George.

Well, this one bloke was sitting in the seat opposite me, and he and I didn't exchange a single word during the entire 20 min. ride.

We got off the trolley at the same stop, and suddenly the bloke says, "You on your way to work?" I said that no, it was my day off, and I was out to have a bit of fun. Poor choice of words, apparently, cos' I do believe the man took it to mean a whole different thing than I meant!

As we were walking in the same direction, the man said abruptly, "Want to go to dinner with me tonight?"

Ey???

OK, we didn't even know each other's names...mainly because we'd never seen each other before, and had only been talking less than five minutes--and he's asking me out to dinner?

Whoa. Takes all kinds, yeah?

Was I wearing a sign on my back, saying, "you'll get a leg over with this one matey, 'cos she's desperate?" I. Don't. Think. So.

Jeez.

My trail guide yesterday was quite obviously republican...well, most Adirondacker's are. The average male up here is all about guns, beer and their rights under "God."

My obviously racist guide made a remark about that "gangsta" Obama. Ey??? Well, whatever.

My guide also thinks that a landower should be able to do anything he or she wants with his or her land. Well, no, actually not. Especially not in the Adirondacks--it's a PARK. Sure, the park is made up of both public and private lands, but it's still a state designated park. Some people don't get that simple concept. Seems the owner of the western theme park (the dad of the Karate Kid actor) had a land dispute over his clear cutting into an Adirondack mountain--without consulting with the town over possible zoning conflicts or enviornmental protection rules...so the town ordered the owner to cease and desist and slapped him with a fine...and then the owner had a infantile hissy fit, and put a dozen employees out of work for a year, and consigned his horses and other animals to an unknown fate, and shut the theme park down--all for a violation which would not interfere with the running of the theme park at all.

An engineer said that the clear cutting of a road into the mountain was very damaging to the local flora and fauna, and that the "road" was also dangerous, because it wasn't even graded properly. In fact, I read where the road had washed out not even six months after it had been made--essentially, all this idiot did, was send a bulldozer straight up a sandy, rocky, tree-covered mountainside.

Now, I agree that too many rules or laws might not be a good thing, especially if they are seen to be assuming that perfectly innocent people may be guilty--that's not good. That's a catalyst for civil unrest and mass distrust in local or national government.

Yet, without laws and rules, where would we be? Civilazation would wither and die, and humainity would go back to being little better than two-legged animals.

Still, the republican thugs want to eliminate federal rule in the states, they want to eliminate taxes--without giving a single thought to the serious consequences of those actions.

Republicans are traditionally not very big on thinking. Reacting, yes. Republican thugs are very good at reacting...often thinking nothing of putting other human beings in harms way, to get their jollies.

Yet, when it comes to having a conscious, to thinking of the consequences of their acts, to taking repsonsibilty for their actions when things don't quite go as planned--the republicans have a track record of sticking their thumbs up their collective arses, and going to hide in the closet until the dust clears--all the while pointing a finger at someone else--"It wasn't me, HE did it!"

_________________________________________________________________________________

YOU MIGHT BE A REPUBLICAN IF....

You think "proletariat" is a type of cheese.

You've named your kids "Deduction one" and "Deduction two"

You've tried to argue that poverty could be abolished if people were just allowed to keep more of their minimum wage.

You've ever referred to someone as "my (insert racial or ethnic minority here) friend"

You've ever tried to prove Jesus was a capitalist and opposed to welfare.

You're a pro-lifer, but support the death penalty.

You think Huey Newton is a cookie.

The only union you support is the Baseball Players, because heck, they're richer than you.

You think you might remember laughing once as a kid.

You once broke loose at a party and removed your neck tie.

You call mall rent-a-cops "jack-booted thugs."

You've ever referred to the moral fiber of something.

You've ever uttered the phrase, "Why don't we just bomb the sons of bitches."

You've ever said, "I can't wait to get into business school."

You've ever called a secretary or waitress "Tootsie."

You answer to "The Man."

You don't think "The Simpsons" is all that funny, but you watch it because that Flanders fellow makes a lot of sense.

You fax the FBI a list of "Commies in my Neighborhood."

You don't let your kids watch Sesame Street because you accuse Bert and Ernie of "sexual deviance."

You scream "Dit-dit-ditto" while making love.

You've argued that art has a "moral foundation set in Western values."

When people say "Marx," you think "Groucho."

You've ever yelled, "Hey hippie, get a haircut."

You think Birkenstock was that radical rock concert in 1969.

You argue that you need 300 handguns, in case a bear ever attacks your home.

Vietnam makes a lot of sense to you.

You point to Hootie and the Blowfish as evidence of the end of racism in America.

You've ever said civil liberties, schmivil schmiberties.

You've ever said "Clean air? Looks clean to me."

You've ever called education a luxury.

You look down through a glass ceiling and chuckle.

You wonder if donations to the Pentagon are tax-deductable.

You came of age in the '60s and don't remember Bob Dylan.

You're afraid of the liberal media.

You believe everything Rush Limbaugh says.

You ever told a child that Oscar the Grouch "lives in a trash can because he is lazy and doesn't want to contribute to society."

You've ever urged someone to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, when they don't even have shoes.

You confuse Lenin with Lennon.

You don't know the difference between socialism and communism.

You think Sarah Palin is the smartest woman in America.

You believe everyone in America should have an assault weapon.

I've had my lovely day in the saddle, so why not follow that up with a horse meme?

1. Who was the first horse you rode in a lesson?
-We're talking 1972 or 73, so that's hard to say. The first lesson horse I actually remember, was an appaloosa named "Crisco." He was a gelding, white with black spots.

2. What's your favorite disipline?
Western pleasure/trail riding/reining. But, I've also taken lessons in hunt seat and once, in southern-style saddle seat (gaited). And, I've also ridden in an Icelandic saddle, an Australian saddle and bareback, a few times, as well.

3. Who's your favorite pony?
I've not ridden a pony since I was wee--pony rides at the carnival. Mostly all I've ever ridden is horses. I like Welsh, Shetland, Connemara and Chincoteague ponies.

4. What's the youngest horse you've ridden?
I helped a friend, many years ago, train her 3 year old gelding, and rode him around her ring a few times, to get him used to a heavier rider. (No fat jokes, or I'll have to sic Guido the wet-noodle weilding hit man, on you.)

5. What's the oldest horse you've ridden
Smoke, he was a 30 year old, grulla (see photo below) coloured former genuine cow pony. Even tho' at the time, he was 11 years older than I was, the old guy could still do a sliding stop from a dead run, and a 360 degree lightning-fast spin. He was a great horse, I liked him very much.

6. Have you ever fallen off?
Only once, my horse ran away while on a trail ride, and I got scared and jumped off--thankfully into soft sand. I've been bucked off several times, though: Fractured my knee cap when I was 19.

7. What is your favorite horse color?
I don't really have one, though I think blacks, grullas, blue roans and palominos, all look pretty cool...and blood bays are really nice, as well.

8. Would you rather ride inside or out?
(snorts) where I live? Doesn't really matter!

If it's winter you'll freeze your arse off, no matter where you ride, in summer, you'll have flies and heat, no matter where you ride...tho' in summer indoors is nice, 'cos there's no deer flies or mosquitoes to pester you. I enjoy riding outdoors a lot...but, in an indoor, there's less distractions and you can concentrate on your riding, more.

I've ridden in outdoor rings in snow storms, rain and blistering heat...and indoors is nice, in that you don't have mud-rain-snow to contend with...but, really, it's all the same, one way or the other.

9. Who is in your lesson?
(snorts again) Erm--I haven't won the lottery lately, and lessons cost big dollars. I used to most often take group lessons, as they were slightly less expensive, and easier to schedule...but, if i can, I prefer one-on-one.

10. Who have you been taught by?
Oh, loads of people.

Western: Troubadour Farms, Circle M Stables, Triple A Arena, Mill Pond Stables, Calbak Stables, Putnam's Horse Haven, Pond Hill Ranch.

Saddle Seat: Misty Hills Farm

Hunter-jumper seat: Troy Riding and Driving Club, Calbak Stables, On-Again-Off-Again Stables.

Australian: self-taught.

Icelandic: Is Hestar

11. How old were you on your first pony ride?
I don't remember it, but mum says I was 5...and that I cried. How shaming!

12. Who's your favorite horse/pony to jump?

I've only "jumped" over a few caveltti poles (poles set about a foot off the ground, and that was with Smoke.

13. When did you start riding lessons?

Ooh, that's hard to say. I think I was about 11?

14. Who's your least favorite horse to ride?

I hate any horse with bad gaits, or a horse that can't neck rein (that's how you "steer" in western). And, for some reason, I've never had much success riding any horse named "Bert."

On the ground, I hate appaloosas with a passion. They've got a bad attitude, and have run me over, dragged me out of the barn, etc. Appaloosa's may be pretty, but they suck, as far as I'm concerned. (Apologies to any appalosa owners out there.)

15. How many trail rides have you been on?

I've been trail riding since I was around 9 years old...sometimes weekly, and sometimes years in-between.

16. Most weird/interesting thing done on horseback?

During a lesson once, I was required to remove the cinch (girth..that's the thing that goes under the horse's belly that holds the saddle on), and then mount a western saddle from the ground, without anything to hold the saddle on.

I've also been required in lessons to lay down aginst the cantle (back) of the saddke on my back, and steer the horse in a serpentine--backwards, through some poles. That was actually kind of fun and challenging--if a bit uncomfortable.

17. Have you ever ridden bareback, and on who?

Yes, once. On a very pregnant (and sweet) palomino mare named, "Candy," during a riding lesson.

18. Least favorite pony to ride?
Only ridden on pony, that I remember, and as I wrote, apparently I cried.

19. What's the highest you jumped?

As I wrote above, all of about 1 foot.

20. Who was the first horse you cantered on?
A lovely steeldust (solid dark grey) quarterhorse mare named Firecracker, she had a lope (slow western canter) that was so smooth, it was like sitting in a rocking chair.

21. Who was the first horse you rode western?

A black and white paint horse called Apache, at Lost Valley Ranch, a horse hire place that did trail rides.

22. Scariest moment on horseback?
I was on a trail ride at a horse hire place up here where I live. We where riding on a trail that had a paved road on one side, and huge pine trees on the other. We were loping/cantering, and one of my reins (the things that steer/control the horse) fell off the bit! I had no way to stop or steer!

Thank goodness the horse knew body/voice cues, and I leaned back and shouted "WHOA!"...and damned if that horse didn't stop! I was very lucky the horse was so well-trained!

Another time on the trail, the horse hit a mud patch, and decided to go for a roll--with me and the saddle still on him! That not only felt really weird, having the ground suddenly come up at you, it was quite scary!

23. What is your favorite part of the horse?

Eyes and ears. You can tell a lot about a horse, from their eyes and ears.

25. Who are your favorite boarders?
I've not worked/hung out in a borading stable since 1991. Back then, there was this horse, Teller (Fortune Teller), that was just as sweet and smart as could be. And there was a Shetland Pony-Quarter Horse cross, that actually had a sense of humour. There was a retired standardbred (retired harness race horse) mare as well--she was a charity case, she had a bad back and couldn't be ridden, she was a lovely lady.

26. Who are your least favorite boarders?

Freddie Prinz was a ex-race horse, a grey, and he was an idiot. There was a POA (appaloosa pony) mare that was a bitch--she was the run that ran me down and messed up my back for years), and there was Piper Cub, a white connemara mare...she wasn't either good or bad, she just had virtually no personality...she was incredibly boring, ha-ha.

27. Why did you start riding?

I don't remember--I just loved horses, and I grew up watching TV and film westerns, and loved cowboys.

28. What is your favorite breed?

Friesian, definately.

I like Standardbreds, too, and also Welsh and shetland ponies, Missouri Foxtrotters, mules (don't laugh, mules can have a lot of heart to them), Gypsy vanner/Irish tinker, Clydesdale.

29. What's your ideal height of a horse/pony?

(A horse in measured in "hands"--a "hand" being 4 inches, and denoted as 'hh'--meaning "hands high"--a pony is anything under 14.2 hands, a horse is anything 14.2 hands high or higher).

Personally, I like short horses--but, because of my size/weight, I'm usually stuck with taller/bigger horses.

30. Describe your dream horse?

A Friesian! (Or, if not that, any horse with a sweet gentle temperment that won't spook easy on the trail, reasonable intelligence, and smooth gaits.)

31. Favorite horse markings?

Don't have any. They're all beautiful!

32. When was your last lesson?

I thought that the last time I'd been on a horse was in Egypt in 2001, but I completely forgot that I'd been taking western lessons one autumn, for my college PE requirment in 2003.

33. Would you rather jump or do flat?

I'd rather do ring work, on the flat. I've only rarely ridden hunter seat or dressage, so I'd like to get back into western reining (a bit like western ballet, with sliding stops from a run, 360 degree spins, and lead changes (switching back and forth, which leg the horse leads off of, when it lopes).

Really though, I'd give ANYTHING, to learn how to drive a horse. That just looks so cool.

34. Have you ever showed?

Just once, an intercollegiate western horse show between rival western riding clubs. I placed second in western pleasure riding class. Still have the ribbon.

35. Ever ridden in a foreign country?
Yes, Iceland and Egypt.

36. Who did you ride in your last lesson?
Earl--no really, that was his name. He was a nice chesnut coloured Tennessee Walking Horse

37. Who did you ride last?
Today I rode a nice chesnut gelding named "Bailey."

38. Years Riding:

I've been riding since 1970, but not every year, sometimes I've gone many years without getting on a horse, and I'm NOT an expert rider.

39. Favourite Horse Books as a child:

FICTION: (I read mostly horse books, growing up, these are the titles I remember best)
Afraid To Ride
King of the Wind
The Black Stallion
The Medicine Hat Stallion
I'll Take Cappy
Dark Sunshine (Dorothy Lyons)
The Horse Comes First
The Blue Roan (70's version)
Billy and Blaze series
The Lonesome Sorrel
Thunderhead (sequel to My Friend Flicka)
National Velvet
A Horse Called Bonnie
Fly-by-Night
Black Beauty
Five O'Clock Charlie
The Medicine Hat Stallion
Smokey the Cowhorse
Black Gold
The Blind Connemara
The Rumble Seat Pony
The Midnight Colt
Dark Horse
The Blood Bay Colt
Born to Trot
Summer Pony
The Black Stallion's Sulky Colt
The Blind Colt
Monday Horses
If Wishes Were Horses
Phantom Son of Grey Ghost
A Filly for Joan
A Tale of Two Horses (based on a true story about a man and two horses--Mancha and Gato, who rode the length of South America in the early 20th century, or something like that).
Frog (yes, this was a horse story, about a US cavalry horse in the Phillipines, I think).

NON-FICTION
A Leg at Each Corner
Happy Horsemanshop
A Very Young Rider
Heads Up, Heels Down
Illustrated Guide to Horse
Chosen by A Horse
Horse Tradin'
Saddle Up

There was another book I had, that mum bought me for my 14th birthday--for the life of me, I can't remember the title, but it was entirely done in b&w photos, in the 1940's...many photos taken from a special tower, high up off the ground, to show readers what the horse/rider looked like jumping from above. Not sure how this was supposed to help a rider be better, but it was a really cool book...can't remember whatever happened to it.

40.Favourite Horse Movies/television programmes:
FILMS:

Gypsy Colt
Black Beauty
Smokey the Cowhorse
Seabiscuit
The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit
International Velvet
National Velvet
The Man from Snowy River
Hot To Trot
Casey's Shadow
Danny
Miracle of the White Stallions
Run Wild, Run Free
April Love
Tonka
Running Free

TV:
Fury
Mr Ed
The Black Stallion
The Man from Snowy River

-WOULD YOU RATHER...-
Have a mare/stallion: Ideally, I prefer a gelding, but if not that, then a mare.
Have a paint/thoroughbred: thoroughbred
Ride a pony/horse: Horse
Ride a young/old horse: Old
Use a pink saddle pad/white: neither, prefer a dark saddle blanket/pad for western riding
Have a nylon/leather head collar: No preference. They both work.
Ride western/jumpers: Western
Helmet/no helmet: No helmet (don't wear helmets in western riding)
Ride inside/outside: No preference.
Gallop/canter: A lope/canter
Clean your room/stall: Stall
Walk/trot: Jog (a slow--and hopefully--smooth barely trot gait used by western horses)
Trot/canter: jog-trot
Ride bareback/with a saddle: Saddle
Post/sit to the trot: Post if actually trotting, sit if jogging.
Have a purebred/grade: No preference
Watch show jumping/flat racing: Jumping
Ride on the flat/jumping course: Flat work in the ring (walk-trot-canter)
Barrel race/cross-country: cross-country
Trail ride/endurance ride: Trail ride
Have a lesson/ride on your own: either
Spend the day at a barn/show: show
Tack/untack: tack (this means taking the horses gear on and off)
Chestnut/Bay: bay
Roan/Grey: roan
Black/Buckskin: like them both equally
Jumping Saddle/dressage: Dressage
Western saddle/Australian saddle: western
17 hand horse/12 hand pony: Well, for riding purposes, I'd look damned silly on a 4 foot tall pony, so it would have to be the almost 6 foot tall horse!