Tonight I did 70 minutes of yin yoga. I stretched parts of me that have been locked up tight for years. Stretched and held the stretches for as long as five minutes. Let my body sink into the postures as muscle and fascia loosened up.
How can something so painful feel soooooo good?
Sophie licked my feet the entire time. TMI, but that felt good too.
Sophie is roaming from window to window growing. Woofing softly. There’s something out there.
I was down with the ponies tonight. Went down at dusk and spent nearly half an hour with them as they ate their evening ‘bucket’. Bucket being the feed and supplements separate from the hay. Everyone gets their own specific blend of stuff, depending on their needs. I usually lock Jasmine up in the stall during this time. She gets less and tries to make up for it by stealing from the others.
She’s a pushy little ass.
Tonight I couldn’t get her near the stall. She turned up lame this evening, favoring her left front foot. Most likely another abscess. Another as in we’ve been through this before. Many times. Sigh….
Since I couldn’t convince her to come into the barn I figured I’d hang out there with them, wearing my playground monitor hat, stable edition. Dusk turned to dark as I stood out there under the pines. The moon was out, just past full. A peaceful evening interlude in the forest–
Except it was so damn NOISY!
The horses were slurping their buckets. Manners like that, you’d think they were raised in a barn.
And peepers were partying it up in the meadow. Bazillions of ’em. BAZILLIONS of froggies goin’ a courtin’. Saying, Yo Yo, babe, hey hey hey check this out in froggie speak. Amphibian lust.
And the dogs, every single dog up and down the canyon, including my own, were chatting up the puppy hotline. Barkbarkbarkbarkbarkbark BARK. Which means, according to local lore, lion in the ‘hood.
But not in the immediate hood, the paddock or the meadow, because the ponies were chill.
Trust me, when there is something scary on the other side of the fence, they act like one of those horror movies where everyone’s crashing their cars and running away from the aliens. Since they were not the least bit concerned tonight, neither was I.
Well…maybe just a little.
And now I’m sitting here safe and sound, sipping a cuppa tea and dreaming about bed. Flannel sheets. My ancient, almost flat, favorite down pillow.
Sophie’s all settled in for the night. And so am I.
The morning had that special quality that comes after a night of rain. Light but hazy as the moisture burned off.
The ponies were hanging out in the shed. Waiting.
Lana was first to the fence. First to greet me with a throaty nicker. She always is.
Notice the tufts of hair on the fence. This is her favorite rubbing spot
She’s getting used to the camera in my hand. Used to our pause before feeding.
This is my favorite photo of the day. In fact, I think this has HAFP…high artsy fartsy potential.
What’d I tell you…is that Uber Artsy… or what? This one’s my new favorite for today.
She’s turned into a love in her old age.
And really taken to the camera.
That funny little thing in Mom’s hand that makes strange clicking sounds needs to be investigated.
Ah, Lana….which one of us is grayer?
He stood by the fence, watching me approach. I was just getting the camera out when he threw his head back and yawned.
Oh my goodness, what bigggggg teeth you have.
All the better to eat you hay with, m’dear.
Disclaimer: Saki has nice teeth, really. But not when he’s moving faster than the shutter speed. Then he looks like Bugs Bunny after a bar fight.
When he was finished yawning he came back down to my level for a greeting.
And held still long enough for a nose to nose moment.
You know those pony pictures I’ve been posting every day over on FaceBook? Well, you ever wonder why I’m always wearing the same thing, depending on the weather?
Like this…da blue hoodie. Actually I have a couple of these because I like love them so much. If they were a couple of guys I would marry them. Both. At the same time. They are that wonderful. Soft. Warm. Comforting. They make my heart go pitter-pat because they are so perfect.
Like mashed potatoes.
But let’s get back to the question… why don’t I change up my outfit for the photos? Why do I put myself out there for the world to see dressed in my KMart men’s department baggy old sweatshirt?
This is why. Because hay. is. messy. I can shake and jump and brush it but it never fully comes off.
Just works it’s way in deeper. Like what it did to this scarf. I fed the ponies a little later that day, on my way to work. Whenever I do that it means I bring it with me to work, picking it out of my hair and clothes all day. Leaving little trails of hay bits behind me wherever I go.
Like on my chair. I discovered this first thing one morning, left over from the day before.
Well, as Mama used to say about damn near everything, that’s the scoop. That’s the reason you see me wearing the same blue hoodie in most all the pony pictures.