With Benstein open, it only took a few minutes to drive to the barn.  Yay!  That's the way it's supposed to be.  There is still a lot of work left, as the guard rails are missing for the bridge, there's no turn signal installed yet, there's about a 5 inch dip in the asphalt where they haven't finished resurfacing the road, and obviously, there aren't any permanent lines painted on the non-existent asphalt.  Wonder how much longer all of that is going to take now that the road is only.  They're only about four weeks behind schedule as it is.

It's another toasty day, and M surprised me by moving the lesson outside.  We haven't ridden outside in ages.  It was nice.  Because Blondie is such a spaz, it even helped get her head cranked back as she warily eyed everything.  She wouldn't trot down the rail at first, but we worked through that.  She did spook at a big pile of horse poop, though.  I think it is funny that my horse is terrified of horse shit.

The lesson started indoors, and M announced that today, Blondie is going to look like a show horse.  No more goofing around, we have a show in three weeks.  She got the stretchers out, and after one trot around, she got the draw rein back out, too.  Then she suggested that we ride in the outdoor and get the mare to go to work.  Now, that's what I have been hoping for all summer long.

Blondie really stepped up down the rail, at least for Blondie.  It's the liveliest she's been in months.  She wasn't pulling on the bridle, and she even flat walked for me.  After a couple of trips around in both directions, M decided that we should call it a day because Blondie worked so well.  Since it was so hot out, I didn't have any complaints. 

Oh, I almost forget!  When I first arrived, the barn help was still cleaning Blondie's stall, so I went to the other barn to watch them work the babies.  I got to brush the three month old filly's mane and tail.  Her coat is so soft!  She also stands better than my mare, which wasn't a good feeling.

Why do long weekends seem so magical?  There's really nothing special about them, other than one more day off of work.  Today we had a truly exciting day, heading off to Target to stock up on essentials.  Didn't we just do this?  This is always a painful trip.

Our shopping cart, brimming over with purchases.  Look!  Queen of the Hill!

Next, we headed over to Haandi, an Indian restaurant in Livonia. It is in the same shopping center as JBC used to be in, which brought back memories of heading there to pick up my monthly piles of manga magazines. 

I was little worried when we arrived at Haandi - we were almost the only ones there.  By the time we left, though, the place was packed.  We hit at just the right time, and were able to eat in peace, without having to wait in lines at the buffet.

Here's the first plate - it was chicken korma and goat curry.  The goat was very tender.  The chicken korma was disappointingly bland.

Plate No 2 - Lentils, aloo baigan, and a something fried in a florescent yellow sauce.  Have absolutely no idea what it was, but the sauce had a very tasty, tangy flavor.

Here was the last plate, a combination of my favorites - goat curry, aloo baigan, and the mystery yellow stuff.  I was getting pretty full  by this time, but there was still dessert to attend to.

Here is Dean's strawberry lassi.  I didn't care for the taste.  It was too sour and tasted too much like yogurt.

Dessert!  Two little bowls of kheer.  No nuts or raisins, which was disappointing.

Overall, I was a little disappointed with this dining experience. While the food was good, the buffet selection was rather small. I wanted an order of ras malayee to go, but they didn't have it today. That was a huge bummer.

After lounging about the house, I suggested that we head up to the Dairy Twist.  With Benstein closed, it has been very inconvenient to go, so we haven't been there yet this year. Now that the road is open, there's no excuse to deny ourselves a few dairy-ific treats.

Here is my small flurry - Kit Kat & Andes mint in vanilla ice cream. 

Biggest bummer of the day - I had to wear my glasses.  Last night, my eye was very itchy and very red.  I was afraid that it was pink eye.  This morning, the color was back to normal, but it's still a little itchy.  I think it's just allergies, and it did feel better last night after I took some allergy medicine.  I hope that this isn't an indication of how bad my allergies are going to be this fall.  It's the worst time of the year, and I am just miserable.

Blondie

Since I left work early, I called M and asked if she could fit my lesson in earlier.  She told me to come now - I was her only lesson in the evening, and she's trying to get five horses ready for a charity horse show tomorrow.

Left for the barn, surprised by how warm it had gotten.  When I left work, it was drizzling and chilly.  By the time I had Blondie tacked up, it was dreadfully humid.  Ick.

Started the lesson, but Blondie wouldn't bend her head at the poll.  M had me walk and went to get the draw reins.  I hate holding them because they are thick and round and give me blisters.  They did get Blondie to tip her head over, though.  Amazing how that works.

Working at a trot again, M had me work at getting Blondie's head set, without her pulling on the bridle.  She corrected me when I kept pulling her head into position, telling me to use my biceps and legs to set her in the bridle.  It was very difficult, because Blondie kept pulling against me, which pulls me forward.  M told me to concentrate on sitting back, keeping my ribs up, and not letting the horse pull me forward.

I have noticed that my riding has improved, and that I'm posting off of my legs instead of my feet, which I did for far too long.  I still get thrown off balance when Blondie surges forward or scoots to the side, but I'm so much better! I don't constantly hang on her mouth, anymore, either.  For the canters, I was able to sit back, keeping my arms bent, and ask her to step into it.  She fell out of it once, and I am still too slow to correct her, set her up, and send her forward again.  Need to work on that.

Blondie has been very good about the back gate, and now that I have mentioned it, she will probably be a tard about it on Sunday.

After the lesson, I ran up to Archiver's Scrapbook Store to see if I could find any embellishments for the doll clothes I am making.  They have so much stuff there!  It almost made me want to start scrapbooking. 

I had a short day at work, and only really went in to finish payroll and take care of a few loose ends before the holiday weekend.  Things are always quiet on the Friday before a long weekend, and today was no exception.  After delegating a few tasks (thanks for running up to the bank, Puu!!) I starting getting ready to make an exit when Dean called to taunt me.  He was already home.  Evidently, his office was being painted today, and he didn't want to smell the paint fumes.  Works for me!

Headed home and convinced him that we just couldn't survive without lunch at Mexico Lindo.  This isn't really a hard sell, but he thought we should go to El Patio instead.  I would have agreed if Benstein was open, but I didn't want to drive all the way back around Proud Lake.  Plus, it would have felt like I was going back to work.

I ordered a combo meal, and Dean ordered the Carne De Puerco - sorry, he declined to have his food photographed for posterity because he just wanted to eat.  Instead, here is what I ate -

Chips and salsa.  The green one is hot.  I love their salsa, because there are no disgusting chunks of onion waiting in ambush.

Combo meal.  Very greasy.  Have to be in the mood for that, and today I was.  The taco dripped with fatty goodness, and the enchilada was bathing in a sea of cheese.  I couldn't finish it all.

The waitress actually asked what the doll was for, which is a first in all of the times I've dragged her and the camera along.  Maybe the rest thought I might be unstable, and therefore didn't inquire??

Diesel

As promised, Diesel's shoe had been refitted to his foot.  He hadn't been trimmed, though, so we had to dig through the tack room to find a pair of bells boots big enough for his large front feet.  It's a good thing that I arrived early, because it took a while to find them.

It was another large group, with eight riders again.  It was also stuffy in the arena, so we didn't work the horses very hard.  We spend a lot of time walking, while posting or in the two point.  Diesel was very stiff when we started out, but he had a lot more energy than the last time I rode him.  Though he had a pronounced hitch in his get along, he was actually going places with his large, ground covering walk.  He was never very smooth on his bad side, but he eventually started to loosen up.

I did learn that Diesel likes his space.  Man, oh, man did he get ugly ears when the other horses got a little too close to him.  He kicked Doc on Monday, and after watching as his ears were pinned tight against his head, I didn't doubt it.  I guess he can be a cranky old guy.

I had a bit of a problem with his canter.  First off, I didn't angle him enough to even get him to step off into the canter, and when I finally did, he is very choppy.  It was difficult to stay in the saddle and not bounce around.  By the time we moved back to a walk, Diesel was very sweaty.  Oh, time for a trail ride down the driveway!

It was amazing how much cooler it was outside. There was a nice breeze, and, at first, the flies weren't bad.  Near the end of the driveway, a mutant horsefly decided to hone in on us, and it was really freaking me out.  It was huge!  And it kept following us!  Ugh!

I was disappointed that we didn't get to rack.  What a bummer.

Diesel

Today was the perfect day for a riding lesson.  Jen and I arrived at the barn, and while she was getting Harley ready, I was measured for a new suit.  I would like a black one with very thin pink or silver pin stripes, or a muted blue.  The suit maker didn't have any swatches that I liked, so she is going to contact her suppliers and see if she can find what I'm looking for and send me samples.

After all of that twisting and turning (and in front of an audience, too), I headed over to the other barn to get Diesel ready.  I was really looking forward to riding him again.  The last time he could hardly walk.  He was a little slow on the way out of the barn, but I scooped up a handful of hay and waved it in front of his nose, and he actually picked up the pace a bit.  For him, anyway.

After letting him walk around a few times to loosen up his creaky joints, M had us start trotting.  She told me to gather him up and get him more collected, and just as he was stepping up down along the rail, it happened.  He tripped and pulled his shoe off.  Crap!!  It took longer to get him ready than then time I spent riding him.  Considering what a craptatular day I had, I wasn't all that surprised that this endeavor didn't go as planned, either.  Back to the other barn we went, and I put him away.  Better luck during the group lesson later in the week.

I watched the end of Jen's lesson, and M told me that D would fix Diesel's shoe and get him all ready for Wednesday.  He was due for a trim, anyway.  Poop!  Why did he have to pull his shoe off today?  Why couldn't he have waited until tomorrow?

Here are more pix from the zoo -

Here is the littlest niece's favorite animal.  She wanted to see the giraffes, and she wanted to see them NOW!

Since they have a deck where visitors can feed them now (with the purchase of an additional ticket, of course) they come right up to the front of the exhibit

See the kangaroos in the background? Don't worry that you can't - they didn't do anything but sleep the entire time we were there!

See the red panda, way up in the tree? Go ahead and click to make the picture larger - yeah, we still couldn't see it either

Furry hoofed critters - they were awake. Boring, but awake

Happy human baby at the start of our journey

Goofing around outside a food stall

Posing for pix at the fountain

Much of the vegetation was brown and dry from a lack of rain, but these flowers were pretty

These guys were happy in the heat, but, hey, they live in the desert

On patrol! It sucks to have to work on the weekend

Warning! Large shaggy beast creeping up behind you!

Snack time! What will 10 bucks get you at the zoo?  A hot dog, a water, and a basket of fries

Taking a break by a food stand

The wolverine, seconds before abandoning the sunshine for the cool depths of his burrow

Space aliens!  These guys are space aliens!!!

We are now entering the North Pole!

Me and my friend, Mr Polar Bear

There should be a seal in the picture, but he was a really fast swimmer

In the tube, with about a billion other people. Could hardly find a place to sit and watch the seals

The big, cold wall of ice. It was very popular on this 90 degree day

I was starving from all of that walking around in the sun, so we stopped at Camelia's Mexican Grill on the way home. Where's the grub?

I ordered the Camerones Ranchero, which is yummy shrimp cooked in a salsa ranchero sauce. Messy but tasty. Prices weren't bad, either

And that was our day at the zoo.  I needed a nap when we got home.

Road pony

Fearing another toasty day, I headed out to the barn a little early.  I probably shouldn't have bothered, because the barn help was running late, so the tractor was parked right in front of Blondie's stall.  I slowly got her ready, and after farting around for about 20 minutes, I finally had to ask them to move it out of the way. 

It was stifling in the arena, so we didn't work the horses very long.  We walked, trotted, trotted figure eights, then cantered.  In both directions.  Blondie was soaked after about 20 minutes, so we called it good.  Then I walked her for a while, before taking her back to her stall.  I took her out and let her eat some grass, but she didn't dry off all that much.  And she gave me a hard time when I wanted to bring her in.  It made me want to reconsider giving her a peppermint, but she still got one anyway. 

Tomorrow I am supposed to ride Diesel, and there is a woman coming out who makes custom suits.  I am interested to see what kind of fabrics she has, so I am going to be talking with her about it.  My old brown suit is in pretty bad shape, and it doesn't fit me very well.

Today Dean and I headed off to the zoo to meet up with my brother and his family.  Once again, it was a hot and sticky day.  We got an early start, and it's a good thing that we did, because the animals were all snoozing in the shade by lunchtime.  We did get to see the bearcat walking around, a first, since it's usually sleeping in a tree.  It was really cute!  I took a ton of pictures, so I'll spread the visit over a few posts.

Isn't it cute?!

Look at the whiskers on this guy

Waiting to start our trek through the zoo

First stop, the Butterfly House!

Even though it was just as humid as outside, I love the flowers and the pretty butterflies

Butterflies!

Blurry butterflies in the background

Another butterfly!

The littlest niece, wondering why her auntie is making her sit with a doll

Chilling for a few minutes to enjoy the butterflies

The birds and butterflies share the same building. This is inside the aviary, where there are streams and a little waterfall

There is a bench shaped like a butterfly right outside the entrance.  It's not very comfy, but it sure looks nice.

And that's it for this post.  Join me tomorrow as I give you a glimpse of some of the not so yummy food available at the zoo, as well as more animals! 

Summer

Not much to say about last night's lesson other than, Dear God was it hot and humid!  There's something to be said when the horse is sweating before you even put a saddle on its back.  Or when I'm sweating before I even get on.  I didn't realize how awful it was until it was too late to change my mind about riding. Ugh.

Blondie shuffled along, and we didn't push her very hard.  It was just too hot.  She is like me, and she doesn't function well when it's around 90 degrees.  Since she wasn't moving very fast, M had me drop both stirrups and post without them.  I hate doing this, because I feel like I'm going to fall off, and my hands and arms get out of control.  Blondie wasn't helping much because she kept stopping.  I kept my legs out of her because I didn't want her going very fast, which would increase my chances of falling gracelessly off.  I was so happy when that was over.

After a brief, and I mean, very brief ride outside with Liz and Glory (lessons overlapped), we made a mad dash to escape the flies and went back to the barn.  The flies were horrible. Horrible!!  Not content to eat the horses, they even started attacking me!  Filthy things.

It took forever for Blondie to cool off, and she never did dry all the way, even after a vigorous rubdown with a towel.  With the high humidly, no wonder!  I was a sweaty mess by the time I got her tail set back on, and by the time I got home, I was exhausted.  Early to bed for me!