Feathered Friends

I love my new house! I get some nice visitors in the backyard (click pictures to enlarge).

Mating pair of cardinals. This was
taken a few weeks ago when the male
was still trying to impress his lady.

Then there are what I believe are Peregrine Falcons but I haven't confirmed it yet . They are still young so it's hard to tell if their feathers will darken on top or not. The eye is dead-on for a Peregrine though. I have had 2 juveniles regularly flying around the house and I think this is one of them. In the beginning they made a lot of noise as they flew around and they often flew in large circles. But they are maturing very quickly and now are quite quiet and fly straight.

This is what they sound like. Hope this works!



This morning I finally managed to get a half decent picture of one on the telephone pole at the back of my yard. Too bad about the pole but it's pretty amazing to me all the same.

Look at that eye!

And then he (or she!) was off.

Silly Horses and How Far is Too Far?

The horse I posted about last week now has a shoulder full of stitches :( It seems he was kicked by another horse, poor guy (or, maybe he was being an ass, who knows?). So, no riding and no turnout for him for a little while. I feel so bad for him, with all the wet weather we've had the bugs are still in full force. It must be so annoying!

On another note:

I just recently heard back from someone who advertised a lease for their horse. It is a different stable from where I ride but the price is very good and he sounds like a nice horse. I would have the opportunity to come out and go for a trail ride with him first. They are having a new indoor arena built which should be finished this week. Also trails. Sounds really great.

The only catch is it will take almost an hour to get there, which will make it difficult to go during the week. My question to you guys is: How far do you or would you go to ride? I know, most of you have your horses at home! My lesson barn is only about 20-25 minutes away and it's great. I'm not sure how reliably I could do a 1 hour drive after work.

Is verbal reward enough?

I finally got the chance to ride a horse I've been longing to ride for a very long time at my lesson barn. He is an OTTB that I've been secretly wanting to ride for at least 6 months. Last week, I made my desire known to my instructor. It paid off this week. His "usual" rider does well with him but tends to hold him in too tight, a fairly natural reaction to his fast, fast, fast, approach. I was both nervous and excited for this opportunity as I love his build and his expression.

I mostly worked on getting him to relax and soften. The usual "release as reward". I quickly realized that it worked best to give him a fairly strong correction/half-halt and release as opposed to a softer correction more frequently. He is used to being held fairly tightly most of the ride, from what I've seen.

Our warm-up and trot work was very good. He was relaxed and most of the time soft and on the bit. He would occasionally be reactive, fast and high-headed but since I was able to be consistent and calm he would settle fairly quickly. Until the canter work.

He was fast and not all that well under control at the canter. He wasn't super crazy but I had a hard time balancing the aids. It is difficult to simultaneously not hold too tight, keep him from running all out AND prevent him from breaking. It might sound strange that he would break, but he is so used to being "held up" by the mouth that when you try to have 2lbs versus 10+lbs of pressure, his balance is off and he subsequently breaks gait.

There are a lot of issues going on here, for sure. But what I am most interested in right now is whether verbal praise is enough. The idea is that every time he relaxes and softens, I want to reward him. This horse did give me several opportunities during our hour of schooling, which is great. The release is the main reward, but I think it would help to have an additional reinforcement. Do you agree?

Giving treats at this time would be impossible, at least for me. I would not be able to keep the action I want and then give a treat. I would have to stop or walk him first and then I think I would be rewarding the stop/transition, not the soft, on the bit, forward motion. Also, since I ride with 3-4 other people, stopping for treat rewards would be disruptive, I think. This whole issue is compounded by the fact that I will only ride this horse once or twice a week (unless I lease him for the fall/winter...) and I am not his only rider. He is not ridden by inexperienced riders, but there is still variation in approach, no doubt.

Do you think verbal praise is enough of a reward, in combination with the release? Any thoughts on how to approach this situation? He has already shown me that he is responsive to the way he is ridden in the moment. For example, I wondered how he would react to not being held in death-grip because I knew I would not be doing that. He quickly adjusted to my level of contact and improved greatly in his trot work. I am not being arrogant here, it comes from my instructor's feedback. It also just makes sense that helping the horse carry himself will be better in the long run.

I want to go from this

to thisor this

I definitely want some improvement in our canter work if I don't want to resort to holding tight. I just don't think that is a long-term solution, though it might look better in the short term. We did have awesome moments at the canter where I had exactly what I wanted. I want the best way to communicate to him that he has it right, as soon as he's doing it!

Any thoughts?

The cat came back...[the day after] the very next day!

Thank you Horse of Course and Adventures for your comments and concern. It truly was a terrible two days and I'm sorry I didn't update you right away, I had a lot of work to catch up on!

In typical feline sensibility, Tonka showed up at the back door at 11:30 pm Saturday night. Recall that he escaped at 11:30pm Thursday. I suspect he thought it was funny.

My mom was staying the night with me and she went into the kitchen to get some water before bed. She looked out the patio door into darkness and thought, wouldn't it be cool if Tonka showed up back there. She looked away, did some stuff, glanced back and saw his face in the window. Thinking maybe she was imagining it, mom opened the door. Tonka sauntered in like everything was normal. Are you surprised?

I stated in the comments that Tonka is not very cuddly. He loves attention and being pet, but with all four paws on the floor. When my mom called me and I saw him, I scooped him right up and cuddled him so much. I think he was glad to be home as he didn't struggle at all. He just let me love on him and purred SO loud.

He was dehydrated and hungry but otherwise looked good. He was also very tired! I later discovered a small cut on his chin which I cleaned up and I'm sure it will heal just fine. Whew!

Little brat probably knows the neighbourhood better than I do now!

Tonka lost...or out for a stretch?

I have wanted to do a blog about my cat for a long time. He has an interesting story and is an interesting breed. I regret that I am doing it now because I need to do something related to him because he is missing.

Tonka is a 13 year old, neutered male, Tonkinese cat. I know, original name! He also sounds like a Tonka truck when he runs around the house. It suits him.


I took today, Friday, off to receive an appliance delivery (that never came!) and figured I would use the extra time to get the house settled more. As a result, I was up later than normal on Thursday. I took Hazel on her night walk around 11:30 pm. When we got home, I opened the door and Tonka was out like a shot before I could even register it. I am always careful because he likes to do this but he has been out in the back a lot lately so maybe I wasn't on guard enough. Usually, he goes to the nearest bush and eats grass. As long as I don't rush at him, I can usually just calmly pet him a bit and eventually bring him in. But this is a new house and neighbourhood.

I quickly put Hazel in the house and followed Tonka into the backyard across the street where I saw him go. I haven't met these neighbours yet and I was worried about entering their backyard at midnight! In I went. I saw Tonka once but he disappeared into a thick tomato garden and wouldn't come. I ran home for his food, came back and started to gently shake it to make that clincking sound. After a few tries, I heard a rustling in the tomato bushes in front of me. I thought it was my cat but out popped a skunk, not a meter away!

Thankfully, the skunk retreated and I was able to get out of there. I then proceeded to trespass into the next neighbour's yard. Based on the fencing, I am pretty sure that is the way he would have traveled. No luck.

I spent today putting up posters, in both my new and old neighbourhoods, walking the neighbourhood several times, talking to anyone I saw, and visiting the humane society to look at the cats and follow up with the report I filed in the morning. It was a very busy and emotionally exhausting day.

Truthfully, I am sick with worry. I've been told that, because Tonka is "pretty", someone might nab him for keeps. What's funny is that Tonka first came to us a "stray" 12 years ago. My sister found him, he was skinny and dirty - his owner had left him outside while on vacation. It was clearly a long vacation as you don't get that thin in a week or two. Oh, and he was declawed when we found him! We decided that anyone who would leave a declawed cat like that did not deserve to have him back. I don't regret this decision one bit.

Tonka likes to blend in.

And, sometimes, stand out!
This is my first attempt to photoshop

anything, many years ago.

Given this picture:

what else could I do?






I admit I am not really a cat person. I remember the day I fell in love with him. He was still technically my sister's cat. At the time, he was mostly kept in a large finished basement as I had a miniature poodle who chased him, so he needed a safe place. My sister was still sleeping, so I went down to clean litter, feed and play with him. We bonded that morning. Tonka showed me how much personality he had. I named him that morning during our play session.

Tonka is a smart and surprisingly compassionate cat. He used to bug my last dog Tia - ambush her when she walked by, pestered her - all in play.

They were pretty close in size!

When my last dog was dying, at the age of 18, he helped me recognize and accept that I needed to help her pass. He never lay next to her, until that night.

Tonka lying with Tia. This was Tia's last night with us. It is perhaps morbid that I took a picture, knowing what was about to happen, but it was such a moment of animals understanding life in a way that us humans tend to over-think and fail to appreciate. I treasure it as a reminder of the strength of friendship and love, no matter the differences. They don't over-think, they just appreciate the moment. I sure miss my Tia girl, she was a hell of a dog.

And my Tonka cat is a hell of a cat. He needs to come home. I just hope he knows where that is.

New home has unexpected residents.

Everything is going well with the house, the move went as well as moves can and we are desperately trying to settle in, in between work and the other details in life. But the REAL thing I want to blog about is my new second job. That's right, on top of my already well-paying and reasonably fulfilling (on most days) career, I now have a new (pre) occupation. I am an EARWIG DESTROYER.

For those who don't know what earwigs are, first I am sticking my tongue out at you because I am very jealous. They are the one creepy-crawly that I just CANNOT reconcile myself with. I have come to terms with spiders and even centipedes. But earwigs...oh, no. Not ever. Where was I? Oh yes, the earwig.



This is, admittedly, a rather nice photo. It almost makes me appreciate the structure of this bug. Almost. Photo is courtesy of What's that Bug, an amazing website that helps identify bugs for people. This site has helped me get over many fears/phobias through learning to appreciate the insect. Definitely one of my top 10.



The pinch delivered by the an earwig is not very painful, it's apparently less annoying than a mosquito bite. My main problem with them is that they tend to "gather" in large clusters. Your garden hose will be full of them every day. Your plants - flowers, vegetables, herbs - will be eaten completely in a few nights. They drop from doorways when you open the door. They hide in shoes. One even joined me for breakfast this morning. Ugh.

My new house? I love it. But the sellers clearly weren't here much the last while and the earwigs have taken over. I almost had a panic attack the second night here when I had dealt with many, many earwigs; including a laundry basket with every article of clothing having 1-2 earwigs shake out and another almost drop on my head. My wonderful hubby spent some time the next day poking around the foundation outside, finding all the earwig nests. We both do not like chemicals or poison and, years ago, I used to pour boiling water everywhere there was a nest or earwigs gathered. So, Sasha boiled kettle after kettle while I was at work to eliminate my nemesis. Talk about knight in shining armour, lol.

I also picked up some traps from Lee Valley. You basically add water to drown them, oil to trap them, dish soap to break surface tension, and an attractant. In an attempt to make this remotely tolerable, I decided to make it an experiment to appeal to the researcher in me. So, I varied the attractant for each trap.

It is recommended to use fish oil, but I have none. So, I chose things I had on hand. We had lamb for dinner, so I included a piece of lamb fat. Don't worry, "dog" and "cat" do not contain pieces of my furry friends! "Dog" contains some wet dog food and "cat" contains a cat treat with fish and fish oil in them. Yum. I also used a piece of mango, for something sweet, and fish sauce, for something extra fishy.

Setting traps in creepy dark places.

The pink underwear are part of the dress code
and the plumber's butt is just part of the
culture among us earwig destroyers ;)

The next morning we went out and...nothing! Not a single earwig perished in my traps. I think my experiments failed. BUT, I think I had a confound I didn't consider. My dish soap is naturally grapefruit scented and I suspect that they were deterred by the citrus.

So, the next night I scrapped the experiment, bought cod liver oil and used unscented soap. The result?? A total of FIVE in one trap, whoo hoo! Ok, I was seriously hoping for a better haul. I tell myself it's because they are mostly gone now. It could happen, right? Anyway, I poured more boiling water in that area, so hopefully we have eliminated the major nests near the house.

I'm enjoying home ownership, really. Stay tuned to discover if I break down and use something toxic to rid my life of gross brown crawlies!

Hey, at least it's not mice, right?

Honest Scraps

First - I just finished my fourth lesson since the fiasco with my wrist. Things are going well although my legs need to remember they're role better. To be fair, I started doing 2 lessons a week last week so I didn't give my body any time to "ramp-up". That's ok, It'll come. I actually think the time off helped the mental side of riding, even if it hurt the physical. I spoke with Edgar's owner who is considering selling him since the one exercise rider she approved of couldn't control him and I was still not riding. I will discuss this on the blog more later but I'm feeling responsible for things that aren't really my problem. Not so much the training aspect, I've always been honest with his owner about the stunts he pulls, but I can only speak from my experience not from someone else's ability. More from the perspective that if I don't keep riding him she will sell.
~~~~
Horse of Course kindly gave me my first blogger award! This award is all about sharing a little of yourself and also highlighting the blogs you like. I think this is a great way to learn about other blogs and the bloggers behind them. However, most, if not all, of the blogs I read have already received this award. Great for them, not so good for me. I think instead I will post websites I enjoy over the next few posts. It's all about expanding horizons right? Well, there are only so many blogs you can read in a day and the honest scrap has made the rounds!

Here are some honest scraps about me:

1. I am a certified open-water scuba diver. My husband and I took the training, studied and completed the required dives (and then some) on our honeymoon 2 years ago.

2. I can get loud. Sometimes when I’m angry, sometimes when I’m happy or excited. Sometimes for no apparent reason at all.

3. I owned my own horse once. His name was Will Beware and he was pretty awesome though I didn’t own him for long. I am trying to get his (my?) story written and submitted to Mugwump Chronicles. It’s hard. I’ve searched for Willie all over the internet but I don’t know what happened to him or even what age he would be, though he would have to be at least 25.

4. I draw quite a bit but usually for only a few weeks a year. Don’t know why. Nudes are my favorite.

5. I hate sleeping without an open window. I love naps, especially on a sunny spring/summer day in the early afternoon with fresh air coming in. There is something so luxurious about it that I just love.

6. I hate long sleeves on shirts but love a good sweater.

7. I moved to a different city from my husband for 2 years to complete a Masters degree in Industrial & Organizational Psychology. The independence it took for me to do this is very important to me.

8. It often takes several attempts for me to leave the house when I’m going out. Not because I’m obsessive-compulsive but because I often forget stuff.

9. I love vegetable gardening. I have fond memories of weeding the tomatoes and peppers with my Nonna (grandma in Italian) and then sitting and eating cucumbers whole. For the last few years, I have been filling my balcony with tomatoes, lettuces and herbs because I have no yard. That’s about to change!

10. I am very fortunate to have a husband who is still my best friend and a lot of fun after 10 years together. Granted, occasionally I think he had a lobotomy or something and I don’t understand him at all…but mostly we see things in similar ways or have civil debates :)

Websites:
To come, I need to go to bed!