Fandom practice...
I resolved after my New Year's post to try to post more this year, reach out a bit, even just with trivialities. I have failed miserably so far, but maybe it is not too late to start...
The problem, though, is that, to use aerye's always-excellent words, it is so very, very easy to get out of practice with fandom, or more specifically, with participating in certain aspects of fandom, and I am so woefully out of practice that I don't even remember how to do it. How do I do it?
Maybe I start with me? I'm sick. I've been sick for a week and a half - on-and-off miserable, with days that I don't want to get out of bed alternating with days that I feel just sort of yucky. Today is a just sort of yucky day. But it was 12 degrees this morning when I got to the barn. Twelve - as in...well, as in only two more than ten!! Humans weren't meant to exist in that kind of weather! Plus there were 15-20mph winds; wind-chills close to 0! It hasn't been this cold here in years, and I resent it deeply!
[[ETA: That's 12 degrees Fahrenheit, which is -12 degrees Celsius!]]
And yet, out to the barn I went, at my normal ridiculous early hour. I rode three horses between 6:45 and 9:30 am - Bodie, Griggs, and one of my trainer's horses - and I never got warm, despite umpteen layers. I looked like a snowman. Here's a picture from before Christmas proving it (plus a picture of Bodie's ears, just because I think they're cute):
There I'm wearing a thermal shirt, a thick fleece pullover, a thick neoprene-like zip-up wind jacket, a thick down vest, and a huge thick winter coat over it all - plus the orange vest, because it was hunting season; then on the bottom, thermal tights with thick neoprene-like breeches over them.
And then today, when it was twenty degrees colder (but I wasn't trail riding, which is the coldest thing to do on a horse, at least when you're just walking - exposed to all the elements, just sitting there, not moving), add to that another layer on top, under the fleece pullover; and on the bottom, over my neoprene breeches, a thick pair of insulated "snow breeches" - like ski pants with patches, basically, though I did take them off to ride. It was ridiculous! And I was still cold! Well, parts of me were okay - the problem is the nose, the toes, and worst of all, the fingers - no way to keep the fingers warm when riding, at least not and still be able to feel the reins; my hands got so cold riding Bodie they felt like they were going to shatter.
You know - as an aside - you get really used to doing gross things in the horse world. Like, when you're doing your lesson in the cold and your nose is running, you just wipe it on your jacket, or whatever - everything you're wearing is always filthy anyway, and it's not like you can stop in the middle, let go of the reins, take a tissue out of your pocket, and blow your nose. Or you drop your snack on the barn floor, and you pick it up and eat it. I mean, gross, but we all do it! Then you go back into the "real world" and have to remember that if you do that sort of thing outside the barn people will think...well, that you were born in a barn! *g*
Anyway, we didn't ride for very long, because the cold dry air is hard on the horse's lungs, but horses are such heat generators - they didn't seem particularly bothered by the temperatures and seemed warm enough under their winter blankets, even with their "trace clips" (where the long winter hair on the areas that sweat the most - basically, the underside of the body: belly, neck, etc. - is clipped short (the clip follows the line of harness traces). At a clinic late last year, a well-known dressage judge said about Bodie, "that's a very sexy clip." Hmm. I wasn't quite sure what to say to him! *g*)
Actually, you can see his clip quite well in the picture above, but here he's all braided, too - this was the very clinic at which the judge made that comment.
Anyway, after we were done riding today and had put them out, they stood in the cold wind munching happily at the pile of hay in their field:
In other news - Pros, Pros and more Pros, as usual; I can't get enough. I've been trying to catch up with archiving... I posted a story on the Circuit Archive a few weeks ago by a brand new author that I really enjoyed. It's called It's a Dog's Life; the author is Dog's Rose. It's a slight story, but I think she has a marvelous way with words, with language, and I like the humor. It's very different, and I think it's worth noting.
msmoat came to visit two weeks ago and we had an absolutely fabulous time. It was so nice to meet her! aerye and ancastar came over one of the days, and we had our own impromptu Pros con - talking about stories, watching eps and vids...it was bliss.
Speaking of Pros cons, I must start thinking about Close Quarters...you all want to come to a Pros con next summer, don't you?! Come! It will be fun! And I'm excited to be going to Nattercon again in May - though before that there's Escapade, which isn't only Pros, but I like it anyway. *g*
I've been re-reading zines since I've been sick and realizing - my Pros obsession grows ever deeper, even after more than three years. Can this be normal? Does it matter?
And maybe that's enough for a first effort - not profound, but (hopefully) better than nothing... :-)
The problem, though, is that, to use aerye's always-excellent words, it is so very, very easy to get out of practice with fandom, or more specifically, with participating in certain aspects of fandom, and I am so woefully out of practice that I don't even remember how to do it. How do I do it?
Maybe I start with me? I'm sick. I've been sick for a week and a half - on-and-off miserable, with days that I don't want to get out of bed alternating with days that I feel just sort of yucky. Today is a just sort of yucky day. But it was 12 degrees this morning when I got to the barn. Twelve - as in...well, as in only two more than ten!! Humans weren't meant to exist in that kind of weather! Plus there were 15-20mph winds; wind-chills close to 0! It hasn't been this cold here in years, and I resent it deeply!
[[ETA: That's 12 degrees Fahrenheit, which is -12 degrees Celsius!]]
And yet, out to the barn I went, at my normal ridiculous early hour. I rode three horses between 6:45 and 9:30 am - Bodie, Griggs, and one of my trainer's horses - and I never got warm, despite umpteen layers. I looked like a snowman. Here's a picture from before Christmas proving it (plus a picture of Bodie's ears, just because I think they're cute):
There I'm wearing a thermal shirt, a thick fleece pullover, a thick neoprene-like zip-up wind jacket, a thick down vest, and a huge thick winter coat over it all - plus the orange vest, because it was hunting season; then on the bottom, thermal tights with thick neoprene-like breeches over them.
And then today, when it was twenty degrees colder (but I wasn't trail riding, which is the coldest thing to do on a horse, at least when you're just walking - exposed to all the elements, just sitting there, not moving), add to that another layer on top, under the fleece pullover; and on the bottom, over my neoprene breeches, a thick pair of insulated "snow breeches" - like ski pants with patches, basically, though I did take them off to ride. It was ridiculous! And I was still cold! Well, parts of me were okay - the problem is the nose, the toes, and worst of all, the fingers - no way to keep the fingers warm when riding, at least not and still be able to feel the reins; my hands got so cold riding Bodie they felt like they were going to shatter.
You know - as an aside - you get really used to doing gross things in the horse world. Like, when you're doing your lesson in the cold and your nose is running, you just wipe it on your jacket, or whatever - everything you're wearing is always filthy anyway, and it's not like you can stop in the middle, let go of the reins, take a tissue out of your pocket, and blow your nose. Or you drop your snack on the barn floor, and you pick it up and eat it. I mean, gross, but we all do it! Then you go back into the "real world" and have to remember that if you do that sort of thing outside the barn people will think...well, that you were born in a barn! *g*
Anyway, we didn't ride for very long, because the cold dry air is hard on the horse's lungs, but horses are such heat generators - they didn't seem particularly bothered by the temperatures and seemed warm enough under their winter blankets, even with their "trace clips" (where the long winter hair on the areas that sweat the most - basically, the underside of the body: belly, neck, etc. - is clipped short (the clip follows the line of harness traces). At a clinic late last year, a well-known dressage judge said about Bodie, "that's a very sexy clip." Hmm. I wasn't quite sure what to say to him! *g*)
Actually, you can see his clip quite well in the picture above, but here he's all braided, too - this was the very clinic at which the judge made that comment.
Anyway, after we were done riding today and had put them out, they stood in the cold wind munching happily at the pile of hay in their field:
In other news - Pros, Pros and more Pros, as usual; I can't get enough. I've been trying to catch up with archiving... I posted a story on the Circuit Archive a few weeks ago by a brand new author that I really enjoyed. It's called It's a Dog's Life; the author is Dog's Rose. It's a slight story, but I think she has a marvelous way with words, with language, and I like the humor. It's very different, and I think it's worth noting.
msmoat came to visit two weeks ago and we had an absolutely fabulous time. It was so nice to meet her! aerye and ancastar came over one of the days, and we had our own impromptu Pros con - talking about stories, watching eps and vids...it was bliss.
Speaking of Pros cons, I must start thinking about Close Quarters...you all want to come to a Pros con next summer, don't you?! Come! It will be fun! And I'm excited to be going to Nattercon again in May - though before that there's Escapade, which isn't only Pros, but I like it anyway. *g*
I've been re-reading zines since I've been sick and realizing - my Pros obsession grows ever deeper, even after more than three years. Can this be normal? Does it matter?
And maybe that's enough for a first effort - not profound, but (hopefully) better than nothing... :-)