How is everyone?

[PaulaO]

Just a check in. How is everyone holding up? I’m ready for autumn. The summer has been hot and humid and dry. Miss A. is doing well. She ripped off her right front shoe twice in a month, each time taking a piece of hoof with it. Matt, my excellent farrier, built up,the hoof with Equilox and now she wears bell boots. I’m taking a second weekly lesson on a school horse to get over my canter anxiety.

Allergies have been horrible. Today I am congested, sneezing, coughing. I go into the office on Thursday but am working from home today.

I should be packing for my trip to London and York, but needless to say that was cancelled. We hope to go next spring. The corporation I work for has suspended the accumulation of PTO until the end of the year as a “cost saving measure.” I hate them.

97 weeks til retirement.

[Chancellor]

Your company has suspended the accumulation of PTO? THAT SUCKS!

I am officially working from home for the rest of the year. I am happy about that as my commute stinks and this is just easier. There is no reason I need to be in the office.

I am ready for autumn too. This hot and humid weather is just awful.

[Ryeissa]

yeah, its been a weird mix of glad to be home and struggling. We are home for the rest of the year and hopefully spring. LOVE that.

[LeoApp]

This summer in the NE has been extra hot and humid. I hate humidity and always have, so needless to say I cannot WAIT for it to cool down. My riding trip to Normandy was canceled and I hope I can take it next year. I was taking riding lessons to just get some time in the saddle (before Normandy) but it has been so freaking hot I had to postpone several of them. All friends and family are fine. No one I have had any personal contact with has gotten COVID. My company cut our pay 10% for a while but has reinstated our full salaries. Working from home for the foreseeable future. There is no reason for me to be in the office. I don't have a retirement date but it will be before the end of 2021 I can tell you that for sure. That may mean I will never be going back to the office.

[Chancellor]

LeoApp, Michael had to take a paycut of something like 30% for three months as well. But at least we are both still employed.

My company was considered essential so no paycut for me.

[silk]

NZ did an initial 5-ish weeks of lock down ("level 4"), then back to limited restrictions ("level 1"), however expecting an announcement later today on further lockdown requirements. The past 3 days, the Auckland region (with 1/4 of our whole - admittedly small - population) was put into higher restrictions (level 3) due to an apparent community transmission, with the rest of the country stepping up to level 2 (more restrictions than we've been under, but not as severe as Auckland).

I'm back to working from home regardless - my company has a rule of 30% capacity at L2 even, and at L3 we must work from home. I pulled some trims forward to today (instead of tomorrow) as I expect that we will be put into L3 or L4 as a whole country as of midnight, which will most likely mean delaying all trims for the duration of the lockdown.

Like many, I loved "iso" and being at home. It meant I got to spend a bunch of extra time with both horses and riding my old girl. Sadly she was put down a week ago as her cancer had progressed too much and the side effects were becoming noticeable. I didn't want her to be an emergency or really start to decline (she had declined severely in the few weeks prior), and really, I would have got one or two weeks at the most as her breathing was definitely compromised. It hurts so much that she's gone, and life is definitely different (I owned her for just over 20 years). In some ways, a relief that she is not in pain or struggling at all, although there is nothing I would not have given to have kept her around longer <3

I've got a new horse coming on lease, and a temporary paddockmate to keep the young one company until I can get the lease horse here (she's in Auckland region, which likely means I can't transport her until after whatever lockdown comes next has finished).

[heddylamar]

Oh. Silk. I hate that we have to say goodbye to our oldsters. It sounds like you did exactly the right thing for her, but it still sucks donkey ballz. I'm glad you got a bit more time with her.

[heddylamar]

I feel guilty saying this, but spouse and I are great. He changed roles (same employer) in mid-February and is FAR less stressed. I'm as busy as ever, surprisingly. My work is fully freelance/self-employed, so I expected a drop-off, but my bread and butter clients are political (tis the season), nonprofit/association (steady-ish budgets + fundraising goals), and communications. There have been some dips, but then it comes back, and nothing has dried up ... yet.

As for the rest? Riding is great, running is improving, and overall fitness is returning with the newly repaired hip — all the yays! But, I could really do without the announcements every 2–3 weeks from dad's VA home that someone else has tested positive, but "it's okay, they're not showing any symptoms." And, I am so over the guilting from the local (to us) in-laws when spouse and I skip all the gatherings because they're not masking, distancing, or doing anything else sensible.

[Anne]

Echoing Silk : I expect that NZ will soon be further locked-down (12 new covid cases today....). Won't be much change for us, we live very rurally, so tend to only go in to town once every 2 weeks or so for supplies. I'm pleased to still have a job, albeit on a standby rate until we can go back to work (likely not until early next year). So I'm making the most of having time to work the horses and dig the garden... it's still winter here, but it has been very mild and dry, so feels like spring is just around corner. The horses are moulting flat-out!

[StraightForward]

I'm sorry to hear NZ is having some flare-ups and hope it can be controlled quickly. This virus is so insidious.

I am busier than ever, having started a new job in June, and now riding both of my horses. My new work team is in Denver, so I would be working remotely anyway. Some employees for a new team I'll be working with here locally are stuck in their previous locations for the duration, but it will be nice to be able to work with them in person at some point. If they get here before winter, maybe we will schedule some outdoor meetings at a park or something. Online collaboration can only go so far.

My husband normally gets very busy refereeing high school football this time of year. It is a mixed bag on whether fall sports will happen, but he has pretty much determined that he won't be participating this year, so he's kind of at loose ends and watching a lot of TV. Hopefully he'll figure out something else to do with his spare time, but he's in a bit of a pouting phase right now (his words).

[PaulaO]

Good news! Just got a memo that effective September 6, we will begin accruing PTO. Now I don't hate this place as much. Hopefully I will get to do my England vacation in 2021.

Ariel and I are done with summer. She started wearing bell boots Monday, and last night's check revealed rubs under her fetlocks. Fortunately it was only the hair. And despite wearing a fly mask, she had a goopy right eye. She let me clean it gently with a wet washcloth. I think she even enjoyed it. Bring on the cold!

[khall]

I'm sitting here typing while my old dog Gracie is trying to climb into my lap because of T storms. It's been a long stressful summer, pandemic wise, animal health wise (I have 2 old dogs and an old horse Gallie) that are causing concerns and my mom who lives here on the farm with us, 83 with dementia and we've been hot and humid to the point of dangerously so. That or T storms every afternoon. Our DS came back home in April and spent the summer with us when his college shut down. He telecommuted for his co op with Ga Tech all summer and today he left to go back to school at Kennesaw. He was anxious to get back into the swing of things but I'm anxious about him going back because of the pandemic. Georgia is 5th in the nation with it's covid response and our governor is an idiot refusing to mandate masks was even blocking cities from mandating them, some did it anyway.

I'm hit and miss with working horses, between the heat, my mom and her health and the myriad of things that need to get accomplished on a farm (we also grow our own hay). I too am ready for cooler weather and crossing my fingers for a vaccine so maybe when can get back to some sense of normal? I'm assuming because my mom is in the high risk category and DH and I are caretakers (more me than him, but we are both around her) that we should be some of the first to have the vaccine available to us. At least that is my thought. I know we will all be getting our flu shots this year for sure. I had taken both my mom and dad last year for theirs but never got mine. I will this year.

I'm scheduled to host Jillian this December and I just don't know how or if it will happen. Right now based on the WH task force Georgia should be limiting gatherings to 10 people. Of course Kemp has done nothing to shut anything down or mandate any mitigation as laid out by the task force. Shutting down bars and gyms and in house dining. Then you have the idiot parents in some counties pushing to not test their sick kids because the schools keep getting shut down because of covid cases. Too many here in Georgia are not taking this virus seriously and realizing the public health issue we are in. It's lots of BUT MY FREEDUM! Makes me want to puke.

Then the political atmosphere is just so concerning. Wine, lots of wine.

My DH and I have started keto diet, we've both lost about 15 lbs, he wants to lose another 10 or so, me a good bit more. Big thing though is my joints don't hurt when I am off sugar and wheat. Much less inflammation in my joints. I have quit going to pilates because of the pandemic, really miss it. Do have a home "tower" to work with, but miss my class and instructor. Having a hard time getting motivated to work out.

Stay safe everyone!

[Moutaineer]

Ah, Silk, I'm sorry about your old horse. I had mine put down earlier in the year when we moved, and still miss him.

And I miss my mini horse, and life on the farm, to be honest. It's really hit me hard in the last couple of weeks. I do like it here in town, and it was a move that had to be made, but I'm homesick as hell.

I'm enjoying my interior decoration efforts and my landscaping work, but the bloody deer came through and pruned my roses for me last night. The were covered in just ready to burst buds. I could have cried this morning. War has been declared.

Workwise I'm just stupid busy--the construction industry is booming here as people attempt to escape big cities and head for the mountains--where they will turn small communities into copycats of their big cities in no time. I largely work from home anyway or am on construction sites, and on the few occasions I am in people's homes I'm masked and super-careful. Utah varies from being pretty safe and careful up here in Summit County, to being a bunch of FREEDUM loons when you step down into the valleys.

DH is keeping busy. Unfortunately his main hobby is singing, and of course no live performances or choirs at all at the moment. He's had a couple of sessions recently with his two singing partners in crime--they rent a big concert hall for a couple of hours of a morning and spread themselves out on the stage, pointing in different directions, and sing. He's also getting involved in an on-line choir, and is being reasonably diligent about keeping up the practice.

Both remaining horses are doing pretty well. Laddie does not enjoy the summer heat (and it continues to be really hot and dry here with lots of smoke in the air--one thing I absolutely do not miss about farm life... obsessively scanning the landscape for signs of wildfire,) but I do have to say he looks fabulous, really packed on the muscle this year, and we have been able to train consistently with no interruptions, really, this summer. Walker, all 24 years of his spotty self, has gone back to work with great gusto, and is thoroughly enjoying his life packing around his lessor, a dressage newbie who likes to go on trail rides. The two of them weren't meant to end up side by side in the world's most expensive ghetto barn, but Covid intervened, and there we are.

We were meant to be heading to Europe shortly. Big birthday bash for my husband who hits 80 in 6 weeks, and see the kids and grandkids, including the two newest members of the family, one of whom is due imminently, and one who is 6 months old. But that is not to be, until there is a vaccine, so we shall stay home and spend the money of fine ingredients and good wine.

[Sue B]

Craazeee busy still, but hoping to go fishing in a few weeks. May not happen as there's currently a fire raging through the area we usually camp in. I thought the heat was going to back off now, but nope, temps are back in the high nineties. Good news is that they have finally finished harvesting the last of the dozen large grain fields around our place. I am truly looking forward to breathing again! Lol

Horses got shoes replaced this morning and are ready to go, so that'll be fun too!

DS heads into his senior year in high school starting Thursday, but they'll only be going every other day for the first few weeks until Covid numbers drop I guess. That will make it hard for band, but most of his other classes are dual credit online things anyways. Meanwhile, he's till trying to get SAT/ACT done--so far he did get to take the ACT this summer, and the SAT is supposed to go off on Aug 29. Fingers crossed it happens! We would really, really like to get two attempts for each test accomplished for better scores, but who knows. He's applying to the Naval and Air Force Academies so he needs the best scores possible to get a nomination and even stand a chance of an appointment. He's a "good" student but not a "great" student, a varsity athlete but not a state athlete, and a community leader but not necessarily a school leader. So the 3 legs of the application stool are all "good" but not "outstanding." Kind of a crap shoot, but giving it a good try anyways. (Too bad no one college-wise is impressed with his being one of the top 3 french horn players in the state. )

So how are we doing? Great!!

[Kyra's Mom]

I am good. Pretty much staying home save for shopping, appointments, helping my Mom every other day and riding or at least going to the barn and playing with pony. I am not much into any bar scenes so I have thus far been spared from COVID. It is quite apparent that alcohol and COVID don't mix .

I have finally picked up a few days of work after not working for 4 months due to COVID. It gives me some play money although Monday is the big 65 and I am now on Medicare which is a whole lot less per month than the Cobra insurance I paid for for 13 months since I retired. I am not sure how much longer I will work (I am currently doing 1 day/week max if the census is decent) before I retire for good. I need to work a little while to make up for the foo-pah I made regarding my license (pharmacist). They switched when they renew last year. They also switched the time frame for our required continuing education. I guess I missed that little tidbit. Of course they can't make it easy. License renewal is now your birthday month. The requisite number of hours of CE must be obtained between Jan 1 and Dec 31. However, in 2018, they allowed an extra six months to switch over to the yearly plan (Jan-Dec). Previously it had been July 1--June 30. Ok, they gave us an extra 6 months and I don't know how or why but I ended up being short 0.5 hours. So I had to make a "settlement", do another hour of CE and pay them an extra $25 (I did verify their audit and they were right ). Our yearly requirement is 15 hours. So, don't ask me how, given 18 months, I was short 0.5 hours. So far this year I have 22. They aren't hard to get. Ah, the mysteries .

I am keeping myself pretty busy with appointments between mine and my Mom's but we mask up...of course all the Dr.s offices require it. Next month I am getting the carpal tunnel issues addressed on my left hand. I think when I had to use crutches last year it really crimped my wrists and viola, carpal tunnel. The right one isn't too bad but the left one bothers me daily so I am going to get it fixed. I also have tennis elbow on the left and I am sure it is from the hand having a bit less grip strength and pushing the load onto another body part. The story of my life. I don't think I will have much down time with that...I hope. However, maybe by the time it is healed, the weather will have cooled off a little. One can hope.

I would like to go somewhere...somewhere in Idaho at least but I think I will wait until October then hopefully I can get in some fall colors. Right now, everything is just dry, dry dry and brown. I might work in a day trip somewhere after the kids are back in school...whatever form that is. My friend and I have another trip to the Oregon coast planned...October 2021. Hopefully we can pull that off.

Take care everyone.
Susan

[texsuze]

Hanging in here, mostly battling the record-breaking heat and roller coaster humidity levels, along with a very low energy level right now. Trying to keep my oldster gelding from cratering. He doesn't sweat enough and prefers to stand at the gate, in full sun, for a couple hours before the dinner bell rings, rather than wait in the shade of the trees. My hens are struggling with the heat, too, so keeping them comfortable and 'less hot' than the air temperature is taxing right now. But then, this is summer in Texas!

Being out on acreage affords me the luxury of distancing and being able to appreciate nature every day, which is how I can keep things in perspective; that plus I deliberately have no smart phone, no FB, no social media contact Just watching the corona cootie from a distance. I try to go into town only once a week, for a personal training workout (except when all manner of appointments and schedule issues force me back and forth). Curbside service for things like barn supplies and feed have been very helpful. All the shops, restaurants, stores in town are requiring masks and (your own version of) social distancing, but our part of the world is loaded with naysayers, chest-thumpers, and fist-clenchers, although they've been more quiet lately, perhaps because it's hard to maintain that level of constant agitation.

DH, who just turned 70, is in town daily, doing his epic group bicycle rides and masters' swim class 5 days/week. Masking up mostly because it is mandated. My mom, 88, is a half-hour away in the next town, and is not comfortable with much other than essential shopping. We help out with any chores she can't do (she is very independent) and pick up items for her when we are out so she doesn't have to. Just glad we are retired and without kids/grandkids, since there are several stressors running in tandem right now, aside from the usual stuff life throws at you.

Think positive, test negative.

[westisbest]

Hi all, doing well up here in the foothills. Took a couple of months of slogging to get my now 27 yr old back in work after a 6 week shut out due to Covid, I feared for awhile that he might be done but nope! Seems like he’s now decided to be the best 27 yr old ever. Did a carful conditioning program WT blocks 10 minutes each both riding and longeing 4-5 days a week thru to end of July, now he’s got his canter mojo back flying over ground poles. His weight has come back
with some increased feed he’s shiny and happy. Gets a massage monthly. Other than the yearly scratches which are almost healed now no issues at all, he looks and feels like a 19 yr old maybe 16 on a good day !


I moved into a home with my fiancé it’s a bungalow my knees def are feeling their 72 yrs lol we’ve had a lot of fun redecorating buying some furniture. Got some great hot weather this month my body loves the heat in my old age. Our gym and pool are reopen here well the private facility I belong to and it’s a work in progress but I’m back at it. Life overall right now is pretty good after a mega stressful six months moving lockout Covid etc. As long as I have the barn the library and the gym all of which are open I’m happy. Treasuring every golden day right now with my irreplaceable horse.

[goldhorse]

The ultimate lurker here. So my update. I had a big fall out with my previous trainer last year. In retrospect, I think I had fallen into an abusive relationship. Coupled with the intense stress of living through N. Cali's fire season, I decided to move my riding horse to join my retired horse in the Central Valley, the home of incredible footing and pasture board.. I hated moving him out from under his para rider but it was costing me an arm and a leg to keep him sound in his situation and I really believed it was time to retire him. Since I moved him, he's been the soundest he has been in the 9 years that I've owned him. So I put him into full dressage training and I'm learning how to ride all over again at 62. Go me! DH retired from his professorship at the university and took a job cross country at the NIH and planned to commute every other week. The shutdown happened right before his last scheduled trip in March and he's now full time WFH until at least 2011. We finally cleared out DD1 bedroom and made it into a home office. Both daughters are doing great. DD#1 got re-employed with the NYC Dept of Public Health so she's in hog heaven with this COVID crisis. But I say that facetiously. She is pissed as hell. So everyone, please continue to wear your mask, social distance, stay out of bars and indoor restaurants, wash your hands, and help your neighbors. All in all, our family is the fortunate ones that can hopefully ride out this pandemic. I try to pay it back when I can.

[Josette]

Tornado watch on for next 20 minutes..

Definitely was not expecting this today. I thought I was going to ride after breakfast. I just put in some laundry when the sky turned black like night. So - I run out to the barn to make sure pony okay and in stall. Heavy rain and thunder as I run back to the house - that is when I see the tornado warning on my cell phone. No touch down as it headed east pass Monmouth Park racetrack. I hope this is the end of these weather conditions because tornadoes are not common for us.

[PaulaO]

Scary weather. Last week a derecho came through. I wasn’t in the path of destruction but many towns and villages lost power for days. It spawned 2 tornadoes in my county.

[goldhorse]

Ash raining from the sky from the fires coupled with a bad bad heatwave in N. California. Already hearing reports of friends of friends who have lost their houses. It's bad. Has anyone heard from Quelah? She's in one of the fire areas.

[Moutaineer]

Way too hot here. Just had a brief but thoroughly miserable ride on a cranky horse. I can't say I blame him, I wasn't doing much better. Ugh.

[Tanga]

Ash raining from the sky from the fires coupled with a bad bad heatwave in N. California. Already hearing reports of friends of friends who have lost their houses. It's bad. Has anyone heard from Quelah? She's in one of the fire areas.

I'm with you, goldhorse. This heat is ridiculous, and now that it's cooling down a bit, we have fires everywhere and it's not safe to be out much. My friend who had half of her property and her barn burned last year in Healdsburg is right on the edge of it again. We're so lucky to not be in the middle of it.

Do you have a local horse to ride or are you commuting inland to ride? The second sponsor on my older mare stopped riding (she was 16, so a year was good) and I"m looking for another. She's got all of the GP work except her changes are not there. Super fun, forward safe horse that can piaffe forever, but needs smaller than me, like under 150 lbs.

[goldhorse]

Tanga, I drive inland to ride to MarVal in Lodi. It's not a bad drive and I'm retired so I have all the time in the world. It's actually easier on me this way because I get to spend more time with the retiree who is my heart horse and quite high maintenance. And I am so relieved that the riding horse is not in harms way anymore. He was in Briones Valley near Hossmoor and last year during the power shutdowns, I was beside myself with worry. Having him out of a fire zone has been so good for my mental health.
Thanks for the kind offer but your mare is way out of my league. I'm the perpetual training level rider and I wouldn't meet the weight requirement either
I did see that Quelah posted on the UDBB Facebook page and so far she's ok.
The Pivo came today. Tomorrow will be learning day.

[KathyK]

I'm sorry for all who are experiencing sadness and difficulties, COVID-related or otherwise.

I'm one of the very lucky ones who has not been much affected by the pandemic, at least not so far. I had an outpatient surgery at the end of last month and had to be tested for COVID a few days prior; it came back negative.

My barn never closed, but in the beginning I decided to shelter at home and forego riding. Well, that lasted three weeks. I went and assessed the situation and felt if I was careful I could stay safe. The barn has put disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer all over the place, and they've made masks available for anyone who wants one. So riding and lessons now go on pretty much as before.

My piano lessons continue, now via Zoom. I was skeptical, but it's working very well. I make a weekly trip to the grocery store and other than the barn, that's it. You wouldn't catch me in a restaurant, bar, or any other enclosed public areas.

[Tanga]

goldhorse I really like MarVal and Nanette. A good place to be. I'm glad you found your happy place.

I am glad to be where the fire is not a danger. I spent all day helping evacuate horses for the Oakland hills fire. Castro Valley is a very safe place, which I am thankful for. My friend in Healdsburg is right in the middle of it again. The fire burned half her property last year, and she's right on the edge again. The fires are all around me now, but we seem to be in a little pocket where the air is not as toxic as other places. I stopped riding for two weeks two years ago the air quality from the fires was so bad. I can't imagine being in the middle of all that.

I went and order the Pico last night, so mine is coming, too! I figured it was such a good price it's really worth it. Just the little extra help and video I got has made a huge difference in me understanding what I feel versus what it looks like. I can ride either mostly however I want, but what feels right isn't always looking right, so this should help a lot. Watching my videos and Osinki's comments and scribing for him the next day I realized me doing "harder" pirouettes with them almost on the spot in 8 steps was not looking as good as the easier bigger circles and less steps, so I can do easier and score higher! And fo the passage I was also doing the "harder" more forward passage, but it doesn't look that great, so I can just do the "easier" more up. on the spot passage and do better! I'm excited to try it out and see if I score higher on the 6th. And I will NOT go off course and get eliminated in the GP this time!

KathyK I think we were all paranoid at first even if we could ride! But it definitely seems one of the safest things you can do, especially if you try to take precautions at all. I've been doing my exercise classes via Zoom from the start and it's WAY nicer! I don't have to drive, I just pay her instead of 24 hour fitness, and she watches and corrects us, too. We're finding out we can do a lot through Zoom! I also do my ESL tutoring for the library through Zoom. My one on one we talk, but I share documents on Google with her and we can talk and write and see at the same time, and for the conversation circle, it's super easy, too. We all get on and talk.