Its Derby Weekend!

I have loved this weekend since I was little.  Its all about horses!  Its one of the few times of the year that the country comes together to watch an equine event - albeit a super controversial one in the world of horses, but an equine event all the same.  The most exciting two minutes in sports.  It always gives me chills to watch those horses run around the track - not knowing who is going to win it.  It could change at the last minute.

I'm not the biggest fan of thoroughbred racing, not at the three-year-old level anyway, which is the age of the colts and fillies in the Derby.  Most horses aren't started to ride until they are two - that means they have a year-sh of intense training to undergo before they run the Derby.  Not to mention they're probably going to run in numerous other races before the Derby.  That's just a lot of strain to put on a young horse in my opinion.  I know there are a lot of trainers out there who do it right and treat their equine athletes properly - but its those that push too hard that concern me.  But I'm not going to dwell on something I'm not an expert on.

I love the creative registered names people come up with for their horses - they're so fun; Pants on Fire, Mucho Macho Man, Derby Kitten, Twinspired - just a few of this year's horses.  A horse's registered name is rarely ever what people call the horse on a day-to-day basis.  For instance, Man'o'War was known as Big Red off the track since he was a big, red horse - creative, no?

I'm most excited this year to watch Rosie Napravnik - a 23 year-old female jockey.  She's a redhead like me!  Now that's exciting.  And I think its appropriate that the redhead is riding Pants on Fire.  Odds are 20-1 against them - but I wish the duo the best of luck.  They say she rides, races, and competes like a man.  I would love to see her win it.

I'm kind of living vicariously through her right now, haha.  My dream as a kid was to be a jockey.  I wanted to stay short so I could have a chance if I ever wanted to take it.  Its why I was always very proud to be 5'5'' while people around me who were shorter always boasted that they were 5'6'' and 5'7'', I was happy of my short stature.  Now I recognize that I probably wouldn't last a day in the high stress racing world - but hey, a girl can dream, can't she?  Rosie was riding horses at two, won a pony race at 7 and decided then and there she wanted to be a jockey.  I started riding (outside of people-led pony rides) at age 5, have never won an official race, and have dreamed of being a jockey.  So, I guess we're kind of similar.  Go, Rosie, go!  Ride like your pants are on fire...or Pants on Fire is your mount.

Wordless Wednesday

Chock full of life

I keep meaning to sit down and update, but then I get busy with something fun or I get tired.  Sleep is my new favorite thing.  My body has finally realized that the super-high-stress month+ I just experienced is truly over and has decided its time to relax.  I got 10 hours of sleep last night, and hope to get at least that much if not more again tonight.  Sleep is glorious.

Thursday I finished all of the corrections to my thesis!  It is officially DONE.  My adviser and I will meet so she can sign the cover page sometime this week and then I will take it to the biology department to get one more signature, and then I will pass it on to be bound and kept.  Sweet!  A natural-resources-based paper will be settled in amongst a ton of paper that are health-sciences-oriented. Gooo black bears!

Friday I got to Elkins around one.  A tornado -yeah, I know, right?- went through town earlier in the week and blew some roofs (rooves? roofs? blah) off a couple buildings.  Namely the VFW.  Now, when someone tells you "The roof blew off," and then you actually see the roof blew off, well, that's two different things.  I got into town and made a point of driving by the VFW.  At first I saw nothing... and then, I exclaimed a lot of choice four letter words in my astonishment.  And kind of chuckled at the impossibility of it all.  A tornado?!  Here!?  In this tiny little town nestled amongst the Appalachian Mountains?!

Photo by Terry Siewert. & this doesn't do justice to how big
that roof is!

I had a crap-ton of stuff in my car to move in upon arrival home, so I did that at light-speed, then got a bite to eat, and then headed out to meet Carly at the barn to ride.  The plan was to do a 10 mile ride on the road (gravel).  Really started buckling down with the training beginning that day.  Lots of trotting.  Lots and lots of trotting.  The hard gravel surface proved to be too much for Orion and Skip's bare feet though.  By the end they were both gimping noticeably on their front left feet (weird that it was the same for both horses).  Lucky for us, they were over the bulk of the soreness for the next afternoon.

Saturday morning I took Chris to his first Ramp Festival.  A ramp is a kind of wild onion that grows around here.  I love them.  Slow cooking them with red potatoes, sprinkle of salt, and some olive oil - mmm, mmm, goodness!  At the festival we got to sample a lot of different ramp recipes - ramp rolls, ramp & shrimp wantons, and ramp cachapas!  My FAVORITE.

Kenai got to eat three ramp burgers as well.  The people running the burger area all had huskies and loved him.  The one chef thought it was awesome that Kenai could give high-fives.  So he kept bringing burger bite, after burger bite.  And then, right before we left he gave Keeny an entire burger.  Happy dog...who has had the runs all day today!  Haha.  After the festival we came home to do some yard work for a few hours.  Downed a BUNCH of limbs and made the burn pile really big.  There are two other areas where limbs are lying waiting to be taken to the burn pile because there was just so much!  Luckily we got to be really classy after the yard work and cool down with some Mickey's....

Saturday afternoon, Chris, Carly, Linda, Karen, and I all went on a trail ride.  Biggest ride I've been on in awhile.  Half-way, Linda and Karen split off to do an easier part while Chris, Carly and I did some hill work for training.  Orion was suuuuuper persnickety about his feet on hard surfaces (i.e. the gravel road), but as soon as he set foot on a softer, loamy soil trail he was fine.  Lucky for him most of the ride was trails.

We got back from the ride and hadn't been there 10 minutes untacking and grooming when I get a call from my mom to say Kenai had run away (deer in the woods as the trigger).  Time two - the first occurred in NC on Christmas day.  I told the other ladies to take care of our horses, I had to go - my dog ran away.  So, Chris and I barreled toward home.  I had him drop me off on the five-land that is through the woods and down the hill away from our house (probably about a half mile as the crow flies).  Dad was there driving laps between the five-lane and the little side road to make sure Kenai didn't head toward the busy high-speed traffic.  I took off running up the hill through the woods whistling and calling.  Nothing.  Reached the trails behind my house, ran into mom.  She hadn't seen him.  I set off in one direction and she in the other.  Chris arrived home and doubled behind me for awhile.  Whistling.  Calling.  Whistling.  Calling.  Nothing.  My knowledge of deer travel through the woods in my neighborhood was to my advantage.  I went up and down, over and through, whistling and calling.  Half hour mark passed.  Forty-five minute mark passed.  No Kenai.  Chris and I met up and got into his car to start scouring distances further away.  Churches, cemeteries, nearby houses.  Hour mark hits.  My phone rings.  Its mom, "Classic flooring." "What?" "Classic flooring, on the five lane, he's there with your dad, but won't let your dad touch him." Off we go.  He was wet, dirty, hot, and thirsty, but okay.  Talk about a freaking heart-attack.  Damn dog - but I love him so.

This morning I woke up bright and early.  Ran to the barn to pick up stuff I forgot yesterday in my panic, got gas, and headed out to my barefoot trimmer's house to return stuff and pick up some loaner hoof boots.  Chatted with her, got the boots, and headed back to the barn for a solo ride.  Orion was completely cool with the idea of hoof boots.  Didn't even walk funny or try to throw them off after initially putting them on.  We had a really nice woods.  Walking and trotting.  He moved a lot better with the boots on.  A lot more comfortable now that his tender feet were protected.  We found the mother-load patch of ramps, too.  Wish I'd had a spade.

Ramps!

After the ride I washed up and Kenai and I hopped in the car with Chris to head to the Blackwater for his friend's memorial ash spreading service.  I'd say sixty or more people showed up.  I'd never been to a service like that.  I thought it was really cool how he got to return to the river he loved most.

Hiked along the N. Fork of the Blackwater after the service to see what the boating is really like.  Scary stuff!  The waterfall in the picture is called Gluteal Mash (as in, land it and beat up your ass) and its a 30 footer!!  I can't believe people kayak that.  Absurd.  Yet it was really cool to hike along the river.  The orange color of the rocks is due to acid mine drainage - thanks mining, not.

 I think my calm-down after high-stress is going pretty well thus far.  The spring sunshine and flowers make it better.  OH!  And I got the official job offer for the Fish & Wildlife Service position!!  That is also a large relief.  Happy, happy, happy!  One more day of riding, then back up to Morgantown to relax, take one final and pack up!  Bring it.

Doors

I spent my yesterday doing nothing but inane non-sensical tasks to free my mind from everything stressful that has been going on school-wise.  It. Was. Wonderful.  The biggest part of the day was spent cleaning a bunch of tack.  I had my one saddle, breast strap, girth, and stirrup leathers - and then I was recently given a bunch of stuff that had been abandoned in a barn.  It was in BAD shape.  But everything looks great now, and my right forearm is killing me from all the elbow grease I put into it all!  In addition to my tack I was given another English saddle (no girth, breast strap, or leathers), two western breast straps and two western headstalls (all matching).

This is my original saddle - it doesn't fit Orion well

The new saddle - subtle differences

Browband of one of the new headstalls - the same flowers are etched in all four pieces of tack

The new setup - stirrup leathers, stirrups, girth, and breast strap were
originally on the other saddle

I also dropped by Mike and Jaci and Jackson's place to take them some home-made sushi for dinner.  Such a sweet little guy.  Finally got to hold him.  He's a freakin' heater.  So warm and toasty.

Today I closed a lot of doors with school.  I completed - or mostly completed - a lot of things.  I have a table left to do for my thesis corrections/additions - the only reason I have this left is because on three different computers today I received errors when trying to run the process.  Boo on you Arc10.  I have graphs for another report - but I probably won't do them.  I completed that report, completed revisions on my thesis and review paper, designed and completed my power point presentation for my one class, wrote one of two thank you letters, and sent a lot of email to F&WS about the job. 

What?  Job?  That's right, job.  Two days ago my friend that works at F&W wrote to tell me they had funding to hire a second person.  Yesterday I got accepted into Oregon State's online GIS master's certificate program.  I forwarded F&W the email.  The director emailed me back today wanting a ton more information on me.  I sent it all.  So, **fingers crossed** - I may be getting that job after all!  As some doors closed, others are opening.  I'm super excited for the possibilities that are in front of me.

Rainbows and unicorns

I wish life could be all rainbows and unicorns, but alas, it isn't.  As Dolly Parton once said, "If you want rainbows, you have to put up with the rain."  And that was my day today in a nutshell.

Today was the big day.  My thesis defense.  I practiced and practiced my speech last night in full freak-out mode until midnight when I forced myself into bed.  I slept soundly until 4:30a when I woke briefly, then I dozed in and out of sleep and nightmares until 6a when I got up for good.  I ran through my defense speech a  couple more times, showered, forced some food in my mouth, and headed to the library to print off a tree or two - or, I mean, my thesis.  I made a stop for a half hour in my animal behavior class, discovered I'd received a grade of 100% on my past exam - whoop, whoop! - and then skipped out of class early to head to my defense that was across campus (one of the joy's of WVU!, three -or is it four? - campuses).  And of course, the PRT (WVU's little one-car trolley system between campuses) was BROKE DOWN - that is my West Virginia dialect for you, broke down, so deal with it.  Needless to say this frazzled my what-were-calmed nerves.  But I caught a bus and still got there early.

One of my Ph. D. candidate friends had almost completely calmed me again in the hallway outside the conference room I was to present in.  My GIS professor committee member arrived and we went in the room.  He helped find a projector for my slideshow and I worked on getting it setup.  Then the biology coordinator for the thesis program arrived.  Minutes passed, my two Ph. D. candidate friends arrived.  Minutes passed - my thesis adviser, a crucial person in this whole thing still hadn't arrived.  I was apologizing profusely to the biology director-lady.   She told me we kind of needed my adviser there.  So, beginning to panic, I jogged down the hall to check her office again.  Nothing.  I went down the hall to her husband's office and asked him where she was - and then I started crying.  Freak-out mode engaged.  He couldn't get a hold of her so I headed back to the conference room convinced I would be failing.  Jesse, one of the candidate friends of mine, met me half way to say my adviser was in the room.  I started crying harder.  Freak-out mode had taken over.  He calmed me a little and gave me a hug and told me it would be okay.  We headed back to the room where I had to sit for a moment to gain control of myself and stop crying enough to present.

I recovered beautifully and got stronger as I went along, according to Jesse.  I don't really remember.  To me the entire thing was a great big disaster.  But I passed.  I feel as if they passed me because they felt bad for me.  Who knows.  Biology-director-lady did tell me when things were said and done (an hour later) that she was very impressed with what I had accomplished, and how these kinds of statistics are so far beyond the scope of most undergraduates.  So that cheered me a little.  I walked out talking with my adviser, who it ended up, had the flu and her son has bronchitis.  I had figured as much, but this was an important day for me and I needed her there.  I'm so thankful she came, but man, I didn't need freak-out mode to become engaged in the process.

After the defense I walked aimlessly around the Evansdale campus calming myself down, telling myself it was all over and I was okay.  I walked to Kroger (a grocery) and picked up sushi to celebrate being done & and a Dr. Pepper.  I then walked aimlessly around the campus again trying to find the perfect spot to sit, relax, and eat.  My dress khakis and boots were really boggin' me down at this point in the 80 degree, full-out-sunshine.  Ack.  I finally found a place.  I sat down.  I opened my Dr. Pepper for a big refreshing swig...soda-splosion.  All over me and my dress clothes.  It was the ultimate soda-splosion.  And that was it.  The last straw.  I broke down again.  I called a friend I wouldn't usually call for favors and asked him for a ride home.  Class started in less than an hour and I simply wasn't going dressed like this.  He picked me up.  Words couldn't express my gratitude for this favor.  I was able to change into more comfortable, weather-appropriate clothing, eat my sushi, drink the offending Dr. Pepper, and ride my bike to class on time - where I presented my thesis in an abbreviated format for fulfillment of my final project for that class; and I presented it with gusto this time, might I add!! 

All in all, its been a VERY trying day for me.  Physically exhausting and mentally trying.  But the most important thing?  I made it.  I got through it.  And I passed.  AND I'M DONE!  I have a few corrections before I turn in the thesis to be bound and kept in the biology department.  But. I. Am. Done.  I will be graduating with honors in Biology.  I will be graduating from the Honors College.  I will be graduating magna cum laude.  I will be graduating magna cum laude, with honors in Biology.  Take THAT undergraduate college career.  BOOYA - yes, I just said booya, and I'm not ashamed.  I wanted my rainbows.  I put up with a lot of damn rain to get my rainbow.  There better be a flippin' unicorn, too.

Yesterday.

Yesterday was relaxing.  And I needed that more than anything.

I woke a 6:30a unintentionally but just chose to go with it.  Took a lazy morning, revised my thesis some, grabbed lunch, ran errands, and headed out to the barn.  Yesterday was the first day of me pursuing my goal to master manual focus - so all photos in this entry via manual focus!

I didn't take a time telling or communicating device with me when I went to the barn.  I probably spent about an hour grooming Orion - braiding his mane, brushing off caked mud, treating the thrush in his feet with tea tree oil.  Then we tacked up and headed out on a solo ride. 

Initially I was really hesitant about this ride because Orion hasn't been out on a solo ride in a long time.  In the time since our last just-us ride he's become rather attached to his field mates.  But, surprisingly, he didn't fight to turn around at all.  He stopped a couple times in the first quarter mile, but didn't turn his head to go back at all.  He whinnied when we were within site of the field going and coming.  But that was it.  He was a very good boy. 

 I think someone kicked him - or maybe he fell, but I have a hard time imagining that because every time I see him in the field he's sluggish and lazy - because his right hind was sore.  The targeted area (I think) is just muscular.  I didn't detect that he was gimpy until we'd been out about a half mile and I asked him to go into a trot.  So I got off and lead him awhile, figured if he wasn't indicating to me he was in pain that a nice walk would be good.  So we walked, and walked.  After we got into the woods onto softer surfaces I remounted and kept him to a walk and just let him decide where he wanted to go - for the most part anyway.  It was so relaxing.  Blue skies, sun shining, light breeze, budding leaves, greening understory.  A great walking trail ride.    

Last night I busted out some more thesis revision, and then woke bright and early this morning to finish it and send it off to the necessary people. Al.most.done.  AGH.  Make.  It.  END.  Its looking likely that I may not even try to get a job until August.  Take these few months off to play, come down off my stress high, and remember what it's like to live in the moment.  I am on edge constantly right now.  Monday, Monday, Monday.  IT WILL BE OVER.  That being said - I still need to make my power point presentation for the defense and practice my defense speech.  Aaaah!!!  But it shouldn't be so bad - I hope.  Its just rehashing my paper in an interactive way, right?  Haha, we'll hope for the best.  Lots of baby bear pictures, can't fail with baby animals on my side!

Hope your Easter weekend is pleasant and not as rain filled as mine!!  (I wish I could insert an angry face here, scowls all around!)

It. Is. DONE.

Whew, so that's what work feels like?  No wonder I did everything way ahead of the due date through most of my college career.  Jeebus.

I just finished writing my undergraduate thesis.  I started at 8a this morning and worked until 1:30p.  ~3,300 words and 22 pages later - here I am.  Thoroughly exhausted.  I know that a giant weight is off my shoulders, but for some reason it still feels like its pushing down on my chest.  I don't know what I'm so concerned about.  I'm sure by tomorrow morning I will be feeling ecstatic again - or wait, no, probably not because I have to present at a symposium all day.  Sigh.  I suppose that's what that weight on my chest is - the symposium.  I printed off my 4 ft. x 3 ft. poster this afternoon.  It looks all snazzy.  I was paranoid I'd spelled something wrong until I checked it over three times.

After I printed the poster I headed to the hospital to say hello to little Jackson.  He was born yesterday at 7:22p.  8lbs 19.5 inches.  Jaci and Mike couldn't be prouder or happier parents!!

After a good visit with the beautiful little family I headed to Black Bear to devour my favorite dish and calm down about life a little bit.  Came back home to pack up more stuff to move home tomorrow.  I'm headed home for 5 days of R&R.  Two, possibly three, big presentations - including my thesis defense - on Monday.  Oi vey. 

For now, I'm going to watch Eat, Pray, Love and relax a bit.  Hope your Tuesday wasn't as stressful or full of work like mine!