Still Here, Still Busy

Hi there! I'm still here, still busy, and falling behind on the keeping up with the LJ Joneses....
Not sure why life just seems a little more hectic than usual, but it does. I've been working these past three days in ICU, and by the time I get home at night I don't have the energy to do much more than make a bite of dinner and get ready for the next day. I haven't even felt like turning on the computer; damn thing is so slow these days anyways, I've been snatching a peek in here on my breaks at work. At least those computers don't take forever to load..
I've got new books (new books! ones I've not actually read before!) to entertain me too; Kelly loaned me her copies of the Mercedes Lackey-and James Mallory-collaberation, The Obsidian Mountain Trilogy. I've looked at them in the store, but for some reason never bought them. It took me a little bit to get into the first book, but now I'm really hooked. Elves, mages, unicorns, demons...what's not to like? It's so nice to have something totally new to read. I used to be one of those people who spend lots of cash at the book stores, but since I'm trying to be extra careful with the money these days I haven't bought a new book in a very long time. I have to admit I'm a bit tired of living so close to the bone financially, but that's just the way things are at the moment. It'll get better, but in the meantime, I'm grateful for friends who are willing to loan me their new books. I'm thrilled to have something new to dig into when I have t ime to sit and read.
I got home and started a pot of soup for tomorrow, broccoli, bean and cheese, an old favourite. It's getting to be soup season again. I love the aroma of soup simmering on the stove, it makes the place feel so cosy and warm.
While I was cooking, I was watching Daily Planet on TV, and one of the segments was an interview with Chris Hatfield, the Canadian astronaut who will soon be commanding the International Space Station. To my delight, they talked about Star Trek, and he said that of all the Captains, his favourite is Picard, who would make a good role model in the real world. {nerdish glee}
That is all. You may return to your regularly scheduled LJ activities..LOL

Fall is fallish..

Really fallish kind of day today, rainy, windy and wet, but not particularly cold. I was up with the birds this morning, out at the farm by 9:30 and hard at work by 9:40. Because it was such a wet day all the horses stayed in (more to save the paddocks than because they don't like the rain)so that made things both easier and harder. No paddocks to clean or horses to move around, but the stalls are harder to clean with the horses in them. I put the young horses in the arena one by one so they could have a good run while I did their stalls; we're so lucky to have the arena for days like this. I put Jubilee in too..she's the oldest horse on the farm, 20 years young, and she just roared around the entire arena like she was two. Go, Juby!
Buddy and Teddy have graduated from their baby food..they had their last servings of milk pellets for dinner today. Now they're eating big horse food exclusively; such big boys they are. Sweetest horse babies ever, too. Buddy loves it when someone stands close enough to his stall window that he can give them kisses and he likes to lick hands too..maybe it's the salt he likes, but he's very gentle about it, never tries to bite. Teddy's a love, too. Buddy is 6 months old now, and now it looks like he's not going to go gray after all. I think he's going to be a dark bay, like his daddy Sonny Boy. Teddy is chestnut, with lots of white, very flashy, like his mother Kismet was. Whenever I get kind of tired and fed up with all the hard work and the money, I look at those two boys and know that it's totally worth all the sweat and tears.

Time for dinner. I'm making oven fried chicken, sweet potato oven fries, with broccoli for greens. Yum.

Now that's something I'm not trying!

I've been watching Daily Planet on Discovery Channel and one of the features was a demonstration of a new sport: horse board racing. You take one fast horse with rider, attach a tow rope to the saddle, step onto a modified skateboard and race someone else doing the exact same thing. Oh, and you must wear a whole lot of body protection, because you'll probably crash and burn a whole lot.
Apparently this is a hot new sport in England...where they take horse racing very seriously. A bit on the way too crazy side for me!
;P