Saturday, April 22, 2006, 18:53
Spring Training
"Okay, Isabelle, let's see how this goes," I said.
Isabelle has not had the bridle on since last fall, so this morning, I figured we might as well start our "spring training" with the bridle. She obviously has never had a bit in her mouth, beyond the few times I have put the bridle on her, because she chews and gnaws at the bit and runs her tongue over it and generally acts like she has no idea why I have put such a thing on her.
Which is why we are starting out with the bridle so she can get used to it and can learn that it is not going to hurt her. She is far too young to ride, anyway. And my plan is to get her used to the bridle, and then we are going to leave the pasture to go for short walks by the barn and up and down the driveway.
I am hoping by the time we can really start riding her (beyond just a few steps with someone sitting on her back) that she will be comfortable with the bridle and will know "stop, start -- and turn."
It took a little while this morning, but I finally got the bit in Isabelle's mouth. I have put together a bridle that I can "assemble" around her head so that the whole experience accounts for the least amount of trauma to the horse.
Once I had the bridle on her, she chewed and licked and chewed and licked at the bit. But she let me lead her to the fence so I could get hold of the brush. And she did stand quietly while I was brushing her.
I am going to have to put the bridle on Isabelle many, many, many times before it becomes "second nature" to her -- before I can even think about taking her out of the pasture. Breaking Isabelle to ride will be a long, slow process that will take months and months, and to some extent, years.
But in the end, I am hoping she will turn out to be a good horse. I could use one right about now, too. I haven't had a truly great riding horse in ten years.
Swallows -- The tree swallows are back! The cliff swallows are back, too! Or at least one cliff swallow is back. I have seen it coming out of the nest on the west side of the house all this past week. The cliff swallows should be tons of fun for Sophie. They have nests on the east side of the house (by my office window) and on the south side of the house (by the bedroom window). (There is no window by the nests on the west side of the house).
Sophie, I think, will be enthralled when the swallows start swooping close to the window to rebuild their nests and to lay eggs. The other kitties are always enthralled with watching the cliff swallows. (The birds are only on the other side of the glass.) Sophie ought to be a riot to watch when she sees the cliff swallows!
LeAnn R. Ralph
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Friday, April 21, 2006, 18:40
Sophie Strikes Again (I Think)
I confidently put the disk into my disk drive Thursday morning so I could finish the newspaper story about the community forum the night before. I still had two hours until deadline, so I knew that I had plenty of time to finish the story.
Except -- when I put the disk into the drive -- nothing happened.
Not a click. Not a whir. Not a beep.
Nothing.
I checked to see if the disk drive was plugged into the hub.
It was.
Next I tried another disk.
Still nothing.
So, I did what every sensible person would do: I called my husband, who is a computer technician.
Unfortunately, I got his voice-mail.
I was not surprised. Randy is usually busier than a cat with 29 kittens when he is at work.
In the meantime, while I was waiting for him to call me back, I opened the closet door to find the spare disk drive. That particular disk drive went haywire at one point and ruined one of my disks. We sent it in for servicing, and I have not trusted it since then. But, in a pinch, any disk drive would be better than no disk drive at all.
As soon as I opened the closet door, Sophie went inside.
"Good," I said. "You explore in there for a while."
I figured if Sophie was in the closet, she would not be tromping all over the computer keyboard while I was trying to figure out what was wrong with the disk drive.
A little while later, Sophie started rattling the closet door, wanting to get out. So I let her out.
The little gray cat came out of my office closet with dusty cobwebs all over her head. (I guess that means I ought to clean the office closet someday, huh.)
A few minutes after that, Randy called.
"Are there any green lights on the hub?" he asked.
I looked underneath the computer. The computer sits on an open rectangular wooden sort of box-type thing. The hub and disk drive sit inside the box.
"Nope. No green lights," I said.
"Hmmm," he said. "Check to see if it is plugged in on the side of the computer."
"How can I tell that?" I asked, looking at the side of the computer. "It's four wires going into a hole."
"Open the little trap door," he said.
"What little trap door?" I said. "Oh. . .THAT little trap door."
I opened the little trap door, and sure enough, all the wires were plugged in.
"Try something else that needs the hub," he said.
I plugged in the digital camera.
"It's not reading the camera," I said.
"Then it's the hub," he said. "Are you sure everything is plugged in. What about the back?"
As I was trying to determine if all of the wires were plugged in, Sophie was determined to try to help me.
When I looked on the right side of the computer, Sophie looked on the right side of the computer and when I was attempting to get the trap door open, Sophie was, in fact, right under my nose. When I looked on the left side, she went to the left side. When I looked in back, she hopped on top of the computer.
Looking at the back wasn't as easy as it sounds.
"I have to get a flashlight," I said to Randy.
I went to the kitchen for our handy-dandy windup Illuminator flashlight.
I came back to my office and shined the flashlight behind the computer.
"HAH! There's a beige cord back there. And it's just lying on the desk. It's not plugged into anything!" I said.
"Sophie!" Randy said. "Did you go behind the computer again?"
At the moment, Sophie was still sitting on top of the computer, all ears and eyes, looking sweet and innocent.
I plugged in the beige cord -- and was rewarded with various clicks and whirs.
I inserted the disk, and the disk drive read it. I plugged in the camera, and the computer read that, too.
"Thanks, Randy," I said. "We're fixed."
"Okay, great. I have to go," he said. "I've got a customer up front waiting for me, plus I've got voice mails."
I looked at the clock in the corner of the computer screen. Oh, goody. Instead of two hours until deadline, I now had one hour.
At this point in my life, I ought to know enough to check all the various plugs on the computer. I'm afraid to wiggle too many cords around, though. Problems with static electricity and partial connections and not connecting things in the right order and all of that. I know what sensitive pieces of electronic equipment computers are -- they can't stand much of anything. . .
Especially not curious little gray kittens who like to snoop around BEHIND the computer.
Of course, to be fair about it, I did not SEE Sophie behind the computer. The truth of the matter, though, is that Sophie is the only cat in the house who is small enough to get behind the computer. And I see her back there every once in a while.
LeAnn R. Ralph
To e-mail comments, click on the contact link on the right -- or you can also copy and paste in the address line of your e-mail and replace the (at) with @: bigpines(at)ruralroute2.com