Blog Post Roundup

First, some gratuitous self-promotion: make sure you check in with the Rafflecopter thingy if you participate in the Bel Joeor blog hop about how you're clipping your horse this year.

Harvard Fox Hounds Opening Hunt from Hand Gallop
In my next life, I'm going to be a foxhunter. Sigh.

PONY'TUDE Goes First Flight from PONY'TUDE
no really. next life. foxhunting.

Quicksilver Fall Classic from DIY Horse Ownership
Mustangs doing endurance! <3


And your non-horsey read for the week: Inside the Frozen Zoo That Could Bring Extinct Animals Back to Life

WW: 11 Seconds of Meditation

Is there a better calming sound in the whole world?

Let's call this a different variation on Emma's barn door photo series.

Blog Hop: How are you clipping this year?

Okay: giving this at try, because I really want advice.

So let's try a blog hop.

How are you clipping your horse this year? More or less than last year? Are you doing any fun designs?

Let's make this a bit more appealing, too. If you participate in this blog hop, please come back here and tell me you did so to enter to win a $10 gift card to the horse retailer of your choice!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Last year, Tristan got basically a light strip clip: down his throat and to his chest. It helped.

(Oh, and lest we forget, I finally got into the world of detail clipping and he rocked a Rebel Alliance insignia on his butt. I'm still insanely pleased with how that turned out.)

He needs more this year.

Because this happened after 35 minutes of dressage work.

I'm pondering an Irish clip. Not his face, because I do not have a death wish, but something that would expose more throat and more chest & stomach, possibly shoulder. No way am I doing a full body clip (he doesn't need it, I don't own the clippers for it, see above re death wish).

I am experiencing my usual seasonal anxiety about taking off too much hair, though. I have no idea what this winter will be like. He has all the blankets he needs, but what if? Ugh.

I also need to decide what to put on his butt. 

Right now, I'm leaning toward making him the Flash or Captain America.

 

We'll see!

So: please tell me what you're doing so I can pick your brains and relieve some of my anxiety.

House Post: Office Renovation

I so wanted this to be a finished project post...but you're getting progress photos instead.

So!

Let's talk about my office.

Here's the photo from the real estate listing.

Here's a close-up of the wallpaper.

Oh, yes.

Somehow, I don't have a close-up of the border, but: pink and green butterflies. Yup.

Needless to say, down went the wallpaper.

Then, scrubbing off the wallpaper glue which was a PAIN IN THE ASS. Eventually the system was to use a spray bottle of super hot water + vinegar + a little bit of Dawn dish soap.

Above, you can see the scrubbed walls on the left and the gluey walls on the right. Hard scrubbing. Every goddamn inch.

Then: plastering. So much plastering. Endless plastering. Days and days and days of discovering new things to plaster.

Also, discovering that some fuckwit had used SCOTCH TAPE to cover up the previous holes.

Things to plaster ranged from wall cracks from settlement...

... to these holes from the electrical work.

I already blogged about more patching up electrical work.

And also about the sorry state of all of the corners of the room.

YEAH. THAT MUCH PLASTER.

Then I washed the walls again, because that plaster dust, it was everywhere. That only took 45 minutes or so of piping hot water with a decent sponge.

Then: priming! I did this all in one fell swoop...and it's kind of where I'm stuck now. I've been agonizing over paint color. I have a color that I love, but I'm terrified it's too dark for the room. I've decide to go ahead with it, because paint is the simplest thing to change about all the work I've done. And I do love the color: Sherwin Williams Needlepoint Navy.

Finally: quick paint test preview.

Possibly even by the time you read this post (which I'm writing on Saturday) I'll have finished painting, and next week you can look forward to everything final!

Blog Post Roundup

Before I get to other blogs: 2pointober update!

Last night's logged time was...

3:05!!!

I know, I'm just as surprised as you. It's almost like practicing a thing makes you better at doing a thing?

Some blog posts this week.

Fair Hill Part 1: Brain Dead from The $900 Facebook Pony
Really really good read & thinking about what makes a good event horse.

My mother the equestrian from Hand Gallop
This was really lovely.

Middlebury Equestrian
My undergrad team has a blog!

Sponsored Image from Equestrian at Hart
Really good thinking, especially in light of Marilyn Little's recent bloody escapades. Do a sponsored rider's actions influence your view of a company's products?

Your non-horsey read for the week, about the power of history and thoughtful conversation and kindness and the strength of exposure to different points of view: The White Flight of Derek Black. [triggery for white supremacism]