I'm really looking forward to the holidays this year. I'm not exactly sure why, as I don't do anything outrageously special, but for some reason, the thought of some time off from work to eat a big yummy feast with my friends and family just really appeals to me this year.

I have a small family and only a couple close friends, so I don't have a lot of gifts to buy. I know exactly what to buy them this year, and it won't break the bank, and they're practical gifts that I know they'll like and use in some way.

I also mail holiday cards to a few old friends, and I always try to handwrite a personal letter and enclose some photos of my horses and me. I hope it makes my friends happy to receive something like that, and I hope they will send the same kind of thing to me this year, as I'd love to hear from them.

What I do NOT like about the holidays is the insincerity and commercialism at my work. The people there like to throw parties and give expensive gifts, and it honestly makes me want to throw up. They spend so much WORK time planning the parties and then complain about how they have so much work to do. They buy gifts for EVERYBODY without really putting any thought into them other than "look how much I can spend on you!" I try to avoid these disgusting displays of holiday wealth at all costs, and then I get called a Scrooge.

Ugh, it makes me sick.

Fortunately, I have plenty of other holiday happiness to look forward to, as mentioned above, and also including listening to Christmas carols and watching my ponies play in fresh fluffy white snow!!! :)

As we get further into the fall season, and the daylight hours are decreasing, I find myself rushing a LOT more to get barn chores done and to spend precious time with my ponies. Weekends are too short, and I often wish that I had a more flexible work schedule. I barely see my ponies during the week other than to feed and muck, and those two chores are often done at lightning fast speed to beat sunset and darkness!

I wish I could work at home. I would gain both my commuting hour and my lunch hour. That's TWO very precious DAYLIGHT hours of the day. Sometimes I feel like I waste my lunch hour at the office...instead I wish I could run outside and do some quick barn chores and then go back to work. Or if I wanted to ride in the middle of the day, then I could spend an extra hour or two working at home in the evenings when it's dark.

To me, that makes sense...you work when the job needs you to, not a set schedule. Unfortunately, that is not to be, so I must live with the fact that I just can't spend that much time with the ponies once daylight hours start to wane. BUT IT'S SO FRUSTRATING!!!

Okay, vent over. :D

Brrrr...it is going to frost tonight! But the ponies are plenty fuzzy and toasty warm outside munching on their delicious 2nd cutting hay. They just finished up the 1st cutting this afternoon, so now they are entirely on 2nd cutting. I made the switch over about a week from October 11th-18th, so I'm making a note of that so I remember next year!

I was very busy today taking down fly traps and washing barn windows and putting up insulated water buckets and doing other chores to get the farm ready for winter. I'm hoping some avid gardeners will come take away my manure pile before the snow falls this year. :)

I love these cool, clear autumn nights when the moon is full and the wind is calm, and I can watch my ponies munching hay in the moonlight. They just started eating 2nd cutting hay this week (mixed with 1st cutting), so they are gobbling it down. There is very little pasture left, so they are refusing to go out on pasture when they know there is yummy 2nd cutting hay in the barn! :D

I had an awesome ride on my big pony today!!! I couldn't believe it!!! I had been doing a lot of walking with her, just trying to get back into the swing of things after so much time off. But today she decided that it was a good day to trot and canter...wow!!!

And she didn't try to buck me off! We had been having some issues with that, and I have been absolutely baffled with trying to fix them, but maybe we made a little progress today!

We didn't trot or canter for very long at all, and I let her stretch at the walk inbetween. Sometimes she gets so tight, and she starts to curl her neck, and that's when she'll buck. So we are just going to take it slow.

I'm sure she would progress faster if I could ride every day, but unfortunately, that is not going to happen. I'm just happy that we've gotten this far...it has been a very long, difficult road with her.

And it's raining AGAIN! When will the water ever stop?! Well, I guess I can't complain because yesterday was absolutely BEAUTIFUL (the perfect fall day), but I had big plans to ride this morning, and those plans just went out the window as I sit here inside next to the window and watch it rain.

Oh, well, a day off from horsey stuff never hurt anybody. I have tons of stuff to do inside, too. I did some laundry this morning and found that I am in desperate need of SOCKS! Ha ha, out of all clothes items to need, I need socks. And I think I need super reinforced toe/heel socks or something because I always end up with holes! :D

I also need to clean up my room. I wish I had time to sort through all the stuff that has accumulated over the years...I'm sure I don't need half of it anymore, but I hate to throw anything out if I don't look at it first! Ha ha ha. :D I also need to reorganize...I'm not entirely happy with how things are kept around here. Hmmm...maybe a good project for a rainy day like today?!