Yesterday we got our first real snow. It wasn't much...a couple inches. Still it seemed enough that they could make a pretty decent sized snowman outside of the dorm, complete with cigarettes and nipples (frighteningly representative of our dorm life). It was a snowman decapitating good time last night.

It was also enough that my friend's brother got in a pretty serious car accident outside of Boston :-\ Haven't heard anything yet, but I hope he's okay.

On that same note, one of our teachers hydroplaned on her way to class last Thursday, flipped her car and died on the way to teach. :-(

They are predicting more snow for tonight...more significant this time. I've heard anywhere from 2-4" to 6-12" so who knows. All I know is it better be clear enough for me to get to my horse, and definitely clear enough for me to make the 9 hour drive home in 10 days (wow only 10 days?)

This is an exercise in tedium. I have to take a freshman intro to computers class. So far we have learned to make bullet points and copy and paste things into word. Jesus Christ I want to kill myself.

My horse and I came in 9th out of about 100 people at our first 50 mile race last summer. It was 112 degrees (in Maine, no less), but we somehow made it. He's getting a semi-break since I'm in school now, but next summer we're going to pick right back up, and two years from now I'm shooting for a 100.

Pictures
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Very bored. Everyone is out drinking. I've watched the Boondock Saints about 12 times in the last two days..hrm. My horse is being an ass but I finally scraped together enough money to pay for a few lessons. Really thinking I should get a job (didn't apply for work study..oops..so I won't get paid for working at the jwu barn) 'cause weekends here are quite dismal. Not so bad since they switched me to a single though :-D

Providence, Rhode Island, for the unenlightened, is a dump. There is absolutely nothing to do here but drink. And god forbid I should walk three blocks to my car at night by myself...I might end up stabbed or get my wallet stolen.

School on the other hand, is a breeze. I tested out of all of my math classes, and out of two years of English. Not bad. I did fail the computer placement test however, because I don't know how to use PowerPoint, so I'll be taking Intro to Computers next term. That's pathetic.

His name is to be Dogmatix. A gold star and a cookie to whoever can tell me where that name comes from ;)

I've been busy with a lot of home repairs and packing, as our house is to be sold in May or June. I still have to find a place to live/put all my stuff, since I'll still be working in Maryland but my mom is moving to Albany :-\

I'm getting a new car after the house is sold at least- my Subaru is ten years old and has 130,000 miles on it- it's worth about $600 heh. Since I'll be driving from Rhode Island to DC a lot I figured something new, or at least newer, wouldn't be a bad idea. Either something from Carmax, or I'll get my dads old car which is a 2001 Subaru Forrester with 50,000 miles on it. My poor car is being driven into the ground :( It's making wierd noises now, and it's falling apart rapidly.

I just adopted the dog I've been fostering.

I found him last week walking down the road in the middle of nowhere, no collar, no microchip. I've been through the 4 day waiting period with the Humane Society so now he's officially mine.

He's a 1 y/o Bichon Frise- really cute, and I need a name for him!

I did my first show in 2 years on Feb 13. I came in 2nd in my division, scoring a 74 and 78 on my two tests. (The average score was in the 40s, so that's pretty good).

My first race is April 9- 30 miles in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The next one is a 50 miler in May, at the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina.

I started teaching last weekend, 6 lessons a week, plus I'm now working p/t at a horse tack store- $15/hr in merchandise at wholesale prices, not bad (:

Of course now that my work schedule has picked up even more, I have come down with the flu. Fever, aches, nasty cough- the whole deal. I've only been getting myself out of bed to feed the horses and put them in their field for the day, then feed and bring them in at night. Some things you have to do anyway. The rest of the day I've been sleeping, or wishing I was sleeping. I bet my horse is glad for the break from his rigorous training schedule ;)

As much as it sucks being laid up, I'm kind of glad for the rest. Maybe it's a sign you're working too hard when you'd rather be sick in bed than working 18 hours a day.

Winter is here. We got our first snow last week- a whopping 6 inches. They're calling for ice this weekend. Yuck.

Wednesday morning was scary. I went to feed a few horses who were in the field, only to find one of our young guys had a fist-size chunk taken out of his knee. His lower leg was soaked in blood and you could see all the way down to the bone.

I called the vet immediately, as well as the owner. Even though the horse was young and normally a pain to handle, he was surprisingly calm when I gave him 3 different shots and put medicine down his throat with a syringe

When the vet arrived she dressed the wound with about 12 layers of bandaging and informed me that the prognosis was 50/50. If he didn't get an infection in the next 72 hours, he will probably make a full recovery, if he does, he probably won't survive the week because of the severity of the wound. It's been 48 hours and he's doing okay. Going a little crazy being locked inside all day but that'll pass.

Now he gets an IV of antibiotics everyday, 2 antibiotic shots, 30 pills, 2 shots of a tranquillizer twice a day, and 2 different pain killers. That alone takes a good half hour daily, in addition to the hour it takes to clean and redress the wound everyday.

Thank god for Bawls- I never sleep anymore.

I'm home from NJ at long last. Hope y'all had a good holiday and whatnot.

I learned something on Monday. Cleaning a stall when it is 5 degrees outside and everything is frozen is much like cleaning an iceburg. In the end, you really don't know what's the water, and what's the frozen penguin pee.

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Still haven't bought any Christmas presents. I should get on that. Meh. I only like to shop for myself :P Perhaps instead of exchanging presents, Christmas should be a time where we all just go out and buy some nice things for ourselves and pretend it was from someone else.

Wow, could I have any less holiday spirit? ;)

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Got mod points again for the ten thousandth time in the last two weeks and I no longer have the motivation to search for worthy comments. If your comment is worthy (it is, trust me) let me know and I will use these damn things up.

It's getting cold and they are calling for snow. Maybe up to 6"- the first snowfall of the year. Six inches, btw is terrifying in this area, as an inch or so will shut down the federal government. Local municipalities are just not equipped with snowplows so you can't get anywhere.

Monday's high is supposed to be 20. I get to sleep in the trailer Sunday night in case it does snow. Someone needs to be there at 7 on Monday morning to feed the horses, snow or no snow :-\

I'm getting damn sick of winter and it hasn't even started yet.

So I am screwed.

One week until Xmas. I have presents to buy. I have $50 because I went shopping for myself today.

Need presents for parents, brother, about 15 random family members, friends, boss etc.

I am also at a complete loss as to what to get anyone in my family. Is it a bad sign that I am completely oblivious to the likes and dislikes of my kin?

This has been one of the busiest few days of my life.

Friday it was still raining. I still hate the rain. I had to do one of my least favorite chores- which was not helped by the constant downpour. I had to climb about 20' up a ladder that is built into the wall (ie rungs about 3" wide, easy to slip off), into the hayloft and throw down 15 bales of hay. If you have never done this, two things are important to know. 1. Bales of hay are very heavy. 2. Bales of hay are much heavier when wet.

Saturday we drove to Richmond to pick up a new horse to do 100 mile endurance races.(Vet came today and said he was slightly lame tho- we may not be able to keep him but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I rode him last night- considering he'd only ever been ridden on a racetrack and is only 4 he is pretty damn awesome. The trip was fine, except that it was, of course, raining, and I had to listen to Avril Levigne the whole way there and back.

Sunday it was not raining. We went to Sugarloaf Mountain (what's weird about Sugarloaf is that it's the only mountain for about 100 miles, and is very tall) and rode up and down and all over it for about 4 hours. It takes about 20-30 minutes to get to the top and about 5 to get to the bottom at the speeds we were going. Lots of huge logs to jump over too. The biggest was about 4' and almost 3' wide. I was exhausted when we were done.

Yesterday I was feeling tired and sore, so after I did what needed to be done in the morning, I took at 6 hour nap in the live-in trailer. Monday was the first day it got cold.

Today was fucking freezing. The high didn't get too much above 35 degrees- and the windchill was around 15-20. Quite a shock from last weeks highs in the 60s. My poor frostbitten hands were suffering. If you've ever had severe frostbite- even a few years ago, as happened to me, you know the agony that comes everytime it gets cold.

I started getting dizzy during my lesson tonight, only to realize it was because I didn't eat anything but chocolate all day. Somehow I forgot lunch. Chocolate is not good fuel.

It's been raining for 4 days.

I can't take the rain anymore.

The mud is so deep that I got my car stuck twice at work, and our trailer jack-knifed and got stuck in the mud when we were at the racetrack yesterday. Thank god the track was sand and not dirt. Even so, the footing was so bad that we really couldn't do too much.

I learned an important lesson about riding on a race track: do not be behind anyone else. After 10 laps my horse and I were covered in sand. Sand in every oriface. Not so much.

Car reached 100,000 miles today. Maybe I'll treate it to a good cleaning. And some tire chains.

The real-estate agent came back again today. I'm thinking that I'll move out before it gets put on the market, it'll probably be kind of depressing to have to meet everyone who wants to buy the house I grew up in.