Under the Weather

Under the weather is an odd expression if you think about it. But that's what my mother always said when she wasn't feeling well... and so do I. The weather this week, however, has been lovely... except, apparently, right over me: I've had a rotten cold. Particularly rotten because the weather was nice and I wanted to be riding my horse and getting ready for the rally this weekend.

The Old People's Riding Club that I belong to held its first annual rally today and I had signed up for trail, jumping and barrel racing classes. I set up the trail course in my little arena on Monday and Tuesday and practiced a couple days, before I felt too crummy to get the horses out, much less ride one of them. Pictured is the zigzag walk course, the bridge, and the square you have to ride a circle within. Mr. Smith was very good at all of these, but not so good at backing through a 90 degree turn.











Before I could set up that course, however, I had to get the brush and weeds fought back so there would be room for all the obstacles. I put my clean up crew (two llamas and two sheep) to work and they did a fine job in a few hours. Milagro periodically checked on me and my camera through one of the arena mirrors.


But today, instead of going to the rally, I stayed home and tried to get well and not be too depressed about missing the fun. Late this afternoon the rain set in and matched my mood much better than the lovely sunshine and fall coolness of this past week.


While I had been horsin' around, Johnny had been trying to get the front of the new goat barn ready for weatherproofing before the fall rains arrived. That entailed lots of going up and down ladders. The rains seem to have arrived and the barn is not weatherproofed. So Johnny and his project are now "under the weather" too.

Always out of the weather are the plants in my greenhouse. Today I walked out there to breathe in the oxygen and lift my spirits. Looking up at the mass of vines crawling around the ceiling, I noticed a bud on the night-blooming cereus... and then another... and another. Eight buds in all I found. Now if they will just be so kind as to bloom when I'm home to see them. They only open for one night.

If they bloom the first few days of next week, I will miss their show because I will be in Ashland with friend Toni for three plays and three days. We will most definitely be under the weather there with rain predicted and two of our three plays in the outdoor theater. Since I'm well aware of Oregon's fickle fall weather, I bought tickets under the balcony's overhang so we will at least be out of direct rainfall.

Tonight, in light mist that felt quite pleasant, I picked, from our garden, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, green onions, green peppers, peas, beans and corn for our supper. It's hard to stay depressed with bounty like that at one's doorstep... under the weather. Plus there's the possibility of eight lovely, fragrant, night-blooming cereus flowers to admire when I return from Ashland. Sometimes, the anticipation is almost as good as the actual event.

And I do, after all, have a trail course, all set up, to have fun with whenever the weather permits. Mr. Smith and I will master those 90 degree backings eventually. And the simpler obstacles will be good practice for the younger horses, Jessie Anne and Nightingale... whenever the rain subsides.