Magnolia/Equestrian Way; Ramping Up for VC100; Camera First Aid

It's no good. I just can't warm to this format. It's supposed to be all easy - everything automated and at your fingertips... but it still seems to cold and impersonal. I have to resist the temptation to just list "things that have happened", which makes for dull reading.

So what has happened? (OK, I couldn't resist).

• pft, Fergus, me n' Uno went on a long ride from Magnolia towards Salmon Falls and back to get in some "long trotting" practice. We took a detour up to Equestrian Way to find a short loop someone had told pft about. We found "a" short loop, but not the one we were actually looking for. However from the GPSed track we were able to look on Google Earth to figure out where we'd been and where we should have gone. So next time we'll be able to cut through the woods, across the (no doubt downed barbed-wire filled) meadow, and accomplish our 'sploring mission.

• Before we rode, I'd hoped to get away with "A quick rasp" on Uno's toes. Not. So an hour later, I'd performed a full trim on him in the parking lot and as I went to nip that last heel, I did it too deep and he ended up with a wonkly, too short heel. Luckily he's growing foot faster than a fast thing right now, so hopefully by the time VC100 rolls around in three weeks (two now, as I write this), he'll have grown it all out again [gulp].
• When we got back from this ride, Uno had somehow scraped a chunk of hair off his fetlock and said leg swelled up like a melon the following day. For the rest of this week he's been getting twice daily icings and I've concluded he's just teasin' with his poorly leg impersonation. I'm not thinking about it. I'm not thinking about it. I'm not thinking about it.
• Uno is now in full "you shall be fed everything good under the sun" mode and gets shut up to eat his Special Fud. Fergus is miffed.
• I am going into obsession-mode about the 100 mile ride and enjoying every minute of it. It makes me feel like I'm accomplishing things in my life.
• Having thought about my crunchy knees (they aren't that crunchy, but get a bit cramped over long distances), I tried out pft's longer-seated Sensation saddle for the above ride. Although it's very close to mine, it still seems worth trying out in more depth - I can shift further back in the seat on downhills and give my knees a break - so last night I spent an hour switching all the bags, covers, stirrups off my saddle and onto his - and vice versa. Pft's only complaint about using my saddle was "all the crap on it". I prefer to call this "essential equipment"; pft couldn't get on or off the saddle with all the stuff on it.
• I mended my camera with SuperGlue. No really. The top fell of the shutter button, revealing tiny wires that bend backwards when you thrust it into the pommel bag. Apparently these cameras aren't designed for this sort of treatment. Wimp cameras. So the "new"one is mended while my "old" camera - the one who's LED display got crunched... possibly when someone rolled while still in his saddle - got sent off to hospital where, for a mere $80, its LED display would be replaced and it would be Good As New. Oh yes!
• I worked another week of ridiculousness at work.
• I didn't get to bed at a sensible time, instead staying up late to do important things like string new blue beads:

• I didn't plant the two remaining lavender plants that have been sitting in the way at the foot of the front steps for about three months.
• I did, however, order Chili some magic pills from SpringTime which are going to turn her into a youngin' again. In theory. And I snipped her toenails twice in a row in the same month. Maybe I'll actually get them under control again? Maybe. Life continues to tick.