One of my favorite classes to watch was the musical freestyle. None of the girls were competing in this because it is for the most advanced riders. Each rider performed a routine, choreographed to their selection of music, with judging based on difficulty of the routine, skill in executing the routine, and how well the horse and rider stay with the music. Adding music and varying the routines from the regular tests made watching this class even more interesting. On Sunday, the weather was much better. We watched the girls’ final classes and helped them get packed up. Our weekend in the country was over and we headed back to ordinary life in suburban Chicago.

We own- wait, I should say, we are owned by- an Australian Cattle Dog cross named Jo The Wonder Nanny Dog. Jo found us when I really needed to have a dog around, and I was thrilled. I was hoping that she would love to ride on barn calls with us, and visit our equine clients. However, Jo had other ideas. Loading her up in the truck to go along on calls results in a drooling, hyperventilating mess who winds up redecorating the inside of the cab. Let me tell you, sharing the inside of the truck with that mess is not high on my list of fun things to do. Add in the fact that Jo is absolutely, completely, utterly, and thoroughly terrified of horses, and my dream went right out the window with the fumes from redecorating. In the past, I had dogs that would go on trail rides with me. Not Jo. She won’t get with in ten feet of my current horse, but it could be because of the cologne for dogs. Which in retrospect is a good thing- he passionately hates dogs as much as Jo is afraid of horses? Ah well. She is the best dog I have ever shared time with, and she has made a huge difference in our lives. We love her to bits, and enjoy her for all the love and happiness she brings to our family!

The day started off bright and sunny, full of hope and promise. I eagerly jumped out of bed sure that the day would turn out to be profitable. You see, I’m retired but not happy with my retirement income. You say, “So what else is new?” right? You are absolutely correct, the only difference between you and me is that I have decided to do something about it by making my fortune working on the internet, but I digress. I stumble down the stairs in my robe, get my coffee, and sit down in front of my computer. My eyes are so fuzzy I can barely focus on the letters on the screen, got to have my glasses! That’s better. With baited breath, I open my work site. Will there be work for me today? Yes! There it is. Now I must type as fast as I can because I get paid per keystroke. I’m zipping right along. Only 40 minutes and I’ve already made over $3.00! This is not a minimum wage job people. Abruptly, the work runs out! Now I sit and refresh the screen anxiously waiting for more work to appear. This was at 8:40 a.m. this morning. Since then I have been typing about three numbers or addresses, refreshing five times, typing three more numbers, etc. It is 1:52 p.m. and I have accumulated an additional $ .30 since the initial $3.00. Reminds me of a quote by the late Albert Einstein; “Insanity is repeating the same action again and again, expecting a different result.”

My Sheltie dog Cindy had to eat at regular intervals to help with her digestion and in order to take thyroid medicine.  The medicine was to be given in her food twice a day.  The pill was to be taken in the morning and afternoon. This allowed the 6-8 hours that were supposed to lapse in between doses.   The easiest way to do this was to feed her at 7:00 AM and again at 3:00 PM.    I was up at that time to go to school and home by three, so it worked out with my schedule as well. Cindy got good at telling time and would wake me if I started to over-sleep.  She always seemed to know when it was breakfast and dinner time.  She’d even sniggle some treats from her Christmas stockings for dogs. That is until we switched to day light saving time.  It wasn’t so bad in the spring when we went ahead an hour, but in the fall she tried to wake me at 6:00 AM.  It’s not so easy to teach a dog how to tell time, and it would take her about a week to figure it out.