Pet Peeves

It has been gloomy, cold, snowy and very unhorsemanlike (made-up word) weather here in Nebraska. I have nothing to blog about that is horse related. But I do have something on my mind.

The phenomenon of Facebook has allowed us to communicate with the world in ways that we used to only do under our breath. Many times, that results in "vaguebooking".

Vaguebooking, by definition, is "an intentionally vague Facebook status update that prompts friends to ask what's going on, or is possibly a cry for help." I don't fall for those anymore because I don't believe that definition to be true. I think people do it just to get some attention or feedback.

Vaguebooking is just one of the things on Facebook which bug me. But it is like a soap opera. I keep going back for more. Outside of Facebook, there are other things that bother me. Some pet peeves, other things that just fall in the "annoying" category. I thought I would list ten which I could think of today.

1) People text me for the sole purpose of telling me to call them. Huh? If you picked up your phone to text me, why not just hit "call" instead! Don't put the onus on me to be the caller and look like the bad guys if I don't Call.You.This.Minute!

2) News videos without text. Scanning CNN.com, I see a story that looks interesting and when I click, it pops open video. I don't have time to listen to some talking head telling a story. The headline caught my eye; the first paragraph will tell me if it is of interest to me or not. Don't make me load video AND watch a commercial to get to the point.

3) Passwords with a required length, capital letter, numeral and some sort of symbol – all in one. And then have the audacity to suggest it be something I can easily remember. Huh? I don't even know what half the symbols mean. I'm a horse person, not a nuclear physicist writing formula.

4) Placing my order on the drive-thru speaker of Burger King and being interrupted by the order taker before I finish speaking. I have 2 kids and a hungry husband; I have their order in my head and I am trying my best to articulate it. When interrupted to ask what SIZE of drink; I lose my entire train of thought. Would it kill them to circle back around to that at the end?

5) Raisins. They ruin good oatmeal cookies and bread pudding. And always seem to be a surprise.

6) Mini-vans. Enough said.

7) Horrific misspellings or grammatical errors. I'm not talking the occasional typo-o or writing "road" instead of "rode" in error. Or even those who use text words instead of complete words. I am talking to those who probably have a red line under every other word indicating a spelling error and hit "send" anyway!

8) Voice messages. Weird, since I recall getting my first answering machine and how I could not wait to see who called. Now voice messages bug me because I have to go listen to an annoying voice directing me to enter pass codes (see #3 above) to get a 75 second message which is going to require me to return the call and go through the same spiel. So between item #1, item #3 and this one, you can see that phones just really bug me.

9) Shaking hands with the congregation following "Peace be with you". I have just sat here for 30 minutes watching a mother blow her child's nose or some old fart scratch at the back of his neck at what appears to be a bug bite and now we are asked to shake hands. I'm no germ-a-phob; heck, I probably let the dog lick my hand before I left for church and at one time I WAS the mother wiping the kid's nose. But this tired old tradition just creeps me out.

10) When flying, a person sitting in the seat in front of me who feels they need to recline. Don't they know they have now put their head on my lap? I am one who likes to cross my legs. And I do. Ooops! Did I bump your head? Wake you up? Sorry. And I switch legs again.

Oh, there are more that I'll share on another slow blog day. Perhaps you have a few pet peeves you would like to share, too.

It's Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature

The week of Expo, the Big Fat Lying Weatherman (BFLWM) predicted a humdinger of a snow storm. The headline in our local paper read:

“Potent storm could bring foot of snow to Nebraska”.

It made good press because besides our little expo, the boy's state basketball tournaments were scheduled to start that week, bringing families in from all over the state. Around here, when its a slow news day, the press likes to report on the weather.

Do you know what we got for snow that week?

Nothing.

Nada.

Zip.

Feeling a bit cocky that our Expo went on despite the predictions of doom & gloom weather and I posted the following on Facebook. As you can see from the comments, I was warned.

Yesterday, without much hype or warning from the BFLWM, we woke up to about 4 inches of snow on the ground; the big, wet, sloppy stuff hanging from the tree branches. Having no place I really needed to go and no plans to cancel, I did take a moment to appreciate its beauty, hoping it would go away very quickly. But Nooooo! As if one day wasn’t enough, Mother Nature is giving us some more of it today. Windy is NOT happy. After a couple weeks of consistent riding, she is missing much of her winter coat. I’ll probably go out and blanket her this afternoon. Poor girl.

Yesterday, despite the snow storm, I hooked up the trailer to fetch Windy. She has been with Brenda Messick for two weeks, getting a spring tune-up, specifically working on collection when trotting and loping and lateral moves. I was thrilled with how far she had come last week when I went for a lesson and if I thought a week made a heckuva a difference, two weeks has been incredible.

In her indoor arena, Brenda demonstrated some of what they worked on this past week and then it was my turn to ride. Even as I am typing this, I am not sure I am going to post the video or not. When I rode my mare, it was like driving a new car with super-duper power steering or driving a stick shift for the first time. I can't explain it. It takes only the lightest touch with my hands or legs and Windy responds. I felt like I was learning to ride all over again. Once, on the video, Brenda asks me to post. I seriously did not remember how to even start the rhythm and certainly couldn’t hit the correct diagonal as I was trying so hard not to bump her with my leg or pull out on the reins.

What Windy has gained from these sessions with Brenda is a softness that I have yet to find with my hands. My horse is now light years ahead of me on the learning curve. And I am thrilled! I am looking forward to continuing lessons with Brenda. I still have so much to catch up on; so much to learn.

You can find Brenda's blog at Horses Are Our Lives.