Fun in the Sun with Horses and Dogs

Two weeks ago (April 8 and 9), we had a glorious two days in terms of the weather, so we decided to make the best of it by spending as much time as possible outdoors!

I had been scheduled for Saturday discharges at my job but we sent all the patients home on Friday, so I suddenly had an entire weekend day off to do whatever I wanted with. Carlos was working but Jess was not on call for once on Saturday during the day, so I texted her, "LET'S RIDE!"

Neither mare had been ridden in nearly 3 weeks and they needed to get out. We had a gorgeous ride on two spicy hot-to-trot creatures, Jess on Lily and me on Gracie. (I don't even remember how long it had been since I'd ridden Gracie on trail!) My favorite trails at the barn are currently in full-blown demolition process: not only is there heavy machinery, piping, cyclone fencing with black tarp behind it, and all sorts of spook-worthy objects around the trails, but the trails themselves are being turned into another on-property landfill for neighboring construction sites to dump removed dirt and rocks onto. This has been an enormous mental block for me when it came to riding on the trails, especially on my own. There is active work going on on this land during the week, which has complicated my after-work riding as well...so I have not been riding after work at all, despite our longer daylight hours.

This is...not the same. And I'm having a hard time with it. It was as glorious as it looks in this photo and we often galloped it in both directions. The section of trail that this path leads to is also gone: basically my entire favorite loop, the one I would do when I wanted to get in a fast, quickie ride, does not exist anymore.

We did a 4.5 mile ride in 1:15. I had Endomondo running just out of curiosity, but we weren't looking to go for a specific amount of mileage nor time. We just wanted to have fun and catch up. We did quite a bit of walking, trotting, and once G-Mare was warmed up (she felt so stiff after all this time off...I can't let her sit with her joint issues; I explained why things have happened the way they have this past winter in this post) we let them canter and then gallop up a few hills for funsies. Both mares had plenty of gas in the tank at the end of our ride, and proudly pranced half the way home before we convinced them that walking was the better choice!

Jess on Lily.

Both mares received their first bubble baths of the season. They were GRIMY. They then got  turned out and Jess and I drove into downtown to meet up with Shanna at our favorite cafe bar, Nola.

I think Nola has become our grown-up version of The Saddle Club's ice cream shop. We're all girls. We all love horses (I need to get Meggan out to the barn!) And we all get together to catch up at the same place all the time, except instead of horses we talk about work, life, boys and vet tech drama. And instead of sundaes, we have alcoholic drinks or coffee. Sometimes both. Most of the time there's also food involved.

Cafe Nola has the best bloody marys I have EVER tried.
(Photo by Jess.)

This was after dinner: a fig latte and...that pastry on the left? I declared it the perfect PMS food. It has peanut butter, jelly, oatmeal crumble and potato chips on top. It's beyond perfect. And it's gluten-free.
(Because yes, I have joined the gluten-free club so now our foursome is complete.)

Meggan eventually joined us and we spent the next...five hours...being obnoxiously silly and giggly. We laughed so hard and so long, that all our abs hurt the next day!

Jess and I retired at 9:00 pm because we were running a 5k together the next morning!

-------------------

Sunday morning dawned gorgeous. I was stoked about running my first competitive 5k with Jess. Start time was 10:00 am; we had planned on arriving at 9:00 in order to register on site.

This 5k wasn't just any 5k. It was called Fast and Furriest and was a fundraiser for Operation Paws for Homes, a local rescue organization that partners with high-kill shelters in order to find foster and permanent homes for dogs in need that might otherwise die at the shelter. When you work in vet med, being able to contribute to this kind of organization is kind of a big deal! And it was happening right in our town of Frederick, MD!

You were also allowed to run with your dog, so 3/4 of the people milling about waiting for the race start had their dogs on leashes with them. It was pretty awesome. Jess had brought Finley, her Golden Retriever, but he has a congenital heart condition that limits how much activity he can safely do, so since it's a cool morning (upper 40s-low 50s) he hangs out in Jess's car in the shade with the windows cracked within sight of the park grounds while we go down to the registration booth.

So many dogs!

We got our numbers and chips and attached them to ourselves, then got in line at the race start with the other runners. Runners sans dogs were at the front, runners with dogs in the middle, and walkers both with and without dogs were at the back.

"What's the plan?" Jess asked.
"I...don't really have one. I like to start at a moderate pace and pick up speed as we go along." Negative splits ftw!

We set up our music on our phones and the race started.

Jess pulled ahead and I paced with her as we wove our way to mid-pack of the runners. We had only been running for minute when I realized my breathing felt ragged. My heart rate monitor flashed 152 for my heart rate, which was higher than I wanted to be this soon into the race. But I shrugged, tried to control my breathing better, and ran along behind Jess. Her running style made me grin: she swung her arms enthusiastically and her long dark ponytail bounced. I've never thought of myself as a runner, though it is something that has grown on me tremendously over the years. My own running style felt so vanilla next to Jess's...I run with a flat stride and minimal bounce, barely moving my arms with my motion so as to reserve as much energy as possible for the long haul, precisely because it is Not Easy For Me.

I made a note of keeping the flatness of my stride while lengthening to keep up with Jess and it worked. Kind of. My breathing was still off.

I tuned into the music playing through my headphones. I had chosen my I Took a Pill in Ibiza playlist on Pandora and, while it is my second most-listened to station, it was offering a breakbeats song that did. not. go. with the pace I was currently running. Irritated, I flipped to my Don Omar & Lucenzo station, which is my usual workout station.

Sia's The Greatest came on, which is on my SoundCloud running playlist.

"Uh-oh running out of breath but I

Oh I, I got stamina

Uh-oh running now I close my eyes

Oh I, I got stamina..."

An enormous involuntary grin spread across my face. The beat of the song matches my breathing speed for running and I felt like I was suddenly getting air into my lungs for real.  I dug in, lengthening my stride further until I was running next to Jess and we methodically picked out runner after runner, catching them and passing them, side by side.

We hit the first mile marker not long after and I looked down at my heart rate monitor, which had somehow switched to the timer setting...we were only 8 minutes into the race.
"Hey Jess!"
"Yeah?" She was panting.
"We just ran an 8 minute mile!!"
"That explains why I can't breathe!" she exclaimed. I laughed.
"Yeah, me neither!"

We agreed to walk for a bit. I decided to switch over to my SoundCloud running playlist while walking. We were running for real here, so why the hell not?

All the people we passed before passed us now as we caught our breaths. I clicked over to one of my playlist songs, Start A Riot by Banners, the Thundatraxx remix.

I picked up a jog as the opening stanza started and Jess followed suit. The beat picked up as it reached the chorus and I accelerated.

If your world falls apart

I'd start a riot

If night falls in your heart

I'd light the fire

In the dark, when you sound the alarm

We'll find each other's arms

For your love, all you are

I'd start a riot

This song is followed by Vance Joy's Riptide. I've posted some of these before; this playlist contains songs that have carefully been selected specifically for their ability to keep me moving while doing a sport that is not easy for me.

Lady, running down to the riptide

Taken away to the dark side

I wanna be your left hand man

I love you when you're singing that song and

I got a lump in my throat 'cuz

You're gonna sing the words wrong

The song is so appropriate for running. I tighten my abs, straighten my back, engage the entire back portion of my leg muscles, and accelerate further, upper body quiet, legs moving subtly, incrementally faster to the beat of the song. It feels like slowly shifting gears on a race car, except the race car is my body.

Jess digs in and keeps up. We slowly pass everyone that had passed us while we were walking.

Not from the race ,but have a photo of me running a week after the race to break up the text. :)

Missy Elliot's Get Ur Freak On is next.

Oh hell yeah.

I think of this video every time I hear this song. It is my favorite fitness video ever, and it celebrates women with normal, real bodies getting out there and moving for the sake of moving, while having fun doing it and being total badasses. 

I realize that the front runners are coming back up the opposite sidewalk on the other side of the road. We've been running on the flat and the road starts a gentle downwards incline, which means further ahead there is going to be a turnaround to go back uphill.

I accelerate more, my footfalls matching the beat of the song. I'm using this damn downhill to our advantage right now. My feet fall faster and faster, landing heel-first, propelling me forward, and I think of all the times trotting downhill on the Old Dominion Triple Crown trails to make up time for the slow uphills later.

Jess is sprinting behind me in order to keep up now and we are flying past people, some with their dogs trotting along next to them, others alone. We are finally able to see the turnaround ahead.

"My plan is to run hard now so we can WALK up the hill after!" I say to Jess.

"Thank you!" she gasps, "Because I really didn't want to have to run back up this hill!"

We make the turnaround and slow to a jog to tackle the beginning of the hill's rise, slowing to a walk as we approach the first water station.

We are both breathing hard, and we each have two cups of water, which takes us a minute because it is hard to swallow when you're breathing hard! We then continue on our way up the rise, alternately walking and slow jogging. The music playing through my headphones is perfect right now:  Starley's Call on Me.

There is a second water station on this hill. We stop for more water there too, then ease into a jog again.

And then Kranium's Nobody Has To Know Major Lazer remix comes on.

I pick up the pace of the jog to match the beat of the song and find myself powering up what is left of the hill. We run past the 2-mile marker and look at my watch: our second mile was slower than the first at about 12 minutes, but that's okay. This was a damn long hill. I don't tell Jess our time because I want to set the pace for the third mile. I have no intention of walking anymore.

The course flattens and then takes us downhill momentarily, winding around park sidewalks and through a  flat shaded path where the race photographer is standing with camera ready. We laugh about it later: Jess and I both thought at the same time, "Smile for the ride photographer!" #endurance

I love this song, and I love the video. And it is also on my playlist.

I get the distinct impression that we are getting close to the end of the third mile and start to pick up the pace again.

I am right: we hit the 3 mile marker going at a full-tilt run. Only a fifth of a mile to go and the finish line is within sight.

Jess and I look at one another. "Let's GO!"

Now. The flat conservative run is over. I ignore my pounding heart and breathe in and out in measured respirations. Must not pant! Breathing is life, and if you can control it, it allows you to in turn control just about anything you are doing with your body. Shoulders back, I swing my arms across my chest and knees come up and forward in what feels like enormous ground-covering strides with a moment of full suspension in between. I don't think I've ever run this fast before.

We blow through the finish line almost side-by-side, the timer at the top of the finish line arch flashing 30 minutes (we finished our third mile in 10 minutes!) but I miss the seconds reading because we are going so very fast. It takes us a few strides to slow our forward momentum in order to come to a stop.

Jess and I are laughing while trying to catch our breaths.

"Oh man!!" We have matching exuberant grins.

We remove our time chips and hand them over to the volunteer in charge, then get out of the way of the finish line. I text Carlos: he was supposed to meet us. He is over by Jess's car keeping Finley company, so we walk over to meet him there.

He takes a post-run photo of us. Or rather, tries.

How many attempts does it take to get a good photo with a Finley?

Answer: Many! :D

We wandered over to the covered picnic area, where the race staff had all sorts of food for the runners. We each snagged a bag with an English muffin (Carlos received both of ours), a banana, a protein bar and a bottle of water. There was also an assortment of donuts and pastries, coffee and hot chocolate. Simple carbs for the runners. ;)

We stayed until awards were announced. Jess thought we might have placed but a 30 minute 5k, while super fast for us, is considered a moderate pace overall and I highly doubted we would get anything.

We didn't...but the third place finisher for my age group came in at 28 minutes, which was a pleasant surprise: shaving 2-3 minutes off a 5k finish time is very doable if I'm interested in placing in my age group next time. We'll see...

As it was, both Jess and I Top-10'd in our age groups! Jess's time was 30:24 and mine was 30:23! Not bad at all for two people that don't consider themselves runners!

By then it was around noon, and our post-run snacks had evaporated: both Jess and I were STARVING. We texted Meggan, who also lives in town, and met up for what would end up being a late lunch at Brewer's, our other favorite hangout, where we could sit outside with the dogs: Meggan brought her two Shih-Tzu mixes, Peanut Butter and Jelly, who are besties with Finley. The dogs were all very well-behaved while we ate. (Shanna had taken the day for some stuff that she needed to get done so she couldn't come.)

Afterwards we walked around town, just enjoying the warm weather. This was the first weekend that truly felt like spring. Everything was either green or blooming ferociously. Sunlight danced off of the creek that runs through downtown. I take no photos because I'm just enjoying the company, the conversation, and the surroundings. None of us wanted to go back indoors!

Carlos and I are eventually the first to leave: we have to go run errands before our work week starts the next day.

Jess and Meggan remain on one of the park benches, Finley, Peanut Butter and Jelly at their feet.

It was a beautiful weekend.

I leave you with this song. I love that the dog is a main character in the video! 

It is a fitting ending to this post. :)

This is Wild One by Lucky Rose and Tep No.

Update on the Mares!

Carlos rocking it out on both girls

I am SO behind on horse updates! I am behind on lots of updates, actually, so if I can ever finish a couple of all the posts I've started in my Drafts folder, you guys might finally get a full view of all the goings-on around here lately! Just not in chronological order, but progress isn't linear, only time is, so that's fine. ;)


Lily
Towards fall of last year, I had noticed Lily was starting to get the slightest bit of effusion in her hocks. It didn't bother her nor affect her performance, but I made a mental note to keep an eye on her hocks and her movement because with her Thoroughbred post-legged hind limb conformation, hock injections have always been something I've foreseen in her future.

One rainy, wet afternoon in the late fall, I went out to the barn to check on them and discovered that the tiny bit of effusion in the hock her left hind (ALWAYS THE LEFT HIND) had ballooned to orange size. Cue freakout. Both her and Gracie had been going through a phase of merciless bullying by the alpha mare. Lily had no other marks on her but Gracie's lumbar back and rump were covered in bite marks from where the alpha mare had ripped off her skin. I suspected Lily had been chased away from the hay feeder and in trying to get away with one of normally nimble moves, had torqued the leg in the mud. She was never lame, never painful, and there was never any heat. It's been 6 months and there has been no change in the swelling: it is soft and squishy, like hock effusion usually is. I have a photo somewhere but I don't feel like looking for it so here is a picture from the internet so you guys can have an idea of what it looks like.

Same size and location.

When it presents in this fashion, it is usually caused by a strain to the tendon sheath, and that was my vet's verdict as well. I have not done imaging nor lameness tests nor the whole shebang because she feels the same under saddle, looks the same at liberty, is not guarding the leg at all in lateral movements, and I'm not planning on competing in endurance anytime soon.

See? No problems engaging and pushing off of that left hind at liberty.
Also Lily, can you save some of that awesome little canter for when I hop on in a minute? :) Kthx

Both horses had most of the winter off, not because I wanted to but because the weather gods literally conspired to make riding impossible. We don't have an indoor arena and with the constant rain and mud, I did not want to attempt muddy trail rides that could strain arthritic legs (Gracie) or Lily's funky hock. I also gave myself permission to be a fair weather rider this winter: we did so much riding in nasty weather last year in preparation for and during all our competing that my brain and my body were in mutual agreement: we have nothing to prove and it was absolutely fine to stay indoors by the gas fireplace on a shitty day, with a quick run to the barn to check on the girls and feed them when the rain let up. When I didn't have time to ride because I was on call for work or we had other things that needed to be done, THEN the weekend would be gorgeous. Fuck you, weather gods.

Anyway. Lily had a nice 5-month break with a splattering of non-strenuous work throughout, so if this had indeed been something that needed resting, she definitely got the rest. Now I'm slowly bringing her back into work with light trail rides (45% walk, 45% trot and 10% canter). She has been offering up lovely work in the arena so I finally decided to take advantage of it.

And then I was on call again. And then it rained. And then we had family in town. And then we went to the cherry blossoms because those only happen for 5-7 days out of the year. And then it rained again. And then and then and then. Whatever.

Three weeks after that, I've been able to get a few consistent rides on Lilybird. And I've been very happy with her. Rides have been mostly limited to the arena at the moment, and I'm okay with that too.

The only foot that is actually solidly on the ground is her left hind: this is what she looks like when working correctly. Please ignore my equitation...

I really need to stop dropping my inside shoulder...
But look at my horse! :)
(All trotting photos by Shanna!)

Arena work at the moment is focused on collection, which is what she has been indicating she wants to do anyway. This is perfect because her topline needs some work after all the time off. She is at a great weight overall coming out of winter but her coat is unusually dull, so flax has been added back into her diet (1 cup per day) to see if her summer coat comes in as glossy as it always does.

Worst conformation shot EVER. But you can appreciate both the lack of sheen and the excellent body condition on my hard keeper! No ribs = success!

We've done the oils in the past: rice bran oil, flax oil, Cocosoya, etc. They worked beautifully on her when she would eat them...but since she persistently turns her nose up at oils nowadays, we're staying away from them. I also added a pound of Triple Crown's 30% supplement to her daily ration, which does amazing things for her muscle building but is also outright rocket fuel for her. She's fine on it as long as she is in consistent work, but she cannot be on it if not worked consistently because she turns into every stereotype of a Thoroughbred imaginable. Grain at the moment is Legends CarbCare Performance: this is her off-season grain, which is high fat, high protein and low starch. She eats it with gusto, she retains a reasonable amount of muscle + a brain even when rested while on it, so she stays on it. (When competing she is switched to TC Complete, which is fed alone during conditioning and then 50/50 with oats the week before and after an endurance ride to build up and later replenish glycogen stores in her muscles. #endurancenutrition)


Gracie
G-Mare has been a whole other issue. She has been very stiff coming out of the time off, and I will be having her right front pastern injected again (this is the one with ringbone) once I have a more normal schedule that allows me to use my regular veterinarian again. I've been interacting with her consistently but after my first real official ride on her, I realized some of her ground manners had temporarily gone to pot: she tried to barge into me while I was hosing her off post-ride and to get ahead of me while hand-walking back to the barn. This got rapidly corrected right then and there, and a brief round pen groundwork session helped remind her that Gracie mares still are expected to behave like model citizens even when they think they are wild ponies.

She did gain some weight during her time off and has a slight crest going on, but after a few rides it is already melting off. G-Mare was on TC Lite as a ration balancer over the winter with her oral joint supplement, but I've switched her to Legends CarbCare Show & Pleasure for now. She is also getting 1 cup of flax/day. No rocket fuel for her, though! And I need to restart her IM joint supplement. Last winter she did fabulously on zero maintenance, coming out of the winter moving fluidly, but this has not been the case this year.

Sass monster. Also: somewhat awkward canter.

I don't think 50s are in her future anymore, based on how she is moving now. And that's okay. Gracie can be whatever she wants to be because it is a privilege to get to spend time with this mare. But I'm working on building up her fitness again in the meantime because it's good for her regardless.

First decent ride on her since the nieces came to visit.
Photo by Shanna.

Same ride. Photo also by Shanna.

Last weekend Shanna came out to the barn with me both days and hopped on G-Mare while I worked with Lily. Gracie was quite stiff and unbalanced the first day, so she was kept at the walk and gait; no canter.

Nice swinging gait once she was warmed up though.

The second day she was stepping short with both right legs (RF = ringbone, RH = worse hock of the two.) Shanna did the right thing by keeping Gracie moving in straight lines around the arena and large circles, but the mare never really warmed up out of it.

Shanna on Gracie.

Gaiting easily. Shanna did a great job keeping G-Mare moving at a controlled speed.

So the ride was cut short and Gracie had Monday off. I was off again on Tuesday and brought both girls out for riding: Carlos would ride one while I rode the other for 30 minutes and then we would switch. I started out on Gracie with the bareback pad so I could make sure she was warmed up properly.

She was in her first heat of spring and being a monumental fussbucket. She was literally arguing with herself...I was simply asking her to walk on a reasonably loose rein and she would fling her head around and even threatened to rear a couple of times, which is just her way of trying to intimidate her rider to get out of work, a card that she used to try to play all the time when I first got her. I could understand her being cranky because she was in heat: mares get crampy and sore and irritable too just like we do. This is also normal for her: the first heat of spring and the last one of late fall are always rougher on her. By the time I realize this is happening though, it is too late to start supplementing and I'm not keeping her on a mare herbal supplement like raspberry leaf year-round only for two moments throughout the year. (I am a firm believer in raspberry leaf though: Lily lives on it year-round because unlike Gracie, all of her heat cycles are upsetting. She gets nervous, anxious and buddy sour. SmartMare Harmony has done wonders for her; she has been on it for the last 3 years.)

With Gracie acting up, I just kept my cool and continued gently requesting what I wanted: a sedate walk with no head-tossing, which she was perfectly capable of doing. She had done it en route to the arena while walking next to Carlos. I was not asking for anything even the slightest bit difficult.  I gently requested until I got what I wanted. I would get it for a few steps...and then another flailing moment.  She had three opportunities, but at the third head-flinging episode I spun her around in a tight circle and pony-kicked her forward. She walked on calmly and gave me no more trouble whatsoever. Good girl, Gracie. She was heavily praised.

I was expecting to have to do a long warm-up and not really get to the point of collection that I wanted to work on with her on this day, but she surprised me by offering it up with minimal request from the get-go. I was positively thrilled: she felt sound, smooth and even. She received tons of praise.

Her more collected gait.
I engage my abs, Gracie lifts her withers.

Lovely work.

We were working on extensions here and on not cheating by getting behind the vertical
(a common thing she does when she is trying to avoid using herself properly.)
She was a titch more on the forehand here but that's okay at this point in time. I like that despite the tail swishing you see going on (she always does more tail swishing during arena work than on trail; she really does hate arena work) her entire body still looks relaxed. 

And then Carlos got on while I rode Lily. The goal was for him to just walk her around the arena. I had ridden for 22 minutes and that had been enough for Gracie: asking her to use her body correctly, even at slow speeds, is HARD work and she was drenched in sweat. I didn't want to overdo it. But G-Mare decided she had other ideas and monumentally tested Carlos. She scared him. So I had him work with her on gaiting more just to get her brain back in her head. They did absolutely fantastic and Gracie did not test him again.

Same photo from the collage above but look at the angle of her croup compared to the other photos!
Werk dat butt!

Afterwards we hand-walked them back down to the barn, where they had bubble baths and food while waiting for the vet to come for spring shots. I am out of bute so I did go ahead and buy a tub of it while my vet was there: what I like to do when either of the girls is showing signs of having a rough heat cycle is to give them a dose of bute before riding. The difference in behavior with NSAID on board vs no NSAID on board when they are physically uncomfortable from raging hormones is like night and day. 

I had a long weekend of riding planned for both of them but it has been raining nonstop since Friday night. See what I meant about the weather? But it means you get this update instead. ;)

Such good girls. <3
They just stood quietly where we parked them while we moved stuff around in the arena.

On Gracie, Friendship, and Tiny Pink Flowers

This post starts out fairly light-hearted but it gets pretty deep at the end. That's the effect these flowers have on me though. #notsorry.

Long live the cherry blossoms. <3

So a few weeks ago, the in-laws made plans to come visit us when the online D.C. cherry blossom trackers were saying the blooms this year were going to be epic. The in-laws had never seen the flowers and we always sent them pictures when we go because there is nothing quite like this sight...

The first time we saw the cherry blossoms, during our first spring in the region in 2013.

2013. I took this photo with a cell phone. Incredible, no?


2014. Also taken with a cell phone.

2014. We made the mistake of going on a weekend. It was so jam-packed at the festival that we decided to skip 2015 altogether; I was overwhelmed by the crowds.
Also: Carlos was not sober in this photo...lol. Perks of living within walking distance from one of the Metro stations at the time! I took complete advantage of him and asked him if we could buy Gracie. He said yes. The rest is history. So there is a very strong association between these flowers and G-Mare!

Also 2014. It gives you an idea of the crowds. This is the third of a grand total of 6 photos we took the entire trip. The crowds were too heavy to be able to get any good pictures. 

2016. We went on a weekday, driving into D.C., and were even able to park within walking distance of the Tidal Basin.

2016. Sooooo windy! And we got to enjoy the blooms without the massive weekend crowds. It was awesome.

They bought plane tickets and arranged the trip for 6 people (Carlos's brother, brother's wife and their two girls also) with only two weeks to spare before peak bloom was predicted. It was perfect because Carlos and I had been thinking of going to see the blossoms on the Sunday his family would be here anyway. The problem: Carlos's dad asked, "So what are the chances that we'll see snow? The grandkids have never seen it."

"The chances of that are about shit to none," Carlos said. "It's been over 70 degrees this week."

Famous last words.

Two days before the in-laws were scheduled to arrive, we had the one snowstorm of the entire winter and Frederick, MD got a full 12" of the white stuff.

Okay. So I love snow. I do. I just don't love it the week after it's been a consistent 75 degrees in mid-March and it falls on a workday when I have to drive in rush hour traffic in it (among Marylanders and Virginians that believe snow is fire. This is a FANTASTIC article on how our region's people drive in snow...it's also pretty damn funny) and I can't ride in it, and it's going to melt away before I can return to the barn. Snow is useless to me if I can't ride my horses in it. Phooey. Also, this bipolar winter we've had had really been getting to me this year and I had been really happy about all the early green and warmth. I've had really, really bad S.A.D. this year, which has not been helped by work circumstances, not being able to ride due to said work circumstances, Carlos's work situation, financial stresses, politics, a trip we've been wanting to do with the horses that got cancelled twice due to stupid cold fronts (it still hasn't happened), some possibly major health concerns for both of us humans in our small family of mostly 4-legged beings, in addition to a combination of other Life and First World type of problems. There isn't enough vitamin D in the world to battle the combination of factors leading to me feeling down in the dumps.

Even Aengus was like, "It's cold. WTF."

With this snowstorm, I felt like someone had poured ice water over my head, quite literally and I wondered if I would ever feel again as empowered and Zen as I did at the end of 2016. I've felt pretty powerless this year so far. Or like kicking a few people in the teeth. I can't make up my mind.

SERIOUSLY

Taken on the way to work. Go away Winter.

The in-laws arrived on a Thursday and of course work ran super late on both Thursday and Friday and I was majorly stressed out because I should be out on time so I could spend time with family and then I was also stressed out because I asked to leave at a reasonable time so I could meet up with said family when everyone else had to stay at work late.

UGH

#typeAproblems #overachieverissues #empathproblems #empathysucksmostofthetime

Welcome to my brain for the last 4 months.

Anywho. Friday night finally came around and I ran out of work two hours after my shift was supposed to be over so I could meet up with Carlos and the rest of the family.

They had spent the entire day up at Roundtop Mountain in PA playing in the snow. The girls, ages 6 and 5, had had an absolute blast in the white stuff.

Carlos's brother Xavier and the eldest niece. He sent me this one while I was in the OR. I might have been a little bit jealous. Just a little bit.

We met up at our favorite Cuban place in downtown Frederick (it's our favorite because it's the only one but at least we have access to real Cuban fare in our hometown!) which we hadn't been to in...a long time. We've been on a Brewer's Alley and Cafe Nola bender and had completely forgotten about Sabor de Cuba. It was good to go back. And stuff my face with ropa vieja and flan.

I love Carlos's dad like he's my own father (in front of me at the table.) He has a knack for looking like he is part of the Cuban mafia in photos. Believe me, he isn't. Carlos gets his sarcasm and messed-up sense of humor straight from his dad!

We went our separate ways after dinner: we live in a tiny one-bedroom and Carlos's dad is deathly allergic to cats, so they were staying at a nearby hotel in town. We agreed to meet up the next morning for...

...HORSES!

The eldest niece, Kaylin, apparently wants to be just like me when she grows up. :) Like, she is seriously my #1 groupie. Her plans for this trip were to see snow and ride my horses. I said she could ride Gracie. Lily is the sweetest, but she is also so sensitive that I wasn't sure how she would feel about a small child on her back. Kaylin was fine with this plan. 

Gracie might have rolled her eyes at me when she realized what was up, "Seriously? Is there anyone you won't put on my back? Next thing you're going to want me to give the barn cat a ride."

"It's because I trust you, Gracie," I said to her.

"Hmf. As you wish," she said.

And so she tolerated Kaylin just like I knew she would, obediently following me around the arena as we gave the little one a pony ride. 

In fact, Gracie was handling all of these shenanigans so well that I decided to literally let Kaylin take the reins.

Gracie still followed me, but Kaylin was able to turn the mare on her own. She is a natural and after a few times around the arena, I really wanted her to get a taste for G-Mare's gait. Kaylin was born in Florida but her blood is Puerto Rican and Cuban: Paso Finos are an intrinsic part of that heritage. Gracie is not a Paso Fino, but her gait is close enough. 

So I decided to do something I have never attempted before, neither on Gracie nor on any other horse: to give Kaylin a ride on Gracie at her faster gaits. 

Carlos and Xavier helped Kaylin dismount, I got on, and they helped slide her on in front of me, where I could ensure she would stay in place in the saddle. Grace gave me an initial, "Well, this feels unusual..."

And then, "Okay, let's do this." As she always does.

She has a heart of gold, I tell you.

We started out walking and once she seemed comfortable about the weirdly balanced additional weight on her back, I asked G-Mare to pick up her singlefoot gait, which she obliged me with. Kaylin was laughing the entire time.

The photo where I'm laughing is the one where Kaylin said she didn't want to stop just yet. :D

I'm not sure for how long we rode around like this. But my heart was full to bursting with love for this spectacularly awesome mare. And I think Kaylin might be the next horsewoman in the family. ;) She was hooked, hooked, hooked!

After that, Gracie was untacked and released in her field and on a whim, we decided to head down to the National Zoo so the girls could see the pandas, with a stop in Rockville MD at Coastal Flats for lunch. (I failed at food pictures this time.)

We arrived about an hour before the zoo closed and got to see both the pandas and the elephants.

Then Carlos's face sort of exploded, which warranted a rushed visit to Urgent Care where he was diagnosed with a tooth abscess so bad, the next morning he had red streaks running down his neck. Looking at his face alone on Monday, you would have thought he had suddenly gained 50 lbs: that's how bad the swelling was. I was worried he might end up with a major blood infection (sepsis) or endocarditis (infection of the inner lining of the heart): both of these things are a very real possibility with tooth infections as serious as this one was. And if you think I'm overreacting: I have 3 close family members that are dentists/oral surgeons who randomly like to send me articles like this one (because apparently I need more things to worry about...) and I received dental training for animals in veterinary technology school. The #1 reason why dentals in animals are recommended is because tooth infections can and do increase the likelihood of an animal developing heart disease at an earlier age. It does apply to people too: I have to take a course of antibiotics prior to any dental work because of a congenital heart defect I have that increases the likelihood of me developing heart disease from dental work that might push bacteria into my heart.

So I was stressing about Carlos's tooth infection for the next three days...that's how long it took for the oral antibiotics to start to make a difference. I thought he was going to need to be hospitalized on IV antibiotics. He finally saw an endodontist (that involved a lot of shouting on my part because he didn't want to go because it required missing work hours but in my book, being alive is more important than any job) and the abscess got lanced and he had his long overdue root canal. Thank you Not-so-New Job's amazing dental insurance. Also: welcome to just a sliver of what my life has been like the last four months.

The next morning, Sunday, we got up relatively early and headed for D.C.: Carlos's brother's family had never seen the White House. The cherry blossoms were a fail: the sudden cold snap and snow had stopped the early blooming in its tracks and killed a lot of the flowers that were already opening, so we didn't really even bother swinging by the Tidal Basin. We just took a walk down Pennsylvania Avenue and around the White House.

There were a few things silently happening around the White House. I thought it interesting that most of the people gathered around were, in fact, not white. Most of them were not speaking in English either.
Except for the guy with the sign in this photo. :D Also standing silent.

Featured here is a family that started with immigrants that came to the US: both of Carlos's parents and my dad (my dad is obviously not pictured here) all came to the US legally as political refugees from Cuba when they were children themselves. They went through the entire legal process of achieving residency and later obtaining citizenship. Fun fact: it is a pain in the ass if you do it right like they did, and even when you do it right, you can still get deported depending on the rules of the administration running the country and how anti-immigrant they decide to be. Both Carlos's parents and my dad later ended up in Puerto Rico because the threat of deportation while achieving citizenship was almost nonexistent there.
The rest of us in this photo were born on American land, either here on the mainland or in Puerto Rico, which is a US territory and hence Puerto Ricans are US citizens by birthright. (In case I haven't said that one enough...)

This was on a light post directly in front of the White House. It made me smile.
There were other things quietly happening that also made our group smile, but I'm not posting the photos.
All you need to know is that my faith in humanity was restored with this visit, simply because I turned around to look at my surroundings. It was like someone had shared the best secret with me.

There is a reason why Carlos is considered the Crazy Uncle. ;)

Walking back towards the area where we had parked.

After that, we grabbed lunch at Cosi  because the in-laws had tried it previously and loved it, and I had forgotten they even existed...we hadn't been to Cosi in forever! I LOVE their adobo chicken bowl!

Here, have some food porn. Photo not by me, but this is Cosi's Adobo Chicken and Avocado Bowl. And yes, this is what I had for lunch. It is amazing. If you ever fly through Ronald Reagan airport in D.C. there's one near the American Airlines terminal. Easy. ;)

And then we headed for National Harbor on the other side of the Potomac River from D.C.

I always love this view.

The swelling on the left side of Carlos's face was just starting when these photos were taken. I'm grinning but I was worried sick about him.

National Harbor turned into a mini adventure with Carlos's parents because his brother and Co. had fallen asleep in the van during the short drive over from D.C. So they slept in the van in the parking lot while the four of us walked around. The forecast had said upper 50s but the wind blowing off the water was icy: it was chilly. Even then, Carlos and I decided we really wanted ice cream so we stopped at Ben & Jerry's. Carlos's dad took a nap in the sun outside, shown here. You can tell he's not from this area. ;)

Carlos's brother and family finally woke up and joined us, and we took them to a small children's park by the bay. Us adults froze while the girls played. 

Carlos's dad mastering the art of the selfie. Lol!

Eventually it was time for them to head back to the airport. Carlos and I had come in our own car, so we said good-bye and headed our separate ways.

-----------------------------------

Towards the end of the following week, we got wind that the cherry blossoms might have decent blooms after all, and were scheduled to peak the following weekend. On Friday night Carlos and I decided spur-of-the-moment to drive back down to D.C. to see them the next morning since Carlos was working my one other day off (Tuesday) and the flowers only bloom for 5-7 days! (Dom, I want to plan this with you for next year when the weather is less schizo and it can be truly worth braving the crowds for!)

Shanna was flying back into Maryland on Saturday morning from a business trip out of state and wanted to hang out, and Meggan and Jess were also looking to do something since we hadn't all been able to get together for a while. So I invited all of them.

And that is how we found ourselves back in D.C. in separate vehicles (Jess and Meggan drove down in Jess's car because Jess was on call. Shanna rode with Carlos and me because we live so close to one another it was not a problem to just pick her up en route.)

D.C. traffic was more than a little bit crazy: not only was this the official weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival (they have live music, food stands, etc for the occasion) but it was also the first warm day in over two weeks so the city was PACKED with being just wanting to be outside for the day. Neither Waze nor Google Maps wanted to cooperate with directions. We got re-routed twice and couldn't find a public parking lot in the near vicinity of the Tidal Basin and didn't want to do street parking (if we had been able to find it...) because who wants to hike 3 miles back to feed the meter? (We later learned there is an app for D.C. parking meters that allows you to pay for parking online without having to physically go back to insert coins in it. How cool is that???!)

It took us 45 minutes to park. Thank God we had been in the city the weekend prior and paid attention: there was a public parking garage right on Pennsylvania Ave, about 3 blocks from the Tidal Basin. It only took us two more attempts to get there. :) I texted Jess and Meggan the address and we stopped at the Starbucks next door to grab coffee, use the restroom, and wait for them to arrive. But 40 minutes later, they were still stuck in traffic, so Shanna, Carlos and I headed down to the Tidal Basin on our own. Jess and Meggan would let us know when they parked and we would play it by ear from there.

Shanna was alternately in a zombie-like vs slap-happy state because she had only slept three hours the night before; her flight left so early. It became a theme for the day, "Shanna don't care" as we posed in front of places that most non-D.C. locals would have been excited about.

At the National Monument.
(Also #biceps. There is a post on that coming up. You have an idea if you're following me on IG.)

The full "Shanna Don't Care" series. *insert laughing emoji here*

We made it to the Tidal Basin right around the time Meggan texted that they had found a place to park. It was kind of hard to explain where we were. So we sent them this photo:

"We will meet you here! Right here."
Jess responded, "But what if my GPS is 2 cm to the right of that spot?!"
Me: "I think you might be able to see us. Maybe. Possibly."

They were going to stop by the same Starbucks we had gone to to use the restroom. So we decided to take a walk while waiting for them, because I know Jess and Meggan: they are Starbucks addicts. They were going to get coffee too. So they were going to be a minute.

We wandered off in the general direction of the Jefferson Memorial.

It was a gorgeous day to be outside.

So. In the past when we've gone to the cherry blossoms, we've been really good about taking pics that make it seem like there were no other people around. This time, we documented the crowd. This is how many attempts were needed in order to get ONE good picture of Shanna with the blooms. (Center photo.) I told her that should be her dating profile pic. ;)

Shanna giggling in the sunlight. I love this girl.

There were several artists doing their thing. I don't remember seeing this many of them in the past. But then again, this is the first year where we were also paying attention to the people. 

People and flowers and art and water, all wrapped up into one.
So beautiful.

I later told Carlos, "Tomorrow they would have been at peak." There were a lot of buds that hadn't opened yet.
But that's okay. 

Me: "I love these flowers so much I could eat them!"
And next to me, 'Shanna don't care.' ;)
I was punch drunk with the environment around us: there was so much happiness and wonder from all the people walking through the cherry blossom trees, it made me giddy.
Seriously though: I want a cherry blossom tattoo.

I finally got simultaneous texts and Snaps from both Meggan and Jess: they were at the WWII Memorial. We decided we would meet them there and walk back to the Tidal Basin together. I wish I had saved their Snaps...my favorite was the one Meggan sent me of a mounted police officer with the caption, "Tu estas aqui" ("You are here") in Spanish! I laughed and laughed. 

I Snapped them pictures of us as we were getting closer. 

Carlos and Shanna totally worked it for the Snaps...

Jess called me, "Let's meet in Puerto Rico!"

So that's what we did. 

And that's the story of how me and my girls hung out in Puerto Rico for an hour without ever getting on a plane.


While in Puerto Rico, we also saw this T-Rex.
Tyrannosaurids are not a native Puerto Rican species: the island erupted out of the ocean after the dinosaurs were extinct.
But here you go. ;) Anything is possible!


Inside the T-Rex suit was a little girl, probably around 7-8 years old. It was the randomest thing we saw all day. She literally was there to make other people smile. She playfully chased after the other kids in the WWII Memorial plaza and allowed people to have their picture taken with her. She was working it. She made the day of so many, many people. I sent these pics to my mom the next day, and this little girl made my entire family's day too. It was awesome. We stayed at the WWII Memorial for a good half hour, just watching this little one's antics and laughing. 

We eventually left Puerto Rico to return to the Tidal Basin. We went the long way around, avoiding the Cherry Blossom Festival itself so we could go around the prettier, quieter sections of the trees.

See that camera on the tripod? We think it was a time-lapse camera. It had multiple lenses facing every direction. Shanna started dancing to music only she could hear in her head and Carlos started imitating the beat of electronic music, which matched the imaginary beat Shanna was moving to. In this manner, Shanna slowly approached the camera and danced her way around it. While the rest of us laughed. The best part was seeing the expressions of passers-by!
I would love to know where that time-lapse camera's photos were posted...because I'm willing to bet there were people far more creative than us in their behavior around it!

There is something truly magical about the capacity these tiny pink flowers have for bringing together people from all over the world. 

I love this region. Love. I don't care about the big city craziness. I adore our little town in the outskirts of it all, and I love the Montgomery County area of Gaithersburg/Rockville in Maryland where we used to live, and I love the historical propriety of D.C. Shanna pointed out that it is one of the few great cities of the US that has made an effort to protect and maintain its green areas. That made something click for me. Yes, that is part of it. When we first moved to the region from Florida, we lived in Alexandria, less than 3 miles from the heart of D.C. itself. I took the George Washington Parkway every day to work...it is a linear park that takes you through the wealthy city of Georgetown and drops you off on 495. I loved the GW Parkway because it was all trees and deer and natural gorgeousness. You can see the Potomac River from certain sections of it, and it would be shrouded in fog on November mornings. I never ceased to be fascinated by the fact that there could be so much that was untamed in the heart of the nation's capital.

And then there are the people: it is such an amazing, fascinating international community here. As we walked through the cherry blossoms, we were surrounded by accents and languages and every skin color humanity comes in. These trees were a gift symbolizing friendship from Japan, and so many decades later they continue to bring peace to those that visit them.

These two ladies in their pedal boat with their cherry blossom tiaras made my day almost more than the T-Rex girl.
I can't explain to you why. But I stopped dead in my tracks when I caught sight of them out on the Tidal Basin's water, and took this photo. I stood there for a while, until I realized the rest of the group had stopped to wait for me.
I think the reason why they made me so happy is because yes, our bodies grow up and age, but our soul is only as old as we allow ourselves to feel. We can all be Peter Pan if we want to be.
There was so much childish wonder and abandon in these two, and I felt it across the water as I observed them.

It was beautiful. 

And we all revelled in it. 

Meggan and Jess

Shanna

It's hard not to laugh when the person taking your photos is doing this. <3

It's also hard to keep a straight face around this guy...

Some very mature people pictured here... ;)

The cherry blossoms take you past the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.
We stopped here for a bit. Everything written on the walls of this memorial was more relevant than ever.
Shanna and I stood in awe for a while. "This...this is now. This all applies to everything happening now."
Carlos eventually had to grab us by the arms or we would have stayed there for hours.
If you live in the region, I encourage you to go visit this memorial now.

This. Just this.

It was a beautiful day. We ended it with dinner at Paladar, a Latin fusion restaurant in Rockville that we all love, over Brazilian cheese bread, wine, and an assortment of gorgeous and delicious Latin American food. There are no photos because we were too busy living in the moment. 

Life is messy and unpredictable and you can plan every single moment or not plan anything at all, and it makes no difference whatsoever: sometimes it does what you want and sometimes it does what it wants, like the tides in the ocean. You can ride the wave or you can let it drown you, and sometimes you catch that wave the best you can and you still get somersaulted head over heels no matter how good your surfing skills are. And so sometimes life is beautiful and smooth and sometimes it is ugly and rough; sometimes it is glorious and sometimes it is absolutely awful and you just want it to end because you are tired of slogging through the Swamps of Sadness. That is Reality. That is part of being human. You can't just pick and choose the pretty parts and ignore the ugly parts. If you're living a perfect picture now, enjoy it while you can. Sometimes things go splat, and sometimes when things to splat, it seems like it will never get better. 

How you choose to pick yourself up from that is what will make or break you. Life is not about how well you are able to pretend that everything is perfect; we don't get an award for that at the end. Life isn't an art competition. You have to embrace the ugly too because without it, you would never be able to appreciate the beautiful. Without the rough and the ugly, life would actually be pretty boring. 

But while you're at it, don't turn your back on people that might need you. The worst thing you can do to someone is ignore them, push them away, when they need you the most. The wheel turns and one day it will be you needing that shoulder to cry on. 

You too can be the girl in the T-Rex suit that made everyone happy for a day. You too can be the tiny pink flowers that bring everyone together in peace and happiness. That is how you leave your mark in this life. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial