BaD KiTtY!!!!

Dear Sara and Brian,

Your cat is a BaD KiTtY!!! He gives us no respect! He acts like he owns the place and we are there to serve him. He's turning into quite the regal fellow. Nothing is sacred. He has totally taken over.

Sure he smiles and purrs and pretends to make nice. He does not have me fooled for a second because I know what he does when I turn my back.

(And actually I didn't even turn my back. In fact I had time to get the camera out and turn the flash on and he just sighed and kept on. I should say this is what he does when we are looking. I wonder what he does when we turn our backs!)

But that's not all.. No, that's not all. He actually had the gall to TAKE A BATH in the water. He stuck a paw in and licked the water off his paw. (I could not figure out how to get a photo of that.)

See what I mean. This morning it was my silk. I drank a glass of silk before going to yoga and left the almost empty glass on the island. He had his head buried in it before I knew what was happening. I had words with him about who's drink it was and reminded him he had food and drink of his own. I tried to suggest that since we never ate his food he should offer us the same respect. This evening he beat me to it. I asked Dad to get me a glass of water and before I could pick it up Aden was having his way with it...

and does he look repentant??? I don't think so.

Can't imaging why you could possibly miss the bad cat. He says he missed you too and sends his love. We send our love too. Be safe.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Fiona at Sunset

Jerry smoked fish tonight at Spring Valley. I walked around the farm and took some photos of Fiona at sunset while he was smoking fish.

The fog was totally dynamic. You could see it roll down the hills and fill up the valleys. Not sure where it was coming from but it was easy to see it was moving.

I really like the two horses in the background. I almost did not see them in the fog.  The blur on the horses comes from their munching. They are not really ever totally still and I balanced the camera on the fence post since I did not think I would want the tripod. The horse kept chewing and grabbing another mouthful of grass. It rained a bit earlier today so the ground is a little moister than it has been. I don't think we got enough rain to really make a difference but still happy for whatever rain we are getting since it has been so dry.

Fiona and Apple share a field. They seemed totally happy to spend the evening outside quietly chomping grass. Its finally getting cooler. Its in the low 60s very nice jacket weather.

By the way the smoked salmon was really good tonight. I like it best when its still warm from the grill.

Eva and Apple

October 1-3, 2010 - Eva came home for the weekend and rode Apple three days in a row. They flatted on Friday, had a great lesson with Eric on Saturday and flatted again on Sunday. I joined her on a walk today. We went around the back field, up into Little Hawk and around some fields. 

 

The weather was perfect. It actually felt like fall today. Eva called it sweatshirt weather. The farm looks healthy. We finally had some rain and the fields are getting green again.  Jan and Eric are generally doing a good job with maintenance. (They are a bit behind in fence repair and fence painting but are scheduling the work so it should be happening soon.)

 

The horses are starting to grow winter coats. I wonder if we are going to have a cold winter. Apple is getting fuzzy. Fiona is starting to look like she could be clipped. I'm going to wait to see if we can start bringing her back in work before clipping her. Have vetting scheduled for October 11 to see if we can stat coming back.

 

 

Eva and Apple spent some time bonding. Apple is definitely Eva's horse.I think Eva appreciates Apple more now that she is riding other horses at school. And Apple responds to Eva and really moves well with her. They jumped everything in the ring yesterday and put together a nice course.

Smithfield enjoyed himself. He loves to go on walks and run around. He lead the way on a walk back to the clubhouse. Whenever he slowed down a bit Apple goosed him and he went forward again. Apple was very interested in Smithfield and kept trying to sniff him. Smithfield seemed a little intimidated by Apple and tried to stay out of range.

A lovely weekend.

Horse hooves

Eva was such a good sport. Trotting and cantering thru the light beam so I could get some photos of light and air in motion. Apple was definitely animated. I think she thought I was a monster. Maybe I was a little close to the action. 
Motion

Reach

Composition

World Equestrian Games Lexington Kentucky

 Dressage today was amazing. I've never seen a ride like this or a horse like this...


 

Edward Gal owned the Stadium today.

Coastal Improvements

Coastal Improvements is our general contractor for most of our recent projects at 207. I've known Pierce Brinkley forever.

Tuesday September 21 is the first time I saw him in the uniform of a Henrico County Fireman. I almost did not recognize him when he came to the door. He had class this week so was coming by the project on the way home from class.

207 Design

DESIGN

The basic design was based on the golden rectangle. The golden rectangle is a rectangle that can be divided into a square and another golden rectangle as below:

The golden rectangle was also forms the basis of the golden spiral

The shapes were perfect for sidewalk design because you can use them in many configurations and end up with a rectangle. Our largest piece of stone is a 65-inch square. It definitely weighs over 800 pounds. The others are smaller. Our smallest shape is 8 by 11 inches. We used a total of eight basic shapes and the contractor has had to cut some pieces to make it all work.