Archives for April 2011

Saturday, April 16, 2011 – Travel Day to Washington, DC

Set the alarm to give us plenty of time to get ready for our journey to DC today. Flight left at a bit after 2:00, so it was a pretty relaxed day until we reached the airport, then all hell broke loose. At the security line, Hubby and I always have to split up, because he has to go get a patdown because his defibrillater implant can’t go through the metal detector, and neither of us want to go through the body scanner, mostly because we don’t believe them when they tell us it doesn’t emit radiation. I’ve never had to go through the “enhanced” patdown, and frankly I believe it’s a violation of my 4th Amendment rights, inasmuch as they should have to have at least SOME cause to believe I’m concealing something before they should be allowed to do that kind of search, not when there are other options (like the metal detector) to make that determination. Anyway, off Hubby went, leaving me with all of the carryon to deal with, when I was arbitrarily told to go through the body scanner rather than the metal detector, which meant leaving all the luggage behind. First I couldn’t understand what they were asking me, so I stayed in the line I was in. When they finally made it clear to me that they wanted me to go through the scanner, I asked if I could stay with my luggage, as my husband had already been taken away to get his patdown. Well, you would have thought I had asked them to stop the world to let me get off. Next thing I knew, I was literally being ORDERED into the body scanner. Again, I protested, saying that I didn’t want to go through the scanner because of the radiation (true or not, I still felt I should have the choice). They told me no, that I had to go through. I continued to protest, so they took me over to where my luggage was, made me point out which bags were mine (by now Hubby and gotten back and he mistakenly tried to tell them our stuff was mixed in together, which now made everything we had subject to the search they were about to do). So they took all four bags to a table at the end of the line, and two people then VERY SLOWLY started to search every nook and cranny of every piece of luggage we had, taking everything out, opening everything that could be opened, sniffing everything, even using some kind of wipe to look for bomb residue or something. Now, bear in mind, nothing was spotted when the bags went through the scanner, and nothing was done to warrant the search except my rejection of going through the body scanner. They continued to insist that I had to go through the body scanner or get patted down. Meanwhile, they decided it was necessary to call law enforcement. Within minutes, there were SIX sheriff’s deputies standing nearby. Now, bear in mind, this whole time I keep asking to be allowed to go through the metal detector. That’s all I wanted to do. But no, because I wasn’t doing exactly what they wanted me to do, the TSA had decided to punish me in every way available to them. If I refused to go through the body scanner, then I would be escorted to the gate by the deputies, and they would make sure I DIDN’T get on the plane. Despite the fact they were doing their absolute best to make me late, thereby missing my plane, we had arrived in plenty of time, so at least that wasn’t an issue. By now, though, they made it clear they had no intention of letting me go through the metal detector, period, and that if I wanted to fly, I would have to do either the body scanner or the patdown. I had no choice. I went into the body scanner. Before going in, however, the woman said I may STILL have to undergo a patdown afterward if they saw fit. Well, naturally, the scanner showed nothing, but naturally, they insisted I get a patdown anyway, which consisted of a complete stranger groping me in areas no one but my husband is allowed to touch. It was outrageous and totally uncalled for, but by this time, it was all about control, and absolutely NOTHING about security. It was clear they were doing it all to teach me a lesson, to make me a good little comrade, to make sure next time I simply obeyed, and I was not allowed to be a conscientious objector to their outrageous methods. I’m a tough person, but I found this whole incident sickening. My stomach was churning, my temper was seething, and I was forced to practically laugh and shake my head at the situation, because otherwise I would have slugged someone, and then I never would have made my plane. I wondered if I had had a yellow star pinned to my coat as I let the authorities drag me away in anyone would have said anything. It truly felt just like that, though, as if I was being persecuted for absolutely no reason except that they could. They were toying with me, and enjoying my suffering. I used to be nice to TSA people, thinking they were only doing their jobs, but no more, at least not at PBI. They were animals, with no sense of decency, and they should be brought to task, but unfortunately, the laws on the books give them the right to do ANYTHING in the name of “air safety.” Their stance is that flying is a privelege not a right, so if you want to avoid the hassles at security, simply don’t fly. By the time I got on the plane I was sick to my stomach. Unfortunately, that only became worse as we started to come into DC for a landing. There was a line of thunderstorms in the area, and the last 30 minutes of the flight was incredibly turulent, sloshing my already upset stomach even more. I almost didn’t make it to the landing, holding a barf bag in my hand just in case. It was almost more than I could bear. Finally, we landed (and I have to say, it was incredibly smooth, even if the weather had been fine, but with the wind it was remarkablly well done), but stayed on the plane until it was almost empty, just trying to gather our wits. Finally we left, and picked up our box of books that we had checked (it was cheaper to pay the $25 baggage fee than to ship it UPS), and caught the shuttle to the National Sheraton. I had to ask the driver to take it easy, as my stomach was still a long way from being settled, and he did okay, but I was still churning by the time we arrived at the hotel. I turned out to be quite a nice place, only a few minutes from the airport but not in the midst of Crystal City, which made it quieter. Being on the 12th floor helped too. We settled down for the evening, ordering Chinese delivery for dinner, and crashed later, exhausted but still irritated over the events of the day.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 – Hanging Around Day

Worked and hung around, horses hung around too!

Saturday, April 9, 2011 – Car Show Day

Brother told us about a big car auction and show today down at the fairgrounds, so Hubby and I decided to check it out after we went computer shopping.  It’s a huge event, only held a few times a year in various parts of the country, with the auction being broadcast live on Speed network all day.  Some incredible cars of all kinds, many of them just like the cars we grew up with, from early 60’s Cadillacs to all the GTO’s and other muscle cars.  Of course, the Batmobile is a standard at this show, called the Barrett-Jackson car show, as well as all the usual classics.  Enjoyed the day, temps were a bit warm, but the tents provided enough shade to make it comfortable.  Brother met up with us later in the day and we toodled around together for a while before heading back to the ranch.  We sure have been seeing our share of sights since we’ve been here!  Makes for a nice change, particularly since we’re still able to ride a lot in between all those events.  The only trouble here is that I don’t have a very good broadband signal, so pix are being loaded up later.  A small price to pay for all the perks we’re enjoying, though!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011 – Ride Day

Trailered the horses out to DuPuis and took a nice long ride with Hubby today. It was going really well, the horses were having a great time, the weather was perfect, until we started a nice long canter on a really sweet spot of straightaway, with nice grass footing. Hubby and his mare Clio got a little ahead of me, and, right on cue, saw something off to her right that caused her to veer suddenly to the left. Unfortunately, Hubby was out of the saddle at the time, so one second he was enjoying a nice canter and the next there was no horse between him and the ground. He took a tumble, which fortunately was on pretty soft ground, so after a few minutes of getting his breath back, I packed a cold pack from the first aid kit on his hip where he fell, and soon we were off again, albeit at a somewhat slower pace (darn!). The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, and the icepack helped Hubby make it through okay, and we did manage to get a few more jogs in. We were on the trail almost four hours, and it was a lovely day. We had inadvertently taken the same trail that I had taken with my brother on Sunday (I had planned to do the same trail in reverse, but got started off wrong somehow), but it was new to Hubby, so that made it worthwhile. A fabulous day, just the kind we live for!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011 – Shopping Day

Took a run out to town today to do some shopping. Otherwise a quiet day.

Monday, April 4, 2011 – Rest Day

So tired from my long ride yesterday, I tried to relax most of the day today, just doing a few chores and working on the computer, until we quit about 4:00 and settled down for the night.

Sunday, April 3, 2011 – Ride Day with Brother at Dupuis

Having already let his friends know he would be leaving early today, Brother and I left with the horses around 12:30, finally taking him out to Dupuis, a place that despite the fact that he lives less than 30 minutes away, he has never been. We saddled up and headed out, me with my saddlebag packed with my usual; first aid kit, thermal blanket, matches, Swiss army knife, extra Gatorade, etc. Brother, of course, packed his saddle bag with his usual; beer. What can I say, it’s just the way he is. Anyway, we headed out on the yellow trail, most of which I hadn’t done yet, and it was a lot more wide open than previous trails had been. After an hour, Brother needed a break, so we stopped for awhile. Then we headed out again, for about another half hour, till he needed to stop again. While we were resting, we saw TWO bald eagles, one perching in a tree so quietly he looked like part of the tree, and another that came swooping in, landing near the one perching for a few minutes, making some sort of overtures of some kind (not sure if it was mating play or something), before taking off and circling away. It was truly a beautiful thing to watch. We then carried on, and finally got one pretty decent canter in (he doesn’t like to trot because he hasn’t really learned to post yet, so we’ve been plodding along at a walk the entire way), which went well. Then we took a third and final break next to a small pond where the horses were able to get a much needed drink before heading out again. By now, even my butt was getting tired from doing the same pace all day. The trail is just under 9 miles, and I had figured about 3 hours, but with all the stops and lack of trotting and cantering, it took us almost 4 � hours to complete. It was after 6:00 by the time we got back to the trailer, nearly 7:00 when we got home. It was a beautiful day, though, a bit hot in the sun but a nice breeze kept us from overheating. It was a great ride which I look forward to doing again with Hubby on another day. Crashed for the evening, watching the very compelling movie “2012” before going to bed.

Saturday, April 2, 2011 – Hang Out Day

Spent the day just hanging out today, though Brother spent the day getting his house in order, as he had guests coming to spend the night later on for a bonfire he’s planning for this evening. A pretty relaxing day overall. His friends arrived around eight, and we joined them about 9:00 for about 90 minutes before heading off to bed.

Friday, April 1, 2011 – Busy Day at Dupuis

The time has arrived for us to dump the RV, and our plan had been to go out the Dupuis and spend the weekend, but we decided that we have it so easy here at my brother’s that we would just take it out and dump, return, then take the horses out there for a ride, so that’s what we did. Once again, the ride was spectacular. Today we took the Red trail, part of which we had done before, but most of it was new. We really love this place, it truly is on our Top Ten list in terms of spending quality time with our horses. We were out for nearly four hours, with lots of trotting and cantering. At one spot, we saw a group of small deer and a wild turkey all gathered together, though they skedaddled once they saw us coming. It was a wonderful ride, and a great way to start off a new month!