Archives for 2010

Hooked up the RV and headed to Laredo. Spring is definitely springing here, as wildflowers along the highway and blossoms on the trees are starting to come out, especially as we head south. Arrived early, so we had a leisurely lunch at the truck stop, then arrived at the performing arts center around 3:00 as scheduled. Loaded out, set up, did the bulk of the lighting and sound with the nice tech folks here, finished up by 7:00. A movie and bed is all we have the energy for!

Hubby feeling way under the weather, we’re both still exhausted from the busy schedule we’ve had during the last week. He stayed in bed, I worked a bit, till he felt good enough to sit in his recliner. Read a while, then watched a couple of movies. Hope he gets better fast, we have so much to do in the next few days!

Loaded in at Ballet Austin and spent most of the day rehearsing. Understandably choppy, as we had added several chunks of material from the long version of the play, but not bad overall. Would like to do it again tomorrow, but Hubby’s not feeling well, seems he might have a bout of food poisoning. Put him on Pepto, hope that does the trick.

Left early to get to National Airport, as they had a shooting at the Metro station outside the Pentagon last night, which is only a few stops away from the airport, wasn’t sure if they were diverting passengers or not. Their solution was simply to not stop at the Pentagon station, which meant we ended up getting there a few minutes early. Had a longer layover at DFW, planned it that way so we could have a nice meal there and I wouldn’t have to cook when we got back in, which was going to be late. Ate at the Irish Pub, a big, meat-laden All Day breakfast, so that I could experience black pudding, which was Hubby’s father’s favorite. Looked just like a typical sausage patty, but not as spicy or salty. Add that to bangers (link sausage) and rashers (Irish bacon) and eggs, it was quite a meal. Surprised an Irish breakfast didn’t have potatoes! Guess they had enough throughout the rest of the day! Once we arrived in Austin, we drove out to my brother’s to pick up the dogs, he wasn’t there but his girlfriend was, so we chatted with her for a bit, then had to leave because we wanted to get back to check on the horses before it got dark. Wishful thinking, the traffic in Austin is some of the worst we’ve ever encountered, and it doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s day or night. Terrible! Anyway, everyone was safe and sound, and we were absolutely exhausted, so we were in bed early. Hope we recover in time to make the most out of our rehearsal space, which ended up being a studio at Ballet Austin. Not the least expensive option, but we had run out of time to solve the problem, and it was the best we could do on short notice.

Spent the morning still trying to confirm a space to rehearse, then met with our client in the afternoon. Mission accomplished!

Client’s schedule changed (no big surprise, that happens regularly), won’t be meeting with him today, will have to do it all tomorrow. Spent half the day on the internet and the phone trying to find a place to rehearse Hubby’s show over the weekend, (our previous arrangements fell through), and the other half trying (with limited success) to rehearse in the hotel room. Have several leads to follow up on tomorrow to secure a space. Rrrrgh! Didn’t need THAT unexpected hassle! Oh, well, c’est la vie! Just another challenge to be met!

Having left our animals in good hands, we flew off to DC today to work with a client over the next two days. Flying is very tiring, especially when you have to change planes, though I love DFW as a stopover. So much to do there, when we have the time. Arrived at our favorite DC hotel, then went out to the nearby Mexican restaurant for dinner (our favorite Thai hadn’t opened for dinner yet, and we just wanted to crash as early as possible.)

A rainy day, but we got the horses settled in and the dogs out to my brother’s house. Our new front yard actually looks over the neighbors house, but here’s a pic of the other side, which is Onion Creek Ranch. Lin pointed out that she thought our horses looked a bit thin, and when we looked more closely, we had to agree. When we left, they were more fit than they had been last year, but they were still a bit overweight, so when we saw them trimming down, we were glad about it, but it seems we went a bit too far. They still look big compared to so many other horses we see on the trail, so it’s not surprising it took an expert like Lin to recognize it immediately. So we took a trip to the feed store to get several remedies, doubled their rations, and, since we won’t be riding for a while, expect they’ll fatten up again quickly. Eating has never been a problem for either of these two!

Set the alarm for 7:30, on the road by 9:30. Two quick stops, one at Tractor Supply and the other at Wal-mart, arrived at our new, temporary home at Onion Creek Ranch just south of Austin, very near the airport we’ll be flying out of Tuesday. A very compact ranch, every inch utilized for something “horsey”, run by Lin Sutherland, a horsewoman and, coincidentally, a writer. We got the horses and the RV settled in, then went out for a nice Thai dinner. Early to bed!

Set out to follow the Orange Trail today, expecting to ride out for two hours then ride back. After about the first hour, though, we came across a section where it was like a swamp for more than a quarter mile, knee deep with no way around. Hubby tried to get around one section and ended up up to his knees in mud as his mare sank into the mire. He managed to get her back on the trail, and we almost turned around at that point, but finally we broke through to higher ground, and had quite a few miles that were dry or almost dry. We decided we didn’t want to go back that way, so we were committed to doing the entire Orange Trail, a loop that was more than 18 miles long. At least it was mostly flat, which made it a lot easier than Kisatchie’s 20 miles last Saturday, so the horses (and we) didn’t get nearly as tired. I’m certain that with a few weeks of dry weather, this would be a truly magnificent trail ride. Arrived back about 5:30, washed off the mud, gave the horses a good portion of oats and hay, then finally crashed for the evening. A fantastic day!