Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Slow and Steady

 Sometimes I forget how far Karma has come. When I see her all the time the little bits of progress get swept under the rug until I go back and look at her.


June 1, 2020 wee little almost 3 years old



July 3, 2021 just over 4 years old


November 6, 2021

Even in the month and half since I grabbed that picture in November she has changed. Part of that is I do think she had a bit of a growth spurt in October/November and things are balancing back out now. And the other part is getting her to use herself more correctly with the ground work. Here's to seeing more progress in the coming years.

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Goals

 I discovered the other day that I did in fact set goals for the year. I vaguely recalled making a goal of posting twice a month (something I’ve barely squeaked in) so I decided to go back and look.

I set myself very reasonable goals and did a pretty good job of meeting them despite the lack of actual effort.


For Karma I had the following goals

1) Keep walking on the hills
2) As the weather improve and crops go in, work on road safety so we can graduate to road riding and I don't go insane because I got spoiled out west
3) Baby leg yields and shoulder fore
4) Increasing neck length

She really improved her muscling from 3 year old Karma to 4 year old Karma and a lot of that had to do with all the walking we did. I’m pretty confident in her road riding skills. I feel safe walking her along busy roads. I still don’t have enough trust to ride her on them but on slower less busy roads she is good to go.



Her leg yield is pretty solid both on the ground and in the saddle. She is reluctant to move her shoulders at my whim but we are working on that. Finally, I think the neck is always going to be a work in progress. She is pretty noodle neck and uses it against me but it’s something we are working with on the ground and progress is happening.

For me, I didn’t do quite as well but I did hit 3 out of the four.

1) Actually use vacation days this year (I have 5 floating holidays, 3 weeks of vacation time, plus 5 roll over days from this year)
2) Maintain a basic level of fitness
3) Move into a permanent position
4) Blog at least 2x a month



I am only rolling over 12 hours of vacation, which considering my history of not taking vacation I’m doing quite well. This year I get another week and have lots of plans so I should be able to do I again.

The fitness is not great. Work opened the gym again but masks are required and my asthmatic lungs can’t do exercise in a mask. I’ve been using my treadmill some but I need to add in more, especially since I’m not riding.

I did move into a permanent position and it didn’t require another move which was a concern for me. I don’t particularly love where I am especially in the winter but I also really didn’t want to deal with moving yet again. Seriously as an adult I’ve never had to renew a drivers license because I keep changing states.

All my favorites and the best spontaneous purchases

Thankfully I did remember my blog 2x a month goal because I barely scraped it in a couple of months. Hopefully with fun adventures planned plus regular work I can increase my postings next year.

A couple of things happened this year that weren’t even on the radar. Like raiding my house down payment fund to buy the most delicious trailer ever. A weekend trip across the country to get the truck so I could pull said trailer. I also really like having a job that I enjoy in a company that appreciates their employees.