Oh my goodness, treydog! I’m glad you’re seeking treatment. I hope it’s something that can be easily resolved. Best wishes today.

Maybe this will result in a gift of time, since you’ll probably get a list of Don’t Do instead the usual. I hope your recovery is swift and complete, since I doubt that Athynae will let that baldness spell stray too far from her hand!!

Get well soon Treydog. Sounds nasty, shoulder problems are a real nusience, you never realise how much they're needed for until they stop working properly. Hope x-ray comes back with the right result and it sorts itself out.

On an entirely selfish note I'm glad you can still write . Hope it gets better quickly and doesn't bother you again.

Hope your health gets better, Treyman.

It's been a while. I've been trying to get yet another piece of paper that says I'm qualified to do some stuff on computers and, lo and behold, I have actually managed to pick up a few things. Not much, just a bit of html and things related to it that I'm sure kids in preschool nowadays know about, but what the hell, let's call it computer sciences. I have four more exams till the end of my studies though.

Work, nonexistant as always.

Family, getting by.

Love... well, there is a girl. A woman, rather, and what a woman. If there were elves in this world she'd be an elf. A druid. Wonderful and passionate human being. But of course, blessings always come mixed with curses. She's much older than me... and much away from me, in the US federal state of Georgia. She came here though, in April, saw the land and me, and stayed for three weeks. Ever since she's left I feel loss. We're planning to see each other again, hopefully for a longer time, hopefully when I finish my (1/4-important) studies, hopefully when I get enough money for a ticket... hope dies last.

That's about it.

Mil- my dear friend... Best wishes on the studies and the prospect that they will bear fruit on the employment front.

Yes- druidical, elven Southern U.S. women... I might know a thing or two about that... But that would be telling.

May you find contentment and fulfillment, always.

So, what do you do when your horse tries to bolt off with you still on him?

First off, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT THE FACT YOU ARE OUT OF CONTROL. If you do, you are going off. What you want to do is simply let your instincts take over, sit deep but forward, squeeze tight with your knees on the horse's withers while thrusting your stomach forward, and tighten the reins as quickly as you can.

We had a trainer down today to try and work some bad habits out of my horse's walk and gait, and after a while, our horse got sick of the exercises. All I can say is that the trainer was not happy with him.

This could have ended in disaster, and it is very fortunate that it did not. This is actually not the first time he tried to bolt on me, either (another time he spooked and, once again, very nearly unseated me).

I have to disagree with you. If a horse bolts, all you have to do is tuck the right rein under your right stirrup/boot and pull up quickly. The horses head will be pulled toward his right shoulder nose down - he can't go anywhere but in a circle in that position and it stops him instantly.

I'm back, my son graduated !!!!!! I'll post a pic asap !!!

And I must disagree with you there, too. Horses have amazingly strong necks, and if he fights back when you do that, he will send you over the side if the rein catches in the stirrup. NEVER put a horse into a position where they can fight back with physical strength, they WILL win.

The former technique allows you to dig intro your seat and ensure that you won't go off while not putting the horse into a position where he can fight back. If it's not as effective, fine, but that way I at least know I'm not leaving the saddle.

And not only that, you are allowing the horse to lower his head when he is misbehaving. Never, ever, ever do that. If they get their head down, they can buck you off.

Oh, and congrats to your son for his graduation!

Congrats!

Treydoggie my dear! take care now, be kind to yourself, we need you to be ok you know! And tell that daughter of mine to be patient and a good girl..or else....

regards

Serene and minque

Yay! Congrats to you both!

Oh dear!!!!! Congrats to your sons graduation dear mALXie!!!

Yay to you and your son, mALX!

Second Dr. visit- strength is back- reflexes still down a bit. X-rays of my head probably will show nothing....

Is that a "Blonde Airhead" joke? Lol. Good luck on the tests, and thanks for the congrats (everyone).

Today, I went to a small air show (well, really a few planes being shown off on the ground), but I did get to take a 10-minute hop around the block in a Robinson R44.

Nothing to write home about, but still fun to do.

GAAAAH! Half of me would love to ride in a helicopter, the other half is scared to death to do it, lol.

Helicopters are actually a lot of fun. My uncle works for an aircraft ambulance company and he arranged for my family to go for a ride. It was awesome.

I can fly in a plane easily, but get a queasy stomach thinking about a helicopter. Not sure if I'm afraid I'll fall out the door by accident, or the pilot will accidentally drive into electric wires or the side of a mountain or something, ROFL !!!

Flying in a jet plane is not the same as a helicopter, that's for sure. Even then, I'd say mALX's fears would also be spurred by flying around in a small GA aircraft, too, because those also fly at low altitude with you right next to the door (just like in your chopper).

In a jet, all the obstacles are gone in 30 seconds after takeoff and you are secure in your seat next to a solid wall.

Yes, it is like being inside a bus or something on the 747's (etc). I don't get airsick or anything, and even like sitting by the windows. I have not been in a small prop plane yet, you may be right about how it would feel to me. The one time I was supposed to ride in one we got grounded by a storm before takeoff.

Never ridden in a helo - would love to give it a whirl, though.

Flown in big jets (747's, Airbuses). Boring. Like sitting in a can of sardines. I found I have a tendency for migraines in those things.

Now a twin turboprop Beechcraft - that was a blast. Especially with turbulence and a clear view out the cockpit windows (pilot and co-pilot forgot to close the cockpit door).

The smaller the plane, the more I love it.

Treydog - glad to hear your shoulder is improving somewhat, hope tests go well.

mALX - Congrats to you and your son on his graduating.

I'd like to have a brief ride in a helo but I think the noise would get to me.

I just finished this year of uni, only one more to go. And I have a month off before I start a summer job, all I need now is summer weather...

Congrats on your sons graduation, but to finish my course, I've decided to move down to England. Yes, I did just move not long ago, but we decided it would be much better down there (Weather, job opertunities, home).

We've decided to move into Cambridge, but I doubt I'm getting in there(Yet... )!

Treydog, I hope your shoulder is better by now! Jeez...I care about you you know!

And yay...I've started writing, but it will take a few days to get an installment ready....you know lack of practise!

haute ecole rider: I don't know about that, they don't like each other that much even though they call to each other if they aren't in the same room. They won't even sleep on the same stick. I think it might have something to do with him thinking he's a human We tried giving them a bird house once but it only ended with Toddy guarding it and not letting anyone, including her, get close to it.

Good that the cat weren't hurt, or you. I must say I really prefer indoor cats. We've never had any since my dad's allergic, and even if he weren't we've got loads of birds.

All: Thank you, I'm sure she'd be very happy if she could understand

At the moment I feel as if though a huge mountain has been lifted of my shoulders. I've finished all my assessments and stuff, and the competing season is about to end! School doesn't end properly until the 9:nth June though.

Flying *shivers*. I'm freaked out at the simple thought, and we're going to Florida on Christmas day! More than a 24 hour ride and I've got no idea of how I'm supposed to get any sleep. But I suppose it'll work out, it usually does. Still, if humans were supposed to fly, wouldn't we have wings then? I can understand that someone who likes flying would want to go in a helicopter though.

Haute Ecole Rider My 11 year old is right there with you on the plane idea. She has been flying with her Uncle since she was 8 in an old military 4 seater. She has learned all she can about the plane and how to operate it. Now all her Uncle does is take off and land and she does the rest. We went to an air show a couple of weeks ago and one of the planes did a stall, Shelby was watching closely so a friend of mine asked her what the plane was doing, trying to stump her I guess. She said "It's a stall, the plane sort of chokes itself out if it get too vertical" Friend says "how do you get it started again" Daughter says "Aim for earth and pray"

Saqin-I'm right there with you, if we were meant to fly we would have wings!

Ain't it the truth!

Stalling an aircraft is a combination of speed and what is known as angle of attack. What happens is when the wing's angle of attack (the angle at which it is biting into the air) gets too high, the airflow going over the top of the wing gets rough and begins to compromise the low air pressure needed to keep the plane in the air. At a certain point (this is called the critical angle of attack) the wing is going to stop producing lift REGARDLESS of speed. There is a stall speed for every aircraft where you are simply flying too slow for the wings to keep you in the air, but when it comes to critical angle of attack, the plane will not care if you are flying at 100 Knots or 500. If you exceed the critical angle of attack, you're gone. So why does speed play a part in stalling the plane? Here's why:

The most common form of stall is a combination of the two, where the slow speed of the aircraft causes the pilot to exceed the critical angle of attack, fairly common for novice pilots trying to land their planes. The gut reaction a pilot should have to a stall situation is to IMMEDIATELY apply full downward elevator and full throttle if he hears that stall horn. Get the speed up and the angle of attack down as soon as possible, and you had better hope you weren't close to the ground when it happened, or you might have a rather rough landing.

Small aircraft will noticeably buffet as you get close to a stall due to the rough airflow over the wings. Large jetliners, however, generally don't and so they are equipped with a stick shaker to warn the pilots when they are about to stall, and many planes are now shipping with anti-stall logic that prevents the pilots from stalling the plane (Airbus, for instance).

It seems that Chris Hemsworth may have had a positive influence in the beard style of certain blond men. I’m pretty sure Thor just came and fixed my alarm system. Cancel my plans for any critical thinking until, hmmm, this afternoon.

I hope he did a THORough job on your alarm system. When he was working on your alarm, did he look like this?


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2YLRZJ-4jLU/TZVb..._thor_87702.jpg


Or like this?


http://livingnotsurviving.com/wp-content/u...or_workout3.jpg


*

He looked both of the above, and several other ways. But I’m sure I just imagined all of them.

By the way, now I know it’s just the immune system talking, but he smelled GREAT!

Oooh, testosterone and sweat, huh? (also known as Ralph Lauren's Polo, Drakkar, or the original English Leather?) ROFL !!!

Looks like SOMEONE got hit upside the head with the hammer today. We need a hammer specialist to make the official diagnosis, though so...

*yells offscreen* Hey! Cap'n Hammer! Your expertise is needed!

WHAT?!?! I Was Busy!! I'm in South Florida right now and for some reason (I'm told it pertains to some odd organization called the 'N.B.A.') the bars were full of people, a lot of whom were talking about 'King James' and his resurgence.

Which I find odd, considering that after the 'Glorious Revolution,' the Brits went through a lot of trouble to prevent a Jacobite from re-claiming the land, and I don't think the Windsor line has been deposed recently.

Oh, wait, what was needed?

Here, Grits, stare into the light and follow it with your eyes...

She's fine. The over-exposure was mostly metaphorical, though I do suggest she try easing herself in to continuous exposure to high levels of Awesome Manliness and Manly Awesomeness. Too much Yang exposure to a mostly Yin-based lifestyle has been known to cause problems in the past.

Though if future contact with a "Hammer-of-Manliness" becomes necessary, I do suggest some form of cushioned protection.

And now I have a great new euphemism: Hammer of Dibella. A gift, when wielded by a master, that continue to giveth to all the ladies for as long as the wielder avail himself.

Of course, now I need to make sure such fame is not used unwisely, not with two roving Nords (Jerric and Wrothken) about while a certain Breton is still days from a decent tavern. With the requisite tavern wenches. Ah, how their fine hospitality makes travel so much less taxing. If only one certain Breton didn't have a Very Important Imperial with him (made worse by the fact that said Imperial is a genuinely nice guy) that couldn't be spotted in public.

Oh well. Nothing to do about that. Things fall where they may, and all the while Alduin stirs from His slumber.

So yesterday after the god of thunder left my house, I called Mr. Grits to gloat about how I was right about certain things and to indulge in a quick Told You So. I also remarked that I was surprised to find Thor working for an alarm company. I might have mentioned that he looked just as healthy in person as he did in his movie.

“Ha ha,” he said. “He probably thought you looked like his mom.” Mr. Grits is not a flatterer. “Did he fix it with his hammer?” Then about two seconds later, “Hey, I think I have enough time to come home for lunch.”

Now if the system acts up again, I will suspect sabotage.

We did get through last night without any random alarm events, but I still drove around all morning squinting with my sunglasses on my head. Time to get out the red coffee cup.

OH NOES! People in the greater Grits vicinity begin running for shelter. "This is the Caffeine Alert System. Conditions in your area indicate that a Red Coffee Cup event is probable. Do not attempt to reason with the individual. Keep small children in a safe location. Remove all sharp objects from view. Hiding under the bed is NOT an overreaction. This is not a test. You are on your own. Good luck and godspeed."

LOL. A friend of the family we know is a big-time coffee addict. If there was a CA (Coffee-holics Anonymous) group, she would certainly qualify.

As for me, I drink my coffee out of a big black and red mug with a kitty on it that says: "Catfeinnated" and "Decatf" on the sides...lol. I'll never use a small, cat-less cup again... :meow:

I just want to say, I love this forum and the people on it! You are all so kind and polite, and you are forgiving of people's mistakes. I was reminded today why it is that I stopped going to the Skyrim section of the BGSF... Anyway, thank you all for being so gracious!

I'm right there with you. I can't stand the people that post in there (well not all...). The community here is so much better.

On the subject of coffee mugs... I have a huge one that says "Bah Humbug!" on the side. I am genuinely unhappy if it isn't available when I want coffee.

lol. Who would have thought that Scrooge's grouchy words would be the words to make someone feel happy every morning!

I hate mornings, so I do understand how it's nice to have a special mug to drink your coffee out of every morning--it makes getting out of bed so much easier to have coffee and a special mug.

Anyone else have a favorite mug?

I have two cups!

My first one is one I picked up at a yard sale when I first lived independently. Its white and orange with a black cat face on both sides. In the side it says "The Black Cat."

My other one is a gift from my grandma. Its got Marilyn Monroe on both sides.

I love my red coffee mug, even though I reserve it for extreme occasions. The glaze is perfectly smooth, and that is soothing. The grip fits my hand exactly, facilitating caffeine ingestion. And the bright red warns my loved ones to tread lightly at the same time it tells me, “Pull it together, woman!” Treydog’s Caffeine Alert System Red Coffee Cup Warning is not an exaggeration!!

My favorite mug for tea is quite a piece of kitsch. It has a photo of the Hope Diamond on it. We got it on a family trip to Washington DC that was so fun, even seeing that mug every day has not diminished the memory. Also I teased Mr. Grits relentlessly when he was buying it, thinking he intended to take it to work. So of course he had to give it to me as a “gift”!

Got back from my riding lesson a few minutes ago. My horse was a lot better behaved this time around, and he did an excellent job.

Good times.

My favorite coffee cup is something along the lines of a giant thermos with a straw sticking up out of it.

And here I thought you just drank it out of a lake!

And it was all gone in two days.

Mine has "Si vis pacem" on one side, and "para bellum" on the other.

mALX your "mug" sounds cozy. I like drinking things that can stain my teeth out of a straw, but coffee is one I don't--only because my mug doesn't come with a straw attached to it! If it did, or if I had straws that I was certain were able to tolerate that much heat, I would glady sip my coffee through a straw.



Ooh, classy! Latin FTW!

And while we're on the topic of coffee, my husband made these really awesome coffee shakes last night, with ice cream in them. Omg, it was mocha heaven!

It is like the MOAB, except the last letter, make it the MOACC's, lol. It is obscenely huge.

Right now, my coffee usually comes in the form of a recycled paper cup with a Siren logo on it.

Shame....

In keeping with my image (cough, cough)- I am an effete tea-sipper. Well- tea-guzzler more precisely. And in the fine Southern tradition, it must be sugared and lemoned and COLD. A sprig of mint does not go amiss either, when I can find the time to add one.

On a different subject, I have just returned from my "birthday" celebration at a local eating establishment. My wonderful step-daughter and her husband got me- FOUR new banana-paper notebooks. That is perfect, as I just hit the halfway point in the last of the original notebooks I had purchased. Because I am such a dinosaur and still prefer to literally write (well- print) my stories on paper, these are an excellent gift.

But the really BIG item is Volume 1 of the Autobiography of Mark Twain (yes, the one he stipulated not to be published until 100 years after his death). Woo-Hoo!