I'm about to start to bake some cookies for an exchange for work, and in the meantime this machine will be flattened.

Spent a bit with the boys yesterday. No riding, but it took ages to get the mud off of Peanut. I hadn't seen him since the 9th, so I didn't know how he'd react. As I was walking to the field, but still a bit away, I quietly said Hi to Gene who was hanging out near the fence. Way in the back, Peanut's head perked up and he looked at me. I waved, and he started power walking up towards the gate. I was still probably 10 yards outside of the pasture at that point.

This is how it usually goes: I enter the field, loudly call Peanut's name, he perks his head up, I give a few big waves with my arm extended in the air and say "hey babe!", then he slowly, slowly walks up to me, taking a break to poo or grab a little grass.

So, instead I got a power walk just from the first quiet greeting to Gene. Awww. Since he was across the field, I still had some good time with Gene, who got quite a few carrots. He was doing his happy dance (picking up a front leg and holding it up), which invariably was so cute as to get another carrot out of me. So, he'd pick up a leg, I'd coo at him and give him a carrot, he'd chew, put the leg down, pick up the other leg, get cooed at and another carrot, and repeat until Peanut arrived and drove him away. If Gene was my horse I think I'd get nothing done since his happy dance is so damn awesome.

All I did was groom and graze my muddy little beast, and noted that his annual dreadlocks of muddy ice have formed on his fetlocks. Winter is here. It was 32 degrees, but not windy, so it wasn't too bad out there.

The barn is by the road, and power lines run along the road on our side. Something was sending vibrations up and down one of the lines, and as they would come by and start shaking near us Peanut would just stand, terrified. I hugged him as a distraction (works sometimes), and could feel his heart hammering through the front of his chest. I put my hand against him, and the beats were powerful. I don't remember feeling that before, and didn't realize that it was possible.

From there, we went to the Legacy Christmas Party, and omg DRAMA. Not at the party, but drama over what's happening at the place that used to be my second home. It was interesting, but the bright side is that the settlement on the new place is Tuesday, and on Sat we'll be helping them with clearing out brush and fixing fencing before the horses move on Sunday.

Tonight is the Stonehill Christmas Party, moved from yesterday so as not to conflict with Legacy. So, need to bake cookies, see the boys, and then play some drunken pool at Joan's after they ply me with their awesome martinis.

Farewell computer.