It snowed/rained again today, on and off most of the day. We are now ignoring some of what needs to be done because why bother? The snow on the driveway will melt, so why plow? The mud in the horse pen, it will disappear, so why clear it off? The slush on the steps, it will dissipate, so why shovel it off? And why even ask why? We were so vigilant about taking care of this all winter, but not so much now. I think that we are tired of dealing, and also, other things are taking precedence. I’m keeping up with cleaning the horse pen. I have fallen behind on cleaning the goat pen.

In the meantime, Pete is making working on his chainsaw book a priority. I am enjoying hearing his summations of the accident reports. I think like a writer, about the applicability of work to a given audience, and I know for sure that he has a publishable book that is going to do well with a select audience. I won’t be surprised with how well it sells, but I suspect that he will. I am also making progress on my Gift of a Good Ride proposal – it may never be published, but I take heart in the fact that I am now able to envision what a full book-length work might entail. For this lifetime, this may end up being enough. I just wish that I didn’t have to start over in the next lifetime.

Today I went to strength training and it went well. I did 2.5 chin-ups. I even surprised Ben, my coach. I knew, as I was getting ready to pull my chin up and over the bar that I was going to be able to do this. I don’t think that my being able to do this was all strength related. Rather, I think that it was an instance of competency and capacity. I had created enough neural pathways so that the brain knew this was possible, and so when the time came, it told the muscles “Okay, today we are going for it.” I tried to replicate my grand success a second time but wasn’t able to. This is because the brain said “you think you’re tired, so you can’t do this.”

Back on the home front, I was not able to get Fireball XL5 up the driveway because it was too slippery. I slipped around some and decided no, I don’t want to deal with this. I suppose that I could have backed down onto the road and made another go of it, but I just didn’t have it in me. In part, winter and in part strength training took it out of me.

This evening Pete and I did a few first aid scenarios and then worked on putting the information we will need to do our Saturday assessments, in our notebook. I am now almost convinced that I will do just fine. I just need to do take my time when doing my practical exam. After that, then I will put most of my energies into trip planning.

Next: 111. 4/23/19: Surround Sound: An Update