Summer has arrived. The temperature has hovered just below 100F for several days in a row. Summer is the only time of year that I’m
grateful my office on campus is cool enough to require my wearing socks and a
jacket. Friday evening when we got home,
we discovered that the a/c unit was not working. The fan was blowing but no cool air came out
the vents. Fortunately it was just cool
enough outside, i.e. no warmer outside than inside, that we could open the
windows and turn on all the fans in the house. I worry about the cats when the house gets over 85F but they didn’t seem
to mind at all. Cats are very adjustable
to temperature.
Horses, on the other hand, are much more able to handle cold
temperatures than the heat. I think
sometimes in SoCal that horse people are a little fanatic about blanketing in
the winter. Our low temperatures are
often in the 40’s. Clipper gets tired
more easily when it’s hot and he’s shedding like crazy, even though his coat
never got very heavy. I turned him out
in the arena this morning and made him run a little bit. On his own he’ll saunter about 1/3 of the way
across the arena, roll, then saunter to the end where he can visit the horses
who live in corrals. If he doesn’t run a
little bit, he’ll be a nut when I get on him tomorrow. He’s not fun to ride when he’s like
that. And it’s fun to make him gallop
around the arena. He runs around with
his head in the area. Watching him run
is truly a beautiful site: gleaming chestnut coat with rippling muscles, mane
and tail flowing in the breeze he creates. When I feel as though he’s ran enough, just enough to stretch his legs
and get the bucks out, I keep my arms by my side and talk to him as I
approach. He faces me, walks toward me
with his head lowered slightly and lets me pet him. When I walk away he follows me, his head at
my right shoulder. I stand at the gate
and tell him he doesn’t have to come in yet because no one else needs the arena
right now. He walks away to nibble on
the grass outside the arena.
When I bought Clipper back in January I thought for sure by
now we’d have solid plans to be moving up to Washington. I’ve been looking for a job and applying for
numerous jobs for at least a year. I
have received one phone call for my efforts. Dave is working with a placement agency but hasn’t received any
bites. He proposed telecommuting last
week but the response was no, our department doesn’t make any special arrangements. Other departments in his company do so he’ll
try to transfer within the company. Barring that his supervisor will help place
him at a law firm in Seattle. I was in hysterics because of the
heat, because after trying to make plans to move for so long we still didn’t
have any solid ones, and my job ends July 1. I cannot imagine being here in San Fernando Valley heat with nothing to do but ride my horse a few times a week. I’d go stir crazy! We have got to have solid moving plans by
July 1! At this point I can only wait
and hope my pleas have been heard.