Hotspur.us

A few years ago I got it into my head that I was going to learn to play the bagpipes. Never mind that I have ZERO musical ability (I guess I didn’t get that DNA from my Mom’s side). Never mind that early piano lessons left me scared and bitter. Never mind that I seem to be tone deaf. Never mind I can’t carry a tune in a bucket. Because playing the bagpipes seemed like a WAY COOL idea. So my friend Lisa F and I signed up for lessons.

For me it was a hard uphill climb. Then one day, almost as if I had been whacked with a practice chanter, I got the music. Really got it. Wow. It was a brand new day.

Then in September of 2007 we trudged up to the Ligioneer Highland Games and my Dad generously bought me bagpipes – a set of Hardies. They are so beautiful. I love them. I also was not allowed to touch them, as I had not memorized my required five tunes. Oh the pain and suffering. They sat there, mocking me. Calling to me. It was horrible. So diligently I buckled down, memorized my five tunes and by October had received permission to give the actual pipes a go. Oh boy.

I was making pretty good progress and had two drones opened. And then:
a) Christmas / New Year’s holiday season hit, and
b) I got sick. Got sick again. And then again. (You try piping when you can hardly suck in enough air to walk to the 2nd floor of your house!)

I’m close to being back to the beginning again. I’ve been working on re-memorizing my music. How did all that knowledge leak out? And trying to build back up some lung capacity. I’m fairly certain all my neighbors will be able to recognize “Bonnie Charlie” in their sleep.

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I’ve been a bad horse-person, yes it is true. I haven’t been to see Villain for over a month.

The Love of My Life has been totally ignored by me in favor of my car. I racked my brain trying to figure out how I was ever going to explain this treachery to Vill. What excuse would justify my absence?

Then it came to me….a bag of carrots will cure all!

The bag of carrot peace offering did in fact work….and not just on Villain. The rest of the herd seemed overjoyed to see me once they got wind of the orange veggies in my hand. That of course lead to me being surrounded and nosed at, which was just fine by me. If only I could spend all sunny days surrounded by a herd of horses trying (politely) to get my attention.

Villain didn’t so much care for me paying attention to “his” herd and not him, so I had to cut the love fest short.

And so now for your viewing pleasure, pics of the handsome horse and some of his band.

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Truly Do or Die was here…… Inspection Day. This was the time to see if all the hard work and new parts were up to the challenge.

And with that hurdle managed. It was time (after the weather finally broke…who knew May was going to be so cold and grey) for a little joy ride. So I threw open the garage doors and backed her out.

Saturday dawned dreary and cool. That might be an understatement, but I was too freaked out about the Toy’s date at the state inspection station to get a clear grasp of the weather.

Oh sure I was slightly damp as I stood huddled under some trees, waiting for Chad, but I was fairly certain that Mother Nature wouldn’t be so cruel as to ruin an entire Saturday. So certain, in fact, that I’d emailed a few cachers and put out a general call for caching. Don’t think most of the gang shared my general optimism because I only had one taker besides sidekick Little Wooden Boy, and he (Aquacache) didn’t share my weather related enthusiasm either.

None-the-less, around noon the Mighty Vue shoved off for A PUZZLING SITUATION (GC15YN6) by thebuddhaman. My companions were fast to note that it was still not even near the 65 degrees and sunny that I’d been guaranteeing. Just wait, I assured them.

We rolled up to the first stage parking coords and sure enough, the sun was trying to peek through the clouds and the rain had stopped. It was not, however, dry. By the time we hit the top of the hill, both sLWB & Aquacache were wet up to their knees. Since my pants weren’t quite so long, the water just wicked DOWN into my nice and happy gortex shoes. Can we say squishy?

• Stage 1: Found handily, did the puzzle on sLWB’s arm and moved on

• Stage 2: Found handily, did the puzzle on on log or something and moved on

• Stage 3: Where the heck is stage 3? It’s in this tree says my GPSr. It’s in THIS tree, says Aquacache’s GPSr. sLWB doesn’t have a GPSr, so he investigates both site, additional sites and anything in a 30 foot radius. We come up empty. About 60 minutes later while I’m stuck in some vines, sLWB says, “did you check here?” and, sure enough….there it was. Worked puzzle and headed back to the Mighty Vue.
  

• Stage 4: Found handily. Had an issue with the puzzle. Something wasn’t quite right. Eventually the fellows figured it out – we hoped.
  

• Final Stage: Oh boy. Sorta, maybe a lot of hiding places. Maybe not. Sure were a lot of leaves. Finally I heard a sound that indicated Aquacache had struck…well….the hiding place. Signed log and pawed thru stuff while sLWB took a rest on a nearby log.

Headed back down the hill (it sure did me in) and to the vehicle for dry socks and shoes. Oh what a relief that way…nice, dry, clean socks and shoes…Oh wait, just for me and sLWB…guess Aquacache forgot to bring his.

For the record, it was 63 degrees and sunny when we got back to the car, ready to head home. All told it took us about 5 hours from first stage parking coords to the car after the final. Quite a lot of fun and a great way to spend a Saturday.

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