An Adult Decision

My daughter has loved horses since a very early age and has been fortunate to have had a horse since she was in elementary school.  She’s actually had three horses, Hope, Paddy and Aiden.  The first two were technically her mother’s critters, but Shannon was always the priority rider.

When it came time for her to move up from her pony, Hope, we started shopping for a larger horse that would be able to carry her into competitions and had Paddy in the barn before Hope left.  When Paddy reached his limits at the preliminary level of equestrian eventing and age was limiting him, we went looking for a new horse again.

Aiden, an off the track thoroughbred, looked to be Shannon’s ideal horse.  He was very green, having just left his career of racing but was large, athletic, with good ground manners, and a willingness to learn.  He looked like exactly the horse Shannon could train and take forward into competitions as her horse.

My Daughter the Swordswoman

Shannon went swording this past weekend at another renaissance festival. She's performed at other ren-fests previously, but always mounted, showing off her equine skills and knowledge.  This time she went as a participant with the sword circle, a group led by teacher Alex Foster, of young people who are learning and demonstrating historical sword techniques from the late middle ages and renaissance periods.

What Is That Car?

Today is my birthday, it's something that happens every year. At this point I'm pretty used to them. This one will be way better than last year's though.  Which I spent in the hospital uncertain if I would every have another birthday.  All in all, the day has prospects of being a very good day.

Since it is my birthday, I treated myself to a (to me) yummy breakfast from McDonald's (with way to many calories).  That's a tasty treat, but better yet was a question I heard on the drive home....

Home Owner Warrenty Follies

One of the perks added to the house that we recently purchased in Leesburg was a home buyer's warranty from 2-10.  This type of warranty protection is often added by the seller to entice buyers, hopefully engendering confidence and a higher transaction price.

In our case, we asked for a warranty to be added to the deal as the price was being negotiated.  It seemed like a good idea costing us essentially nothing and offering a promise to fix major components of the house that could go belly up shortly after we moved in.