Das Leben wartet auf dem neuen Tag*

Here is a post I wrote in November before the snows began.

*  - Life waits for the new day


Looking out my window right now, it's just white. With Christmas lights shining from under the snow. It snowed all day today. All ...day...long. This photo was taken at dawn from my living room window, and when you see that in the morning, you know something bad is coming. Welcome Winter. Welcome to our heroes, the salt trucks, that let us go about our lives despite the S word: )





This is my Thanksgiving pie. Pumpkin pie does not exist in Germany. Neither does Thanksgiving. But lately my mother in law has been hosting Thanksgiving dinner for me. I am so honored. And I force them to partake in one traditional side: stuffing, and one traditional dessert, pumpkin pie. They have really taken to the stuffing. I have a Stove Top copycat recipe, that involves chopping up two loaves of bread and baking the cubes in the oven. It's not easy, but I'm always rewarded when everyone loves it. I serve it from a crock pot (another rare item in Germany) to make sure it's hot. The pie, well, I think they humored me, because every American will admit pumpkin pie is an acquired taste (kids don't like it). This year I made half of it with a glazed roasted pecan topping, and since there is no corn syrup in Germany, I used "Canadian maple syrup" which worked perfectly. I had to laugh cuz the bottle says "Canadian" but they just mean, after the style in Canada, it's not Canadian at all.

Anyway, my pie was only tasted, three brave souls ate from it and said it was good,  (really?) but then I gave it to J to take to his school the next day (since Thanksgiving is not a holiday, the day after is also not, which makes me wonder how Black Friday has crept into the culture here, WTH).  And his very brave teacher friends ate it all gone: ) Yay! I'm on the Atkins diet so I did not eat either of the items I brought, just a taste of the pie, and it was the best I'd ever had. (Recipe here.  If you like pumpkin pie, and you like pecon pie, why not combine them. Ingenious! I had to do without brown sugar cuz that does not exist here.)

Oh, I should admit, my crust sucked. From now on, I'm gonna do a graham cracker crust (graham crackers do not exist here either but there is something similar).: )

I wasn't even hosting, but my two Thanksgiving contributions took me ALL DAY to prepare.



He prefers a particularly thick styling gel for his long Winter coat and tresses.





I brought the neck piece into the house for some reason and the cat found it. Mercer has not left the house in the last 2 weeks except for brief moments. She just sleeps all day and all night. I would worry, but it is freaking miserable outside.




Cozy++. My man and I watched season one Big Bang Theory the entire afternoon today, the three of us cozied up on this couch. Amazing, that you can watch this show again and again, and laugh out loud each time.  Just like Third Rock.



I wanted to do a white horse tail wash "tutorial" but I ended up learning more than I could have guessed, from the process of taking photos. This is a before pic. As you can see it's not too bad, cuz I wash this tail so often.





Before. Some mud, not too bad.





I'd read in someone's blog (I forget whose, a hunter jumper lady whose horse has the whitest tail on the Internet) that it's important to use HOT water. She explained that we wash our whites in hot water, so why not the tail. Right on, I think she's on to something!

In this photo I'd done my first wash with Spray & Wash, and rinse with super hot water. Careful not to get the super hot water on his dock.




This was the moment I discovered Mag has red hairs in his tail. Like, his tail is also flea-bitten! Hm!




This is after the second washing with Quicsilver, a 10 minute soak, and a super hot rinse. (I had two steaming buckets out there of boiled water.) I see no difference from the first. So I am starting to think that Spray & Wash is just as effective as Quicsilver.





I learned how long it takes to dry a tail in November. This is at the 45 minute mark and I was about done, but I wanted to get a photo of it dry for you, because only then can you do a before and after (cuz wet tails always look yellow.) It's still not dry here.





After toweling, swishing, etc, I gave up at this point. Good enough.





Turned loose, I got some pics in hiding. Of course it's not honest to show a photo like this with the sun streaming through his tail, making it even whiter, but that's where he went. And I love candid shots like this of my horse grazing without knowing I'm there.

So, to be 100% honest, I must refer you back to the "before" photo, cuz that's how it looked 24 hours later. Cuz he rolled in the mud again. This rat race* is no fun, but a white tail is a cumulative thing, so I keep on washing. I also refuse to wrap his tail, cuz he's not a show horse (I did wrap Baasha's when he was in dressage).

* - an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit.

I still don't make my bed though.

***

In other news, I started hot epson salt compresses on his back today. He was good about it, probably cuz I had just bought a 20 kilogram sack of carrots (for 4 Euros!) and I kept stuffing his face while he stood there with a steaming hot towel on his back for 20 minutes. My hands are all wrinkled up from the Magnesium Sulfate, that can't be good for the skin. But I have high hopes, I even asked my man to come out and check out his lumps because I want to know if he sees a difference I cannot, because I look at them every day.

I also am trying to get a saddler to come out to check my saddle fit, but have had no success so far: (

Wish I could go clean up poop, but I cannot find it under the snow.

Maybe tomorrow.

***