Tarma did such an exceptional job up in the mountains this weekend, plus the four hour trailer ride home, that she got the week off. I’m happy to report that when I palpitated her back and hips two and three days later, she just yawned, so no soreness! As a heavy weight rider, tack fit and body condition are something I pay close attention to, and I chose the best tack set up I can to distribute my weight well. I have a new pad that should be here next week, so I’ll be able to switch out between two pads to not wear either down too fast.

This week I’ve focused on the boys instead. My son’s been at arts day camp all week, the first summer camp of the year, and he’s been having a blast and rocking it. I did worry a bit, sending him off to total strangers after our struggles with grief and anxiety these past 16 months or so, but he’s having so much fun creating and telling stories and playing, and honestly it’s been a huge relief to work in a weirdly quiet house.

My husband, on the other hand, is working his butt off and hanging on until his much delayed trip to Iowa (in August, of all places!) to watch sprint cars race with his father and uncle. Our company and industry never had any slow down or shut down period, just the opposite, so while financial security in the face of everything else was a relief, the pace of work for us both has been stressful by turns. His work is much different and more challenging than mine, as he has to be on site in full, specialized PPE for 8 to 10 hours a day, though after 10 years he says he doesn’t notice that part much anymore. The few times I’ve gone into a clean room for audits I hated all the PPE, but he and the others manage to do an astonishing amount every day so maybe I’m just too comfortable in my home office! I also want to toot his horn a little bit, as with a bit of Youtubing, Redditing, and very few curse words, he fixed the truck! He had to replace two parts (the throttle body and something else I forget the long ass name for) but she runs perfectly again! We’re really trying to hold on getting me a bigger truck (I want a larger payload for longer trips and no weight distribution hitch for my new trailer) until prices are somewhat saner.

We manage the household and family life fairly smoothly together, but we’ve really been falling down on meal planning and our eating habits, enough so that eating vegetables on our camping trip was a bit of a challenge for Kade (total parenting fail, ooops). We’ve got something coming up next week that’s going to greatly impact our life (stay tuned!) so I took the step of signing us up for a few weeks of Hello Fresh, just so it’s so much easier to not have to ask or answer “What’s for dinner?” I know all the criticisms of an overburdened, over stretched food supply chain, but the mental relief is worth it for a bit. I’m also going to hit up the town farmers market first thing tomorrow, as I’ve recently discovered a new love for farm fresh pickles and there’s a vendor who makes the perfect ones. We’re all looking forward to a quiet, home body weekend!