Drying out

[altivo]

It actually seems to be happening. Of course there could still be rain several different times this week, but today there was a steady dry wind blowing all day and a lot of mud and water has essentially disappeared.

Uneventful day that both was too long and didn't have enough hours, depending on what was happening at the time. At least nothing bad happened.

Some little progress on a small programming exercise. Spared cooking tonight by all the leftovers from the weekend. Won't have to do much cooking tomorrow or W-day either. Yay.

No hazelnuts in the coffee at work either because I made it. Another small triumph.

Wind gusts hard enough that small birds such as chipping sparrows were observed flying sideways this afternoon. They didn't seem too put out about it, but sure looked strange.

Chip in Tess's forehoof isn't as bad as I'd feared and appears to be stable, so the moisturizing plan continues. (Though the pasture is now drying out, so the method will be less effective.) The bright side of that is that the lush growth of new grass should taper off, so she can be out there longer each day. She likes that, and it certainly improves her disposition. In fact, she becomes downright affectionate.

Comments

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

Hazelnuts in coffee? *curious*

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I am too..It sounds nice though.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Is a chipped hoof more or less serious for a horse, than a broken nail is for a human?

[schnee.livejournal.com]

She likes that, and it certainly improves her disposition. In fact, she becomes downright affectionate.

Awww... :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Ack. *chokes* It is vile. It smells like rewarmed rodent droppings and tastes like someone mistook the coffee urn for a urinal.

Worse, it became a yuppie fad here in the US more than a decade ago and just won't go away. I find the odor so repellent that I can't stand to go into some coffee places.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It depends. How large the chip or crack is, where it is located, how deep it goes, etc. Rather the same as for a human. An ingrown nail or just a nuisance snag?

Tess is more prone to hoof problems than the boys are, so abnormalities provoke concern. This is a big chunk out, but doesn't seem to be causing difficulties for her so it is only significant in that we don't want it to get worse. If she were working on hard road surfaces it would almost certainly require some protective treatment, but I don't do that with her so it should be OK.

A serious crack can expose the quick underneath. All sorts of infections and things could result, which isn't good of course.

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* Tell us how you really feel. :P

It is vile. It smells like rewarmed rodent droppings and tastes like someone mistook the coffee urn for a urinal.

Hmmm, I should steal that and regurgitate it when someone asks me how I feel about Starbucks coffee. ;)

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

I'm with you. I don't want hazelnut flavor in my coffee. I want coffee-flavored coffee, dammit!

Well, ok, sometimes I want mocha. Never want hazelnut, though.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*snicker* I think one of the things that makes Starbuck's so bad is the fact that all their equipment is contaminated with roasted hazelnuts or hazelnut "syrup". They even use "artificial" hazelnut flavoring now. Stable sweepings smell better.

As for my colorful reaction, you should (or not) ask me about domestic mass produced beer. Also certain "popular" imports.

Oft-quoted example that I originated some years ago: "Coronas resembles nothing else so much as it does a yellowish liquid collected from the wrong end of a diabetic burro."

Flavored coffees

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I actually like vanilla. Mocha is OK but I wouldn't bother if there are other non-hazelnut options. I used to live down the street from a place that roasted and blended their own coffee. I learned then that I really, really dislike the smell of coffee while roasting (burnt toast with scorched sugar overtones to me.) However, they had some very nice flavored beans, including a vanilla-coconut blend that I really liked, a very strong orange flavored one (mostly smell, but then most "tastes" are actually smells,) and an Irish creme flavor. Others that Gary and I have enjoyed in the past include raspberry, chocolate-almond, and egg nog. An odd one encountered once and obviously a seasonal experiment was "pumpkin" (which of course was really the flavor of the spices added to pumpkin pie, rather than the bland taste of pumpkin itself.)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, it's sweet. Except she wants to kiss and lick you like a canine. And after eating a lot of grass, that involves rather striking green goo that stains everything.

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Opinionated much? ^.^

It's not the hazlenut bit that irritates me about Starbucks it is simply the fact that most all of their coffee smells and tastes burnt.

*nods* I hear ya on the imported beer thing. You think you are getting something that is popular in whatever country it supposedly comes from. What you actually get is a beer that is so far from authentic that it is laughed about in the native country. :P

[schnee.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* Ah, yes, I can see how that would be less pleasant.

And horses (some horses, at least, sometimes) do lick people the way that canines might? Interesting, I never knew!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'm not a big beer drinker. If I have one in two months it could be remarkable. But that means I know what I like as opposed to what I can do without. There are some really good imports, and, as you point out, some really bad ones. I won't pass up Dos Equis or Modelo from among the possible Mexican options. On the other hoof, I'm equally happy with some of the small Wisconsin labels, and those don't travel so far.

On the whole, though, I'll take an English cider or a Belgian lambic over just about any beer. And probably a good wine over most any of them.

Yep, Starbucks burns everything. Means they can use really poor quality coffee beans because when they get done with it, no one can tell the difference anyway. Might be used charcoal from an aquarium filter, in fact...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Equines of all species crave salt. We sweat, therefore we taste salty. :)

Is it affection? Interest? Or just licking salt the way a human child licks a lollipop? Hard to say.

Tess will lick me even when I'm fresh from the shower though, and probably taste and smell like soap. When I stand and hold her head so the farrier can trim her hooves, I usually end up slobbered and drenched all down my front as she licks me and nibbles my shirt. Just call me a pony-pacifier.

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

*smirks* Well you know me, I'm not much of a drinker at all anymore. You can read that to mean that I can't even remember the last drink I had...was months ago at least. IF I drink then it would be a Kentucky or Tennessee whiskey/bourbon on the rocks or perhaps a nice glass of wine. I lost the taste for beer years ago and to be honest wasn't that big a fan of any beer to begin with.

If you want my honest opinion on Starbucks then I believe they market an image more than good coffee. I think some see it as a status symbol or being one of the cool kids if they drink that particular brand of coffee.

I learned a bit about coffee beans from my neighbor when he brought be a bag imported from Panama. Beans should rarely (or never) be dark, they should be more the colour of milk chocolate and it should never ever smell burnt. I have to admit that the stuff he brought me was some of the best coffee I have ever had. ^.^

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

*grins* Yeah, doesn't sound like worth trying then. Hazelnuts are nice for some things, but I guess mixed with coffee it's something totally different. =)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You might like it. A huge number of people seem to.

I don't care for the nuts themselves, and I particularly dislike that spread they make out of chocolate plus the hazelnuts, marketed here as "Nutella." It's gross. But then I'm not fond of chocolate either.

I was amused to find that a colleague here, who is a much bigger coffee drinker than I am, agrees with me about hazelnuts, though.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, there is such a thing as good coffee. Oddly enough, it seems rarely to be the really overpriced trendy stuff.

Which is the better wine? A 50-year-old bottle of some rare French vintage that has been auctioned and passed from one owner to another for five decades without being opened (they claim); or a three-year-old California merlot from a reputable vineyard? I'll take the California. The French one, for all the snob appeal and status it may represent and the ridiculous price it commands, is very likely not much better than vinegar by now.

Same for coffee. We find that ordinary "8 O'clock" beans fresh from the supermarket are about as good as any. Recently discovered that the discounted beans sold at Sam's Club as "Club Favorite" or "Sam's Best" or something like that are actually very good. Not over-roasted or over-hyped, they are just good quality coffee.

You've got it right with Starbuck's. They were a status symbol back in the 80s and 90s when there weren't so many of them around. Sort of like what Coors beer once was, unattainable and therefore considered some sort of nirvana. (It's not, in fact, it's pure pisswater.) Now Starbuck's is still a status symbol but for a different reason. What could possibly make a cup (even a large cup) of coffee worth $5.76? Only a desire to show off that logo and prove to everyone else that you can dump that kind of money down the sewer without regretting it. ;p

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

I bought some generic hazelnut spread once, but couldn't really figure out where to use it. I'm enough chocolate addict that it did disappear quicky, but it wasn't worth the calories. =)

I'd say coffee is best as it is. I haven't tried that many varieties with added flavours, but none of those has made me buy'em again.

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

*grins* Pass on the Merlot or any red wine for that matter. I never was a big fan of the reds, generally speaking that is. I would rather have a nice zinfandel or better yet a riesling. All in all though I will agree that age and price do not the wine make. You can get excellent stuff far cheaper you simply have to know what is out there.

To be perfectly honest I rarely buy whole bean coffee but after learning what to look for in beans then I may start doing so once again. I certainly can't afford the Panamanian import that my neighbor gave me but I might check out the Sams stuff. Gives me an excuse to go shopping there and renew our business membersip that we have had forever. :P

*snickers* I guess I am showing my age when I tell you that I remember when it was still illegal to have Coors east of the Mississippi.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. It was never illegal, just that Coors wouldn't ship it there. And as far as I'm concerned, they should have kept it forever out west.

Now here's a wine tip for you. A proper zinfandel really IS red. Yes, I know, all you ever see any more is "white zinfandel" (which is actually pink) but the actual grapes are red skinned with a white interior. The true zinfandel is made by leaving the skins in the must while it ferments, and that produces a rich red with more body and aroma. The so-called "white zinfandel" that was the darling of the yuppies during the 90s is pale because the skins (and half the flavor) are taken out earlier in the process. I love real red zinfandel almost as much as I love Australian shiraz. Merlot, the current yuppie wine fad, is a pale third. XD

Merlot has been ruined by its own sudden popularity. Back in the 70s it was light, fruity, and buttery, best drunk young (2 to 3 years) and mostly used to mellow out the harsh tannins in cabernet. Then it became popular and people wanted to cellar it for longer, which requires more tannins, so the vintners started leaving the stems in to add tannins. The result is a merlot almost indistinguishable from cabernet. Talk about "pucker power!" Not nice to those of us who remember what merlot used to be.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Wind gusts for lil birdies are like bungee jumps.
Poor Tess, still at least she can stay out longer :)