The Most Peculiar of Seasons

I am entering the most productive part of my year. After the time changes in the fall my internal clock puts me on a schedule that allows me to get more done over the next 8 weeks that would normally be accomplished in 16 weeks.

I have not hunted in years, but when I did it was the major source of pleasure in my life. If I knew that I was going to hunt the next day I had a very difficult time sleeping and began to wake up earlier and earlier. By the first of the year I was often going to bed at 5:30 and sleeping until around midnight. This was also during a time in my life when I tried to read at least three books each week and I got a great deal of reading done each morning by 4:00 am. Then after about an hour of exercising it would be time to feed the dogs and load them up for a day in the woods.

It has been about a decade since I have loaded a gun. I have given all of my hounds away. However, I still retain this sleep schedule which works wonderfully because it allows me to work without interruption. This morning I woke up just after 1:00 am and have worked on the on line natural horseman hip classes that we teach, handled a great deal of correspondence, reviewed all of the cases that I will be prosecuting today and have begun to work on the script for our DVD on the preservation of the Corolla horses. The moon is shining brightly and the sun will rise in about half an hour. After a bit of exercise I will cleanse and medicate Edward Teach, feed up, and either do a five mile canter or sow three acres of fertilizer with the push spreader that Emily repaired Friday.

I just finished a pot of coffee and half of a pizza. I expect to finish court around four and get in a bit of a nap before our night ride, which begins at 7:00 on Monday nights. I am coming off of a very uplifting weekend in which Sarah Lin and I worked her half Corolla filly to the point that she will be ready to ride in the woods next weekend. Stands with a Fist Responded so well to Emily's training that she will be woods ready with about 16 more hours of training. Edward Teach is healing faster than my wildest hopes. Samantha, a new 7 year old rider, cantered through the woods yesterday after church on Wind in His Hair, and did so beautifully. Rebeca continued her great photographic work, taking hundreds of pictures for the video project and web site that she is working on. Samantha's mother, Shelly, joined us for her first ride in the woods, ...and my wife knocked 12 seconds off of her 5k time.