By Patty Wilber
We got back from Sweden, but I guess we were not done vacationing, so we were home for four days, in which I rode…including 9 miles starting on Road Noise, a trail head about 3 miles from my house with Mary Ann, and I started back to teaching at the college.
Mary Ann on Rosebud. We covered 9 ish miles and did a lot of trotting and loping. Our horses got a bit tired! The view is of the Sandia Mountains, and on the left shoulder is where the trail we rode on Mother’s Day is located. All of this right in my backyard!
For the weekend, we went to Conchas Lake with our friends the Kingsbury’s and fished (not well), skied, jet skied, and inner-tubed.
I had never jet skied. The first time on the jet ski, I was behind Amber and it seemed like we went SO FAST. It’s like when I used to ride western pleasure and then switched to working cow horse. Loping a slow circle for the dry work pattern in cow horse seemed so fast. Ha! Amber was patient with my weeny-ness as we followed the boat and other jet ski to the spot we had picked out for the afternoon.
My next try was me driving and Amber on the back. I think I got up to 20 mph. A cow horse going down the fence after a cow might go 30 mph. I don’t know if I have run that fast, but when chasing the cow, speed isn’t something that scares me because I am focused on catching that cow. Run downs to a slide on the other hand…
Then I graduated to solo on the jet ski. After some practice I got a lot more comfortable and by the second day, I could go 30+, jump little waves and make cuts sharp enough to splash people. SO much fun and it did remind me of horseback riding, somewhat, as you have to move with the ski and with the motion of the water, like you move with the horse. The Kingsbury’s jet skis were super stable, so I was not in danger of flipping or falling off.
The shaka (hang 10) sign is for my family in Hawaii!
I am never going to be rescuing surfers from 100 foot waves, though. That does not even look fun. It just looks terrifying!
We also tubed. I am selfishly using all images with me in them. Hey usually, I am taking the pics so I am not in them. Tubing was ok. I was really didn’t want to fall out at speed and it was sort of bumpy (even though Richard did not go gonzo and try to fling us out). I hung on really tight!
Me, Maddie and Abby.
And lastly, I water skied! I have not skied in at least 25 and maybe 30 years. My knees are a little questionable, but I wasn’t planning anything wild, so I tried it! I had no idea you could ski behind a jet ski, and I got up on my second try. I was proud! Jim took a video of me! (I did not take a video of him. Bad spouse card.)
So, there I was skiing along, a little petrified, but staying up. But holy water ski, Batman, I ran out of gas fairly fast (stupid cancer treatment side effect) and I eventually had to let go. Thank-goodness life vests are required because I would have literally drowned without one. I would have a. sunk because I was too tired to tread water and b. inhaled the lake while I was gasping for breath! Me getting out of the lake onto the jet ski to ride back to the boat was not graceful. But whatever! I skied!
Jim and Richard also skied and they could go a lot farther than I could, especially Richard. I did not remember skiing be that taxing, but I definitely will be up to try it again!
We have been trying to add some new adventures to what we normally do, and these last two weeks sure were a success!
Oh, I am doing a year long project on artificial intelligence, and I asked Bing Chat (which uses chapGPT 4) to compare jet skiing to horseback riding. The result was very bland, and nothing like the scintillating drama I retold above, so I don’t think AI is going to be writing the blog for me any time soon, but I might keep trying!
Cancer Treatment Chronicles. So far the immunotherapy shot has not created any noticeable side effects, one week in. I got an echocardiogram Thursday to make sure the drug regime has not damaged my heart. I don’t know the actual results, but I do know that I did not need any immediate interventions, and I got to go home, so that was reassuring, to some degree. My next immunotherapy shot will be Sept. 21
Happy Friday!
