Sporting Road

The Weight We Carry My father-in-law once described life to me with a simple metaphor, "Life is like a backpack." You begin the journey with an empty pack. Then, little by little, you fill it. Some things are beautiful. Some are painful. Some carry more weight than others, the added cost of a new home, a family, the full catastrophe.   There are memories, victories, disappointments, people you have loved, places you have been, mistakes you wish you could undo, and lessons you would never trade away. Over time, the backpack becomes a record of the life you have lived. The problem is that we often forget we have a choice about what stays inside.  We carry possessions we no longer need. We carry old grievances, limiting beliefs, expectations, fear, regret and, sometimes, relationships that have become more burden than blessing. We keep adding things to the pack without ever stopping to ask whether they are worth the weight. Grief is different. Some things cannot simply be removed. Grief becomes part of the journey. Its weight may change, but the experience remains with us. Some days the backpack feels almost weightless. Other days, a familiar memory can make it feel impossibly heavy. Eventually, you learn that healing isn't necessarily about putting the backpack down. It is learning how to carry it differently. The same is true of life itself. A seasoned traveler eventually learns that the freedom of a journey has less to do with what you can carry than with what you can leave behind. The less unnecessary weight you carry, the farther you can go. There is a certain wisdom in traveling light. I've come to believe the same is true of getting older.

Working Dogs: Service Dogs, ESAs, and Legal Guidelines While various working breeds like the Belgian Malinois or Doberman share foundational obedience training, their specialized roles, tasks, and legal protections differ significantly.   Service Dogs vs. Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) The fundamental difference lies in their training and legal rights. Service dogs perform specific tasks to mitigate a disability, granting them public access rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). ESAs provide comfort through their presence and are primarily protected in housing under the Fair Housing Act (FHA).   Service Dogs Training Requirement: Must perform specific tasks directly related to the handler's physical, psychiatric, sensory, or intellectual disability. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] Task Examples: Guiding individuals who are blind, performing deep pressure therapy during panic attacks, or retrieving dropped items for mobility support. Public Access: Full legal right to enter public places like restaurants, stores, and businesses under the ADA. [1, 2] Air Travel: Permitted to fly in the cabin under the Air Carrier Access Act (airlines may require documentation forms). [1, 2, 3] Training Note: Professional training is not legally mandated; individuals with disabilities have the right to self-train their service dogs. [1, 2, 3] Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) Training Requirement: No specialized task training is required. Task Examples: None. The animal helps alleviate symptoms of anxiety, depression, or mental health conditions purely through its presence. Public Access: No public access rights; restricted to general pet-friendly locations. Air Travel: No cabin access guarantees; airlines may treat ESAs as standard pets according to their own policies. Documentation Note: Requires an official letter from a licensed mental health professional confirming the medical need for the animal. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] ⚖️ ADA Compliance:

Coach Prime was just quoted upon Shilo's release from the NFL, "He’s my son, I’m proud of my kids, all of them, and I prepared my kids for any and everything that could possibly happen in life and in sports." Later he was quoted as saying, “Thank God that God prepared him for everything he’s dealing with,” he said. “I mean, I think a lesser man would have crumbled. But he’s been built for this, and who else is built for the adversity like he is? Like, going into the NFL? I don’t think it’s too many quarterbacks that have (been) built like that for the adverse situations and not having the best of things to happen around him.” That reminded me of my falconer friend, Hal Webster, who trained falcons much of his life and is one of the most published authors on the subject. He also trained falcons for flight with lures, kites, balloons, etc. The parents will catch small prey—like a dove—and begin flying past the cliff, trying to entice the young chick, which by this point is usually between 48 and 55 days old. They gradually stop feeding the chick, teasing it instead to encourage it to take flight. Once the fledglings finally launch into the air, a graceful aerial dance of food exchanges begins. As the young birds build muscle and confidence, the parents continually raise the challenge, pushing them to refine their skills. The falconers mimic this training process, now with drones, but they used to use balloons or kites to dangle the bait. He introduced me to Gene Johnson and several other amazing falconers. Gene was also quite the artist as you can see from one of

I never thought of shaving as a hobby, but apparently it is now in 2025, especially with double edge safety razors and straight edge razors.    I didn’t know this was a thing, but apparently razors are now something guys even collect and talk about like bourbon, cigars, and now your grandpa’s safety razors (together with new ones made by people who make satellites with aluminum.) The other day I was at Costco and this old guy was looking at the 24 pack of Gillette Fusion Five razors which now cost almost $100 a pack.   He said to me that it’s too expensive to shave anymore and he didn’t buy any.   That got me thinking. My grandfather used to shave with a double edge razor. And I remember watching him.   It seemed kind of a romantic at the time because I was about eight and wished that I had something to shave. And then I was on Facebook and Hensen shaving runs ads all the time.   And they promote that it’s only $.05-$.08 per blade, and you only need one a week and you’re gonna save a ton of money.   And I’m all about saving a ton of money.  So I ordered an $80 shaver.   And it’s not that good, it’s kind of like a Bic disposable.  And it also gave me a little bit of razor burn feeling afterwards, not burning, but not feeling great.  But it was lightweight. So that let me down the rabbit hole and after that I ordered a Rockwell Razors 6C, Feather Stainless Steel AS D2 at $165, and a Merkur 34C, then a Rockwell Razors 6S.   You can watch YouTube videos

Diamonds are Forever, But Their Price Aren't Diamonds lose 50-70% of their price once they leave the store.   Try pawning your "forever ring" and you will learn real fast.   Lab diamonds are worth nothing once you leave the store and DeBeers saw that coming, as they are exiting the lab diamond market completely this year.   A decade ago, slipping a synthetic diamond into an engagement ring felt like an act of quiet subversion. Early adopters were rewarded with pristine, carbon-copied brilliance, an ethical halo, and a cheeky twenty percent discount off mined stones. It felt like the future: immaculate, guilt-free, and exclusive enough to still turn heads over dinner in Aspen or Manhattan.  Fast forward to today, and that gleaming high-tech revolution looks less like rare luxury and more like consumer tech on a clearance rack. Between 2016 and now, the retail price of a classic one-carat lab-grown solitaire has plummeted from over four thousand dollars to well under five hundred. What began as an exacting craft inside boutique laboratories turned into an industrial firehose of mass production. Enormous reactor farms across India and China cracked the code on scaling chemical vapor deposition, flooding jewelry cases with an endless cascade of flawless crystals. The romantic illusion evaporated the moment supply became infinite.  Even the historic gatekeepers realized the gig was up. When De Beers launched Lightbox in 2018, the strategy was audacious: set a flat price floor and relegate lab stones to fun, beach-day baubles rather than forever heirlooms. But the market raced straight past them to the bottom. By the time De Beers pulled the plug on Lightbox jewelry last year, turning its reactors toward industrial quantum tech and laser optics, the message was unmistakable.

HORSE, TRUCK AND TRAILER STUFF TO DO BlueLyte or lite Morton's salt on game and hunt days Feed equine senior if you want to add weight also can do shredded beet pulp with molasses, soaked overnight in water or wyoming hay (alfalfa) cubes soaked in water Rub MTG on legs for rain rot in spring Spray absorbine on sore backs and legs after bathes Trim manes, whiskers and tails monthly bute polo ponies as needed SDZ 15 tabs twice daily for sinus infections Oil change on Ram the start of polo season and acid wash and rotate trailer tires every year at Discount Tire preventative spray on golf cart terminals and check water level on golf cart batteries, take home in October and then charge monthly, hand tightening connections sandclear again in June if eating hay off ground on sandy areas Quest gel in April and October Cheap Ivermectin dewormer in June and December Iodine on sore hooves, not on frog, especially smarty. Use thrush buster on hooves in wet months especially Dash and Smarty