Where'd the sun go?

I HATE this time change. Hate it. I have exactly 20 minutes of semi-daylight left by the time I get home from work in the evening. This means no riding, no playing with my ponies. Hate it. I can go pet my ponies or give them mini-massages while they eat, and if I hurry home really fast, I can actually see what color they are! Once again, another season of riding on weekends only. Gah. The weather is perfect, comfortable with a bit of a nip in the air and the smell of fall in my nose, and I can't ride because it's too dark. I've thought about one of those mining hats with the light on the front, but that doesn't solve the problem of the horse not being able to really see where he/she is going.

I may, however, have found a solution. Robert and I have talked about putting some lights in around my arena so I can ride when it's dark. But we'd have to run electric and put up poles, and well, between trenching for an underground electric line and hiring an electrician to come in and hook it up to the box at the house, it's a couple thousand, and honestly, lights aren't THAT important at this point.

These are my possible solution. Not terribly expensive and no electric required! The no electric thing also fits into our attempt to live more "green" and work our way towards self-sustainment out here in the boonies.