A Bright Sunshiny Day

         

          Jade's home and the weather was absolutely delightful (for a change).   My excitement was mounting as the day wore on.  I hadn’t woken up freezing and I had energy, energy to spare I believe.  My first two classes went well and I was feeling great!  The great debate was, do I walk home for lunch or do I drive home.  I debated until I didn’t have time to walk.  Once home I put the little dogs out… all except Joy.  She wouldn’t go.  I took that opportunity to love on her while my lunch was cooking and then I found her pinch collar and decided to take her to back to the ranch with me.

         Joy was a delight while she was there, endearing everyone that pet her.  The afternoon classes went well and the weather was still great.  It was finally going to happen; I was finally going to get to go see Jade again.  It had been two been two days since I had gotten to see her.  I still hadn’t had an opportunity to groom or ride her since I got her back.  As I was grooming her, I felt like I was trying to talk myself out of riding.  There were so many good reasons not to ride, especially when the new bridle I had gotten for her was too big and I didn’t have a hole punch to make it fit.

         I knew I had to ride; something was dragging me to it.  The day just wouldn’t be right if I didn’t ride so I did a hopeful knot on the buckle to make it fit.  When I got on, we couldn’t walk a straight line. It was sad.  We got a few big circles in at the walk, I wasn’t planning on doing anything else, but I couldn’t call it quits.  We had to trot.  Straight lines weren’t happening there either.  Circles again, big circles, and some little ones too since big circles at times were a lot like trying to do straight lines. 

         Then she did it, her characteristic moves.  First she tried to goad me into using my leg to push her over, Jade’s signature move to when she wants to canter.  That didn’t work the way she wanted, so she threw her shoulder forward to go into a canter.  After a few more of these moves, I couldn’t deny my princess.  We cantered.  She did her best to make sure she had her leads and at one point she even threw in a flying change so she wouldn’t have to break into a trot.  She was so happy and I was in heaven, almost.  My core is weak, so I wasn’t riding nearly as well as I should have been, but that aside, I was in heaven.  So was my girl.

          I cut it short, Jade hasn’t been ridden in forever and she hasn’t been on the right feed.  I didn’t want to risk an episode of tying up.  She was disappointed; it was hard for me not to be disappointed as well, but it was okay.  We’ll get to go out again.  She’s right here nearby.  Jade may not be in my back yard anymore, but she is close enough, close enough that I’ll be able to ride her again as long as we keep having these bright sunshiny days.

Look What We Built!!

            The girls and I went dress shopping for upcoming events for each of us.  We had some great girl time fun, and it was a real treat to be able to go out and do something fun with both Georgia and Barbara Ann.  After we parted ways though, Barbara and I had a few more things to accomplish.  First things first, we swung by Starbucks for our guilty pleasures and then proceeded to get Tinker Bell washed.  She’s a great truck and her white color helps to hide some of the dirt, but it was getting to be past due.  After the car wash and free vacuum that comes with it, we hit Tractor Supply Company.  As we looked at the dog houses I saw the wheel barrows and remembered how desperately we needed one.  How many projects was I ready to start and had to cancel because I didn’t have a wheel barrow.  Too many and it’s about time to rectify that problem. 

            Once inside, I saw the garden wagons and remembered that I had decided one of those may be a better option for  us.  To confirm this, I had BA take a look and see what she thought.  Of course I was dead on in that decision and I had BA hold the shopping cart in place while I muscled the big box onto it.  Just as I got it on the cart the way I wanted it, the helpful TSC employee made it over.  In his defense, as soon as he realized what we were doing he got there as quick as he could saying he could have helped with that.  I graciously accepted his offer to load it up into the truck after purchase and then asked him to point us in the right direction for dog houses. Immediately he offered to bring it up to the front of the store while we continued our shopping and even brought our wagon in a box as well.

            I thought it very kind that he was so anxious to help this “lady” out so she wouldn’t have to do all that heavy lifting.

            Yep, as so many things do, it came in kit form.  I thought there was going to be plenty light to complete it by when I started, but there wasn’t.  Being me of course meant that it had to be completed tonight so we didn’t lose any pieces.  I gotta say, Barbara Ann is a trooper.  After she got a flashlight for me to work by my little country Princess stuck with me until the end and we got it done.  She even kept a good attitude when I made some silly mistakes and had to undo and then redo something.  I will admit, toward the end she was getting a little antsy, but she stuck it out. 

            So, here it is.  Check out what we built tonight.

            

            It never occurred to me that all these things we do are not typical Mother Daughter stuff until Georgia’s comment about our “Father Son time” on New Year’s Eve.  It was driven home a little more by the concern of the nice man at TSC that was so anxious to help us.  The thing is though, I rather enjoy our independence and the fact that we girls can do just about anything.  Life is good and I really am enjoying the way life is playing out right now.

            In case you were wondering, here's our project for tomorrow night.

                                                    I hope the dogs appreciate it!

Father Son Time

            On New Year’s Eve this year, as Georgia and I were dragging some wood to the fire in the fire ring she told me “Mom, I really enjoy our Father Son Time.”  We had a good laugh as she pointed out how many things we do that fit into that Father Son Time category, and then I cranked up the chainsaw to cut up some more of the cedar trimmings so that they would fit well in the fire ring. 

            I got a good laugh out of it and posted some pictures from my super-duper cell phone to Facebook.  I had these great plans of writing a blog all about our Father Son Time that night.  Like most men, I didn’t get around to it.  Wait, I’m not a man.  Never have been, and although our everyday life may at times seem like stuff guys scramble to pull off for their Father Son Time, THAT’S NOT WHAT IT IS!!!!  IT’S OUR REGULAR STUFF.

            A full month passes as life goes on.  We’ve done some more clearing out here, Barbara Ann and I cleared out the beginnings of a trail.  The other day we brought home a build it yourself storage bench, you know, the kind Moms the world over love getting for Mother’s Day, and put it together.  It’s what we do; build things, clear things with the chain saw, cut up oak wood to smoke a brisket for a friend’s birthday at his girlfriend’s request.  Drink some wine (so not a guy thing) while smoking the brisket all through the night.  You know normal everyday stuff.

            So tonight as we’re driving home in the big four door F-250, Barbara asks me what we were supposed to remember to do together.  Of course, as children do, she was asking me a question she already knew the answer to.  Barbara Ann was excited and anxious to see my BB Gun so that we could go shoot together.  I took my BB Pistol (it’s a pistol and not a gun but I didn’t go into that with her) and she grabbed her shiny new pink air rifle that her Dad’s Santa had gotten her for Christmas and we went out to what wants to be the creek so we could shoot with the bluff for a backdrop.  Safety comes first of course.

            After shooting at a bucket in the creek, some reflections in the water, an old Coke can, and some leaves we headed back to the house discussing the best way to clear and mark a good path to the dry creek in our back yard.  Before we got into the house I fired up the grill so it could get pre-heated before I threw the steak for dinner on it and headed inside to get the rest of supper rolling.  Again, I was thinking of Georgia’s comment about how much she enjoys our Father Son time together. 

            Barbara, Georgia, and I have shared so many of these non-traditional activities, well non-traditional for our gender.  It’s a bit ironic that we do more of these “Father Son” activities on a daily basis as a matter of our lifestyle than many Father’s ever do with their Sons.  We are blessed to live in a world and in a time when it is acceptable for a woman to be independent enough to teach her daughters to be self-sufficient in much the same way men would do with their sons.  God Bless America and God Bless our way of life and our freedom to live the way we want to.