Life on the High Plains

Sometimes in life you just have to clean things out and get organized. One day last week I decided it was time to go through our storage shed and get things organized.  The main reason was so I could pull out my leftover craft fair items to donate to our church for their upcoming Christmas Market (which has since been cancelled). I always like to have like items together--makes it much easier to find things when you're looking for them.  Irv's hummingbird feeders got their own tub this year. Why does he have so many feeders? Much to my surprise and delight, Irv volunteered to come out and help.  I'm a much more organized person than he is.  I say if it's been out in the shed for over a year and you haven't used it, do you really need it?   First step was to pull everything out. Then you go through every single thing and make the keep, discard, and donate piles.  Then you load it all back it arranged by what type of items they are. That entire left wall...

Many moons ago I used to coach some 4-H hippology teams in our county.  When I retired about 15 years ago I handed the reins over to my assistant coach and this year she had a team qualify for the national competition.  Her and I got together a couple months ago because she wanted to pick my brain on how to prepare a team for nationals.   She mentioned that she was taking the team to the U.S. Arabian Nationals in Tulsa at the end of October.  I was long overdue for a visit to see my brothers so I asked if Irv and I could tag along.   We spent time at the arena with the team while they "worked out" for the horse judging contest. Jonathan, Jackie, and I have been together for over 20 years.  They are like my family.  Unlike me they have continued to coach all these years. We moved between the arenas to watch the performance and halter classes. There's nothing like an Arabian horse show.  The spectators whoop and holler and show their appre...

We just finished our last road trip of the year and it was a good one.  This year we did road trips to Mesa, Santa Fe, Georgia, North Carolina, South Dakota and Oklahoma.  All in all I think we put about 7,500 miles on the car.   It had been a year and a half since I'd last seen my brothers, sister-in-law and nephew so we combined a visit to see them with the National Arabian Horse Show (more on the show in a later post). Attending the horse show was great, but spending time with family is what it's all about.  Our family has always been spread out all over the country and at times, the world so when I have an opportunity to see them it fills my heart with love and joy. My nephew, Logan, is always so polite and happy even when his old aunt and uncle interrupt his game time.  He's going to school for his paralegal certificate and it's going well. My sister-in-law, Heather, is always the fun one.  She's so outgoing and friendly and attracts people to her...