What a Weekend!!

Wow ... where do I start!!?? This was for sure a whirlwind weekend packed full of fun. Stacey decided to come and stay for the weekend. She's from outside of Chicago and has never been on a farm before. She left after she got off work Friday and arrived here (in the middle of nowhere - rural Hampton, Iowa) six hours later. She brought her little pug dog, Paisley, with her so when she got here at 1:30am (wee hours of the morning .... :o), it took us a little over an hour to introduce Paisley to all 11 dogs. At first she was a bit overwhelmed (like most dogs are when they meet my pack :o) .... but by around 2:30ish she was starting to fit in.

That's awfully late for me to be up and about. I usually go to bed around 9 since I get up so early in the morning. I was beat ..... and didn't have too much trouble going to sleep once I got Stacey and Paisley settled in. 5am came WAY too early the next morning .....

But by 5am I was WIDE AWAKE and ready to go. Stacey ...... not so much. :o) We had some breakfast and coffee and by 6 we were outside doing chores and getting ready to wash Huck to get ready for the big Ellsworth Extravaganza parade. I think it goes without saying that Stacey has never washed a horse before. I had her hold Huck while I washed. Yep .... she got wet. :o) After Huck was fixed up we took him inside and let him dry a little bit ....... by that time it was getting time to get dressed and ready to go so we tied him in a stall to finish drying and hurried inside.

Dani got there around 8ish ...... we got our red, white, and blue outfits on and headed out the door. We were running a little late but finally pulled out of the driveway to head south to the parade a little before 9. Parade starts at 10 ....... we're leading the whole thing. We've gotta HURRY!!!

I remember Ellsworth being a lot closer than it actually is. Of course when you're in a hurry nothing is ever close. :o) We finally got there around 9:30 .... pouring rain...... found Heidi (the girl who invited us :o) ..... and found out where to go tack up. We pulled the boys off the trailer and saddled up in the rain ...... we were soaking wet. At one point I looked up from wrapping legs and noticed there was a big group of people in the little antique store across the way standing in the doorway watching us get ready in the pouring rain. Dani said -- Are we still going to ride in this? I told her ..... well, nobody has come to tell us it's cancelled so let's keep going. I missed riding last weekend in Cumming because of rain -- I'm not getting rained out two weekends in a row -- we're doing this come hell or high water!!! I though .... we won't melt. ...but actually our feathers and hair did melt. We looked like drowned rats. I tried to find some paper towels to wipe my saddle off before I got on but right after I wiped it down, it was soaking wet again ....... :o)

After we were mounted the rain finally slowed down to a soft sprinkle. We were told to move up to the front up by the fire trucks and ambulances because we were going to be first. I asked the kid on the four wheeler directing us if there would be a cop car or something in front of us ...... nope ..... it was just us. We were seriously the first thing out there.

At 10am the kid on the four wheeler pulled up and said -- You're ON!! Head out!! He said we needed to go straight down their Main Street about 4 blocks north .... then we'd see a little park on the right side of the road ..... go around the block there and then we're done. I looked at him ... 5 blocks? That's it? Yup, he says ..... just five blocks. That's the whole town. Hahahahaha!! .....so Dani and I said All righty then .... we're heading out!!!

We got 1/2 a block down the road and i looked at Dani ..... is there anybody behind us? She said nope. People were standing and taking their hats off for the flag i was carrying. They were all clapping .....It was cool. .....but nobody was behind us. We kept looking back wondering how come nobody was following us .... then found out that the grand marshall lost his sign or something and they had to scramble to put another one on so they were delayed behind us ..... they said to just keep going ...... so we did. All by ourselves. It was awesome. Eventually when we got to the park there was someone behind us .... they had caught up. So anyway ..... whole parade took about 10 minutes. ...but we went around and stood on the horses and watched the rest of the parade go by then we went and visited with people aferwards so we didn't actually leave until around noonish.

We got home and Stacey and Dani were tired. So Dani went home to take a nap. I got Gato back in his stall. ....and Stacey and I went in to rest a little bit. We had to go to Pamida to pick a couple things up that she forgot. Went back home and did chores, cleaned stalls, and she wanted to ride so I tacked Mr Gato up again and he took her for a ride around the ring. That was so much fun ..... until we realized it was after 6 and we were supposed to go to my sister's for supper that night!! Yikes! We're late!! We hurried up and put Gato away and got him his supper and took off. I think we finally got home around 11ish that night. What a great Saturday it was!!!

Sunday was another early start ...... I was up at 5 ..... ate breakfast and did chores. Dani was here by 6ish. We were on the road at 7:03 with Shahnel on board heading to Bloomfield to do a horse trade. 3 1/2 hour drive south. We had a great time visiting on the way down. Nothing too terrible happened on the trip down -- we did get turned around and lost one time at the very end when we were actually about 1/2 mile from their house. :o) We made it all in one peice .... got Shahnel off and traded her for Candee the pony ..... loaded Candee up and were on our way north again about 10 minutes later! (**THANK YOU to Hope and Katie for doing that trade with me. I hope you enjoy Shahnel as much as I'm going to enjoy Candee!! I can't wait to teach her some tricks!! :o)

On the way home, Dani got a text from Erin who was supposed to be at our place around 4ish to pick up Diamond. As we were going through Ames, Erin said she was just leaving Ames and had just gotten on the interstate ...... as luck would have it we were one mile apart!! We caught up to them and they followed us the rest of the way home. When we got there I unloaded Candee and stuck her in a stall ...... then greeted Erin and her gang. Got Gato out to show them some of his tricks ...... Dani caught Diamond up for them ..... and they loaded her up and took off about half an hour later. PHEW! What a whirlwind weekend!!!

By that time it was after 4 and Stacey had to get going. She packed up ..... and after a lot of sad goodbyes, she was on her way around 5:30ish. I was so tired but I managed to get Gato's stall cleaned, night chores done ..... came inside and downloaded all the pictures we had taken in the last couple days ..... and then I fell into bed.

This morning I was up at 5 again and reflected on everything that happened the past couple days. Boy! Did we ever pack a ton of stuff into those two days!! :o) ....but now back to reality. I fell way behind on work around here and have spent all morning mowing and getting caught back up. I finally had a minute to sit down and type up this post. Someone posted on my wall or on one of my pics somewhere that I must have lots of help to get everything done around here. Nope ..... it's just me now. It seems like I'm busy all the time even when I really have nothing formally 'planned' .... the days seem to pack up with work and before i know it, it's time for bed. I guess that's typical life on a farm. There's no end to things that need to be done.

Ok .... well, I'd better get back at it. I'm still not caught back up yet. Gotta go get a round bale for the back pasture this afternoon. I'll say it one more time -- THANK YOU to Stacey who came to stay with me this weekend and who was a GREAT helper at the parade and THANK YOU to Heidi and the rest of the Ellsworth Town Crew who were so nice to us at the Ellsworth Extravaganza parade on Saturday and THANK YOU to Hope and her daughter Katie who traded their beloved pony, Candee Cane, for my mare, Shahnel No Five, so I can now expand my pony party and pony ride business. ....oh, and I almost forgot! THANK YOU to Dani for putting up with my craziness another weekend. :o) This has been a wonderful weekend. :o)