Today... It was a great day....like most in SD....

Today I thought about all the things I didn't do while I lived in the MECCA of Southern California. I didn't ride a horse on Friday, hike with my hubby to the top or the world on Saturday, then plan to ride my horse again on Sunday on my first solo ride.. NOR DID I .... drive straight home from work on an interstate that was without a traffic jam. I didn't own a horse, that I could hop on any hour of any day, of any week, and see vistas and trails that lead me further in my walk with God. I didn't hike hills and thank God for all the marvelous BEAUTY before me. We miss our families terribly... truly, in SoCal, they were our BEAUTY... they helped us survive. They were our lights at the end of our tunnels.

Here, we want to bring understanding to them, about our life... It is really hard to try to help those who love you understand you sometimes. We all have our "home". Ours shift between our RV, which will always be a home to us... and our little house in Piedmont, that has blessed us so... with fantastic night skies, our horses, a mile away, great neighbors, our church a skip away..... We could afford more, but we fortunately, appreciate, not needing more. We love what we have. That's actually a lyric in a song... " have what you want, but love what you have..." We are loving what we have, for sure.

Here's what I've been up to... and why I haven't blogged...

Just having some (lots of) Summer FUN!!!!

Do you ever wonder about timing? How every action or inaction on our part, moment by moment, alters the future in the slightest way? Maybe I shouldn’t say alters but rather directs the future. Sometimes a delay saves you from something bad, like an accident.

Just over a month ago, Rick and I had spent a wonderful reunion weekend camping with mom and dad at Bismarck Lake in Custer Park. After much laughter and fun we had to pack up on Sunday and head home. We were all getting ready to go but decided to sit down and take a quick break and have some lemonade before hitting the road. The 10 minute delay gave us a chance to discuss our planned travel route and allowed the breeze to cool us down prior to heading out. We had decided to take a much shorter route through the back roads of the Black Hills, very scenic, with much less traffic.

About half way home, we were headed down the last back road, Neck Yoke Road, before we would have to join the mainstream travelers on Highway 16/Mount Rushmore Road. We rounded a corner and immediately began slowing down. To the left of the road were about ten motorcyclists standing near their bikes, clearly looking on, but out of the way of the emergency personnel that were attending to someone in the field ahead… or should I say, tangled in the barbed-wire fence in the field. As we came to a stop in front of the police officer she approached us to say that well, “It’s going to be a little while until you can pass, the ambulance just got here.”

We got out of our RV, walked back to mom and dad and shared what was going on. Almost immediately, Rick and I suddenly realize we know one of the bikers standing on the side of the road, Rick used to work with him. We approach him and get the low down. Here’s what he said, “Dude, this just happened like 10 minutes ago. We met these two kids at the Loaf and Jug and they wanted to ride with us. Well, he was going too fast around that S curve and he was hugging the yellow. A pickup truck was coming the other direction and the kid was too close to the yellow line and over-corrected too much and lost control. The bike cart-wheeled and landed hung up on that field post. The girl is messed up.” So, I ask the obvious question, “Were they wearing helmets?” Yes. She even had a full face helmet on, but it busted into two pieces…..along with her jaw.

As the Medi-Vac helicopter landed in the field nearby, we silently said prayers for this young woman and the driver. Fortunately, he seemed in much better condition than she was. Since she was higher up on the back of the bike she took the brunt of the roll over/cartwheel.

Back to how I started. If we had not taken that rest before heading out of our campsite, we could have been the vehicle that they had to negotiate around, and I believe they wouldn't have been able to make it around the housing of our RV. I think if it would have been us, they would have been injured far worse than they were, if they even lived at all.

Both of the kids made it. The young woman was far worse than the young man. She is on the mend but still has a long, slow rehabilitation ahead of her. The morning of the accident I don't, for two seconds, think she thought she would have anything but a nice ride through the hills with her boyfriend.

For some the thrill is great, but the cost could be greater. Life will never be the same for either of them.

It's camping Season!!!

Well, it's finally here.... that time of year when we take every other weekend (almost), pack up the doggies and some food, and jump into the rig to head into our beautiful Black Hills for R & R from the daily grind. Pepper has been on 2 camping trips so far and she LOVES it. She's an easy keeper. Behaves, isn't a whiner... and loves playing in the dirt and pine needles. Syd, of course, showed her all the ropes and gave her to low down on the treats that happen on camping trips.

The folks are in town and have been fishing and hanging out at an RV resort just West of town. We've been camping with them already and are planning a long 4th of July weekend camping.

Why is it that I just can't get enough of camping? I LOVE having fires. Fire in the morning and fire in the evening, trying to start the fire with just what the world has to offer as fuel, sometimes resorting to the flame thrower stuff you buy at the supermarket, if I absolutely have to. I love the "I have to do absolutely nothing right now" feeling of camping. You always have so many options when you camp. Let's see, there's the "I think I will just sit in this chair and look around at the world", and the "Wanna Yak?", and the "How long ago was it that I picked up a novel to read?", and the "What can we cook on the open fire other than marshmellows?" Camping makes me feel rested and at peace with my world. It slows me down so it can heal me with the basic simplicities of life. You talk to each other instead of watching TV. You listen to each other instead of texting someone at the same time you are talking. You sit quietly together and float on the Lake and contemplate nothing at all but the beauty that surrounds you and the tranquility that seeps into your soul. That, my friend, is why I love camping.

Here are some pictures of why the doggies love camping. Enjoy.



Yeah, I know, it's a little creepy... but the Chili Pepper was COLD... I had to snuggle her in.. as creepy as it is...



Daddy caught some FISH and let lil Pepper take a lick...



Wiped OUT.... First camping trip, enjoying the sheer exhaustion of it all.... She slept well... US too.

....The Next Day.....

Ok. So, as many of you know, it has been a hard two weeks for me. Losing Chica was devastating, to say the least, for all of us. Even our cat Taz, who wasn't necessarily Chica's PAL, was sad and very concerned about her absence. The saying goes that "Time heals all wounds." I would say NOT. Time is like the cotton ball or the ear plugs you put in the hole in your heart with each day that passes, in a desperate attempt to return to the "normal" of the world that never stopped in the first place to grieve with you. Time just forces you to displace all those emotions that make you feel like "Really? Seriously? Are they really gone?" . The memories bless and sting at the same time. So.. that being said... here's what really happened.

After we put Chica down, as expected, Rick and I were, shall I say, "overwhelmed" with grief. Everything about that sweet dog, and the quick and sudden loss of her, rattled us. Like I said above, Syd and Taz, were very confused and sad, not understanding, much like us, how she was "just here", then suddenly gone. The cat sat vigil near the garage door mewing when we would open the door, as if asking "Where is she?... She hasn't come in yet." and Syd would look for Chica in the garage, out in the yard, and would come into the house defeated that she hadn't found her sister.

I'm usually not the one to be spontaneous about animals. We've found many, a many, and those have "moved" on to either the homes they ran from or their next forever home, but as far as "keepers" go, I understand that there has to be that "fit", hence why I brought a dog home from Mexico with me... It was a fit.

After almost two weeks of grief and sadness, and way too many emotions, I woke up on Saturday mustering everything within me to be THANKFUL... because I have so much to be THANKFUL for... such as the life of a wonderful Mexican Chica, that I got to enjoy, albeit for all too short a time, I still was able to fully enjoy and revel in her light while she was here. AND... my new job... If I hadn't been spoiled by my current job situation and GREAT bosses... I would probably be absolutely thrilled with the new job I'm going to start next week. So, I had to do a bit of an attitude adjustment.

HONESTLY..... seriously, when I sat down at my PC last Saturday morning my only intention was to bid on a used leather Coach purse (RETAIL THERAPY.. SERIOUSLY..) but somehow my fingers typed "petfinder.com"..... Seconds later there was this little face, third down from the top... No name, just "PUPPY". I called and they said she was still there. I took 5 minutes to give Rick the link and I said I was going to see her. I arrived at the shelter, was pointed through the door to the kennels. I quickly, and I mean quickly walked past each stall in search of my find... at the very end, in a chain link end cap, were three puppies. I knelt down and two rushed the fence, very exuberant, and just behind them the third puppy tentatively approached me between the two. Literally, 2 seconds passed and I was quickly back to the front desk to tell them I needed to speak with an Adoption Counselor. I was seriously about two strides before a woman and her daughter who had been making a list of the dogs they wanted to spend time with, when I realized what was about to happen. I was given an application and when I sat down to fill it out I heard the desk person say, "Sorry, that lady just there adopted her." Timing IS everything. Application: CHECK. They said they had a mandatory face-to-face when there is another dog... CHECK. Syd and "puppy" loved each other instantly. Off we went, with a bunch of other potential owners in our wake.... Timing is everything.

So, it has been a couple of days of pure, silly joy (Taz wouldn't agree, but as I typed, she and Pepper were chasing each other upstairs... all in fun and figuring it out), Here's the video from today....the sun is shining, and there is hope for me again....

One day.....

You showed up like a ray of sunshine
on that island beach,
welcoming me to your world.

Little did I know that love that you sought that day
would bring you home with me to my world.

Little did I know that we would have a world together.

You were quite possibly the sweetest dog
to ever walk the earth,
and everyone who met you thought the same.

Our precious brown eyed girl,
you will forever be missed,
and even though it seems like we are worlds apart now,
I know that I will see you again one day.

We love you so.

And she is one of those who make me...

Winston Churchill once said ...."The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man." Well, in my case, the inside of a woman. They are truly magnificent, mysterious, beyond our imagination, beings of strength, and love, and respect. I cannot express the joy I have when I spend time with them... in the saddle,... on the ground.... it matters not. They are truly the beings of fairy tales. Ask any girl who owns a horse that also owns her.

Yesterday, I went out to ride. They were all in the front pasture, enjoying the new spring grass. As I drove up the dirt drive I rolled down my window, hit the car horn, and called to them with a whistle. All four horses lifted their heads, with the wind blowing in their manes, to acknowledge me. Recognizing I was one of "their" peeps, all of them, without hesitation, turned tail to the wind and galloped to where I was headed... the shed...where all things FOOD.. and GOOD, came from. Before they could catch me I had walked out and 3 of the 4 headed to their blessed MECCA,the shed, but one of them, MY horse... she stopped and came over to me, away from her herd, away from the blessed shed....blessing my heart in ways she could never understand.. and told me that she was MINE and I was HERS. Together we walked to the shed, which held the delicious peppermint horse treats, but on our way there she would stop and look back, and wait for me, then again would begin the journey. I am a silly girl. I know that she is smart enough to understand that there are no treats without the girl who can pull out the bucket of treats, but her little gesture, as great it was to me, and as small it was to her, was beyond something I can put into words. If you are a girl with a horse that you love, you get me, understand what I can't seem to find words for. All I can say is ..I don't know much about him or all the great things he did, but as far as horses were concerned.... Mr Churchhill was right on.