This will be quick. I've been given a list of "things to do" to go along with my "things to do" so that we three sisters, two dogs and three horses can head on out of here by 4 p.m. for the annual Arabian horse shows at Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds. Bill's been given his list of "things to do," as has my friend Mitzi. Barbara and Laurie have given Natalie her list of "things to do" at the Colburn farm.
Lots of planning goes into being gone. It's somewhat like getting ready for the substitute at school. By the time you compile all the lists of "things to do" for the sub, you're so tired, you figure you might as well go to school cuz ya know you haven't thought of every nuance that's gonna come up during the day when you're gone.
After Mitzi came the other day to compile her list, I remembered a bunch of stuff I needed to tell her. For example, if I don't tell Mitzi, she'll be mighty surprised when Kiwi attacks the water hose all the time she's trying to use it. I've had Kiwi attacking and herding the water hose so long that I don't even notice. But I'm sure Mitzi will.
I also forgot to tell her the cue for getting the dogs to go back into their garage. "Let's go beddy by," I yell. That's the automatic button for Annie to finally climb out of the UPS truck whenever the driver drops something by our house. Annie thinks she'd like to be a Big Brown mascot, but the UPS driver doesn't agree.
"Let's go beddy by, Annie," and out she jumps, arthritis and all, pointing her nose toward the garage door. Maybe I'll be lucky and Mitzy will read the blog today, but I'd better call her cuz the other day the dogs didn't mind at the museum. I asked Ann, the curator, to watch Kiwi and Kea while I went to the restroom.
When I came back, Ann told me they were just like kids. They waited until I was out of sight and then started running up the stairs and everywhere but the lobby where they were told to stay. Ann tried to persuade them to do as she wished. The did not listen. Gosh, that reminds me of the school substitute situation again.
Anyway, I'm hoping Kiwi and Annie will listen to Mitzi and will not scare her to death when that water hose gets going. As far as the ladies in the corral, I almost forget they're here. Easy keepers all the way around. So, Bill doesn't have 35 different instructions of what to do if this happens. Just see that they're alive, that they have all four legs, know that Rosie does lie down a lot, and throw 'em a flake of hay morning and night.
You'd think I was gonna be gone a week. Just overnight, but when I do all that stuff associated with animals and growing plants, the routine must go on in my absence. I'm sure that in this case my substitutes will do just fine. Besides, we'll all have cell phones.
When we get to Spokane, we'll drop off the three horses from the Tibbs farm and then drive over to the equestrian center to pick up Lefty. He'll show tomorrow morning, Saturday and Sunday. Monty's gonna have him all spit-shined and clipped for us. I asked if I could do it, but he said, "No, I have my system; besides, all the owners always use up all the warm water." So, I told him I'd do what I was told and stay out of his way.
Once Lefty gets to the fairgrounds, he'll have the bunch of us doting all over him, his pal Dusty, Laurie's horse Rusty and Barbara's mare April. And, the dogs will watch.
Big day ahead. Many things to do, so I'd better get at 'em. If you're in the Spokane area, stop by the show and say hello to the horses and their people-----------and dogs.
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