No 4-H meeting horse this past Thursday night, due to extreme heat. So, yesterday morning when the heat was just coming on, we drove the horse trailer over to my sisters' arena for the Terra/Lefty reunion.
Terra already knew about extreme heat. She had been gone for two weeks to a place in Arizona where one day the thermometer read 116 degrees.
She said she liked the grandparents' pool and the air conditioned theater where movie goers sat in their seats, punched a button and someone came to take their orders, later bring it to their seat.
Terra also liked being back home and spending the morning with Lefty and my sisters, who gave her a long list of tips on riding and showing.
Lefty, who had been a good boy, started playing tricks on her when it was time to pass over the bridge.
Instead of walking down the center, Lefty chose to "fall off the mountain, down into the canyon" several times until Laurie guided Terra on subtle ways to convince Lefty to walk over those planks down the center line.
It was a good session for Terra to experience on a few occasions---as all riders do---that horses have minds of their own, and they're always quietly scheming about the next impish move to make.
Nonetheless, Team Lefty and Terra did very well.
While we were at the arena, little Emma and her mother, who are visiting Willie and Debbie, came down to watch. My sister Barbara, who had just finished riding her horse Dusty, offered to give Emma a ride.
No, we soon learned, Emma has decided that she will not ride until she is 6. Totally Emma's decision, and we also learned that she's firm in her convictions.
Even after some of us suggested that it's okay to ride when she's 4, with some help, and that when she's 6-----that's when she can ride alone.
No fooling Emma. She said no.
So, she and Mom just watched for a while.
In other news, I posted this moth photo (below) this morning because the moth is huge and pretty. It was enjoying a layover on our garage door the other day before going on to wherever it was bound.
I much prefer seeing this visiting bug hang out on surfaces at our home as opposed to the multitude of sting bugs that love to take up space during the winter months.
We have another hot day ahead before a brief cool down. Since coming home, I've been heading outside earlier than usual to take advantage of the morning comforts.
Mosquitoes, which drove us crazy through May and June are now gone, allowing me to actually work in my garden without constantly batting away the annoyances.
It was very pleasant this morning working with the hoe and removing the residual weeds still firmly rooted in the ground after my initial run-through the day after we arrived home.
Happily, the garden looks like a garden again instead of an overgrown weed patch.
In other news, Bill's not feeling so good this morning. After a week or so of withstanding the cold that Annie and I picked up early in our trip, he's sneezing, blowing and coughing. Not fun, especially in the summer.
Nevertheless, we still may go to the mountains today, as planned. Just have to check with other family members (besides the horse women who are competing at a local show).
Typical summer, and we're learning how to tolerate the heat.
Happy Saturday.
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