Barnyard; Chapter 6 and a Half.

Good Afternoon,

Well, just plain cold last night and, similar the night before, I'd woke up about 4am, with the dog's wonderin' about a fire and myself, havin' not yet broke out my second sleepin' bag, cold enough ta consider, "that would be a good idea!". So, cold again last night and wakin' up so early in the mornin', now with my other bag in place, warm and in bed, trumped cold and writin'. I hope you followed all that, as there will be a quiz tomorrow.

Anyway, now I gotta defend myself, save face, in the face of my paricularly "ungraceful" loadin' experience, with ol' Rusty. And, I suppose it boils down to a couple of simple mistakes. One, not thinkin' ahead, like "how well do I know this horse and how long could it take" and maybe startin' out ealier, and, two, forgettin' basic principals of horse work, applyin' muscle stead a wisdom, for example, as old Tom would say, "goin' faster by goin' slower!", or, maybe more important, "OBSERVE, remember and compare". But, truthfully, I'm not sure I'd a had anything compare Rusty to, no matter, how much I observed.

But, that's all hind sight, we were loaded, we did make it home, Rusty got his dinner and I'd learned another great lesson. And, just ta add another twist, sometimes, ya just gotta make a call, special when you're workin' with other peoples horses; if a horse has become used to a certain kinda handlin', even if you, yourself, don't consider it "proper", sometimes you gotta figure, what you gotta do, how much time ya have and do ya wanta address "the how, now or later". Point bein' that, sometimes, askin' a horse, special an older horse, consider a different way a doin' things, can take sometime. So, that's my story, the defense has made it's case, and, as I said, all in all, we were both alive, fairly well and on our way home.

So, now it's time for "blankets! We got out the old sleepin' bags, one for me and one for the dogs, which means we're pretty cozy, sleepin', but now, a few blankets on the wall and we won't have ta rush, so much, 'tween eatin' and gettin' in bed. The west wall ain't bundled up like last year and the cold just shines right in, offa that wall, soon as we get down around zero, but I think that wool blanket'll make a difference. If not we'll go back, try to bundle 'er up like last year, though my resources aren't quite so abundant.

Anyway, happy afternoon and I'll think on the next chapter of "Rusty O'Barnyard".

Best,