The Barn

Who knew that hooking up with a friend from childhood could be so much fun! Through Facebook I have reunited with some people from my "block" where I grew up. Sue is one of those people. She is a year older than my sister, making her four years older than me, but once you pass 40, the age difference becomes mute. 40, 50, 60 - same difference...who cares! And as it turns out, Sue and I have much in common. Some things I will leave you to ponder about, and others I will share. Like our love of horses and farms. Neither of us grew up with either, but somehow God instilled a love of both in Sue and me. We also have in common the love of our Savior Jesus Christ, and that bond is enough to unite complete strangers. So, we decided some time ago that one day I would pick her up and we would spend the day at the barn, where I keep my horse, Buddy. Today was that day.

We arranged all the details and this morning, Raechyl, Adam and I get in the car and headed to Sue's house to pick her up. She was walking to the car and Rae said "Wow, she is really pretty", and she is. Just striking blue eyes, and a wonderful smile. I had spent a little time wondering if it would be weird seeing her again, or would we get along, or should I be nervous and decided this morning, it was all in the hands of God. And thank You, God, that You DID keep it all in Your hands today...turned out we needed it. She got in the car, we hugged and it was yak, yak, yak the whole way to the barn. Just as if we had seen each other yesterday. I dropped Adam off at his aunts house and the girls headed over to the barn. Raechyl decided she needed to ride today to get some extra practice in so she took Buddy and tacked him up. Normally when I go to the barn on a Sunday it is to groom and love on Buddy....NEVER to ride, so I think that having Rae with us made Sue excited because she knew that meant getting some riding in. She owned a horse many moons ago, but hadn't ridden in like 15 years. Oh, and by the way, Sue (much like me) rides western, NOT ENGLISH. For those of you who aren't horse saavy, western saddles are the ones cowboys use with the big horn in front to hold on to, and English is this little sleek leather thing that resembles a mini saddle with NOTHING to hold on to...Yup, you guessed it. Rae rides English. So, she got her English tack and away we went...right to the ring. Rae warmed him up and Sue and I grew more excited with anticipation waiting our turns. I got on first to see if he was a bit nutty or mellow and for me, he was fine. Then, it was Sue's turn.

She hopped on and away she went. Right to a trot and boy did she look good. She had the post down, had the correct diagonals and just looked like she belonged on Buddy. She did a couple of laps then came in for a change. Rae got back on him and did a little jumping and riding then came back. I asked Sue if she wanted to ride again and she said of course and on again she went.

Only THIS time, she was going to show Rae how to gallop (the near fastest pace before an all out run). And, off she goes. I had her camera. My job was to take a picture of the gallop so she could see how great she looked. And before I could say go, she was off. Buddy took off like a horse out of the gate and Sue was over him, riding like the jockey in the Kentucky Derby. The only problem was that Sue is no jockey and Buddy is no racer and we were in a circular ring, which makes a full ahead gallop a bit more tedious because instead of a track straighaway, she had NO time before the turn came and do I really need to go on from here? You already know where I am going with this.

Rae says, "Mommy, she is going WAY too fast and Buddy is flying....Mommy, Uh Oh, he is nearing the turn...Oh NO! Mommy, she's off!" Now, I have to paint this picture for you. I have this little phone camera in my hand and I am still figuring out how to get a closer view of Sue on the horse, only half paying attention to Sue and Buddy...thinking I had plenty of time before she would break into a full out bolt. But, Sue had a different idea. She was going to show Rae how to gallop. She NEVER said she would show Rae how to stay on a horse WHILE they were gallopping, she only said she would show Rae how to gallop. By the time it all happened, less than 30 seconds had passed and I look up and Sue is in a mud puddle....literally. It has rained stead and hard for the last two days, so you do the math. Barn, ring, dirt, rain, horses loosening up all the ground...yup, mud and lots of it. She got up with both thumbs up yelling, "That was GREAT!". She was covered in mud. All I could think about was whether or not she was alive. She is a NUT! I was SURE she broke SOMETHING. There was NO way that she could not have been hurt. I'm telling you, she DUMPED right off that horse and Buddy never missed a step. He just kept running like lightning and headed right for the gate where Rae was and she yelled, "Whoa, boy" and he stopped...huffing and puffing from the whole ordeal. Now, of course I still can't work that stupid little camera and missed the entire thing, but asked Sue to stay where she was (posed) until I could figure it out and while I was doing that, she was spitting out dirt, rocks and mud from her mouth. I looked up after taking a shot or two and was now close enough to her to actually SEE her and I nearly fell out laughing. She was COVERED in mud....COVERED. Not a little, but COVERED. The helmet was covered, her clothes were covered and her body was covered. It was hysterical.

Once I was assured she was fine, we walked Buddy out and went to give Buddy a bath, but before we could do that, we needed to give Sue a bath. So, we hooked her up on cross ties at the wash station and hosed her off best we could. I took the hose to clean the helmet and honest to Pete, there was more mud IN the helmet than ON the helmet. She was such a great sport. Oh, she also lost three earrings in the ordeal. Not exactly sure how that happened, but I would guess that if we go to the mud puddle that she "hung her hat in" and called home, we just might find them.

Now, Sue wasn't mad at Buddy. She meerly "zigged when she should have zagged". And of course, Buddy wasn't mad at Sue. We spent a few more hours there grooming Buddy and laughing and just "mucking" around before we called it a day. I am pretty sure Sue will be feeling it in the morning, and I am also pretty sure that she won't get on the next time and give a kick to go, and I am also pretty sure that she WILL do it again as somehow she had a blast in it all. Sue is the daredevil. I am the scared-E-cat. Sue likes speed. I like caution. Sue laughs when it hurts. I cry. Sue will get on again. I would hang up my saddle and never ride again. You couldn't find two more different people. But we still have that love of horses in common and because we do, we will be back at the barn again. Maybe she will go a little slower, maybe I will go a little faster. Who knows. All I know is I still haven't told you all the things we have in common and I bet you forgot about it until now. So, you go back to pondering that. I'll go back to wrapping this up.

In the end, we had a great day. She lived. I shared. We ALL laughed and had a great time, and as for Buddy. Well let's say that Buddy got his day at the spa. He got his belly filled up on fresh grazing and tons of treats and got his stall all covered with new shavings and was a happy camper when we left. Full belly....fresh bedding and water....groomed....loved.....Buddy has it all. And as for Sue, well she HAD it all but lost half of it in a mud puddle and is now recovering nicely in the comfort of her own home. I am off to bed now. So....

until next time....

More stories at the Seitz expense (sorry Al)

OK, so way too much time has passed. Our house is on the market and we have an accepted offer sitting on some bankers desk on a short sale with half the rest of the western hemisphere. If I hadn't had a nervous breakdown, I would have had the fore thought to take pictures of the mess that preceeded the glory of a scaled down, purged, cleaned house. So, because I chose a breakdown instead, all I have to write about is our friends in Kansas City, and there is plenty I can write about. It is just choosing which story I will share that is the problem.

Alyson and I drove to the old train station in Kansas City together with the three girls and Ben. Adam and Eric followed. Well, actually, truth be told, we followed Eric because Alyson thought the station was in a direction that would have us leaving the state of Kansas. OK, so we women are a bit directionally challenged. If that were our only problem we would be fine, but as it turned out, it wasn't. We pulled up at the station. Lilly and Derek stayed behind because Lilly had not been feeling well the night before and they just wanted to give her some down time and make sure she was feeling better and they were going to drive seperately and meet us a bit later. We all pulled into the parking lot of the "old" train station (I wish I could remember the name of it) and Alyson informed us that it used to be a train station but that trains no longer use it...only to have Eric inform her (the native) that trains DO use it and oh, btw, there goes one! We got out with kids in tow and began walking toward the cat walk across the tracks that DO get used. Alyson was telling me about a dream she had when lo and behold! A little 4 year old came running across the parking lot yelling that we forgot him. Who you ask? Ben. Yup. That's right. We left Ben in the car and had NO idea that we did so. Eric, in his infinite wisdom, and by this point, having one laugh after another at Alyson's expense, chimed in..."Al, Derek had a dream that he had a son when he got home today. He also had a dream that you have two sets of keys in your purse and that he cannot come meet us today because of it". Alyson just burst out in laughter KNOWING she had done it AGAIN (as it turns out - this wasn't her first offense of taking all the keys and leaving Derek in the lurch). OK, so Alyson doesn't know how to get to Kansas City, and she cannot count kids efficiently, and has a thing for car keys. But the best was yet to come.

When we went to sign in and get tickets for an exhibit, they asked us if we were from Kansas City, Missouri and Alyson answered yes. Just to be corrected by Cara, an eleven year old, that "Mom, we live in Kansas, not Missouri". The day got better and better, but because I am about to pee my pants (again) laughing as I write, I will save the rest for another time...

Like when Alyson gave a hamster CPR...or when Derek fell on (and killed) the cat....or when Alyson and I left Kansas and drove an hour into Missouri before she realized that "there was no place like home" and Missouri wasn't it...

Al, you are such a good sport. Thank you for allowing me to share these stories (and embellish when necessary). I can do it with a good heart knowing that I have already told the readers about my bads like missing the first day of school, driving through my garage door and more.

Until next time....

WAY too much time has passed...

Way too much time has passed since I have even considered blogging. We have gone and returned from Kansas City LONG ago. Since then we are packing up to move...all of about 1.5 miles. Beats our last record of about 4 miles. Yup, we Thieringer's don't like to go too far from home. Chester is our next (and had BETTER be our last) resting place. A place to hang our hat and call home. And by the time we get there, we may only have ONE hat - not a thousand. It is amazing what you can accumulate through the years. I blame the children. All that paperwork I saved for them. If they would just NOT go to school and NOT make stuff and NOT earn awards and the like, we would not have to downsize so much - darn kids! In truth, 3/4 of it is mine. Longaberger baskets - literally hundreds. Now down to about 30. Shoes...well suffice it to say I still have about 70 pair in my closet and about 70 pair in storage cause I had to "hide" stuff...that and bags. Those are my weaknesses. My clothes are reasonable. Two closets. One for spring/summer and one for fall/winter. I cannot imagine what poor old Eric is going to do when we move. He may have to hang his clothes in the garage. That closet is only big enough for some of my stuff which means again....overload to spare bedroom closet. In truth, I have been unburdened by the excess. We are donating it all to a World Vision garage sale...and of course a portion to our local church. We are blessed to be able to do it. That and my friends get to have a hay day going through whatever they may want. Many bags and baskets have flown out the door.

I am heading off to bed and felt like I should share at least one good story from Kansas City. We had traveled by car with the Seitz' oldest daughter, Caroline...known to us as Cara. We finally got to downtown Kansas City and we were elated to be at our destination after two days of driving. We were checking into a great hotel, the one Alyson won for us, and me and the kids were in the lobby hanging out and chilling. Eric walks in with ooey gooey gum on his hands and keys and looked directly into the eyes of our two lovely children and said (quite sternly), "Who spit the gum out of the window!"...Raechyl quickly jumped right in with "Not me" and Adam followed suit. Then Cara looked down, sat queitly for a moment and said rather meekly, "Uh, I did. But Mr. Thieringer, I spit it out the window, honest I did". At which point Eric said, "Yes, Cara you did and it landed directly on the Thuley Rack key hole which is why I have gum on my hands and keys"...."Uh, I am sorry Mr. Thieringer". I said to Cara, "Honey, it is OK but that is why you NEVER spit gum out ANYWHERE. Wrap it up and THEN throw it away". Eric went right up to the room and of course, we were ALL bright enough to stay right where we were. He came back about a half hour later with ONE clean key to unload the car and start our vacation.

That was our first day and suffice it to say there were many more laughs to come. Like when Alyson and I left the family early to go home and cook dinner. We were at a water park. Well, suffice it to say we covered two states before we got home. Kansas AND Missouri. That will come later. But thanks to those Seitz', we had the best vacation we have ever had. We miss you guys and thanks for a billion laughs!

Until next time...