This entry also is from almost a year ago, and all I have to go with it are a few cryptic notes and a bad memory! I'll give it my best shot.
The therapeutic riding place was hosting a fund-raising trail ride. I was mostly the computer person. But, I also gave the beginning speech to the riders. This started last year when Ron, the main guy, was in the hospital. On the next trail ride, everyone wanted me to do it again because, although Ron knows a lot more about the trail, he speaks so softly that no one can hear him! I guess this means that I'm a big mouth or a blow-hard . . . I'm not sure which!
I also brought my movie camera and took some videos of the obstacles that the trail riders had to go through. You can check some of them out here: http://www.cadenceriding.org/CurrentRides.html
The most memorable thing that happened was with a woman who rode a mule. I can't remember her name, but the mule is Lucy! Anyway, this woman was a friend of my good friend, Ken, who died last year. Ken "told" me to talk to her, so I did. She had heard that he had died, and when I told her that he wanted me to say hello, she totally embraced the idea. It was kind of cool, really.
Currently: This has been a sad week for me. A couple weeks ago, I noticed that the upstairs neighbor's dogs were missing. One of them, a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, I never really bonded with. Not only was he a little bit growly, but he had an Eskimo name that I could never remember how to pronounce. But, the other dog, C-man, was a doll. When he was loose in the yard, he would always greet me as I got out of the car. If he was on the balcony upstairs, he would always wag and smile down at me from above . . . spreading love all over me. I always looked forward to seeing him and told him what a good boy he was.
Then, I noticed both dogs missing. It scared me because they were often loose in the yard and we live on a highway . . . cars going by at sixty miles an hour. I had terrible feelings for days, and kept telling myself they were healthy and happy . . . though I didn't know where that might be. Then I finally ran into the owner. One of 'em, anyway. She said that Nanook of the North, or whatever his name was, had started growling at their children . . . one a year old who just learned to walk, and the other a three year old. As much as it broke her heart, she had to give him up to a rescue place. The other one, that I loved, C-man, had been given to her brother who is going through a bad divorce. She said that the dog may save his life. C-man is pretty much a therapy dog . . . no training, it's just the way he is. I was incredibly relieved when I heard they were both okay. I'm sad for the retriever, but, it is what it is. And C-man is saving a life. How can I argue with that? But, I miss him very, very much. Like so many things in life, I didn't know how much he meant to me until he was gone . . .
As an aside, when I was a very little girl, my family had a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, named Ginger. One time, Ginger growled at me. My father took Ginger aside and said, "That is my baby girl. If you EVER growl at her again, I will kill you." After that, I could (and did) dress Ginger up in doll clothes or whatever and she never growled at me again. And to show my gullibility, when Ginger got very, very old, they told me they took her to the old dog's home. I actually believed that until I was twelve, or maybe twenty . . . or something!
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