Memories

Ah, spring. Time for a clean sweep. Toss out the old and the broken, donate the unused but still serviceable, Ebay the good stuff. It's cathartic to do this, sometimes even fun and often a relief. Clutter follows me like a shadow. Every time I do it though, I have some feelings of melancholy.

Like this morning when my husband and I put my boys' battery operated 4-wheeler ride-ons to the curb for the trash to pick up. Yes, they were sun bleached, the batteries didn't charge well anymore and one had a broken switch so it only went backwards, not to mention my kids are too tall to sit on them comfortably but I still felt sad when I saw the garbage man heave them into the back of the truck and then they were gone.

All I could see were two smiling little boys, about 3 years old, driving around the back yard, chasing each other and having a great time. Last night, when I gingerly brought up the subject that maybe it was time to get rid of the 4-wheelers since they couldn't really ride them anymore, I was kind of shocked when they said, "yeah, you can throw them out." No hesitation. Wow.

So many memories. On my dresser I found the following pictures of my black Thoroughbred mare, Alta. She's the black horse I'm riding jumping over a fence in my profile picture. These must go back to 1998 or so. She was already retired, and probably around 20 years old. But she still looks shiny and healthy. There is hardly any graying around her muzzle. I scanned them and want to share them as you get the full range of her personality from just these 4 pictures.


That's Miss Alta to you. Yes, I am the queen and you may take my picture, now move along.


See my cuteness? You bore me so I will go to sleep now. (by the way, the red arrow points to my tack trunk, the one I had custom made with my own design of 3 horse heads on the front!)

WTF are you staring at?! If you don't have treats or scratch me in the right spot I'll show you what pisst off looks like.


Yes, pets do take after their owners. After around 16 years together, my goofy sense of humor even rubbed off on the mare!