I like wash and wear stuff.
My Selfie while waiting for a to go order at Culvers.
What was hubby's reaction? I brought him a Mushroom Swiss Burger with fries and a soda. He grabbed the food with delight and then stopped and casually said...
"It looks nice."
Hair? It really doesn't matter to me that much because in the end...I'm the one who always ...
Prefers Hats!
Last week one of the ladies who is a coach and a friend from our CrossFit gym invited me out to visit with her and have lunch. She said the girls were excited for me to come out and see their pony.
The pony is supposedly only 20ish. The people that gave them the pony years ago gave him an estimated age back then. In my opinion, the pony is more closer to 30 than 20. However, he is a much loved animal by all the girls.
We rode quite a bit at my Uncle's place. He raised and trained horses. During WWII he was in charge of mules and horses that transported equipment. His love and patience with all equine was amazing.
I'm on the left on Thunder, the cantankerous pony that was probably very misunderstood and very loved at the same time. My sister is on Charlie Brown, one of my Uncle's last horses that he raised before he died.
I think Thunder was a Shetland. We called him a "Sh-tland" pony because he always had tricks to play on his unsuspecting riders. The only rule we had was to stay on top.
Of course this made me dream of having an incredibly beautiful horse with a long flowing mane and tail. Oh snap!
I ended up with mules, but what can I say? Riding them still makes me feel free and dreamy.
It really eases my mind and soul.
I want to be like these little girls and their pony...playing and dreaming without a worry in their heads.
They call her Mari. And pronounce it Mar-eee. For whatever reason, Mari decided I was okay and made her intentions always clear with her hands with the universal 'kid' sign of UP! UP!
Come on, who cannot have their heart melted by a little one like this!
The trail was beaten down into pure ice and we all wore ice cleats except the little one. We took turns carrying her or steering her by her hood. It involved a lot of 2 year old gibberish and sometimes yelling by Mari. I told mom and son to let her holler all she wanted, we were in the 'wild' woods and it didn't bother me at all.
After all, she has immense energy. Cold fresh air and a hike would be great for her after a 4 hour car ride.
To get into the ice caves/shelters is not easy on a good day. This day it was all ice from the recent rains. Mari has no fear at all. Here is a pre slide check. Emily is down the icy path ready for catching her daughter. Mari loved it.
Here Mari decides to run to me across the slippery ice.
Group shot. I set my little pocket camera on a mini tripod and set the delay for 30 seconds. I slid down the ice formation to the others and scrambled to get in the shot. My son was like: BE Careful Mom! And we all laughed when I slid past them to the dirt.
We ended out trek at Weister Creek's ice formations and headed back to the car.
My youngest, Mari, and I:
Text: Hey, would you like to join us sledding?
Answer: Absolutely!
My young neighbors went out to do some sledding. Unfortunately, the adult in me had to stay indoors and fix someone an early lunch. When I got dressed and ran outside, I could hear that the sledding up on the ridge had ended.
Little kids don't tolerate a lot of sledding like teens do.
I texted back that sorry I was too late, but they had given me the idea to go sledding anyway.
I grabbed my old plastic sled. Charlie decided to come along for the adventure. What a dog!
The snow was deep enough even with the warm temps that he had to do the Charlie Leap to get through the snow.
We hiked across the ridge cropland out to where there is a gentle slope with no obstacles other than perhaps some long grasses and corn stalks in the contour strips. I picked the waterway that is left as grass in the summer. Linda cut it and baled it the fall so it was a perfect gentle hill.
The first pass was rather disappointing as you have to make a trail before getting a good go at it.
The second was great and I put Charlie in my lap. The ride down the cropland slope lasted at least 30 seconds.
Since the snow is so deep Charlie elected to ride with me and by the 4th trip he didn't even try to jump out.
The walk back to home was nice too. Charlie was worn out from Snow Leaping. When we got inside, he immediately curled up on the couch and went to sleep.
All that fresh air and walking back up the long hill made for a very good night's sleep.
