Country Life in Texas, Part Something or Other

Things started off well. Get up with the dawn, walk the dog, drink some coffee, say Morning Prayer and then go for a ride. That meant driving out to my friend's ranch near Aquilla and meeting up with him and two youngsters. I met them riding down the ranch road and told them I'd catch up, and that's what happened. Tack up and gallop.

As always, it was beautiful to ride out in the morning sun and I enjoyed myself weaving in and around the mesquites and going through the gaits. The kids had fun too, though at a more sedate pace. Thanks a lot, RP, for the riding hospitality.

Ride over, I stopped to get some coffee on the way home and learned that a churchperson was very sick in hospital. So I made a swift turnaround and drove to Waco, but not before taking a picture of my neighbor's peacock. It's one of several and likes to roost in the trees when not shrieking with a high and crazed insanity.

The day finished appropriately, with Stations of the Cross, and that's just the way it is.

God bless,

LSP

Get Out And Ride

People say to me, "LSP, if that's your real name, which we doubt, how come you don't ride very much, seeing as how you're so country?" Good question, and to set the record straight, I drove out to a friend's place and got in the saddle.

We rode out around the 600 acre ranch, walk, trot, gallop, and surveyed the territory. A beautiful place to ride, with plenty of room to put the foot on the accelerator and several vistas that suddenly opened up in the light of the setting sun.

Somehow we picked up a small herd of horses that followed us about and played a little rodeo. You might want to be careful with that; a loose horse in front of you could decide to kick. Your chest. That didn't happen, fortunately, and we lost the herd.

There is a sense of expansive freedom being on horseback in Texas, and my mind goes back to the people who settled this land not that long ago. It was hard for them and the difficulties were great, but so too was the advantage. 

I've been invited back, "Come out any time! But if you see a rattlesnake you have to shoot it."

That sounds fair to me.

Ride on,

LSP