Howdy All!

Oh gosh, I was tired this morning.   It was late when I crawled into bed.  Chores come early and away we go again for another day on the road.  It was cloudy most the day and even got a downpour of rain in the afternoon.  Just enough to wash away the dirt and dust from everything.

After breakfast and chores, I snuck away for an hour long nap that was so needed.  I keep close attention to my energy levels as I get older.  It’s important, especially when we are on the road doing what we do.

If I don’t, things such as these happen, and then I may say bad words out loud.  Heaven forbid.  And yes I’m pretty sure I did just that.  Yesterday, I made a nice pot of spaghetti and sauce to go with.  It was tasting and smelling real good.  It was all prepared as I went out to help with afternoon chores, only to come back to the burner still on under the sauce!   Oh my gosh!!!  The smell of burnt food flooded the trailer, the pot had only half in it from when I left, and most of it was stuck to the bottom of the pot.  No cleaning that out.  It was on permanently stuck there forever.  Gives me good excuse to go shopping and get me another.  And what can you do?  Just laugh about it and bring out the crackers, meat and cheese and maybe some fruit for dessert.

After lunch we hosted Darla from the local Chamber of Saskatoon to come and take a look around our camp, meet the horses and get a feel for what Chuckwagon Racing is all about.  As this was her first time by, she was quite impressed with the whole operation.

Darla got a chance to pet some of the horses and sit up in the drivers seat of the Chuckwagon.  She went away with a great outlook on the world of our Western Heritage that we live.

Tammy, our Director of Partnerships & Administration of the WPCA came along as well for the tour.  She quickly made friends with our horse named Louie.  He’s such a kind friendly horse and loves lots of attention.  You will see Louie in the near future hooked on an outfit.

 

Afternoons are pretty quite around the barns.  It’s the time when a good portion of the Chuckwagon drivers get in a nap.  The barn hands do too, and the wife’s…………….well sometimes they do, but most are running for groceries, going to the laundry mat or preparing  the next meal of the day and any other odds and end that need to be done.

When the evening comes, my job is to take the outriding horses to the infield for the outriders, and return.  Our policy, is to always tend to them and never leave them when tied up.  So I do just that.  You never know when equipment could get caught up and then a problem arises.

Tonight’s hook was Sporty on the Right Lead, Spirit on the Left Lead, Glory on the Right Wheel and Cowboy on the Left Wheel.  Chance Flad rode Beau holding the leaders and Casey Knight had Ice throwing stove.  The outriders did a very good job tonight, both of them are top notch riders.

Off of barrel one, Rick had an awesome start coming around the top, but then just as he was making his way around the bottom to go to the track, the left hip of  the wheel horse Cowboy feathered the barrel and it fell down.  An automatic 5 second penalty.  Ouch!!!

You can’t afford to get one of those, because it drops you down in the standings in a hurry.  Despite that error, the horses ran very well.  The running time was a 1:20.38 which would have been an 11th on the day.  With the penalty it took us down to 30th spot.

 

After the races, the mini chuckwagon was given out.  This fine looking young lady was very happy to have received it.

Until Tomorrow

From The Travelin Trailer

Sue with Rick and “Team 23”

P.S.  Always end the day with a positive thought.  No matter how hard things were, tomorrows a fresh opportunity to make it better.