Memory Lane

Morning seemed to come earlier than usual as the crickets were singing well before the sun had a chance to  rise higher than the tree tops.   Scout knew it was going to be hot.

“My fur is wet Scout and it isn't raining.” said Annie

“That’s humidity Annie.”

“Oh.”

“Joseph, did you hear that?  Annie didn't have a comeback.” Baby said

“Too bad that humidity hadn't arrived when she first came.”

“Joseph!!!!!!!”

“I think it is going to be a lazy day.”

“That’s right up your alley, isn't it Joseph?” Baby said.

“Yep.”

“What are we going to do with the lazy day?” Annie wanted to know.

“Nothing Annie that’s what lazy is all about - doing nothing.”

“I thought it would be a good day to gather under the big tree and keep cool.” TC said as she came through the barn.

“Sounds good to me. The breeze will be good there.’ added Scout.

“Well, what’s everyone waiting for?  Let’s go.” TC replied

“Nope, I want my breakfast first.” Baby answered.

TC turned her head looking at the Little Ones.

“I think I'll do the same.” she said, walking back to the other side.

“Ask me if the humidity is making TC forget.” Joseph whispered.

After breakfast everyone headed to the big tree.

“Ohhhhh that feels so good.” Scout said as he turned towards the breeze.

“I agree, but what else are we going to do, pray tell?” Joseph asked with a little attitude.

“I thought it would be nice to tell some funny stories that have happened.”

“I like that idea!!” Annie said jumping up and down.

Just then there was a rustle in the bushes.

“I think we have company.” TC said

“You aren't the only ones that like the breeze.” Murphy answered.

“Hi Murphy. I have a story about Murphy.” Scout added

“Quiet everyone, it’s time for the first story of the day.’ TC said as she settled down to listen

Murphy and the Fence -

“In fact, it was a day similar to today -  Murphy was having a hard time finding a place to sleep. The swallows had already claimed the loft for their nest so he couldn't go there. The owner was busy with the lawn mower so he couldn't curl up on the seat. The neighbor was visiting in the house and there would be a lot of talking. The next thing I saw, Murphy was heading for the garden.”

“Was he going to sleep in the garden Scout?” Annie asked.

“No Annie, he was going for the fence. Murphy, why don’t you tell us the rest of the story?” Scout said.

“I just wanted to relax for a bit. My fur was hot and sticky. As for my personality, that wasn’t the best either.” Murphy answered

“What happened next?” Baby asked.

“Well, as it happened there was a breeze there and the fence was wide enough to lie on.”   Then there was silence.

“Continue Murphy.”

“There’s nothing else to tell except I climbed on the fence and let the breeze cool me off.  End of story.”

“Come on Murphy, you know that’s not true.” Scout said as he looked at Murphy.

“That’s it Scout.”

“Well, I guess I am going to have to finish the story. Yes, the fence was just right for Murphy and the breeze was blowing so nice that it caused him to drift off to sleep and he fell off.”

“Murphy! You fell off the fence? You are a cat!!!!!!” Annie shouted as she fell to the ground laughing. “Did you hear that? Murphy fell off.”

“Did you hurt yourself Murphy?” asked Baby.

“No, I am a cat and we land on our feet.”

“Even more reason you shouldn’t have fallen off.” Annie added

“ANNIE!” everyone shouted.

“OKAY!!  But it’s still funny.”

TC was looking across the field with a smile on her face.

“What are you thinking TC?” Baby asked.

“I was just remembering the time with Missy and the pears.”

“Can you tell us the story?” Joseph asked.

Missy and the Pears -

“When summer is coming to an end, the pears are getting ripe. You have had nothing until you have had some of those pears.  Before I go any further let me remind you of the pecking order.

“Can you explain what it is so Annie will know, please TC?” Baby asked.

“Getting ahead of the game are you?” Joseph whispered to Baby.

“Yep.”

“We always have a boss mare in the herd and at that time it was Missy. Missy always got the pears first. I was quite close to the trees when our owners came out to throw some over the fence to us. Missy was on the hill. The first pear fell right in front of me. I looked at it and thought I should leave it for Missy. That was just a thought.  I ate the pear.”

“What did Missy do when you ate the pear?” asked Joseph.

“Oh, Missy wasn’t happy at all!  She turned her back to us and wouldn’t come down. I know she wanted those pears but she was so upset that she stayed on the hill. Later that night, she did have a few words about what happened.”

“What did she say?” Joseph asked.

“Well, Joseph, there are so many things that are shared and some things that aren’t.” answered TC.

“Does that mean you are not going to tell us?” Annie added.

“Yes Annie, that is actually right. It was between Missy and I.”

Baby could see that Annie was about ready to ask another question when he said, “Are there any more stories?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I have one about you Baby.” Joseph said.

“What!!! One about me?”

“Go ahead Joseph.  Let’s hear it.”

Christmas Ride

“We were only young when this happened. Baby was your age Annie and doing a lot of the same things. That was the year Baby was the mail person carrying the cards for our neighbours in the pockets of his Christmas costume.  We were having so much fun going to each door. The young children would come out to see us asking if they could pat us and telling us how cute we looked.”

“Oh, I would have liked that.  Being cute.” Annie added.

“No doubt you would have Annie. Now can I get on with the story?” Joseph wanted to know.

“Quiet everyone!  Joseph is telling his story.” TC said.

“Then we approached the hill. Remember that Baby?” asked Joseph . 

“Oh, Joseph do we have to go there?”

“There is no story without this part Baby. Some of our neighbours brought their horses to ride with us. I was behind TC when I looked back to see where Baby was. There he was…….. Baby you tell the rest.”

“Thanks Joseph.  I was so excited to be out with everyone and looking good. I wanted to show off so I walked up the hill on my hind legs. I was almost eye to eye with the owner. I would come down on all fours, get my balance and up I would go again. The only thing that wasn’t ready for me to be on my hind legs was the mail. It fell on the ground. The children decided then that I needed help so they carried the mail for me.”

“Oh!  I remember one about TC.” Baby said as he wanted to take the attention off himself

TC and the Hens

“This particular day was in late summer when the pheasant chicks were big enough to travel with their mothers. TC was exploring right here by the big tree when suddenly she heard a noise, turned around only to see the chicks and mothers sitting on the fence a few meters from her. All I remember is seeing TC throwing things in high gear and taking off for a safer place. The ground was shaking because TC was moving so fast. The chicks and hens were looking at one another wondering what the problem was. If that wasn’t bad enough, half way to the barn another hen flew out of the grass over TC’s head.  After that I don’t think TC’s feet hit the ground. Then there was the icing on the cake - someone had closed the door. All we heard was  BANG!!!!!!. TC hit the door before she could stop. We didn‘t want to make TC feel bad so we went to the other side of the barn before laughing. Remember that TC?” Baby asked.

“Do I ever Baby, but I have to tell you why I don’t like hens. We were on a trail ride once when out of nowhere, came this hen in a rage. I also lost the owner that was on my back she frightened me so much. We were out for a nice afternoon ride and this hen wasn’t moving so we could go by. It was then I decided to take a step forward. Wrong move.  The hen flew straight for my face. It was then we threw in the towel and turned around. We were too close to her nest and all she was doing was protecting it.”

“TC, you are what – 600 kg, aren’t you,  and the hen was what - 3 kg at the most?”

“Yes Baby, but no matter what the weight difference is, one thing you don’t do is mess with a hen protecting her nest. Now, when I see a hen before it sees me, I get flashbacks to that day on the trail.”

Murphy had decided to stay and listen to the stories. After having a story told about him, he thought that he was safe…..NOT!!

“I have another story about you Murphy.” yelled Scout.

“What, I just had a story told about me!!!

Scout looks at Murphy and starts his story…..

Murphy and the Pump room

“This happened in late fall before the snow came. There were a few nights when it was cold. Murphy had wandered into the pump room when the owners were feeding us supper. With the lights in there, Murphy found it was comfortable and, as only Murphy can do, fell asleep. The next thing Murphy heard was click……..the door had closed. He jumped up trying to catch the owners’ attention that he was in there….it was too late! He was there ‘til morning. I passed by when I heard Murphy yelling, “Someone, get me out of here.” Well, you know, I can work wonders with locks and escape but I couldn’t get that one undone. Murphy you tell the rest.”

“Yes, I got locked in the pump room and I wanted out.”

“You had a warm place to sleep for the night Murphy.” added Annie.

“There are more things that happen to me in a day than just sleeping Annie. I wasn’t going to have supper. My stomach started growling around midnight and would you believe there wasn’t a thing in there to eat!  Sometimes you could find bits of grain on the floor…nothing. There was water so I wasn’t thirsty.”

“That was good.” Joseph added.

“Depends on how you look at it. By drinking the water I needed to go to the bathroom. Oh! what a feeling!!” I started wishing I had left the water alone. Take over Scout. I’ll be back.”

“Okay Murphy, hurray up. Morning came but it was the week-end and instead of being fed at 6 AM it was 8 AM when the owners arrived. Murphy was on his last nerve by the time the door opened. I believe Murphy travelled faster than the speed of light that morning. I knew he had escaped. As for seeing him, I didn’t. In fact, it was several days after that before we saw one another again.”

“Wow! I know I would have peed for sure.” Annie said with wide eyes.

Murphy arrived back knowing by the look on everyone’s face that the story had finished.

“Scout, aren’t there any stories about you?” Baby asked.

“Oh yes Baby, there are!  Let’s just say I was something else growing up and the things I got into.” Scout said with a longing look in his eyes.

TC knew what Scout was thinking and decided to jump in.

“You are so right Scout. How the owners ever put up with some of the things you did I don’t know.”

“Tell us more.” everyone said.

TC looked at Scout

“Yes, there are a lot of things that I could tell, but first I would like to tell you something about Missy that you may not know. She was an endurance racer and had over a thousand miles of racing time on her hoofs. She was the best there was for what she did. Now back to Scout.  I bet no one knew that Scout was a mini Dakota in his younger years.”

“What is that?” Joseph asked with a puzzled look.

“A mini Dakota was a group of horses that barrel raced. When it came time to go to the Ex or another show where there were barrels, Scout was the first one on the trailer, he loved it so much. Even today there are times I can’t beat

Scout in a race. He’s still fast. So you can imagine how fast he was when he was young.”

“Scout, you held out on us. WOW A barrel racer!!!!!!! Baby and Joseph commented.

Scout pushed his chest out and stood tall saying,

“Yep, I could move out when I raced. All I had to do was see the barrels and I lost my mind. I have a lot of good memories of those days but the memory I wished I had the most was to know where I came from. I think that I was born somewhere not too far from here.  I always wanted to know.”

TC saw the pain in Scout’s eyes because everyone else here knew their family.

“Scout has something else to be proud of. He was part of 4H for many, many years. In fact, it only stopped a couple of years ago. There were times when a mother would come up and say that she had taken lessons on Scout and now she was bringing her daughter for lessons. In some cases, it was a grandchild. Scout, I know it is hard for you not to know who your family is. Sometimes there are things we can solve and other times they will have to stay as the unknown. You have a family larger than all of us put together with all the people whom you have helped over the years. You were like our ambassador for horses. We are so proud of all that you have accomplished, Scout.”

“Thanks TC, for those kind words and I know, I may never find out where I came from.  On the other hand, I am so lucky to have you as my family now.” Scout said.

After a few minutes Baby looked at Joseph.

“Hey everyone!  Something is missing. We have all had a story or two told about us except Annie because she’s still  too young yet.”

“That’s not fair!  I’m old enough to say something about me.” Annie yells back at Baby

“Well, in that case, I can say you walk like you have red high heels on sometimes.” Baby said as he laughed.

“WHAT!!!!!! Baby yelled.

“Besides that, Joseph is the only one that hasn’t had a story.’ Baby added

“Oh, before anyone else gets any ideas, I am going to tell my own story.”

“Okay, let’s hear it Joseph.”

The Ride

“This happened not too long ago. We always go out in the cart once or twice a week for some “keeping-in-shape” time. You also know that I don’t like to waste my energy and like only doing things on MY time.”

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

“I was having my kind of day- doing nothing. It was getting late so I thought I was off the hook for a cart ride…….NOT!!! Before I could get the thought through my head I was being hooked up and going down the road. May I add…. not too fast. The owner always gets off when we come to the hill down the road and walks behind. Don’t get me wrong, that is the best part of the ride. All I have to do then is pull the cart. As we get closer to home I start moving faster and there’s only one more hill to climb. I started thinking to myself, “if the owner gives me a break on the other hill why not this one?” Then it came to me - because the barn is so close I always speed up to get there faster. The owner, thinking I liked the exercise, stays on the cart. That wasn’t what was in my head.  Then the light came on - I am going to slow down and he will think I am finding it too hard pulling him and the cart up the hill. Boy, did I ever slow down! I looked around at the owner with my big ears and a sad look in my eyes. Bingo!!!!!! He got my message, jumped off the cart walking the rest of the way. All I could say to myself was……. bonus!”  

“Joseph, you are something else.” Baby said.

“Hey,  try it sometime and see if it works for you. Ah,  I don’t know,  maybe you have to have that donkey charm.”

“Oh Joseph.”

The sun was starting to set in the western sky.

“Maybe we should start for the barn before it gets dark.” TC said

“This has been a good day I think.”  Scout added.

Supper was over and for some reason everyone was tired. Well, almost everyone….

“I’m a mini. Does that mean I will be a Dakota when I grow up?” Annie asked.

“Good night Annie”!!!!!

  Silence settled over the barn and suddenly…………..

“ANNIE, YOU BIT ME!!! TC!!!!!” shouted Baby

 “ANNIE.”

“Am I getting old or were the terrible two’s always like this?”

“A little bit of both.”

Hi everyone, again we hope that you enjoyed our walk down Memory Lane. If you read our story and know anything about Scout’s background, we would be so pleased if you could contact the editor of our Newsletter. Until next time, remember - memories are what make our past. Our last story for 2009 will be about “Getting a New Harness” See you then.  Baby, Joseph, Scout and Little Annie