Update on Paris

Just a quick update on Paris, but first a huge thank you for all the well wishes. I was over-whelmed to open my email when we got home this afternoon and find so many thoughtful and heartfelt remarks.

Paris's surgery went well, and her doctor was pleased with the procedure and the result. He said that she's resting fine now. She will have to wear her splint after surgery, which he wasn't anticipating but b/c of how the bone cracked down the length, he wants to give it extra support while healing. So she gets to keep her cool hot pink cast!

We get to bring her home tomorrow, but he wants to see her again the end of the week. Another trip to Belle Fourche!

More good news:
Malcolm talked to our broker this morning, who was understanding and the load we had was very flexible. We are home until further notice, at least the end of the week, so we can see Paris through her ordeal and hopefully take her with us when we leave in a few days.

SO: Paris is good, we get more home time, Malcolm now gets a few days to play since he worked the e.n.t.i.r.e. time we were home and is worn out, AND my mother-in-law and I discovered a delightful little coffee house and fabric store while killing time in Belle Fourche! We're all feeling better today!

A Bad Ending

We're having a bad ending to our time at home. After 2 busy, but uneventful weeks home, we are all set to leave for work again. Or at least we were until yesterday morning.

It all started early in the morning as we were preparing to haul a load of open cows to the sale barn. I thought, rather than leave the girls home alone all day, I'd let them come with us and stay in the semi like they are used to doing.
In their excitement, Carlie Jean caused an incident.

You know how she loves to run. And in her running frenzy, she tripped me. And as I fell, I dropped Paris. As much as she screamed I knew instantly there was something wrong. So as soon as I got my breath back from falling flat out on my back, I scooped her up b/c Carlie and Ella were intensely interested in what was wrong with her. Her little leg was just flopping around, so it was obvious what the problem was right away.

Because we're in ranch country, it's hard to track a vet down on a normal day, but try and do it in the fall on a weekend. We ended up just having to take Paris to Belle Fourche, SD with us and to a vet there, 2 hours away.

When I picked her back up the nurses had french braided her hair and told me they tried to match her outfit and so gave her a pink cast. She was obviously very well pampered while at the vet.

Turns out her little tibia is snapped and fractured further down so that a simple splint and cast won't do long term.
The temporary fix has made things...complicated.

She is being quite the trooper, not crying and seems not to hurt unless she turns it wrong. But she is sad to not be able to bounce around like normal, and it's hard to keep her confined but that's the only way to keep her still and quiet.

Brief little visits to her grand-people's house have cheered her and I think she's liking all the extra attention.

But tomorrow morning, we have to drive back to Belle Fourche early and she has to have pins and wires put in her leg and stay over night.
Malcolm and I may, if it will work out, stay a few more days. But a load is already lined up and if it can't be rescheduled, we'll have to leave Paris behind and she'll be staying with her grand-people for an unknown length of time.
I'm doing ok with the break, but the idea of leaving her is upsetting. I know all our bloggy friends would want to know about Paris and her situation. I'll keep you posted and fill you in on the good parts of our home time later on. In the mean time, thoughts and prayers are appreciated for tomorrow. I know she's just a dog, but for me, she's my baby, and even though I have three, Paris is my first and favorite. She has a special place in my heart. I'm not looking forward to the days to come!

Last Weekend...

...we hit the road again. Not in the semi, but in our pickup. We just can't seem to stay off the road!

We left home at 5:45am on Friday morning and by sunrise, we'd already stopped in Baker, coffee-d up, and were well west of town!

Eighty miles west of Baker, we hit the interstate, stopped in Miles City for something to eat and fuel, and then continued west. By 10:30am, we were pulling into Billings.
This was not our final destination, but we did have a lay over here.

We had some errands to run in Billings, a couple of business appointments, and a quick visit with a friend. Bless her heart, she came out to meet me even though she was a bit under the weather, and then proceeded to let me drag her around town, playing taxi cab for me, and she didn't even get lunch out of the bargain! No time! She must be a true friend and quite a trooper!

By Friday evening, we were appalled that we hadn't even finished half our errands and we were out of time. Stores and offices were closing. A friend from Nebraska was delivering a few horses to the Billings Livestock Commission for their big monthly horse sale. So we met him there and then went to dinner. And then found a hotel and fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows.

Saturday morning we were on the road by 6:00am, headed west again before sunrise. The day was just beginning to show light and we were already nearing Bozeman.

We had about 3 1/2 hours of driving to our destination. We stopped in Three Forks, MT to have breakfast at WheatMontana's main store and warehouse. And then turned north. Do you know where we were headed yet?

Malcolm presented me with a gift he had snuck into the truck. He had gone to a special store...

...and bought me a special gift...

...to commemorate the purpose of our special trip. As if this trip wasn't gift enough!

Any ideas what we were up to?

I had no idea that our destination was so close to Three Forks. It doesn't take any time at all to get up there!

Eight hours of driving in all, from home to Helena, and  then we were there all of 45 minutes before turning around and heading back east.
"What?" you may think. "Why on Earth would you drive all that way and not spend time there? What were you two up to?"

Well we were able to make it such a quick errand because we'd done our shopping two months ago. The merchandise was already chosen, signed over, and paid for. It was just waiting for customer pickup. But first it wanted to finish it's breakfast.

Meet Fancy (above) and Reba (below). Sorry, they are too distracted by strange men and breakfast to look at the camera. 

You may have noticed their pictures over in my sidebar, listing them as members of our herd. We acquired these two lovely mares a couple months ago from Roy and Cindy Swanby of Rocky Mountain Paint Gallery. They have some lovely horses, but I'd fallen for these two, and Malcolm got tired of me drooling over their pictures, and gave me the go ahead. So in early September the deal was done, but we didn't have the chance to pick them up till last weekend. I was so happy to finally be bringing them home. Bouncing in the seat happy and talking Malcolm's ears off about random things. (I get chatty when I'm happy and hyper.)

And so we loaded them up into our trailer which still had a lot of cow poo in it from a few days before, and it was obvious that was a new smell to the girls. They were fascinated, especially Reba. But they loaded so nicely, despite the strange smells and unfamiliar surroundings (Malcolm had a large air compressor strapped in the back section of the trailer that they had to walk past). Clearly Cindy has done a great job starting her colts and keeping her herd in tune!

We were headed back east with our herd additions in tow. It was an uneventful trip, thankfully, and by 3:00 we were back in Billings. We finished up the "have to" errands that hadn't been done the day before, and at sunset we were pulling out headed home.

We were home by 10:00, unloaded the pick up, and were in bed before midnight! Sleeping at home...there's nothing like it!

Sunday morning we rushed through breakfast  so we could go visit with the girls and introduce them to their new world.

I originally thought I'd keep them in the corral for a while till we got acquainted better, and also give them a chance to get to know their new herd members, but the corrals were going to be a busy, noisy place in the coming days. So we opted instead to just turn them out...

...into what may be the biggest pasture they've ever seen. They seemed a bit overwhelmed at first, but soon settled in to chowing down.

Friendships have been slow in forming. Fancy is the kind of gal that falls to the bottom of the totem pole and gets picked on, so she's not easily approached for friendship. She has rebuffed both Dawn and Gemma's invitations, and by all appearances seems to have decided that since she's in a new place, she's going to set down some ground rules from the start. She might even turn into the top dog. Time will tell. I figure they'll all
work out their new roles and friendships over time.

It was a good trip, even with the early mornings, and its good to have them home at least!
We enjoyed looking out the window and seeing them grazing happily all day. Sunday was a nice relaxing day at home.

And then Monday was another really early morning...

...but that's another blog post for another day. Right now, I have horses to go play with!

Headed Home

We didn't get loaded up till Monday morning but that was ok. The scenery more than made up for the delay, as we usually make a lot of that trip after dark. The colors were outstanding coming across Lookout Pass on the ID/MT border. So incredibly vivid! The gold was so bright it almost hurt your eyes.

And then Montana was not about to let Idaho's leaves get the better of it. So, though the leaves were a bit duller over in Montana, the sunset over Butte was superb.

In about 4 hours we will have been out on the road for 9 weeks and 2 day.

Granted, we had a little 3 day layover at home the first weekend of October, but I never really count those layovers as "home time."

And sure there have been a few breaks. We lounged around a weekend in Sacramento waiting for sunflower seeds, and again this past weekend in Moses Lake, WA waiting on the same product. But if your not lounging at home, its not really lounging.

Nine weeks and a day. The longest we've ever stayed out since we started hauling around this hopper trailer 3 years ago. And it turned out to be the busyest round on the road we've had in a long time! In fact they are so busy, the broker was somewhat reluctant to lose us for 2 weeks.

By the time we get home, we will have driven 45,935 in nine weeks! That's an average of about 5,100 miles a week, about 1,000 miles/week over what we aim to average!

Home time does not mean we step out of the truck and forget it exists for 2 weeks. We're shipping calves on the 31st and that involved us haulin' a load or two to the scale in town, in addition to haulin' the cows home from summer pasture. So we'll be doing a little bit of driving. And when we're not behind the wheel, there are other things to attend to. The wheel seals are starting to leak on the trailer really badly, and we need some tire work. There is some welding needed on the trailer frame as well, and some other jobs that need done that Malcolm will see to. For me, there is truck related laundry that needs attention. Lots of bedding to wash, and I'll probably lug my vacuum out to the truck, b/c me little car vacuum just doesn't dig out the deep dirt. And there is, as always, lots of paperwork.

We'll be having a meeting with our accountant while we're home and I've been crunching some numbers to take with us. It's always fascinating...and a little bit startling...when I do that. We were both surprised to learn that we've already spent over $100,000 on fuel this year. Over last years total and we still have two months to go. I haven't felt like the price/gallon was that much higher than last year, so perhaps we've just used that much more. I have yet to add up our total miles for the year thus far. That should tell me. Might be interesting, especially considering we took nearly 2 months off this summer!

I am going back and forth about blogging while home. I enjoy sharing our home time activities almost more than our road time activities, sometimes. But yesterday I started feeling exceptionally reclusive and private. Perhaps I need a few days to be a hermit. So I can't promise blog posts from home, maybe one or two, but not a lot. Time will tell. I might get home and have a sudden burst of blog inspiration.

We are in Billings, MT right now, unloading in the dark. The sun is not yet up. It is cold, about 31 degrees. Time to get the girls fleece PJ's back out. And there were a few flurries in our forecast here and there over the next few days.

Cold or not, I'll be out in it. I have outside things to do. I'll brave the chill because I know after this break, it will not be pleasant to be outside for a few months. So I have to get in my horse time, my Montana prairie time, and get all the outside soaked up that I can.

We'll finish up here in Billings, make a quick stop in Miles City to look at a hay trailer and get some groceries, and then around mid-afternoon, we'll be pulling into this drive way.

 I can't wait!

Takin' It Easy

On Thursday, we loaded in one of my favorite parts of Idaho. From I-15, you take US30 into the mountains of southeastern Idaho, past Lava Hot Springs,

and on into Soda Springs, where you turn north on a state highway that goes out to Conda, ID.  As you leave Soda Springs, there is a sign that warns of "no gas for 70 miles." My kind of place!

The colors on the mountains are amazing this time of year! And the vistas are always beautiful!

Conda, ID...I've seen no town by that name, though our GPS can find and lead us to "Conda." Maybe there is a town tucked away somewhere. I have no idea. But what IS there that we go to frequently, is a huge fertilizer plant.

We loaded fertilizer and hauled it to Othella, WA, delivering Friday morning. The plan was to load sunflower seed at Moses Lake and head to Minnesota. But we were told up front that the seed wasn't quite dry enough and we might have to wait.

By Friday evening it still wasn't dry enough, and so Malcolm decided since there was a chance we'd be here for a couple days, we'd splurge on a hotel room at the hotel across the road from the truck stop. So we loaded up our stuff, and the girls stuff, and the girls, and got ourselves settled in.

The lady here who has the seeds has been staying in touch with us. The seeds are close to being ready and we're hoping today is the day. We'd like to be sitting in Minnesota in the morning. We should know if we can load in a couple hours.

In the mean time, we've been enjoying the luxury of showers every day, sometimes two just for fun! And watching TV in our pajamas all day, catching up on rest.

The girls haven't had any complaints. They had lots of new spaces to explore, lots of fun running around and over the top of the bed, and to their great delight, the room has a king size bed, which means all 5 of us fit!

It has been nice for a change, relaxing, and good to be out of the truck for a spell. But its still not home, and we're getting restless, tired of watching TV, and being stationary for so long.

Hope we get on the road today!

Lessons in Letting Go

I remember Mom telling me years ago that she was the kind of person that mapped out every second of the day, and how deviations from her plan would frustrate her a great deal.
And I remember her telling me sometime later down the road, that maturity and life had helped her get past that so that when plans changed, her world was not turned quite so upside down. She has gotten so much better at rolling with the punches. Her latest blog post is evidence, as they hit some glitches on their trip, and she was able to get past it and write a very cute and humorous description of their adventures and how much they ended up enjoying it.

I share this with you, because I have learned that, though my need to schedule and know what's going on isn't as intense as her's was, I do have a tendency to make plans and then fall apart when something messes them up. Living with Malcolm and living at the ranch is teaching me to get over it.

And I share that with you so to lead up to my story today, about lessons in letting go.

Malcolm told our broker on Tuesday that we needed to go home next week, and would prefer to get there on the early side of the week. As usual, once this official announcement is made, my mind goes into fast gear, arranging and rearranging what all I want to do while home and the order in which I want to do it. And as I plan the anticipation builds and builds.

On Tuesday afternoon, the broker told us after we delivered in California, we'd take a load of fertilizer to Idaho, and it only made sense to us that he'd be working us home from there. And our minds settled on that and snuggled into that knowledge. So on Wednesday morning when the broker called and said that from Idaho we'd take a load of fertilizer to Texas for Friday, and then run a short load over the weekend, and then reload Monday morning and deliver in California Tuesday, my mind kind of short circuited because to me "home earlier in the week" meant I was home by Tuesday afternoon. Home any time after Tuesday is "later in the week" to me.

I tried to suck it up and act like a big girl, and mostly succeeded for a while. I only let two tear drops escape. And then I became angry. Really really angry. And as usual, as unfair as it is, I kind of took it out on Malcolm. I was angry that we were going so far from the right direction for so many days. I was angry that after almost nine weeks on the road, our broker hadn't recognized my NEED to go home. I was angry that I was sitting there watching all my plans and my precious schedule fall apart like a domino chain. And I was angry at Malcolm for not telling them that this wouldn't work. I was angry!

Fortunately for Malcolm it was his turn to go to bed, and so he was able to slip behind the security of the cab curtain. Bless his heart, here he was worn out, wanting to go home as much as me, and add to that, sick since loading pea flour Monday night (he breathed in too much of the stuff and has been plugged up, raw throated, and feeling miserable ever since), and now his wife isn't talking much and starring at the road ahead. I'm glad for his sake that he got to go to sleep.

I made it out of Sacramento without killing anyone. But my anger was growing and turning to rage. I was raging inside. Raging against trucking, how it was cheating me out of experiences and time. And I raged against Malcolm because he wouldn't say "no." I raged against him even though I knew I didn't have a good enough reason to. I got angrier and angrier, and those poor California drivers...it was a selfish day on the road in California. Everyone was being pretty inconsiderate and it did not help my mood any. I'm sure some of them had singed bumpers from the looks I gave them as they passed, not to mention I had a terrible time staying close to the speed limit. The angrier I became and harder it was to care about the speed limit.

Eventually a little voice started nagging me in the back of my mind. It would whisper and ask what was I doing? And I'd block it out and rage some more. A minute later it would come back and whisper, "you know what to do." But I'd push it aside and rage some more. Why is it that we hold on to anger so much? I don't know how it is for men, but why do we women almost relish staying in our anger? I was coming to realize this was silly, but I didn't want to let the anger go yet! I wanted to be angry! How much sense did that make?

The urging voice whispered again, "You know He has a plan. You know there is a reason for this change in your plans. You know it will all work out and you'll still get home and everything will be just fine! Why are you doing this?"

I literally rolled my eyes at this, and calmed for a moment, but then started thinking again about the big weekend I had planned. A special weekend for me and Malcolm that I'd been looking forward to for 8 weeks! And so much of what I wanted to do in the week after that, hinged on accomplishing some things that weekend. Postponing my plans till the following week would ruin everything! I returned to my hot anger.

But maybe the voice of reason was getting through a little. I don't now, but finally between angry thoughts and threats and venting, I paused for a one line sobbed plea, "God, please fix this!" I was so mired down in my anger that I couldn't manage more than that.

And I went back to my anger again, though a little less heated, but still strong and feeding itself. Have you recognized how very frustrated I was? I was, as usual, over reacting, I know. And I knew that all this was going to work itself out, but I also knew MY plans were all messed up now, and it was just more than I could handle at the moment, obviously. But a minute or two later I was able to take a deep breath and put forth a second request. "God, Please help me."

I was still angry. It just kept coming in waves. But maybe 45 minutes later as I was nearing the California/Nevada line I realized I was daydreaming about my horses, and that I wasn't angry, and that I had even thought to take a picture for the blog as I crossed the Sierra Nevadas.

And I thought to myself, "It will be OK. I'll just deal with whatever happens, and we'll figure it out as we  go.There IS a reason for this, and regardless of when, we will still be going home and I'll enjoy it as much as I always do."

At the state line, the curtain unzipped and Malcolm was awake and coming up front. He was about 45 miles early, and I tried to tell him to at least go lay down and rest till we got to the fuel stop. I wanted him to rest because he's been feeling so rotten all week, but even more, I was afraid the fire of my anger was only smoldering and I didn't want to burst into flames again and burn him.

He came up anyway and sat in the passenger seat and we were silent a few minutes. And then he told me he hadn't really processed the time frame for the loads the broker was giving us, and that it was cutting it too close for our weekend plan.

I told him I figured we'd just do it the following weekend.

"Why not go during the next week?" he asked me.

"Because, we have to help ship calves on Monday, and the accountant isn't in her office on Tuesday, and we have dentist appointments on Wednesday, and at some point you have to haul your Dad's cow's home from summer pasture. So we might as well wait till the weekend and that will just have to work."

He sat for a minute, then said "Going to Texas and California messes up everything. I'll talk to the broker in the morning and tell him it would be better if we could go home from Idaho if possible."

It had never occurred to me that he hadn't figured out how close it was cutting our time. I had been blinded by my anger and decided that he just wasn't willing to tell them no.
Another pause, I swallowed my pride. "I'm sorry I took out my frustration on you. That wasn't fair or nice."

It wasn't even 5 minutes before the phone rang.

It was our broker, calling us from his cell phone at home, because office hours were over and he was off duty for the evening. But he had taken off from his personal time to call and tell us the farmer in Texas had just called to cancel the load. So we wouldn't be going to Texas, and thus our California trip wasn't going to work. He was working on figuring out what to do with us from Idaho.

Malcolm told him it was OK, because we really needed to be home sooner anyway. "Oh," the broker said. "I didn't realize. Well there's nothing going to Montana, but we can try to get you to Washington with something and maybe get a load of sunflower seed to Minnesota and then find something there back to Baker or Miles City. I can probably get you home Wednesday at the latest."

After fueling, and eating, and getting the truck greased, Malcolm went back to bed. He was starting to feel rotten again.

And so I drove east, further into Nevada towards Idaho, and God and I had a little conversation which started with a thank you, and a big "I'm sorry."

I'm sorry, Lord, for letting my emotions rule my thinking and not leaning on You. I'm sorry for ignoring what I know. Because I know that You have a plan so much greater than my own, that You have reasons for everything you allow to happen.
And most of all, I'm sorry because I know the right thing to do in any situation is to let go and let You do your job!"

I didn't know what His purpose was in allowing that little episode in my life, but I knew, as that little nagging voice kept trying to tell me, that He had it under control and He had a plan. Even though I was trying to ignore what I knew, I still knew it.

I believe now that I know what His purpose was. He was giving me yet another lesson in letting go. Another reminder, as I need one often, to let go of my plans, let go of my need to know what's going to happen, and rely on Him to direct me on HIS path, down His chosen road, to be apart of His plans. And He was reminding me that sometimes He's just waiting for us to ask for Him to help because He wants to be a part of our lives, even the mundane ordinary parts.

Even the little things can pack a powerful punch. And don't ever think that God only concerns Himself with the big stuff in life. He answers the smallest of requests. Even the "God please fix this" about a silly schedule mix up. And sometimes the answer is "no" but take notice. I asked 2 things. I asked for him to "fix this" and I asked for him to "help me."

He "helped me" first, helped me calm down and accept what was going to happen.

So that even if his answer to the "fix this" had been "no," I would have been at peace with that.

I was and still am overwhelmed with gratitude for His lesson in letting go.

Jeremiah 29:11
¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

More of the Same

My sister and her family just returned home from a magical trip to the Magic Kingdom,

and Mom and Dad are driving around the Oregon coast as we speak on an incredible dream vacation.

What are we doing? We are on yet another trip from North Dakota to California. All 5 of us are getting really bored with the scenery on this route. The dogs don't even come up to the cab much any more. Even the stuffed ones are sick and tired of this trucking thing.

Which is why I haven't blogged for a while, a little over a week actually. Seeing the same thing over and over does not inspire much. I just haven't been in the mood, haven't had much of interest to share, and quite frankly, I've been too tired to care much about anything. Tired from driving and weary of the road. Which sounds pathetic, and I'm not shopping for sympathy. Just telling you where I've been.

But for whatever reason, the blogging mood struck this morning around 3:00 and I composed three blog posts in my mind as I drove, and then had to choose. I decided to just go update you on what we've been up to and then share other stuff later.

Mt Shasta as viewed from Weed, CA

Last week I think I told you, after our long weekend waiting in Sacramento, we took a load of pears to Portland? Did I tell you or was that on facebook? Well, anyway, that's what we did, and from Portland we bounced empty over to Moses Lake, WA to load more sunflower seeds. Yes, sunflower seeds. I think its the only thing anyone grows anymore!

Along the way, we drove the Columbia River Gorge again, which is always enjoyable, and stopped at a little rest area to take a quick break, and even though we were in a hurry, I took the time to take a picture of Beacon Rock and read the plaques there. It was interesting. I have a dream of taking a vacation like Mom and Dad's with no agenda in which I stop at every single roadside point of interest, all the ones I've driven past over the last 5 years and not gotten to stop to see. Maybe I'll stop at them all twice on my dream trip just to make it up to myself.

 Also on the way to Moses Lake, after leaving the river and heading across the high plains of Washington, we found the Columbia again, and crossed it again. I love the way the sky looks in this picture, like that gap in the mountains is sucking not only the river water up, but the sky and clouds too. Kind of interesting.

 And on the other side of the river, we climbed the big hill, passing this little water fall...

 ...and also Wild Horses Monument.

 All of those things can be seen from I-90 in central Washington, and we've seen them all before. More of the same for us. But I've not put them on the blog, I think, so it was new stuff to show you so there you go!

And then we arrived in Moses Lake to load our sunflower seeds.

 From there, it was off to Breckenridge, MN, once again, more of the same. Drove through Montana which took all night, and morning found us in western North Dakota on a beautiful morning driving past Theodore Roosevelt National park. Doesn't this picture just make you ache to climb on a horse and go explore?

Miles and miles of exploring to be done there. One of these days....

After our sunflower seed load, we took a load of beet pulp pellets to California. More of the same. We made record time so we could get there and deliver early (like 3:00am) Saturday morning, so we could drive back to Sacramento and load sunflower seeds for Fargo. More of the same.

We left Sacramento with what was to be the last load of sunflower seeds from there until November...probably. They were too moist and so they stopped harvesting for a while until the seeds have time to dry out more.

By Sunday morning sunrise, I was west of Billings, MT passing the Crazy Mountain range in a mist of rain with a rainbow behind me and a gorgeous sunrise in front.

We delivered in Fargo yesterday morning, then sat most of the day waiting for Devils Lake, ND to have enough product to load us.

We left there around midnight last night, and this morning we were west of Billings again, looking at the Crazy Mountains from a different angle with a little more snow on top, and a lot more sunshine.

We're hauling another load of pea flour to that mill in Sacramento. More of the same. And from what I hear, we're loading in Stockton tomorrow morning, and heading to Idaho.

From Idaho, who knows. But we're supposed to get home next week sometime...preferably early on. And I swear! If I see California again before we go home for a break, I'll scream!

Ella agrees. She's already practicing. It's been a very successful round on the road, but I think we're all in agreement. Nine weeks is too long to be gone!

I know this whole post sounds rather negative, but I have to share the ups and downs if this is truely going to be a representation of my life. And right now, even though I still enjoy my job and don't want to be doing something else, its just time for a break! I'm physically and mentally weary. But one more week, and I can rejuvinate and boy howdy, am I looking forward to it! Home and Horses... two things that are a garuntee to make me feel better.