A Psalm

Father, I am so frightened. But not for me, but rather for this land.

We are moving so far from what was once. A thief of intimidation has put his foot in the door and now is forcing his way in. He mocks the very ideals that put him in the position that now gives him power.

We were built on the foundation of freedom. Like a rock in the shoe of the world, we demanded freedom from the highest hill. And brought it to rest with an exausted sigh, worthy of esteem.

Now to be bullied into submission. Now to be silenced by a needy crowd of dogs. Now to be torn apart because we have stood by our word, our beliefs, our honor.

Everyone sees, but no one perceives. They all hear exactly what they wish.

For You know. Only you can know.

Never has Your role seemed so clear.

Poor Sap

Yesterday was the work day of the week - heavy work day outside. I moved panels, moved horses, moved the obstacle course pieces, mowed the front, used the weed eater out front (got fire ants thrown into my shirt for my trouble . . they stung me twice), put the obstacle stuff back, watered the backyard, pulled the weeds from the flagstone . . . pretty much a smelly, make you-grin-cause-you-got-so-much-accomplished- kind of day.

Robert comes in and calls me to come outside. He then points to the flowers in my color garden and says; "When was the last time these got water?"

He was getting on to me. Like I was 8.

"Well, golly, officer, I have no idea how that lawn mower ended up on top of that guy . . ."

Good Name for a Book

So here Cheri is, all lonely, a week off work and desperate to ride. Because I really can't because of the heat, Jackie is the good sister and loads panels, horse, feed and hay into the trailer and loans out Chief to my sister for a week.

Chief (Fee-Boy-Pride-&-Joy-Playtime-Toy), the good horse. The sweet horse. The follow you like a dog horse. The "Reason-I-am trying-to re-breed-Tesster-because-he's- so-awesome" horse.

Yeah. Okay . . right . . . .

Chief, the one who screamed for 12 hours straight. The one who tired to jump out of a 5 foot paneled pen. The one who bolted and would not be stopped for a quarter mile. The one who spooked so high and hard, my sister (who is a batter rider than I) almost came off. The one who tried to bite her when they got home.

Yeah. That one. The one I bragged on until I was off the ground with pride.

If you wanna learn humility, buy a horse.

Ah, man!

Okay, so I learned the hard way that I can't handle heat anymore.

Got a lot done on Saturday (and it certainly had nothing to do with selling/promoting the book). It was 104 degrees. My face was as red as a tomato, heart racing, stomach stuff, headache, disorientation, exhausted . . . . I stayed in the shade as much as I could and drank waters but . . .

But come on! It's been 4 days and I 'm still really slowed because of the headache.

Anyhow, here comes Ray and Nell out of the store and they notice that I'm less than my usual self.
Ray looked at Tesst and said: "Must be bad for the horse too, huh?"
I told him; "Ray, she's fine. She is just a horse."
To which he smiled and replied; "I didn't think you knew that, Jackie."