What Your Pets Wont Tell You

Why is driving and eating so tiring?

May 21

faithfulservantanimals, cats, dogs, horse shows, Horse training, horses, pet sitter, Pets, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Day 10     9:57 pm
Sorry faithful blog readers for my five day abcence, but you know what they say “abcence makes the heart grow fonder”. We have lots to catch up on so I’ll give you the weekend to start and we’ll move on from there. Oh ya, one thing that I did learn this week is that I am now old enough and tired enough to fall asleep at Ihop! That story coming soon.
Today (Saturday, that is) started with a kiss from my husband. That’s always nice, except that is was at 6:25am. Up early and off and runing. A need for speed today as I want to be on the road by 11am or at least that is the plan. My animals feed and medicated I head to Dawson and Skippy’s house. Breakfast and fresh water for both the kids. Ich! Litter box is chalked full and looks like it hasn’t been scooped in a week. Poor kitty, no one likes a dirty toilet. Isn’t he cute?

Still time to get gas and a few nibblets from the grocery store before I need to be home for Riley’s lesson. Home just in time to get a upset tummy from my AJ’s breakfast burrito. This is a forshadowing as you’ll find out later. A quick load of laundry in and out to teach Riley her riding lesson. Do you remember her? The cute little 3 year old with blond curls and all. Today she was brave enough to lead Robin out of her stall and steer with the reins. That meant letting go of the horn with one hand. What a cute little tyke.
A quick shower cause Lord knows I can’t stand smelling myself for Seven and a half hour drive. Toss my luggage in the car and off I go to Simi Valley. A quick meeting on the side of the road with Mom to get my wonderfully hemmed pants and I’m officially in route.

About four hours into my drive and I come up over the hill to Palm Springs. Home again!

It is a cool site to see when you come over the creast and there it is, the whole valley laid out in front of you at the base of this huge mountain. As I’m driving through I get a definate home sick feeling. It is so wierd that no family lives here anymore, and there is just no reason to come visit. I guess it is true that you can never really go home again. Time keeps ticking and you can’t stop things for changing. It’s a depressing reality. Through the infamous windmills and

next stop Beaumont. This town is lost in the 70′s it’s kind of creepy. I guess it is only fitting that it is know for the monster dinasours that were in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. I also had to stop at Hadley’s, of course they have the best dates in the world. A package of dates rolled in almonds for me, and maybe Andy if I don’t eat them all, and one filled with walnuts for Mom. YUM!

I look so happy in the picture because I know eating my dates is next Surprisingly, the rest of the drive goes by pretty quick and I finally arrive in Simi Valley. The hotel is cute and the room has a whole kitchen. Too cool and too bad I’m only going to be there for 11 hours. I settle in and decide to try  the BBQ restaurant recommended by the lady at the front desk. Bar-B-Q who can pass that up? Certainly not me!

OMG! this is like a resturant after my heart! If you are ever in Simi Valley I highly recommend trying Red’s. They had me at Mason Jar of iced tea, then came out the salad with carrots, crutons, cucumber , grated parmesean cheese and blue cheese dressing. Oh ya, and lets not forget the two, not one but two, rolls brushed ever so lovingly with garlic butter. Then the Pièce de résistance. No words can describe the yumminess of this sandwich. Pulled pork that is just so tender and flavorful that it melts in your mouth. Only a picture can do it justice and not shown in the picture is the glob of mash potates behind the sandwhich.

Fully bloated and feeling like a pig myself. You are what you eat. I waddle back to my hotel room roll into bed and off to sleep I go. Now you know why I didn’t blog that night.

Sunday moring I wake bright eyed and bushy tailed and looking very forward to getting in the ring again. I take a quick shower and put on my suit and belt buckel. A tidy new scarf around my neck, earings and my cowboy hat and off I go to the show. Now, I know the judge always has a air of confidence but I will tell you that in my experience it is always a bit wierd when you first show up a the show grounds and meet everyone for the first time. It is just like that first day at a new job. The show starts about 30 minutes late but the management seems very organized and calm. We start with Halter and move on to Western. Looks like a great group of riders and horses. I have everything from Minis to Utility horses to Dressage horses to judge. I will say I was impressed by the quailty of exhibitors at an open show. We broke for lunch at about 1:30 about two classes before Western wrapped, and for the record I recommended finishing Western first That wasn’t me I was highly recommended to try the smoked sausage. Now you have to understand that hot dogs and hamburgers are all that are ever served at a horse show, so what the hell smoked sausage it is! (and a little kraut) About halfway through the English classes a little girl fell off her horse when another horse in the class kicked at its face. She was a tough nut and climbed right back on and I don’t think she could have been more than 10 years old. What a champ! My heart went out to her. She really gave it her all, but her horse was giving her grief and she just couldn’t win a ribbon. Then she gets dumped. She just kept coming back class after class. I really wanted to be able to use her but she just wasn’t strong enough. I will think of this little girl I’m sure as my life goes on and remember her tancity and unwielding will. If she doesn’t give up neither can I. An example set by a 10 year old. Now that is remarkable. The show wraps up at about 6pm and I got a kudos from the management. I guess the exhibitors really liked me and thought I was fair. It was so awsome to hear. After spending three years working toward becoming a well educated judge it is a relief to know it is paying off.

After the show I head off to meet Dr. Walter de la Brosse for dinner at Viva. He was my trainer for a time when I was a teenager and is now a mentor for me as a judge. He has definatley been a large reason I have gotten as far as I have in the judging circle. Shrimp Enchiladas, some fried ice cream, and some good company is all you can ask for after 9 hours in the ring. Well. maybe a drink. Oh ya, I don’t drink.

After dinner I head off to my brothers house in Brea about 40 minutes away and I’m getting pretty wiped out at this point. I decide to stop for a quick potty break when I finally get to an area where I’m not worried about getting shot or raped. Oh ya, I’m almost 40 and getting fat I don’t think rape is a concern. See Walter even said I’m still cute. That’s a serious demotion. The ladies man thinks I’m cute. Too funny! As I come up the off ramp what to my wonder eyes does appear but a Frigin Kripy Kreme Doughnuts. Need I say more! The rest is boring. Hello to the family and an air matress. As soon as my head hit the pillow and it was Jennifer out!  I slept on an air matress and didn’t wake up all night. Now that explains why I didn’t blog that night. Fried ice cream and Kripy Kreme dougnuts dancing in my head!!!