Friday night, there was a chili cookoff benefit for the boys and girls club of Ukiah. Friedman's had a booth there, so of course I had to go support the cause. J. had been assigned the duty of cooking up the ground beef- 30 pounds to be exact. He had been at the cookout for several hours before I arrived in Ukiah and had been indulging in some brewski's compliments of the Rotary club. As I drove down State St. looking for a place to park. J. calls and tells me he will wait for me on the side of the road. I drive a few more blocks and I see him standing there waving, wearing a velvet pirate hat, gold hoop earings, a patch, and a shredded Friedman's shirt. Damn, why did I leave my camera at home?!
The festivities went well but Friedman's did not win any awards. As I am drove my drunk pirate home, I hear over and over how dissapointed he is, how hard he had worked, how he will go bigger and better next year blah, blah blah. I really had no idea he was so passionate about these things.
On Sunday, Big D. and I headed to Highland springs for a BBQ with my sister's softball team. My good friend Heather and her husband are the assistant caretakers so I gave her a call to tell her we are headed out her way. This is when I hear some disturbing news: someone's horse had collapsed and dropped dead right there in the park near the swim beach and the whole scene is pretty much unfolding as we spoke. The swim area adjoins the big grassy picnic area and as you can imagine, it was pretty difficult trying to shield the public from the whole situation.
Big D. was pumped up about going to the park so I did not have the heart to turn around and go home.So, I take my time driving out there, hoping the scene will be secure by the time we get there. When we arrive, there are tons of riders and horses, families everywhere. Off in the distance I see a tractor loading this poor horse into the bed of a pickup. Of course, the word was out and kids can be heard yelling, "I want to see the dead horse!" Of course, Danny is quick to pick up on all of this and he begins to ask me where the dead horse is. Luckily, he never saw the carnage as we were able to divert his attention by going and visiting some of the LIVE horses nearby. It was a very sad scene though:
Ok, I told you I didn't have a camera- even if I did do you think I would be there snapping pictures? By the way, I really do not recommend doing a google image search of "dead horse" ........This pic is actually kinda funny- isn't this the scene from Office Space when they were out there smashing the computer to pieces?! Love that movie!
Back to my story. Yes, it was actually very sad. Fortunately, the owner of the horse had been driven home so she did not have to witness the loading of the carcass or the callous heckling of small children. I talked with one of the riders who said the horse was a bit older and underweight. He had just been purchased by this gal recently and there was word that some other horses from the previous owner had recently been euthanized also- not a good scene.
On a lighter note, someone had set up a giant slip 'n slide (the cool homemade variety) on the lawn and entertained Big D. for quite a long time. Here is a pic from earlier this summer:
Well, that was ny weekend, anyway. Really getting the hang of this blog thing and have to say I love it. My next step will be customizing it = stay tuned!
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