50/50 Weekend

It was a 50/50 weekend. Saturday was the bad 50. A total bust. It was cold, cloudy, and rainy. A Monday type of day. To make matters worse, I ate the day away. And now I have a fear of the scale. Yes, I'm still dieting. Those dang 10 winter pounds will not go away.

The other 50% of the weekend was sunny, albeit the wind was blowing terribly most of the afternoon. At least it dried things out a bit. I spent the afternoon spring cleaning the living quarters of my horse trailer. How come that is much more pleasant than cleaning the house? Then after a little yard work, I went and changed into my riding gear.

It seemed still. I thought the wind had died down as I left the yard. I moved Windy into a trot as I normally do when we leave our drive. She will give me less resistance leaving the herd if we move out quickly. We passed the neighbor’s farm whose grain bin dryers were going and started to trot up the first hill which must have provided some sort of a windbreak. Just as the wind whistled through my helmet, it dawned on me I wasn’t just hearing wind; but a fast moving vehicle.

No sooner did the thought cross my mind than a big white Chevy truck crested the hill dead center in the road. I was in my lane but the proximity to that dually was too close for comfort. In a less than gentle move, I yanked the rein to the right and dropped down off the incline of the road into the ditch, still moving at a pretty good clip. I lost my stirrup and my seat, but managed to stay on as I circled her to a stop.

The driver slowed. I remember thinking "don't let me fall off in front of him". I didn't. To his credit, I don’t know who he is but he has passed me before when riding and always slows down. As a rule, when the wind is strong, I don’t run the hills. I didn't realize the hill was blocking the wind until I almost crested it. Although our roads are not real high traffic, I won’t wear ear buds or listen to music when riding. Hearing what is going on around me is very important; especially if I can’t see what is coming down the road.

After I pulled my heart back out of my throat, we moved on down the road. The next truck that came upon us slowed way down, the wife and child smiling and waving big as they passed us. Windy evidently didn’t have any ill effects from me yanking her into the ditch earlier as she barely flicked an ear as the truck passed us.

The gate to the small rural cemetery was open as we passed, so I steered Windy in, careful to stay on the gravel road. I am one of those weirdoes who like to explore cemeteries. Some other day I’ll find a post for hitching Windy and check out this small graveyard.

Besides just one crappy day, the sunshine has finally returned. The farmer across the way is now harvesting his corn. Now that is the first time in my lifetime I have seen a corn harvest in March. He’d better hurry before we get another winter storm!

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(Check out the moon coming up in the horizon in the shadow pictures!)