Boots on Illinois Ground

-whew- It was a whirlwind weekend. We took April to her new home, where she is now named Mabel Two-Teated Meadow Muncher. I kid you not. We traveled through three states (IA, NE and SD) on Saturday to deliver her, handing her over to Blane and the incredibly cute Blayley, Blane's daughter (who used to have three cats, but one died. In case you wondered.)

We were well-cared for by Chocolot and her wonderful husband. So well-cared for that I didn't mind missing Weight Watchers' tonight! I doubt my weigh-in would have been encouraging. There was enough beer, wine and Godiva liqueur to account for a pound on their own! The food and accomodations were lovely, and the company was the best. Ranchwife and The Rancher delivered Mary's horse to her! See them get acquainted. (That's Ranchwife getting her started.)




Mary is, to say the least, thrilled. She has named her equine Wakiya, which, in Lakota, means "Thunder." See, Cowgirl #1, the oldest daughter of Ranchwife and The Rancher, bought Wakiya's filly when Mary bought Wakiya. Cowgirl decided that she wanted to name her horse Lightning, and suggested to Mary that Lightning's mother should be named Thunder; until then, Wakiya had no real name. She was called The Roan Mare; I suggested shortening that to Trim, but Mary went with Thunder. She just didn't like Thunder, however, so looked around for a word from another language meaning thunder; Lakota won.

Oh, Cowgirl ended up naming her horse Pathfinder. But that's another story.

Our new little goats had to come with, as their mom was sick and wasn't supposed to nurse them. So Mary and assorted Chocolot and Ranchwife children were getting up at 3am to feed kids. On the way home, we stopped a few times to feed them and water Wakiya. This photo is of their reaction when we were watering the horse at one stop. Sort of, "Hey. You forgot about us. Don't forget about us."



And Wakiya? Was she thankful for her water? Well, watch and see.



Maybe I'm being too hard on her. After all, April was in there earlier in the weekend. Maybe it just smelled too "cowy," and Wakiya was washing the floor.