Rain, rain, NO DON'T GO AWAY!

By Gayle Carline
Mystery, Horse, Humor Author... sometimes all-in-one

I know what you folks back east are thinking. Is she crazy? We don't want any more precipitation! You're right. You don't need more. Unfortunately, California is in such a drought, I'm thinking of driving to my brother's house in Illinois, loading a truckbed with snow, and bringing it back to Orange County.

It's not global warming. It's global weirding.

We had a big bunch o' rain last weekend, but not enough to make a big dent in the dust, especially since we're experiencing beautiful 70-80 degree weather that's drying everything up. It's great for riding, but awful for the garden.

Our arena. The wind and rain obliterated all signs of the tractor's drag,
but would you believe it was completely dry within three days?

The horses stood in their stalls for most of the rainy weekend. We got them out to hand-walk them as much as we could. Frostie can be hand-walked fairly well, as long as nothing in the landscape has changed. She notices when a trash can has been turned around, or a chair has fallen over. My friends who have a child with Aspergers have recommended I get her tested.

Snoopy wants to grab everything in his mouth. The lead rope, the bushes we walk by, my jacket, my hand. We have tried all sorts of remedies to his mouthiness. Nothing works for more than a few seconds. I usually just hold the end of the lead rope in my left hand and pop his nose with it if he gets his face too close to me. After two or three tries of this, he will walk with his mouth pursed closed, as if pouting - for about a minute. Then he forgets.

I should perhaps get him tested for OCD.

The bad part of the rain was that I was supposed to show Snoopy at a three-day horse show, and then help our young riders at a one-day show later. None of that happened. No one wants to ride in the rain in all their nice clothes and shiny saddles, and REALLY no one wants to have their horse slip and injure themselves in the muddy footing.

So now my next show isn't until the end of April.

In the meantime, I'm getting MURDER ON THE HOOF ready for its May/June release, and enjoying my 15 minutes of fame in America's Horse. Here's a picture of me showing Snoopy the magazine. Snoopy finds my knuckles much more appealing than the picture.

What's on your list of things to do? And what, if anything, is the obstacle in your path?

Hope you all have a great weekend!