Beauty and Barbed Wire

So, I took the advice of my friend, Carol, and decided to take pictures of the precious mommy and matching baby horse. This caused some irritation within my neighborhood. Now I might have to move.

1. I drove very slowly (by slowly, I mean about 47mph) past the pasture where the bookend mommy and baby horse are located.

Irritation factor: The speed limit on unposted country roads is 50. With inflation, that means 60 to most people, and in my neighborhood a lot of people have obviously been plagued by inflation.

2. The bookend horses were not out. Other, less adorable, horses were out in their place. I passed the driveway with the pasture on each side, but thought I spotted the mare and foal in a small paddock.

Irritation factor: To my dismay, my right blinker isn't working AGAIN. I've had it fixed at least ten times. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

3. I decided to hang a U-turn at the next little country road. Someone was waiting to turn onto the speedway I was on.

Irritation factor: I signal with my arm because my blinker isn't working. The man in the pick 'em up truck doesn't understand traditional hand signals. "Nice blinker, you--expletive deleted-- " he shouts and gives me what is also a traditional hand signal, although it doesn't mean he was about to turn.

4. I backtracked to the long, long, long driveway with the pastures on each side. I squinted ahead and, yes, there are the horse and foal.

Irritation factor: Just as I started up the narrow driveway someone in a pick up started toward me from the house at the end of the driveway. He stopped. With tires crunching on the gravel, I pulled over as far as I could but there was still not enough room for two cars. Backing up is not my strong point. I continued until I got to a wider spot.

5. When I got to the wider spot, I pulled to the right, putting on my non-working blinker. When that action failed to spur the pick up forward, I stuck my hand out the window and motioned to the driver to go ahead past me.

Irritation factor: He didn't understand my hand signals. The big truck idled at the head of the driveway, pawing the ground and snorting.

6. I hung out the window and waved him toward me.

Irritation factor: He finally spun his wheels and spilled to a stop next to my car, gravel spewing and a scowl on his face.

I forced a smile, though I thought I could hear dueling banjos. "Do you know who owns those two horses there?" I asked.

"No."

Hmmm. "Well, I wanted to get a picture of them because they are so cute. Do you think that would be okay?"

"I don't know. They are boarded. The driveway is the next one down." His teeth clamped together and his knuckles grew white on the steering wheel.

Not to be discouraged, I smiled. "Oh, well, would it be okay if I just jumped out and snapped a picture?"

He looked pointedly past my car.

"Can you get by me?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah." With that he excelled, leaving a cloud of dust and tiny pebbles plinking across my hood.

I vaulted from the car and yanked my camera out and snapped a few quick pictures. I'll have to try it again when they are in the pasture because you can't see how cute they look together here.

But first I'll rent a car with a decent blinker and wear a disguise.