Foot, Roads, Horses

Joyce - my huckleberry picking friend - called to invite me to join her hiking group today (Friday) for their weekly hike in Glacier Nat'l Park. They were going on a 10 mile hike. I had to decline because my left foot was sore. I thought that when I wore an old pair of shoes with a hole in the bottom to cross the river to see how my cattle made their jail break last weekend, I had stepped on some rocks on the gravel river bed and hurt the ball of my foot. Then the next day I had to stand on two pipe wrenches over and over to loosen a number of pipe sections on my well's plumbing. So I have been hobbling since then favoring my foot. This morning I checked the bottom and found a very small black spot. It turns out I had a thorn in my foot. I guess when wearing those shoes and walking among the brush I stepped on a thorny something, then forgot about it. Once I got the thorn out of my foot my foot felt so much better when I walked on it. I wish I figured this out yesterday so I could go on the hike today.

This afternoon I went to talk with Charlie, the County road superintendent, as he was suppose to be back from vacation yesterday. I never got around to writing about it, but last week I went to the County Commissioners' office to read the file on the proposed subdivision north of me. 52 houses. This is the same sub-division that was defeated last December. The developer is back again with a slightly revised plan. Because the road past my place is substandard and wouldn't handle the estimated traffic of an additional 520 vehicle trips per day from the new subdivision the developer proposed to add a two foot gravel shoulder to the road. Then he wanted the County to set up a plan to have "late comers" reimburse him for the improvement to the road by their property. He apparently spoke with the County road superintendent and got his approval. When I spoke to one County Commissioner about this he said to talk with the Road Superintendent.

Which brings me to today. I found the Superintendent was out of the office. I guess he and most of the department work four 10 hour days and have Fridays off work. Pretty nice - go on vacation and come back to work, then get the next day off work.

Guy, the second in command, told me to call Charlie 6:30 am Monday morning. Apparently the County dedicates two weeks each year to chipping-and-sealing and that starts Monday. So call Charlie early before they go out to start the work.

I found that while Guy drives my road and is familiar with it, as his girlfriend lives north of me, he wasn't familiar with the proposed subdivision or Charlie's views on the road improvements. Guy seems to be a good guy, and in a talkative mood as no one else was around. After hearing lots of stories of crazy or upset people unhappy with the road department and the roads I finally left as I had to get to CHS to buy more bloat blocks.

My bloat blocks for the cattle were almost gone. The cattle seem to love them. Dan dropped off two bloat blocks this morning before I got up. I got to CHS before they closed at 5 pm. Three people were before in line. The price of each block went up from $17.99 to $18.59. But as it was only listed in the computer and not on the board, he sold the blocks to me at the old price. I bought three, an extra one for later.

Then off to Rebecca Farm to attend "The Event". This has been going on for a number of years now and I never got around to attending it. The Event is a premier equestrian competition. It is one of the four or five top courses in the U.S. In Olympic years it is one of the qualifying events for the U.S. team.

I got to the farm after 5 pm. The competitions on this first day of three ended after 6 pm. Not many people were there and I was able to park close. I wandered around not sure what was where and what was going on. On a loudspeaker I could hear a man with a slight British accent announcing riders' locations in a certain event. I later learned it was the cross county event. I wandered around a few areas where people on horses were walking around a square ring with very short with dividers inside. The dividers looked slightly higher than a curb. I wondered if this was an event or some people on horses wandering around. I later learned this was the "Dressage" event. "The Event" consists of Dressage, Cross Country, and show jumping. All three are required and one's score is the total of all three events.

I eventually found the cross country course and wandered over to watch it. There were very few spectators and they wandered across the course taking care not to get in the way when a rider and horse came by. I eventually made my way up the hill and to the shade of a large tent canopy. This location gave a person an overview of much of the course. I and others mainly watched when the riders had to cross the water pond in several locations.

There was more to describe but it is late and I am tired. I think I will try to go back to watch tomorrow. I guess today's contestants were of the novice class. More experienced riders compete tomorrow. Besides, as one course official confirmed to me, 3/4 or more of the contestants are women. These women in their stylish tight fitting clothes have a certain appeal.