My parents bought their property in ’73 and began building out here. They planted a peach orchard and we had chickens, goats, and a garden. Mom and Dad kept ledgers of their activity and the weather. I dug some up and thought I’d share with you some of their entries.
1985
We had a handful of neighbors out here. We spent a lot of time with one couple, fishing and camping. They had a horse that they let me ride, which I did, every chance I got. Man, I loved that horse. In the summers I’d spend hours on her back, sometimes just lounging around, other times riding out in the sagebrush. It was pure magic.
One day I noticed that the little chestnut mare was gone. Sometimes Jerry sent her off to pasture at his brother-in-law’s place, so it didn’t alarm me. But she didn’t come back. I got word through the grape vine that she’d been sold. First, my heart broke, even though I knew she wasn’t mine, I felt like she was. Second, I immediately commenced “Operation Black Cloud” in which I stomped around angrily and refused to acknowledge or speak to my neighbor.
April 12th we sat at the family dinner table when we noticed Jerry driving up the road. Dad went out to greet him. I figured I was in trouble for being disrespectful to an adult or I’d left a gate open. When Dad called me outside to talk to Jerry I knew Operation Black Cloud was getting shut down.
Jerry thrust an old bridle into my hand and said, “know who this might fit?” I was still waiting for the hammer to drop and didn’t understand what he was getting at.
“You go put that on that mare and bring her home and you can have her” he smiled.
I honestly don’t know if I even thanked him. I was absolutely gob-smacked and unable to even register any kind of emotion.
Turns out Operation Black Cloud had somewhat of an impact and he bought back “my” mare and somehow coerced my father into letting me have her.
Saturday, May 4 Low 25 degrees, High 65 degrees.
“Potluck here today, Williams [John and Ann, of Kiona Winery], Beavers, Us.”
Saturday, May 11. Low 32 degrees, High 66 degrees.
“Ice on dogs’ water this morn.”
And the birth of my niece, Brea Ann, mother to Mikey who you probably see a lot of in our Instagram as she visits us in the mornings and I take her out to do chores with me.
Wednesday, July 31.
“Teresa is fifteen today. Got her a saddle blanket. Got a line on a saddle.”
I got my saddle when I was 16, and still have it.
A couple of years later I was gifted another horse. Only able to keep one at a time, I gifted my mare to the neighbor who had kids.
