Goings on

I'm still a little shocked that Thanksgiving has come and gone and we're on the countdown for Christmas. We had a great Thanksgiving visiting with Dave's family at his grandparents' house. It was a pretty small group (Grandpa, Granny, Bill, Shirley, Larry, Jeanie, Dave, and me).

We took the quad to do some riding because Dave's grandparents and uncle have some places to ride. I didn't bring an extra change of clothes, because I didn't plan to do any mud riding. Unfortunately, what should have been a nice, clean ride through the pastures with Dave driving and me riding ended with the quad stuck in a good foot of really cold, soft mud. Dave wished he'd had a camera to take a picture of my face, a face he says he hopes to never see again in person.

The funny thing is that I had just said to Dave about the area he was preparing to enter, "I don't know. It looks pretty bad. There's still water running through there." And his reply as he drove right into the mud pit was, "Oh I don't think its as bad as it looks." We sank immediately. After spinning the wheels a few times, Dave jumped right off since he was wearing his knee-high riding boots which are made for such conditions. I, however, was wearing my favorite new Adidas, which are not made for such conditions. One shoe was already covered in mud from the spinning tire.

Since the quad was not going to budge with a passenger, I had to get off. So I proceeded to remove my shoes and socks and roll my pants way up above my knees before I could attempt disembarkation. Upon my first step off the quad, my foot sank in mud half way up to my knee, and when I looked for the shortest path to dry land I saw that the quagmire stretched a good 6 feet in any direction.

Maybe you've stuck your foot in a pool in the late fall , and if so you know that water below 50 degrees will cause your entire foot and leg to cramp. Try it sometime. It's a really interesting feeling. Dave assisted me to dry land--thank goodness I didn't fall down. I used my only socks to wipe my feet/legs down enough to get back on the quad to ride home (Dave found a dry route). Dave helped me wash up in the tub and I borrowed some socks and shoes from Dave's mom. Although I was VERY unhappy for a few minutes, I recovered pretty quickly.

Our T-Day meal was divine. We enjoyed all the tasty treats that everyone had cooked (turkey, ham, rice & gravy, cranberries, dressing, mac & cheese, green bean casserole, garden pea salad, broccoli salad, fruit salad, pumpkin pie, coconut pie, and pumpkin cheesecake). It turned out to be a really beautiful day so after lunch Dave and I went riding back in some of the wide open wheat fields. We thoroughly enjoyed walking through the fields and woods and taking turns playing on the quad.

Later in the day after the sun had gone down, there was another small incident while Dave was loading the quad back into the truck. Grandpa has a horse stable where several people board their horses, and on this day two new Arabians were arriving from Missouri. Dave wanted to avoid spooking the new horses while they were being unloaded, and he wanted to keep the driveway clear. So he parked the truck facing up a small incline in front of the house. Loading something into the back of a truck that is parked on a hill is not the best idea as we soon came to find out. Dave now knows what it feels like to have 400 pounds worth of quad on top of him. Under normal conditions driving the quad up the ramps into the truck can take several tries. Well, this night the first attempt didn't do it, and the quad rolled back down the ramps. As Dave applied the brakes the quad rolled back and over right on top of him. He pushed it over and off very quickly and said that he was never scared or worried. I, on the other hand...well, my heart stopped only momentarily. But, no harm done, luckily.

So after enjoying the beautiful weather, getting in some riding and spending quality time with Grandpa and Granny we headed back home. Sorry no pictures to post. For some reason we didn't take any.

Unfortunately we weren't able to make it to my family's get-together because the time was too early. Mom tells me it was fun and that there were about 40 relatives there altogether. Quite a reunion I'd say. Sorry we couldn't be in both places.

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving, too. What's that I hear? Jingle bells already!