Springtime Adventures

Our latest trips have been interesting. For the past three weekends, we've been doing one thing or another, as close as an hour from home or as far as three and a half hours. And it's varied from a family visit to a paying band trip to an expensive hobby.

April 21-23: My parents' place to see my grandparents, who hadn't seen me since the wedding last March.

April 29-30: Houston, for my husband, his best man, and my father-in-law to play background music as a band at an outdoor Sons of Confederate Veterans supper party at a wealthy gentleman's home.

May 5-7: Jefferson reenactment. The highlight of the reenacting season, and our first campout reenactment of the year.

I will review them in chronological order.

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On the evening of April 21, which by the way just happened to be a stressful day for unrelated reasons (o.O), we drove up through testy weather to my parents' place. We arrived in time to finish "The Incredibles" with my family, and then went to bed. Yance was not feeling great at all, so it was a rough night.

The following day, the rain had cleared up, but it felt like winter had arrived again. It was quite chilly. D and my dad got around to setting up a spray rig provided by my father-in-law, and then it was a day of playing around outside with unloaded airsoft guns and a broke-down car. Getting stuffed in the trunk of the car is fun... but also painful when your hip gets smacked down on your very solid phone. Yeah, I refused to do that again. Also went to town briefly, and my sweet husband was kind enough to buy me an orange sherbet milkshake (if it can be called that) at my request.

On Sunday, we had a Bible study at home while my grandparents and cousins went to church, and then we all met again downtown at a Mexican restaurant. While there, we ran into a familiar face: the man who had starred as Jean Valjean in the local junior college's "Les Miserables" back in November 2013. My best friend had been playing on the piano for the music, and I was part of the ensemble.

Family photo - four generations!

Anyhow, after that we went back to my parents' place and packed up, and then one of my bridesmaids, Lisa, came over to see me and my son. We hadn't seen each other since my wedding, and so she had never seen Yance before! Eventually, we left, and the last image I saw of Lisa was of her playing checkers with one of my brothers. On the way home, we stopped at a theater and watched "Fate of the Furious", which went over very well actually for Yance. He did cry for a few minutes at mealtime (he got fed, but sometimes he gets fussy and has trouble eating because of it), but besides that was awake and glancing around the room. Then we stopped at my in-laws for a minute to drop something off, and then we were home.

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On the 29th, the following Saturday, three men, a woman, and a seven-week-old baby boy loaded up in one truck and headed for Houston. They were Rowdy, D, myself, Yance, and the fellow who was our best man. And we were in his truck. We finally were ready at about noon, and headed out shortly after that.

We stopped in Nacogdoches for lunch at Whataburger, and then continued on until hitting an instrument store near our destination in Houston because we were early. From there, we went to the guy's place. It was a very nice home in the wealthy end of town. Over the garage he had a guest room, but really it could be called more of a collection room. Guns, posters, and other collection items from many different eras lined the walls, shelves, doors, table, and surrounded the couch. We felt kinda cramped with everything in the room, but at the same time admired all of the things. It was impressive.

A small portion of his collection

Not long after, the party began. The guys went to play in the house for a little while. I never went indoors once. Yance got very fussy and I had to move out of sight along the drive to keep from annoying the guests (at my husband's insistence). About then, they came out to stand on the back patio to commence with the official music. The casual event (casual for wealthy folks - it was more on the formal end for us rednecks) went on for a couple hours, and then we got our own food as it wound down.

Finally, about 9pm, we loaded up in the truck. I slept off and on, but we finally got home after 1am. We spent Sunday resting and doing virtually nothing.

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And then we spent the week rolling cartridges for black powder rifles....

And on Friday, the 5th, we geared up and headed for Jefferson. It was about 6:30 when we got to our camp, and soon we were striking up conversation with a bunch of friends. D ran off with the friend he was riding with to get stuff, and was gone for hours. It was about 9pm when he was back, and then he set up camp. Soon after, we went to bed. Yance got his little bed and was covered in blankets. He stayed surprisingly warm and slept very soundly, while D and I slept on a canvas on the ground in the tent while covered with blankets. We were chilly all night.

D got up at Yance's first mealtime and went to find the camp. It took him several attempts, but he finally did arrive at it.

Yance - Saturday afternoon battle

The morning parade was the first thing on the agenda. And it was great. Well, except for seeing a glaring D dressed up as a Yankee.... but that was all weekend while he was fighting so, hmph. Anyway, them bloody Yanks got driven back after announcing that they had taken over the town. And getting cookies and oranges thrown at the impudent commander. Yance had no problem with the noise! And yes, he could hear it. He jumped every now and then when a shot would ring out after a pause in the racket.

After the parade/skirmish, we came back to camp. After a while, D came back, too, but had to leave before I was done cooking lunch. It was almost 1pm, the battle on the field was at 4, and he and the rangers he was with were riding out to the battlefield several miles away.

So I ate the whole meal I cooked. I was hungry enough to gobble up a whole can of tasty flavored beans and then still be hungry.

About 3pm, we headed to the battlefield. We sat under a tree and saw virtually nothing of the battle. It started on our side and skedaddled to the other side of the crowd in no time. We did get to see a skirmish between both sides of the cavalry at one point, but that was all. Then we wandered back to our truck, stopping in at the old artillery battery's camp to say hi and show off Yance to the commander, who sat on his burly black Tennessee Walker gelding and held my son for several minutes, admiring him and complimenting me and my husband. I also got to talk briefly with my husband, who was busy holding horses while people helped get a horse unstuck from the pond in which they were watering the tired animals. D and his buddy ended up riding in the back of the pickup to their camp, for the horses were tired and someone had a ride for the equines anyway.

After dropping them off, the group from my camp went back and began preparing for the evening ball. Soon after, we all headed to get supper. It took us a bit to find it, but we did and it wasn't a bad meal! D wandered up finally after I was done eating, and we took his meal back to camp. There, we prepped for the ball.

We walked over that evening and enjoyed lemonade and snacks, and finally got a waltz in near the end of the ball.

On Sunday morning, we slept in. D began to tear down our camp when he rose, and by the time it was time to go to battle, it was all cleaned up. After Yance's second meal, I cooked us a brunch: chili and then beans & franks. I ate all the beans & franks (it was a small can) and half the chili after D was done. Mom and Dad showed up about 11 or 11:30, and we hung around until D and his buddy loaded their horses in a trailer and hauled them to the battlefield.

Father and son during the ball

About 12:30 or so, we went to the field. And the battle started at 1:30.

It was more spirited than Saturday's battle, but as before most of it took place on the other side of the spectator area. Fortunately, the crowd was less than half the size, and we could wander around and watch. Mom and I took turns sitting in the shade with Yance, but it did little good for the boy. He ended up with a bit of a sunburn.

Prior to Saturday's street battle. There are no good photos from the battlefield on Sat and none at all from Sun.

After the battle, which the Confederates won, we headed back to camp, where the friends we were with still had lots of stuff to do before they could go anywhere.

At about 3:30, we went and found ourselves supper as a group, eventually running into a pizza place. The crusts were thinner than I would've liked, but they were good pizzas! Then we went to camp again and hung out for a bit before saying our goodbyes and heading to Marshall. But we were too late for the first evening show of "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2" and instead got "Independence Day: Resurgence" at the RedBox at Walmart. After stopping at a dollar store and getting some candy, we headed on home and unwound.

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This week has been interesting. D left for work on Tuesday, worked a half-day, and then drove to Dallas with his partner and an Irish coworker. They spent the night in a really expensive hotel (I was both lonely and jealous!) and went to a beer garden that evening.... it was the Irishman's idea, obviously! Nobody actually got drunk, fortunately, and by the next morning were feeling great and ready for the 1 Day EntreLeadership event by Dave Ramsey.

Meanwhile, I did a lot of lounging around. I ate leftovers, a quesadilla, pineapple... And worked on this blog post and a project D had me doing. Two eagerly awaited packages arrived that Tuesday afternoon - an exciting Amazon delivery D had, and my Parelli Level 2 FreeStyle DVDs. I was overjoyed and ended up watching the Student Lesson that evening.

Also, my mother-in-law brought a little tortoiseshell kitten over. A daughter of their Apache, I named her Ekta - which is an Apache girl's name that means Unity. She was a bit terrified for a while, but calmed down considerably throughout the day and by nighttime was playing with my feet through the blanket as I lay in bed. Cookie also tried to meet her, but she was terrified and hid under the coffee table when he wouldn't leave her alone.

Ekta

Wednesday I spent lounging around and then cleaning. I had decided that D deserved a clean house when he got home, so I cleaned the main room up nicely and did the dishes. Ekta moved outside, too, taught Duke that she wasn't to be messed with.... and then came back inside.

Dalton wasn't back home until after 9pm. He brought ice cream (at my request) and a single red rose, the first red rose he has ever brought me. I'd received bouquets of red flowers, purple flowers, and purple roses, but never a red rose. I even checked it to make sure it wasn't chocolate! <chuckles> Because I had gotten enormous and tiny chocolate roses over the Valentine's Day period this year....

He loves me. He knows I love surprises of different kinds - whether sweets or flowers or a quick trip to Dairy Queen. Or, for that matter, a Pizza Hut special. Between rollercoaster days of motherhood and fluctuating postpartum hormones, I've not been the best wife I could be. I hope that one day I can pay him back for all the love and grace he's shown me since last June, for he more than deserves it. D is all I've ever wanted, and more. I love him, and cannot live without him.

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I was disappointed in both the Oaks and the Derby - though a lot less so with the Oaks, since one of my picks won!

My Oaks horses ended up finishing first (Abel Tasman), fifth (Salty), eighth (Miss Sky Warrior), and eleventh of fourteen (Paradise Woods). Abel Tasman won in a final time of 1:51.62 in a last-to-first race, beating Daddys Lil Darling by 1 1/4 lengths. The track was sloppy (sealed), and they were off at 6:13. Miss Sky Warrior was bumped at the start by seventh place finisher Tequilita. She and Paradise Woods dueled through the first six furlongs, but both gave way. Abel Tasman swooped from tenth to take the lead, and Salty, with a rough trip, came on from the back of the pack to finish a willing fifth.


The Derby fared a lot worse.

All of my horses finished in the top half of the field, and all together. The wet fast (sealed) track contributed to a lot of the bad race, but Always Dreaming was much the best.

Gunnevera was seventh, McCraken was eighth, Gormley finished ninth, and Irish War Cry finished the worst of all in tenth place. Gunnevera was jammed at the break, which was poor for everyone, and was floated out very wide, unable to sustain his drive. McCraken was in a better position, but was also floated out a little wide and came up empty, being edged for seventh a head by Gunnevera. Gormley was forced out by Practical Joke in the stretch and weakened, beaten a length by McCraken. Irish War Cry was the trouble maker of the group, cutting in and making a ton of trouble at the break before settling in, looked to threaten, and then weakened. He was beaten two and a quarter lengths by Gormley.

I'm glad I didn't pick Thunder Snow, though I do like him and that debacle was very surprising! Fortunately, nobody was hurt in his fit (his rider even managed to stay on!) and everybody came out okay.

I was overjoyed when Zenyatta produced a Medaglia d'Oro filly on the eighth - you can see the birth report on my Facebook page!


Mother's Day is on Sunday, my first. And it's also the first Mother's Day for my mother and mother-in-law as grandparents! Exciting!

Oh. Please check out my husband's leather page. You can find it here. He is an accomplished leather worker and will do his best to please you, should you order from him!