Friday’s Hunt v1.19 -- "S" is for ...

Friday Hunt for the week of May 6th: (1) Starts with S; (2) Week's Favorite; (3) Smile

1.  Starts with "S" ~~ Still water Sailing.
This little duck we found on our walk earlier this week was just sailing along in the pond beside us.  Actually it was paddling pretty much full speed ahead with his under water paddle webbed feet working pretty hard


2.  Weeks' Favorite ~~ Rescue Horse that had the markings of my horse, Minnie.

This pretty horse was one rescued from the Houston area flood.  Last week, link, I had posted about the horse rescue effort.  Then this Monday the H o u s t o n  C h r o n i c l e front page had another article this time telling about the completed effort.

I don't know its name.  It reminds me very much of my horse, Minnie.  Growing up, Minnie was our farm pony for riding.  We had other draft horses for pulling equipment and wagons (also a sled in the winter). 

When I started high school I rode Minnie to a two room country school for my first two years.  New England School in Washington Country Nebraska held grades 1-6 in one room and 7-10 in the other.  The two years I went we had three students in each grade each year.

Minnie was colored like the rescue horse but we cropped her mane to help her heal a fistula.  After the healing we still kept her mane cropped to about two inches.  She was also a little wider in girth as she had quite a few draft horse genes.

Our ride was three miles, 'up hill and down hill in the rain and snow.' At the end of the first mile I was met by a pair of sisters, both riding their horses also.  Betty was a grade or two below me, Francis was in the one ahead.  Another quarter mile we were met by Vivian on her bike. Francis died Sunday this week. Her obituary is here.

The girls horses would jump over the little streams that show up after the rains.  Soon Minnie, though an older horse, had also learned to jump. 

Our school barn held either six or eight horses.  At first there wasn't an opening for Minnie but before the first winter a stall opened for her.  In the winters I often rode bareback as that would help both Minnie and me warmer.

When I transferred to a four year high school in town my dad bought me a 1937 Ford Tudor.  It had been owned by a little old lady so was a low mileage car in very good shape.  It also smelled of her strong perfume and makeup.  We could drive at age 14 to school or work back then.

Before school started Dad decided that I should not drive the car as it was an older one with mechanical brakes, not hydraulic--way before power brakes were invented.  That was his excuse for buying himself a new Ford pickup truck and my older Ford was his trade-in.
My sister, Lois (link), also drove the pickup to school for her senior year.  She did not attend New England country school like I did.  She rode with the cousins who had been riding with me for her first three years.  I taught her how to drive. 

[Lois 'baby' sits dogs for her son and grandchildren. She had never said yes to

 my request for her to 'baby' sit Adi. Probably she thought I wasn't being serious.]

Lois did knock down one country mail box, but just that one.  I had two accidents, neither was my fault.  One was when a drunk driver almost head-onned me as I couldn't take the ditch where I was on the road.  But at the last minute he veered and only swiped the side of Dad's truck.

3.  Smile ~~ My Art.  I never developed my talent for drawing and painting, if I did have some.  In the early grades in school I learned to draw stick figures.  Some place I still have my first which I learned quit well.  It was a stick fellow and a stick horse.

Now most of my 'Art' is captured photos of pretty or clever items.

Below are a couple of photos I took.  The first was at McDonalds, they had what I call a Balloon Bouquet. Then at right is a Cupcake Grouping I found in the Kroger Store bakery section.  You can click on the pictures to enlarge, probably they won't get any prettier.

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The Fine Print:
 - Teresa of Eden Hills, (click) is running this meme, Friday's Hunt.  Her rules are: "Welcome to linkup for Friday’s Hunt. It’s very simple. Anyone can participate. The link opens at 7pm Central time and will close Sunday at 7pm, so you have plenty of time to enter."
- The Mr. Linky address here has a list of others who are participating if you would to read what these folk are doing for the Friday post.

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4. another Ditty:
Poem to the right, "Reaching my Potential; Small time Art with Stickman style" is Copyright © 2016 Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved