He's Just A Hairy Kid!

Tater tot, that is. He is literally like a giant, hairy kid.

The Locust Brothers and I have been taking walks behind The Asylum.We use these for school as Nature Walks, and as PE. The dogs go with us all the time and now and again we get feelin froggy and drag the horses along for a walk with us. Yesterday was one such day- we checked Phat Boy over carefully, did a short test wander, and decided he could handle a short trip on soft ground.

Cub had the pleasure of walking with Phat Boy.

I had Tater tot.

Now, Tater had a bit of a spunky, happy look in his eye and keeping him on task was a bit of a challenge at times. Normally, the Locusts and I can walk around back there for an hour before we are ready to head back home. Shoot.. ten minutes into walking with Tater and I was ready to bag the whole deal. I stuck it out though, and kept on keeping on top of Tater. We passed a huge puddle on the way out, and on the way back, Tater was still mighty darn "up". I had Cub park Phat Boy in some shade and went to work on getting Tater's brain back on task. I thought there would be no better way to get him thinking about ME again and paying attention than to move him around in water.

Yeeaahhhh.
Riiight.

I was all psyched thinking what a great training opportunity this was going to be for my green horse. The only one who got trained/ educated at all was ME. Tater saw the puddle, his eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas, and he jumped right into play time in the puddle. At first, I was standing off to one side of him. Tater eyeballed where I was, and I *swear*, he did his level best to AIM the splashing water to try and soak me. No kidding. I'd move away from the spray and that dang colt would move so the water got near or on me again. Finally I just moved in front of him on the other side of the puddle.

By this time, his belly was soaked. His white legs were brown with dirty water and mud. He had a very satisfied look on his face too. I pulled on the line, to get him to move out of the way to see if we could get Phat Boy to the water too, and as soon as I turned to Phat Boy, Tater was right back in the water. We did eventually get Phat Boy to LOOK at the water. He delicately touched his lips to the water, took a sip, made a face like a kid sucking a lemon and spit the water out. (And he POUTED until we got home where he could get CLEAN water to sip. Dork.)

Tater didn't care. He drank some, shoved his face down into the puddle (which came up about halfway to his eyes) and blew bubbles, bit some of the muck in the bottom of the puddle and slung it around trying to get everyone wet. As soon as Phat Boy was back at a comfortable distance again, he watched the shenanigans with a look of utter disdain. I swear, Phatz was thinking, "You are SO stupid. That water could have GATORS in it. Or SHARKS. I am not going to save you when they EAT you."

The biggest giggle of the day?

And if you've had horses around water, you KNOW where this is going....

Tater positioned himself Just So in the puddle, pawed and splashed some more, and next thing we knew, down he went to waller in the holler. He popped up, bounced out of the water, and pranced all the way back home with his new "look".

We passed some smaller puddles on the way back home too-- Phat Boy would look at them sideways and do his routine SNOOOORRRRTTTT while Tater would dance up to them and stomp through them. I think he is part kid, part Labrador.

Today we are skipping our walk. The winds are high and COLD, and being in the woods with freaking pine trees and widow maker limbs and those damn huge pine cones is not sounding like The Place To Be. The horses are happy sucked up to their hay.

Phat Boy this morning had 4 cool feet. Amen.

And on this cold "Spring" (ha- Spring. Right.) day, don't forget you can get Laura Crum's HOOFPRINTS for free on your Kindle for today and tomorrow still!!!!!!!

Happy Spring Y'all-
~MM

FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!!!!!!!! And a FREE BOOK!

WHOOHOO!!!! To celebrate, I pulled my round red mobile couch from the paddock this morning to go for an early day wander. Spring's arrival is well worth celebrating, and I did so through the copious amounts of hair that was flying around from the shedding blade passing over Phat Boy's shining red coat (in my mouth, up my nose, in my bra- y'all know the drill). I was humming a little tune, smiling in anticipation of crawling on my trusty steed, as I bent to clean and check his hooves. Near side fore, he lifted it for me in anticipation of our routine- what a gooood pony. Near side rear, same thing- he had the hoof waiting for me. GOOOOOOOD Pony!!! By the time I got up to the off side fore, the difference in temperatures between the front and back hooves had sunk in.

My grin faded.
The humming stopped (I think Phat Boy liked that part. He says I can sing and shouldn't hum.)

To double check that it wasn't my imagination running amok, I felt all four feet again. Yep. Dammit. His fronts are warmer than the rear. Once again, my good pony picked up his front feet for me to squeeze his soles-- and unfortunately, there was a tad of movement under my thumbs. Not much, and no heat in the soles, but movement none the less.

I looked in his eyes (he is a very expressive fellow, and when not feeling well it shows in his eyes clearly), led him a bit and decided to try a short test ride to see how things felt. While he was careful about where he placed those front feet, and he was a tiny bit more short-strided than normal up front, he was more than willing to wander about on the soft grass and sand. My heart was heavy though. (And it still is.)

I dug out my notes from last Spring and on 11 April, he was a hot mess in his feet and battling hives from mosquito bites as well. Luckily though, we're ahead of the game this year in knowing what to watch for and I have the treatment plan all worked out.

Up until now, he has been solid as a rock. His hocks- which have been a touch arthritic for the entire time I've known him- seem to like the new joint supplement and he has been moving freely and no more clicking and popping from anywhere. We've been riding consistently, 3 to 4 days a week, and having a blast. He has been sound sound SOUND! And so happy happy HAPPY.

*sigh*

Kids and horses. If it's not ONE thing, its about sixteen dozen OTHERS, right?


On a HAPPY NOTE though------

For the next three days, one of my favorite horse authors (none other than our own Laura Crum,) has a FREE Kindle Edition of one of her books up for grabs. I have not read ALL of Laura's work yet, but what I *have* read, I have LOVED. HOOFPRINTS promises to be a great read, so be SURE to pop on over and claim yours before 22 March!!!!  (Linky Love HERE to get your FREE COPY!)


So, for the coming "spring" storms of snow, cold, and rain, at least you'll have some good reading material on hand to pass some time!


Alright y'all. I am off to walk off some of my frustrations before a cold "spring" rain decides to drench us again. Keep your ponies in the middle and ride like the wind when the footing is good enough!
~MM

Crash and BUUURRRNNNNN.. Without the CRASH Part

Yeeaaahhhh..... so.. the past couple weeks here at The Asylum have left me umm... tired. Exhaustipated in fact. What follows a prime example of what exhaustipation will do to a body. Brace yerselves and umm.... yeah a fire extinguisher might be in order.....

Exhaustipation. You know - THAT kind of TIRED. The kind of tired that you won't GET sleep without someone knocking you over the head with a cast iron skillet and / or being medicated. Yeah-- THAT tired.

 Hence the 5 hours in the past few nights total.

To say I am FUBAR currently is an understatement.


This point was driven home to me this morning in a rather umm... bright.. way.


Wrecking Crew, our newly 7 year old minion, politely asked me to make him some cheese chippies to snack on. (Scoops chips w/ mixed shredded cheese melted into them.) I thought, No Big Deal. I've done this LOTS. At the same time, because I'm NOT one to stand around looking stupid, I started making Lt Handful some of his Tater tot Casserole to take to work with him today.

Y'all know where this is going, right?


I took a deep breath, swore (yes-- the F-bomb was dropped right there in front of my sweet child who merely looked at me and shook his head) because I had managed to blacken the cheese chips. They were inedible.

Muttering under my breath, I started over.

Went back to putting together the Tater tot Casserole. Smelled SMOKE.

F-bomb.
Again.
With a sad looking child.

Opened the oven and there it was..... FIRE.
I calmly turned the oven OFF and said, "LT. HANDFUL. HELP." Amazingly quietly in fact.

Thank. God. for my husband. He saved me.


So stupid. I used to be a Fire Fighter for f-bombs sake (I am cleaning up my language on HERE because I failed MISERABLY at it In Real Life.) And I couldn't for the life of me think to get hot pads, take the flaming tray OUT of the oven and OUT the back door and apply liberal amounts of salt. I stood there looking stoopid.


The fire was pretty though.


And thus begins the day at The Asylum. I've reached my F-bomb limit, I've reached a literal F-bomb limit in how much sleep I can do without, and I am F-bombing quitting cooking for the rest of the DAY. Lord help us all. (And don't worry-- the water pump in the truck went, so I won't be attempting to DRIVE anywhere today either.)


Happy F-Bombing St Paddy's Day y'all. Now someone send me some damn green beer so I might drink myself into oblivion.

Yeaaahhh Soooo.. A Month Goes By

 It's been... hmm... Interesting. Busy, rainy now and then (close to 12" of rain in two weeks time made for some interesting watery conditions near by.) The Locust Brothers were sick sick SICK all this past week. I've had a good ride on Tater tot recently, which was awesome. And Phat Boy, my mobile red couch, took us for a lovely walk the other day. I was tired- just worn slam out- and needed a chance to get calm and happy inside again. So I crawled up on Phat Boy (thankfully it isn't much of a crawl, he's only 14.1 or so,) and gave him his head. He picked to walk down the driveway,

 and down the road, past the gate, and halfway down the roadway behind the gate towards the tower. He's never really been much of a trail horse- always more confident staying in the yard or in the paddock. His deciding to "explore" was just awesome and I am quite proud of my mobile red couch. Might be a bit of a trail horse in there yet!

 In Other News:

We're running a free GIVEAWAY contest over on the Facebox page for Southern Winds Solutions. (Click the link to join in the fun- explore the page some-- First Prize is Winner's Choice- anything we produce is yours for the asking. Second Prize is a pair of matching cord bracelets, and Third is a pair of Bullets & Bling Earrings. All prizes will be made to your specifications- size, color and hardware. Check it out!!) Our product line keeps expanding, and now it includes some awesome earrings too. I've got plans for other jewelery type items as well, and am waiting on supplies to arrive for an evening's creative time.

 It's been pretty fun coming up with these, although I have taken some flack from re-loading buddies about cutting up precious brass.

 Turns out, I really like making things like that. AND-- I even WEAR some when I go out in public too. Gets some interesting comments and looks... muwahahahaha
*Note: Earrings are $10, plus $2 shipping. Email swequine@yahoo.com to get yours!

 

Rifle slings have been hot lately too- we call this one the PATRIOT for obvious reasons. In fact, I have orders for I think 3 more of these as I type.

 When I'm not tying knots or messing about with pretty bullets & bling, or on the back of my mobile red couch, I like to enjoy the tranquility of the lake. With all the rain, the water level has come back up some too.

And we can't have a post with out some critter shots, right? Merp, in the first shot, is my constant companion. She is a trip- I never know what she is going to do. Next comes Porch Cat, who OWNS the place. And the third was a night that I feared for my life---- it was quite cold outside, and Porch Cat decided to once again come in and take over the house. Jo and Merp had already curled up on the couch for a nap, and I think they were both afraid to move as Porch sauntered over. It was a tense moment as the old cat surveyed her couch options, and decided to crawl up in between both the dogs.

All was peaceful for about 20 minutes, and then Merp's tail woke up, and started wagging- a lot- and the tail (I *swear* that thing has a life of it's own) whapped Porch. In turn Porch whupped Merp with her claws out, of course, and that was The End of the quiet. Porch proceeded to kick BOTH dogs off the couch and take it over for herself.

Yep. Welcome to THE ASYLUM!

I'll work harder on posting more-- it's nearing garden season, and I am PSYCHED about getting stuff growing!!!

Happy Trails!
~Mrs Mom

Splish Splash I Was Takin A Bath!

'Cept it's not a Saturday Night. Which might be OK.

But it surely is WET. Yikes.

Started raining yesterday, and has only stopped briefly for short periods of time. Since I *thought* it was a warm-ish rain last night, I didn't worry about putting Phat Boy's winter weight water proof blanket on him. Weeeelll yeah. THAT was a bad idea. Poor guy- by the time I got up this morning and went to check him, he was soaked through and shaking like a leaf in a high wind storm. The Locust Brothers helped me wring the water out and get him covered up, and stuff some warm mash into him. He warmed up pretty quick, the rain stopped for a bit, and all was good.

Of course, THEN a frog strangler, gully washer, holy CRAP look at that rain kind of storm came through.

Luckily, I had checked radar and made it outside to blanket both horses and get them all set.

 The shot above? Yeah that just happens to be of my leg. Wearing my almost knee high rubber boots. With the water from the frog strangler, gully washer, holy CRAP is it raining, rain. It was half way up my boot. LUCKILY, we are on a big sand base, so that will lower fairly quickly and we won't wind up needing a hover craft to get in and out.

I checked both the horses under their blankets, and they were 99% dry. All along the back was fine, but where their manes ran under the blanket and water dripped down the mane hair, they were wet. Hey- if that is ALL that soaks on Phat Boy, who in the above shot is telling me all KINDS of nasty words about the weather, I'll be happy. Regardless... he'll get another warm mash in the morning. (And lest you think I'm leaving Tater out of the warm mash part, he'll get one too.)

It was funny- I honestly expected our delicate flower to be Tater. He is lighter bodied than Phat Boy is and just *looks* more delicate to me. Seems looks can be quite deceptive, as for the past year it's been my mobile red couch that has had issues. While Tate was chilled this morning, he was by no means as cold as Phatz was.

Between yesterday, today and what they're calling for tomorrow, we are looking at around 6" of rain. The old timers up North used to tell me that an inch of rain would equal a foot of snow. So I keep telling myself that we don't have to shovel six FEET of snow and that six INCHES of rain will bring the lake up considerably.

GunDiva saw the above picture earlier and poked me for letting Phat Boy's tail get dirty. Which reminded me-- when it DOES dry out, I need to take some shots of his mane and tail to show off. And Tater's too-- his tail isn't *as* nice as Phat Boy's but his mane is awesome! Kinda cool that I have not one but TWO ponies who have long, lovely manes and tails! Love it!!

OK. The rain is continuing to fall, so I am going to curl up on the couch with a book and try to stay awake until Lt. Handful makes it home.

Happy Trails and be sure to keep your pony in the middle!
~MM

Wow, I've Really Gotten Slack Here

Yikes, almost a month since I took the time to jot anything down on here. Bad Mrs Mom, bad bad bad.

All is pretty good, rolling along about like normal. Phat Boy, my mobile red couch, and I have continued to ride. Lately though we have stepped it up a bit from mere plodding to actually DOING things. Our last two rides though, I have noticed a change in his attitude and ability to carry a lope for very long- I think his hocks are bugging him. He's been very reluctant to pick up a lope (which is a change as he had been popping right into a lope nicely, with ears up, mane flying, and trucking along with no problem,) and only working for about three strides before switching leads behind and dropping back to a trot. The whole time he has his ears pinned and he is gritting is teeth- which in Phat Boy means something hurts. (In Tater speak it means, Screw YOU, I don't WANNA play.)

I quit our ride fairly early today, and dropped back to lighter work for him. One of the other things we've been doing is working with both Phatz and Tater- the Locust brothers love taking Phatz for walks, so we have been taking both the horses and leading them down the big laneway behind our house. I haven't taken pictures yet, since this is brand new for Tater and I didn't want to risk hurting my camera. But there will be pictures in the future.

I love the walks-- its great to get ME back in shape and I get to watch Phatz move. I watched him closely from behind today while the Locusts took turns leading him along and could see definite stiffness in both hocks. Time to get him on some MSM and adjust our routine to more rubbing, walking and warm up time. Got to take excellent care of my mobile couch!

Today I learned a couple of things- not just about Phat Boy and his hocks--- but also that Just Because I *CAN* Still Post A Long Trot Bareback, Does Not Mean I *SHOULD*. (Yep- getting old sucks!) And I learned that Tater is smart. Like, *scary* smart. Like, WAY scary smart. We only took our first walk down the lane way a couple days ago and Tater was pretty decent. A little goofy, but overall, really not that bad. Today? With the wind whipping and storms potentially moving in for tomorrow/ Tuesday, he was perfect. Phat Boy was fine-- I expected him to be docile and fantastic since we had worked before turning him over to the Locusts. But Tater was just pulled from the paddock, groomed a bit and off we went. He was alert, happy, and relaxed, ready to roll. In fact, BOTH horses acted reluctant to come home- it seemed like they wanted to keep exploring. Next time- we will. Today, I was ready to head home.

The more I mess with Tater, the more I like his brain. Too bad he is still as narrow as the skinny side of a 2 x 4 though. If we had to pick between a wide load and a sharp, capable mind-- we'll take the mind. Already have one wide load in my mobile red couch. Lord knows I love my Phat Boy but geeze.. sometimes, he really is not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Guess things aren't all that exciting down here lately, but we'll see what we can't do in the coming days to liven things up around here a bit.

Until next time- Happy Trails!
~MM

Heat Wave!

 It's been roasty-toasty here in the Southland, leaving us all in shorts with the house wide open to let in fresh air and breezes. Today hit 80*F. Yep -- not a typo-- EIGHTY. In January. In the above photo, you can see bird tracks on the shore. And the yellow stuff in the water? Freaking pine pollen. Yes. POLLEN. The entire lake was rimmed with it. Disgusting.

So, since I had two toasty kids who thought the lake would be just right to cool them down........

Off we went to see.

 There be the Locust Brothers, trying to see who was brave enough to head into deeper water first. Wrecker, in the shark shorts, is my action figure man. This is the child that climbs walls. (No kidding.. he can spider walk with the best of them.) My money was on him for being the one to jump right in and brave the chill.

 And .. I wasn't wrong! In he went. Squealing, laughing, giggling and shivering, he dove right in and embraced the chill. Then he turned around and taunted Cub until he cowboy'd up and eased his way in a bit more too.

 Cub was less than enthusiastic about getting in too far.

 And Wrecker had to hold him in place for a bit until Cub got used to the water. I think Wrecker's ultimate goal here was actually to get Cub dunked under the water, but I put a stop to that.

 Eventually, the could resist the lure no longer, and a round of dock-jumping ensued. Wrecker, of course, led the way.

 It wasn't long after and Cub jumped right in to the mix too. With a rebel yell, he threw himself off the edge...

 Couldn't resist this shot of the lake today too. It's just too pretty.

My Junior Polar Bear Club Members only were in the water for about ten minutes tops. (Now before you rib me about this NOT being the Polar Bear Club, please remember that we in the south do not get the ice and snow that the northern clubs do. The water was around 50* or so, plenty chilly enough for redneck southern kids.)


In Other News....

Well, there isn't much other news. Phat Boy and I have been plodding around a bit trying to get legged up some. During this evening's ride, I used my left leg to cue for some lateral work and wound up with a charlie horse in the back of my left thigh. I seriously think my mobile couch was laughing at me, but he half- heartedly did move off of my leg. It was worth it-- any ride is better than no ride!

Both the horses need trimming, and I just need to dust off the tools and get at it. One good thing about the warmer weather-- Tater is lazy and should be easier to trim. (He needs a lot of reminders about proper manners for trimming. Warm weather ought to make him sleepy, making him less likely to tap dance on my head I hope.)

We got about 10 minutes of extra daylight, and Phat Boy is shedding. So is Jo the Wonder Nanny Dog. I'm ankle deep in dog hair if we don't vacuum frequently. Course, if she keeps going back to the lake, Jo is liable to get a summer haircut and have to wear the shirt of shame again.

That's about all for now. Not much exciting going on. Biggest highlight, aside from riding, is getting ready to plant peas and radishes. According to the Farmers Almanac, we'll be able to plant those very soon. YAY! I can't wait-- fresh veggies are going to be wonderful. Can't WAIT for mater season!!!

Meantime, y'all keep your ponies in the middle!!
Happy Hoofin
~MM

Cough Up That Lung- Having Two Is Overrated

It seems there is a pattern emerging, in which late in the year/ early in the new year, illness invades The Asylum.

And totally
Kicks
Our
Asses.


This year has been no exception. Right after Christmas, the Locust Brothers came down with a cold. It hit with a quickness and ferocity that filled my heart with dread.. 'cause I just *knew* what was coming. We adults did pretty good for about a week, as the Locusts struggled through the grips of the germs. I was secretly hoping that hey, maybe we'd skip the misery and be OK!

Yeah, right. Like THAT happened. Oh no.. no no no. I woke up one morning, perfectly fine and rolling and about 3 hours into my day BLAMO...... it hit. I went from 60 to about negative 10 in no time. It started simple- with a non-stop faucet on my face instead of a nose. Couple days of that, and I was doing better than the Locusts had. Once again I was optimistic, thinking I'd get off easy.

Started to do better, had to run errands on Saturday and by Sunday we were in a fast downhill spiral once again. Sunday, yesterday and so far today have been filled with just plain misery.

Saturday, Lt. Handful came down with this crap.

But at least the Locusts are doing better.



On a non-illness front, the horses are good. Our regular hay supplier and I had a hiccup in our communications, resulting in us having to use a back up supplier. Can I just tell you how thankful I am for our backup supplier? They delivered for me this morning. (Yep. I have been sick enough that driving 13 miles to get hay is a BAD IDEA.) I felt like Typhoid Mary, standing waaaay back to hand over my money (that I tried real hard NOT to handle much) *just in case* germs were still in the "infective" stage. Last thing I'd want to do is get these wonderful folks sick.

I've had a moment or 2 (because I am so not up to running around like normal) to reflect back over 2012 a bit. I'm not going to go into a long drawn out month by month break down but I am going to say, for the most part, Life is on an upswing. Aside from Phat Boy and his issues last Spring, we had a pretty darn good year. And I think it's kinda cool to call Dear Husband "Lt. Handful" now too.. (Thanks BEEL for the name!!! Bet you didn't think it would stick!)


OK. I think this about fills my desire to be sitting fully up-right for the moment, so I am going to sign off and schlep back to my chair and drool on myself a tad. Y'all stay healthy out there and keep your ponies in the middle.
Happy Hoofin
~MM

As Promised, A Christmas Giggle

We had a mini Christmas with Granny this morning, since she would be 4 hours away from us on actual Christmas day.

One of her gifts to the entire family was one of those big, pretty tins of the flavored popcorn.

The Locust Brothers had never seen one before, and were quite puzzled by what could possibly be in the can. This particular can has pictures of utterly adorable yellow Lab puppies on the outside of it sooooo........



I told them that it was filled with puppy seeds.

So we could grow more puppies.

(And I have maintained a straight face ALL DAY LONG whenever the topic came back up in conversation.)



Well.

Lt. Handful decided to open the can.

Both Locusts ran eagerly to the kitchen to see the puppy seeds.
Wrecker calls out to me, "Mom!! You Gotta SEE This!"
I say, "Yeah? What do they look like?"
And Cub... my special man Cub...
"Well they SURE don't look like puppies."


God I love these kids.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
~MM

Some Additional Thoughts

This post is probably not going to be what most of you were expecting from me.

I am not going to fire away on the increasingly heated debates flying back and forth over our Second Amendment Rights. For those of you who understand the phrase, MOLON LABE and know what the three percenters are, you already know my stance. No further words need be spoken.

I am not going to dabble in the ever deepening waters of the conspiracy theorists either.

I am not going to ask why the incident in CT happened. Nor the one in Portland, nor any of the other events spaced over the years. 

I am going to TRY to provide you with some education. Note the *try* part there please, as one will only learn what one wishes to.

I am going to point out some facts.

And I am going to try and help you understand how to protect yourself and your loved ones. And no, I am not going to jump up and down screaming that you need to run right out and purchase a firearm- that is a decision that only YOU can make for yourself.

For your initial consideration, I'd like to point out that Cain slew Abel with a rock.

Yes- once again I have brought up religion. I know- horrible, isn't it?

The point though, is that Evil Resides In The Heart Of Man. Not an inanimate object. It takes the hand of man to make the inanimate object perform his desired task. If Man has designs to hurt, maim or kill you, he will. End of discussion. We do not, nor do I think we ever will, know or understand what drives some people to cause such drastic, horrible harm to others. Dwelling on that seems to be an exercise in futility. Instead, grieve for those we have lost in recent times and times gone by. Pray for those affected by this latest tragic act.

Next on the list for your consideration, I offer this:
Pertaining to the CT incident ONLY:
- Glock is NOT an assault weapon. It is not an automatic. They do not offer an automatic option, nor do they make a rifle platform.
- Sig-Saur is not an assault weapon. It is also not an automatic, and they also do not offer a rifle platform.
- The .223 caliber round is a small round, generally intended for hunting small game.  The Bushmaster used was not an assault weapon.
 It is also NOT an automatic. 


An automatic firearm- in layman's terms- is one that when you press the trigger, the firearm will continue to fire until you either run out of rounds or you remove your finger from the trigger.

A semi-automatic firearm requires the trigger be pressed for each shot.

The amount of screaming by people I have witnessed recently classifying all of the above as "assault weapons" and automatic weapons is sickening. Yes, yes, you most surely do have the right to express yourself-- but please, you might wish to educate yourself before spouting off. (The worst offenders? Politicians. Of course.)

The next bit is a question that is being asked over and over. I have been asked countless times in the past several days- that being, "What do we DO if something DOES happen?"

The answer, for the most part, is simple. 
Run.
Hide.
Fight.
(A video can be found here: Run. Hide. Fight. It is a bit cheesy, but you will get the point.)

Look, not everyone out there has the Sheepdog mentality.
Not everyone is willing to carry a firearm, and some that do carry are not willing to use it.
But I don't know very many people who wish to stand like a deer in the spotlight and be handed up for the slaughter.
Which is where RUN, HIDE, FIGHT comes into play.

Your responsibility is to stay safe and protect your loved ones. Parents, when you are out with your children, your duty, in MY opinion, is to keep them safe. Period. The kids MUST Be Safe.

If you are out, and if an incident occurs where you know there is an active shooter, RUN. Haul ass and get out of the danger zone. Once you are clear, and you and those with you are safe, call for help. 

If you can not run, you HIDE. 

If you can not run and are discovered where you have hidden, DO NOT GO GENTLY INTO THAT GREAT NIGHT.
You Fight.
Fight for all you are worth. Throw things, use a pocket knife, use a pen, use anything and everything in reach- but you FIGHT. Never give up.



This post could have gone in any number of directions- but its intent was to teach. If you wish to discuss things further in a different vein, please feel free to email me.

Until next time, when hopefully my heart will be lighter and we can move back to discussing horses and happy times like Christmas, I say to you:

MOLON LABE.

~Mrs Mom