December Memories

When I stepped out of the house this morning, we had flurries. Finally, just a little bit of snow to add to my holiday cheer. After spending two days inundated with Christmas, the little snowflakes made me smile. Of course, it helped that we put up Christmas lights on the barn so I could enjoy lights while doing chores in the evening and the morning. Just two strands of icicle lights really light up the area.

I also realized this morning that two years ago today, we brought Jim home. Oh how I remember that adventure. I’d been in contact with Jim’s owner for a few months trying to coordinate a time. It was down to the last minute in deciding if we would take him or not. The owner said they were taking him to auction if we weren’t picking him up. That summed it up. On a cold Saturday, I attended the Sioux Falls Regional Livestock horse sale to see what prices were like. I had to sit on my hands knowing we would go Sunday December 5th to pick up Jim. I had been tempted to go to the auction that Jim’s owner was attending. I had thought of holding out on buying Jim and waiting to snatch him at the auction for much cheaper but I didn’t want to take the risk of going against a killbuyer and losing.

It was cold that Sunday December 5th. I was worried that Jim would get chilled so I brought along a blanket. Jim stood for the blanket while I froze my hands fumbling with the buckles. Jim loaded like a champ too.

We had talked with the owner and found that they were disappointed in the amount of money they got for their horses. I knew that Jim would have gone for that same cheap amount. We are in Quarter Horse country. Not many people are interested in a 21 year old Tennessee Walker. I’m glad that we now have Jim standing in our place. I can’t imagine what he would have had to go through. I expect he would have ended up on a dinner plate overseas somewhere had we not brought Jim home.

That night we unloaded Jim and put him in a stall so he could warm up and get used to us. The next day we moved him to a covered pen and pulled the horse trailer over to block any extra wind. That day (Monday) was the start of a terrible snow storm. It’s hard to believe that two years ago today we brought Jim home and began dealing with the worst snow storm in over 10 years.

It’s amazing how fast time flies. I can’t imagine this place without Jim and yet it’s only been two years. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we have an open winter that’s not too cold. I could handle a little bit of snow to cover the pasture and temps in the teens and twenties. But I’ll be pleased to hold off on the snow for another week or so.

Merry Christmas Jim. Glad you are home to stay.