Flat Stanley Visits the End of the Dirt Road

Last week we had company. Flat Stanley came for a visit. A friend's son sent him and we were glad to find he made the trip safely. We sent him back today, but we wanted to share some of his adventures with y'all. Thought this would be the easiest way for our friends in Iowa to peek in on his adventures. So in the words of Flat Stanley:

Dear A,
Thanks for sending me on this trip! I had a really good time – just wish your family could have come too. The week went by way too fast. Mrs H. said that I could share these pictures and my story with you on her blog.

As soon as I arrived, I wanted to go out into the pens to meet the horses. They were all pretty friendly and they spent most of their time trying to take a nibble out of me.

It felt good to ride after being smashed into that envelope!
Mrs. H cooks a lot and I got to eat a lot of good food! The other morning we had biscuits and gravy – yum! A hot breakfast before heading out into the cold sure hit the spot.

We spent one morning bringing in some cattle to sort and send off to the ranch in Texas. I did my best to stay out of the way - didn't want to get stomped on!

I sure thought it would be warmer down here! It was below 30 degrees in the morning!

It was awfully cold, but Mrs. H made us some hot chocolate when we got back to the house and it didn’t take us long to warm up. She also made me a wildrag and gave me a hat. Later that day we had to work on some school – ick! I thought I wouldn’t have to do any school while I was away, but we had to work on it in the afternoons since we were planning the trip to Amarillo and we'd miss a few days of school. Then it was back out into the arena to work with the horses. Mr. H is always working on horsemanship. He's a natural.

Evening chores take a while when you've got cattle in the pens. They go through lots of hay!

We packed on Wednesday evening

and left for Texas at 6 the next morning. I was really excited to go to the Working Ranch Cowboy Association Ranch Rodeo World Championships! There were SO many people! We checked into the hotel where we found a gift basket from the WRCA – that was really nice of them!

On Thursday and Friday, we went to all the 4th grade classes in all the schools in Amarillo where the girl I’m staying with performed her cowboy poetry. She writes her own poems which I thought was really cool! Her brother, Tyler played his guitar and another family (The Milners) played as well. Then they answered questions about ranch life.

After the schools, we drove back to the Civic Center and walked around for hours at the trade show. They had lots of booths with everything from saddles to jewelry to boots and hats. Sure am glad they carried me because that was A LOT of walking! I thought this chuck wagon was really cool and a good place to sit back for a spell.

Mr. and Mrs. H bought some great leather to make chaps and some cow hides to put under their dining room table.

I felt right at home when Mrs. H took me to a couple of quilt shops on Friday afternoon- she likes to sew like your Mom. We also ducked into a music store where Tyler bought a neat guitar. He sure can play!

We were up early every morning. On Friday I stayed with Mr. and Mrs. H so that I could watch the Ranch Horse Competition. It started at 7 so we sat in a freezing cold arena for 5 hours and watched the contestants and their horses. A couple of times we got up to stretch our legs, but we didn’t want to miss anything – some of those horses were amazing!

In the evenings we attended the Ranch Rodeo. I’m sending lots of fun pictures from that! Here’s one from the bronc riding: The wild cow milking (this was funny to watch – those cows were ornery)
The stray gathering was a new event:
The team penning:
Hmmm…don’t think we got any pictures of the branding. But there was this guy named Brice who did some really cool rope tricks with his dog and horse. Mrs. H said that I was supposed to tell you: Do not try this at home!
The Budweiser Horses were there as well and they were really impressive! It was neat to watch the whole team of horses work together.

It was late by the time we got back to the hotel every night. I didn’t get much sleep while we were there so I hope I can catch up when I get home. I’m ready to come home, but I wish I could stay longer too. They just weaned the colts and are getting ready to start halter breaking them this week. This year they have 10 colts to work with. Of course, that means more early mornings! Tomorrow they are processing bulls. Sigh! These people never sleep in! Please tell me I'll get to snooze past 5 when I get home!

See you soon!
Flat Stanley