I did get up early and got to Charlie's by 7:00 am. But, I was not sure what wagon he wanted me to take and no one was around. When Charlie arrived and let me know which wagon to take, I was soon on my way home but Fred wasn't home from work yet when I got home. He got home around 9:00 am or so. I've just had a hitch installed on the front of my truck to make getting a hay wagon to the new barn easier. It would have to be backed in through a gate and straight back about 50 feet to the barn with no room to turn around once in. The hitch on the front of the truck was just the thing to do as now the hay wagons could be pushed in instead of backed in. MUCH easier and Fred got the wagon to the barn like a pro. Then the hay elevator was dropped right into the back of the wagon and soon the first hay was being stacked in the new barn! Yippee! And it was quickly apparent that I'll be able to fit all the hay I'll need in my new barn and won't have to use Fred's garage at all anymore. We are both happy about that as he is now having visions of a "man cave".
I had called my friends to let them know that I would not be able to ride with them. As I was coming home from returning the hay wagon, Bonnie called while they were still out on the trail. She said she'd call when they got back to the barn to let me know what time to meet them for lunch. So, I went in to the house, got a cup of coffee and sat down to relax for a bit. And relax I did........ Fred woke me up at 3:00 pm when he got up. AGH! Falling asleep would not have been a problem if I had not left my phone in the truck! Sigh. So, I made supper for Fred while he was out doing a little bit of work on the barn before he had to leave for work.
After Fred left I decided I had enough time before dark to take a ride on Luke. I'd do the loop that comes out below the alpaca farm which is only about 4 miles. Luke came right to me when I came out of the barn with his halter. And he did not hesitate for a second about leaving his buddies. I had parked my trailer out in the front yard out of the way of moving the hay wagons around and Luke stood nice and quiet while I groomed and tacked him up. We rode out the trail from my back yard and Luke headed out eagerly with not so much as a glance back at Louie or Marie. He was wonderful on the trail though he is quite dedicated to his efforts at trail maintenance ........ so I had to discourage this. We trotted along where we could and got a nice canter up one hill. The last 1 1/2 miles is on the road and he was good as gold. No fuss over any of the traffic, dogs, children, bicycles or lawn sprinklers. The lawn sprinkler took us both by surprise as it was right by the road and hidden behind some shrubs. But, Luke just stopped and looked then moved around it just far enough to stay out of the spray. At one place we had to stop as a couple children wanted to pat Luke. When we were almost home, we stopped at my neighbors house to say hello. Even though we were so close to home, Luke was quiet and well behaved while I gabbed for nearly 1/2 hour. He did get some carrots for his patience. And got lots of attention from several more children. When we left there Luke did not rush or hurry at all. When I got to my first driveway I asked Luke to pass right by. He looked up the driveway but didn't fuss. At my second driveway, I asked him to stop and stand quietly for a moment before crossing the road into the driveway. He was very good and did as asked. So, we had a wonderful ride.
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