We are really fortunate that the development we live in (affectionately referred to as,”the ranch”) offers several sporting opportunities. Not only is it convenient, but it’s fun! In fact, it’s where I’ve been taking riding lessons. Today, I took advantage of a Ladies Shooting and Wild Game Cooking Workshop. I know you must be thinking…WHAT???

Let me start by saying that I’ve been to the shooting range with the guys a couple of times, and although it was fun it wasn’t something I was super excited about. When I received the email about this workshop, I thought it might be fun and immediately forgot about it. Several days went by, and as I was cleaning up my email I found it again and thought as long as I’m submerging myself inTexas culture I might as well give this a shot (pun intended!).

I woke up to a rainy day, put on my best shooting attire (because let’s face it, any activity is all about the clothes, right?) and headed over to the shooting range. The classroom portion of the workshop took place in an old structure at the equestrian center. This building looks like an old house and gives new meaning to the word rustic – in a good way. Old barn wood floors, walls, stone fireplace with a split tree trunk for a mantle. As I stepped out of the car and into the light rain, the scent of the wood burning in the fireplace was completely intoxicating. Even if I didn’t enjoy the workshop, the atmosphere alone was worth the trip!

There were about 12 participants, some experienced, most not. I wasn’t sure I was really interested in the wild game cooking portion and quite honestly, I was planning on leaving after the shooting session. The instructor was great, explained quite a bit, was so patient and answered a ton of questions. He had a variety of shotguns there and as I tried a couple on for size I realized that although I am right handed, my left eye is more dominant. Oddly enough, I play air guitar left handed also! Not really. I don’t play air guitar, but I do shoot pool like a lefty. The instruction and demonstration was mostly about shooting clays and unfortunately since it was raining, we did not actually get to go out and shoot. There will be plenty of opportunity for that when the sun comes out.

I found my self having so much fun that when the cooking portion began I decided to stay. I’m going to skip the details, but I will say that I tried the finished dish and it was actually pretty good.

I don’t think I can ever go hunting, but I definitely can see myself shooting clay pigeons all day long!

No, it’s not Hump Day. It was riding lesson day! And it was a good one. I went out to the pasture, harnessed my horse (not MY horse, just my learnin’ horse), brought him over to the stable, brushed him, cleaned his hooves, saddled up and I was ready to go. I’m finding that I’m feeling more comfortable around these big guys – which was one of my objectives, so I think I’ll call that progress! Little by little I’m gaining control. Yes, I’m in charge here and you’ll go where I say!

So much to remember! Heels down, toes up, posture, shifting your weight depending on this or that…I know I’ll get there, but sheesh! My instructor felt I was doing pretty well so today we picked up some speed. Aaah, now this is what I’ve been waiting for. I’m sure I must have looked comical, if not flat out ridiculous at first. “Give him a gentle kick”. So I did. I was instantly reminded of riding in the car with my dad. He wasn’t so gentle on the accelerator. The light would turn green, and BOOM! My head would snap back. Well, that’s what happened when I gave that gentle kick. The same could be said for stopping. “Whoa…” If horses could leave skid marks, mine would have. As directed, he stopped, and eventually I did too. So after a brief question and answer period, I was able to get “take offs, and landings” under control, and I made my way around the arena in a somewhat presentable fashion.

I was having so much fun I hated to leave today! As I was taking him back to the pasture and putting everything away, I thought, “Oh this is bad, I’m liking this way too much”. Some of you may remember when I wanted a dog and JD said we don’t need a dog. Our dog’s name is Lucy. Then it was, “we should put a pool in the backyard.” “We don’t need a pool.” We enjoyed that pool! Now admittedly, I know we don’t need a horse – but we have plenty of room for one…

Before moving to Texas, my only exposure to horsepower was the kind that came with four wheels. And the more horsepower, the better! Who doesn’t love that sound, right? Well, that was then and this is now. So much has changed! Like going out with no makeup, my perpetually dirty car, jeans every day, boots most days, no jewelry. I can’t say I’ve become a minimalist – although I did just purge a whole lot of stuff from my closet the other day!

Anyway, back to horsepower. Not the supercharged kind with leather interior, but the four legged kind. We are fortunate enough to have an equestrian club in he development that we live in. When we first moved in, I went on a trail ride or two and thought it would be nice to really learn to ride rather than just sit and let the horse do all the work. Well wouldn’t you know, Santa gifted me with actual riding lessons! Eeee! I was so excited! I immediately pictured myself barrel racing, but first things first.

I scheduled my first lesson, wrote down the day and time, and promptly forgot about it. That is until I woke up this morning. Eeee again! Today is my first lesson! I’d put some thought into what I actually wanted to accomplish with these lessons and I made my mental list. I want to be able to saddle, control, feel more comfortable (they’re so big!), and get some speed…you know, horsepower!

I put on my beloved, wear around everyday, not afraid to step on things, not afraid to get muddy boots. Seriously , I wear them all – the – time. I hopped in the car and headed to the stables where I met my instructor. Cute, young Texas girl that’s been riding her whole life. We talked for a while about expectations, both mine and hers and off we went. I have to admit, I was kind of thinking since it was my first lesson, that I’d pull up and a horse would be waiting for me, all saddled up and ready to go. Wrong! We headed out to the pasture to round up our horses. On the outside, I put on my “this is fun” face. On the inside it was more like, “gulp”!

It’s been a bit rainy and cold here lately so the pasture was really more like a muddy bog. A bog of mud and horse poop. I followed along, I was determined to make it look like I could do anything, but inside all I could about was…my beloved boots. In a matter of seconds they went from scuffed and broken in looking to scuffed, broken in looking, and caked in mud and poop. I’ll never be able to wear these in the house again. Sigh.

Toughen up girl, they’re just boots! Watch and learn! I harnessed my horse, and walked him over to the stable. Yes, I can do this. Wow, will you look at all the mud on this horse.

I was next introduced to the tack room. Grab this, this, this, and this and follow me. I had no idea how heavy a saddle is! And all this other…stuff! Back to the horse we went. First off, we’ve got to clean this dried up mud off. I then received the rundown on all the different brushes, when to use which one, where to brush, etc. I can do this, I tell myself. We have a dog that sheds enough fur to make five sweaters a week, brushing this horse is going to be a breeze! “So exactly how did this guy get so muddy?” I asked. “Oh, they roll around in it.” What?!!! I don’t know why I found that to be so funny. Maybe the mental picture in my head of horses rolling in mud in slow motion with some cheesy music playing in the background! Then she picks up this thing and tells me this is what I’m going to use to clean the hooves. Oh. Um, I’m going to clean his hooves? You mean the hooves that just walked through all that mud and poop? You want me to use my bare hands and hold it in one hand while cleaning with the other? Eww, but okay. Let me tell you that is scary territory! But I did it. Next up, saddle. Yes, the thing that weighs slightly less than two tons! Buckle here, cinch there, tie this, how will I ever remember all this?! Finally, the bridle (also scary territory!) I kept wondering if it hurts when a horse bites!

Ta-Da! Hallelujah, we are now ready to ride! More on that later, but I can safely say I think I did pretty well considering this is new territory for me. I had a great time and can’t for my next lesson.

Won’t Santa be surprised when I ask for a horse next Christmas!

Close you eyes and allow me to paint a picture in your mind. Imagine yourself cruising along the 101 towards LA. Traffic is moving along and everyone is cruising at – oh, let’s say 70 mph. On either side of the freeway, there are frontage roads, and these frontage roads are two way. Every few miles you are offered the option of exiting the freeway, and once you exit, you can turn either right or left because the frontage roads go both directions. At most of these exits, there are also entrances, which are commonly used to gain entrance to the freeway. Oh, one very important note…you many ONLY enter or exit the freeway at these designated places. We’ll call them on ramps and off ramps.

We are now in Texas. And yes, there are frontage roads here also, however the majority are one way. So, if you are driving along and see the restaurant or shopping establishment you were looking for, you must drive past it, and wait until you get to the “turnaround”, then cross under the freeway go back and cross under the freeway again and get on the frontage road going the other way. You are now at your destination. It’s okay, we’ve gotten used to it, and it’s just part of the journey.

On occasion we don’t plan well and we find ourselves heading into San Antonio during rush hour. Back in CA if we got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, we’d groan and I would inevitably say, “JD, we should have taken the 118.” He would then give me that “I’ve been driving longer than you have” look! And it may or may not be worth exiting the 101 because the two way frontage road may or may not be going the direction we need. Well, here in Texas there is a phenomenon JD and laughingly call “Texas on Ramps and “Texas off ramps”.

Picture is: When stuck on the freeway in bumper to bumper traffic, no need to just sit there and stew, just take he Texas off ramp! If your unhappy on the freeway, just get off. What? The exit isn’t for another half mile? Shoot! Just get off right here and hop on the frontage road! The same can be said when there is traffic on the frontage road and you want to get on the freeway. Who cares if the on ramp is still a mile away, just use the Texas on ramp! Look at all the tire marks in the median – everyone does it. “Dang, there’s Target and we just passed the exit.” Not to worry! We can take the Texas off ramp! Need directions? Well, you go on down the interstate (they don’t say freeway here) for about three miles, and take the Texas off ramp – there won’t be a sign for that, but you’ll see plenty of tire marks in the grass on the median.

You might even think that because his is Texas, that only guys in trucks would do this, right? Nope! Why, just this past weekend we witnessed a Nissan Altima shift into 4 wheel drive and hop on the freeway right in front of us! It always amuses us and we always laugh, and quite honestly we’ve yet to see anyone get pulled over for doing it. Would I do it? I could, but it would be just my luck to get pulled over. And that would just open up a whole other can of worms when I hand over my CA Drivers License. Yes, that’s right, I still don’t have my TX license…[insert grimace here]

2014 has been quite a year. A year of decisions, changes, adventure, ups and downs. And it all seems to have gone by in a flash. For weeks I looked forward to Christmas in California and the week just flew by. Did someone push the fast forward button on my life without my knowledge? (or permission, for that matter)

I came home, went to the grocery store to restock the refrigerator and there was an entire aisle of Valentines a Day merchandise. How can they do that? I hadn’t even had time to sufficiently mourn the fact that Christmas was over.

A year ago, moving to Texas was a passing thought. We’d made a few trips, looked at many houses, but we had no idea we were just a couple of months away from making a huge decision. In February we had plans to go to San Diego for Valentine’s Day weekend. A crazy series of events took place and we ended up on a spontaneous trip to Texas instead. We found “the house”, made an offer, sold our house and now here we are.

It’s been an adventure to say the least. A couple of minor plumbing issues, some minor remodeling, learning to live with a well and septic system, beetles, cicadas, scorpions (which thankfully are now under control). Getting used to living “out of town”, marveling at how much nature there is literally right outside our front door…I could go on but I’ll stop!

When I’m out and about, driving on the highway or farm roads, I think to myself, “I can’t believe I get to live in this beautiful place”. It’s so pretty here, so different. But admittedly, not every day is easy. Although I’ve been back to CA once a month since we moved, I miss seeing the kids as often as I did. Thank goodness for Face Time, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and the daily phone call with my daughter.

So this adventure continues. JD and I both work here at home. We have a good routine down, he in his office, me upstairs in my craft room which now doubles as my office. We meet in the kitchen for lunch (remember, it’s too far to go anywhere and be back in an hour), work the afternoon and then we meet again for dinner. Weekends are spent doing stuff around the house and exploring. At some point we’ll have more time for exploring, golf, riding, etc.

I’m looking forward to 2015 and all that is in store for us. I just wish it didn’t all happen so fast!

Happy New Year, see you in 2015!