9 pm - Tired and ready for sleep, i climbed into my cozy bed to read a little before drifting off into a sweet slumber.
9-9:30 - Listened to my (three-almost-four-year-old) nephew run around the house shrieking with delight as he jumped out of dark corners wielding styrofoam swords and running from the bedtime police (adults).
9:40 - No longer tired, i realized i had developed a craving for hot chocolate. Off to the kitchen to seek one of my favorite cold-weather indulgences.
9:45 - Nephew decided to sleep with me. (Had to hide hot chocolate.)
9:47 - Nephew changed his mind.
SometimeAfter10 - When i no longer heard my nephew i turned on my light and headed over to the computer. I paused to sort through a few pile of papers that caught my eye during the five-foot trek. In the process of sorting one pile i dropped a few things (kinda loud things), decided to forgo anymore organizing and opted, instead, to sit quietly at my desk.
NoIdeaWhatTimeItWasByThisPoint - Powered up my PC tokill time on Facebook and Twitter read the news while drinking my no-longer-hot chocolate.
Finally feeling the weight of fatigue, i shut everything down and climbed into bed (again).
12:30ish a.m. (officially the next day, by the way) - i heard a dinosaur* outside my window. Though faint at first, by the third time it sounded serious. Tired but unwilling to sacrificea good night's sleep the well-being of any animals, i threw on a jacket, found the closest pair of boots and grabbed a flashlight.
Oren, our Arabian stallion, was sounding an alarm. A horse was loose. O bolted out of his shelter prance-running (that's what Arabian horses do - often under rainbows whilst angels, playing Ouds and Nayat, sing tributes to their intelligence, nobility and beauty) straight up to me to say, "he's here! back in the woods! right by my shelter! roaming free! get him! GET HIM!"
As i rounded the corner of O's shelter, i found a disoriented gelding. Under most circumstances Oren would have ignored a gelding. However, for some reason completely unbeknownst to me, he was gonna hollar 'til someone came running.
[Quick backstory: This gelding came to live with us when a friend moved out of state. Our friend had recently acquired said horse and didn't know his name. We never gave him one. I call him No-name.]
So no-name-gelding and i made our way back to the area from whence he came but not where he belonged. Since i had the flashlight and didn't fancy getting kicked in the face, i took the lead. He followed me through the first gate and into the paddock adjacent to his field. We were doing good. He was so grateful to me for saving him that he would follow me anywhere.
Then he began grazing -
as i stood on the frosty ground in my pajamas, a jacket and muck boots.
When the horse stopped following me (a good thirty yards short of our destination) i realized i had run outside without a rope
OR
a bucket of feed
OR
my phone (apparently my brain stayed in bed).
I had no way to catch no-name-gelding. I talked soothingly, showed him where i wanted him to walk, kissed, clucked and whistled. Nothing.
He had found the best tasting grass in the world and he was not moving.
There was nothing else (i was willing) to do, so i said goodnight and left well-enough alone.
Then i came inside
...and wrote about it.
Because nothing says WAKE UP like a brisk, one-hundred yard walk in pj's on a cold October night to quiet a dino-horse so one can (eventually) get enough sleep to fix a fence (correctly) first thing in the morning.
9-9:30 - Listened to my (three-almost-four-year-old) nephew run around the house shrieking with delight as he jumped out of dark corners wielding styrofoam swords and running from the bedtime police (adults).
9:40 - No longer tired, i realized i had developed a craving for hot chocolate. Off to the kitchen to seek one of my favorite cold-weather indulgences.
9:45 - Nephew decided to sleep with me. (Had to hide hot chocolate.)
9:47 - Nephew changed his mind.
SometimeAfter10 - When i no longer heard my nephew i turned on my light and headed over to the computer. I paused to sort through a few pile of papers that caught my eye during the five-foot trek. In the process of sorting one pile i dropped a few things (kinda loud things), decided to forgo anymore organizing and opted, instead, to sit quietly at my desk.
NoIdeaWhatTimeItWasByThisPoint - Powered up my PC to
Finally feeling the weight of fatigue, i shut everything down and climbed into bed (again).
12:30ish a.m. (officially the next day, by the way) - i heard a dinosaur* outside my window. Though faint at first, by the third time it sounded serious. Tired but unwilling to sacrifice
*(Fact: horses sometimes sound like dinosaurs.)
Oren, our Arabian stallion, was sounding an alarm. A horse was loose. O bolted out of his shelter prance-running (that's what Arabian horses do - often under rainbows whilst angels, playing Ouds and Nayat, sing tributes to their intelligence, nobility and beauty) straight up to me to say, "he's here! back in the woods! right by my shelter! roaming free! get him! GET HIM!"
As i rounded the corner of O's shelter, i found a disoriented gelding. Under most circumstances Oren would have ignored a gelding. However, for some reason completely unbeknownst to me, he was gonna hollar 'til someone came running.
[Quick backstory: This gelding came to live with us when a friend moved out of state. Our friend had recently acquired said horse and didn't know his name. We never gave him one. I call him No-name.]
So no-name-gelding and i made our way back to the area from whence he came but not where he belonged. Since i had the flashlight and didn't fancy getting kicked in the face, i took the lead. He followed me through the first gate and into the paddock adjacent to his field. We were doing good. He was so grateful to me for saving him that he would follow me anywhere.
Then he began grazing -
as i stood on the frosty ground in my pajamas, a jacket and muck boots.
When the horse stopped following me (a good thirty yards short of our destination) i realized i had run outside without a rope
OR
a bucket of feed
OR
my phone (apparently my brain stayed in bed).
I had no way to catch no-name-gelding. I talked soothingly, showed him where i wanted him to walk, kissed, clucked and whistled. Nothing.
He had found the best tasting grass in the world and he was not moving.
There was nothing else (i was willing) to do, so i said goodnight and left well-enough alone.
Then i came inside
...and wrote about it.
Because nothing says WAKE UP like a brisk, one-hundred yard walk in pj's on a cold October night to quiet a dino-horse so one can (eventually) get enough sleep to fix a fence (correctly) first thing in the morning.
