Round pen
My quest to find the horse supplies we will eventually need at affordable prices continues. As well as spending Saturday at a wedding all afternoon and evening (lovely wedding, by the way, and fun to catch up with some friends), J. and I spent all afternoon and evening driving to pick up this round pen I found.
After church, we came home, I put dinner in the crock pot, got everyone settled, loaded R. in the car (some days it is just easier for everyone if she comes with us), hooked up the large trailer we borrowed from friends, and headed out. When I first looked at the map, I thought it was going to be a little over two hours, one way. Not quick, but certainly not too bad, either, especially given the money I was saving. As we get ready to go, I look at the map again, and realize that the place we were going was significantly passed Peoria. The trip was going to be over three hours one way. J. and I look at each other, decide we've come this far, why stop now, and I text the seller saying we were going to be a tad late.
We roll in about 4:30, a good hour and a half later than I had initially thought. For all my Chicago friends who think we have moved to the middle of nowhere... boy, let me tell you, I've now seen the middle of nowhere, and our new home is not there. The seller is very nice, completely unphased by our extremely late arrival, and shows us the panels.
All of us, J.,me, the seller, her husband stood for a moment, looking at the stack of round pen panels and the opening of the trailer. The was a silent pause as each of us looked back and forth between the two things and wondered if they were going to fit. The initial impression was that they were not going to fit in the least. Driving 7 hours round trip for a really good deal is one thing, driving 7 hours round trip to come home empty handed in another thing entirely.
Everyone took a collective deep breath, and decided the two gate panels, being the largest, needed to go in first. And... they fit! Once we could see how easily they fit in, there was no more concern about the 16 panels fitting in as well. It was a full trailer, but they were easily loaded. After a quick look at the poodle puppies the seller had (R. really liked them... and no, we did not come home with a poodle), we pulled out for the return trip.
Thankfully M. was home, and after a couple of texts back and forth, took care of feeding the masses and making sure they got ready for bed. The three of us decided we needed to make a quick stop for some food, because otherwise we would be very hungry by the time we hit home around 8:15.
Now, some things are all in the presentation. I could just say that J. took me out to dinner at a restaurant in El Paso. Which could sound rather jet-setting and fancy. While that would be the actual truth, it wouldn't really convey the full story. That goes more along the lines of, J., R., and I stopped quickly at a fast food restaurant in El Paso, IL. Neither of us were even aware there was an El Paso, IL.
Today, I'm trying to recover from being gone the entire weekend. Plus, I planned on having dinner in Vietnam today, since that is the country we are in. This means that soon I will be in the kitchen attempting for the first time to make homemade banh bao (or steamed buns or baozi, depending on your country of origin.) In the meantime, the panels are sitting in the trailer, being so heavy that until we have more people who can lift heavy things at home, we cannot get them out with just a few of us.
After church, we came home, I put dinner in the crock pot, got everyone settled, loaded R. in the car (some days it is just easier for everyone if she comes with us), hooked up the large trailer we borrowed from friends, and headed out. When I first looked at the map, I thought it was going to be a little over two hours, one way. Not quick, but certainly not too bad, either, especially given the money I was saving. As we get ready to go, I look at the map again, and realize that the place we were going was significantly passed Peoria. The trip was going to be over three hours one way. J. and I look at each other, decide we've come this far, why stop now, and I text the seller saying we were going to be a tad late.
We roll in about 4:30, a good hour and a half later than I had initially thought. For all my Chicago friends who think we have moved to the middle of nowhere... boy, let me tell you, I've now seen the middle of nowhere, and our new home is not there. The seller is very nice, completely unphased by our extremely late arrival, and shows us the panels.
All of us, J.,me, the seller, her husband stood for a moment, looking at the stack of round pen panels and the opening of the trailer. The was a silent pause as each of us looked back and forth between the two things and wondered if they were going to fit. The initial impression was that they were not going to fit in the least. Driving 7 hours round trip for a really good deal is one thing, driving 7 hours round trip to come home empty handed in another thing entirely.
Everyone took a collective deep breath, and decided the two gate panels, being the largest, needed to go in first. And... they fit! Once we could see how easily they fit in, there was no more concern about the 16 panels fitting in as well. It was a full trailer, but they were easily loaded. After a quick look at the poodle puppies the seller had (R. really liked them... and no, we did not come home with a poodle), we pulled out for the return trip.
Thankfully M. was home, and after a couple of texts back and forth, took care of feeding the masses and making sure they got ready for bed. The three of us decided we needed to make a quick stop for some food, because otherwise we would be very hungry by the time we hit home around 8:15.
Now, some things are all in the presentation. I could just say that J. took me out to dinner at a restaurant in El Paso. Which could sound rather jet-setting and fancy. While that would be the actual truth, it wouldn't really convey the full story. That goes more along the lines of, J., R., and I stopped quickly at a fast food restaurant in El Paso, IL. Neither of us were even aware there was an El Paso, IL.
Today, I'm trying to recover from being gone the entire weekend. Plus, I planned on having dinner in Vietnam today, since that is the country we are in. This means that soon I will be in the kitchen attempting for the first time to make homemade banh bao (or steamed buns or baozi, depending on your country of origin.) In the meantime, the panels are sitting in the trailer, being so heavy that until we have more people who can lift heavy things at home, we cannot get them out with just a few of us.
Those are the two gate panels.
Everything needs to be tipped back up to standing in order to start sliding the panels out. This part could be an adventure all in itself.
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