Wednesday and a little Tuesday

So....the answer to Monday's question is - the dead skin of a Saguaro.



The horse show yesterday was about more than those beautiful Arabian horses.  Two large tents held jewelry, paintings, sculptures, clothing, leather goods, and anything a horseman might possibly be interested in.   A western horseman, that is....

holsters for any size gun.
Dave had a "Roy Rodgers" moment...

And, in addition to beautiful, spirited horses and glittery people, there were plenty of dogs.

Bruce

this little Boston had on tooled leather chaps.
(bad picture, sorry.  I had the camera on the wrong setting a few times....)

this lady just sat there holding her man's hand 

two quiet Jack Russells

The barns were as over the top as everything else, including the food offerings....

horse show food?  Not on your life...this show offered lobster rolls!

Now, the reason my new jeans have now become "around the house" jeans.    Dave and I were sitting in low bleachers at the end of the reining arena watching the individual horses and riders do their patterns.   It was time for the Costume class to start in the indoor arena so we left the bleachers and started across the show grounds.

All of a sudden, from along side the reining ring, a large chestnut gelding came running blindly toward us, without a rider and with his saddle under his belly.   He was in a blind panic trying to either rid himself of the "monster" under him or to run away from it.   We were rooted to the spot, not knowing which way he would run, which way we should run to avoid being trampled.  He turned and tried to get into the reining arena, through a spot that was much to small for him to fit.   He wedged himself between the rail and the bleachers we had just left and struggled mightily to get free.  I was sure he would puncture his stomach or break a leg, but he managed to get free to continue his frenzied run.  We  ducked behind a small tractor as he dodged at us, ripping my pant leg in the process.   He wheeled,  ran up the hill and tried to get into the door of the show office where people were able to finally grab him and hold him still enough so a man could untangle the saddle, his bridle reins and his leg wraps.   It was the cowboy I had photographed sliding to a stop on his white Arabian!

The horse was favoring one hind leg and we were sure he had broken it, but as he was led away, he appeared to be walking soundly on all fours.    Way too much excitement for me!



So....today.     I opened the front curtains to this view.

We hung around this morning, drinking our second cup inside and talking about what we wanted to do on this rainy day.   Around lunch time we left Beluga and headed to Ted's for lunch.

snow on the Superstition Mountains

leaden skies

It had rained here in the park all morning, but we were surprised to see what the storm had brought to other areas!   The only snow we saw were on the Superstition Mountains, but evidently even downtown Phoenix got measurable snow and hail!   Lucky us.  Nina and Paul, in Tucson, posted pictures of a pretty healthy snowfall there also.  Whats the deal?



Those of you having any Buffalo connections know about Ted's.  It has one branch out of that area and it is here in Tempe, Arizona.   Dave and I have eaten Sahlen's hot dogs at their western New York restaurants all our lives.   They are our favorite's, and Dave especially loves their foot long dogs with onions, ketchup, Webers mustard and dill pickle.   This Tempe location is "decorated" (I use the term loosely) exactly as the ones back home.  The hot dogs are the same, the condiments the same, the fries the same and they even use the same brand of charcoal!

see our jeep's reflection in the window?

squeezing the last bit of ketchup on the last bite of hotdog

The weather started closing in again, so we decided to go back to Beluga, turn up the heat and enjoy being inside.   No sunset pictures tonight.