Memoir Monday, July 18 1963

What should have been here!! 

July 18, 1963

We got up pretty early and began what was to be a pretty long day. I fed and ate and then we drove out to the pasture. The ponies weren’t too easy to load but we did and got them loaded okay. Dad and Charlie Mike took off and Mom, Alex and I came home, We led up the ponies and then I went to town for mail, groceries etc. I napped before lunch and then afterwards went down to feed. Happy was showing some signs of colic, I watched her all afternoon but she didn’t have any more distress so I quit worrying about her. I finished Judy’s letters and then packed up my records. I’ll have to return them now. At 5:00 I began my chores. Annie and I rode out and did those chores. Dad got back just as I finished. He brought Leo Mix and a buckskin Poco Bueno mare. I sure like Leo Mix’s looks, He looks like Annie Gann and they took up with each other right off. Well I guess I’d better go. I’m late and am really shot. Cheers! 

A few brief  notes:  I had joined the RCA Vicotor record club afer Mom got me a small phonograph. They had a good plan with bonus freebies for the ones you actually bought but at times I could not make a payment and had to return some. We had taken some young Quarter horses on consignment and a coupl went back to Paul Babbitt, the dealer. We got the young stallion Leo Mix and a two year old mare this time. Annie Gann was two also and a full sister of Leo Mix. They looked very much alike and seemed to recognize each other. 

****************************** and the mistaken day!!

Just an ordinary day in the life of the cowboy girl  trying to decide what to do with the rest of her life...

July 25, 1963

I got up promptly at 6:00 and fed and did some shovel work. After that I worked on Cindy ‘til breakfast time. Of course all the ponies had to come up as usual. They were okay but Happy was a bit fearful. We drove out. Leo was much improved and we were glad of that. No riding today. Chief and Patsy seem to have survived their dosing okay. I walked to town for mail and some groceries. I got a letter from Mary, the Yavapai fair horse show data, a registry dope sheet etc. Charlie Mike stayed down in the canyon a lot trying to catch  some of the kids but no luck. I spent the afternoon working on Cindy, writing to Mary and reading the August Western Horseman which came yesterday. We did the evening chores as usual. Leo is still improving and had two more shots. We trimmed Ginger’s feet and she was ornery. After supper I put my hair up That is no mean chore. If I am ever wealthy I bet I spoil my children something awful. I want my daughter to be a rodeo queen, belle of every ball, top of the class and so on. In short all I was and also will  never be. Poor kid.

Generally I like to get up early in the summer. I still do really. I am not sure what animals we had at home at this point but it was several of the young Quarter Horse fillies we had acquired earlier in the spring. And I would have had a mule for my regular transportation to the pasture and elsewhere. Shovel work--cleaning corrals as it is never good to let animals stand around in crap. Charlie Mike and I shared this task almost daily. Sometimes he did more and sometimes I did. If we'd had a wheelbarrow it would have helped soooo much but that was not a necessary expense when slave labor was available that really could not complain.  We filled old five gallon buckets and carried them to dump in piles. A guy often came and loaded up a bunch which he sold for fertilizer.

Chief (the Appaloosa stallion) and Patsy, a white Arabian-looking mare I have mentioned before, had been gven a dose of special worm medicine the day before. The  vet gave Patsy a tranquilizer and she was pretty groggy for several hours but came out of it okay.  Leo was the young colt we had gotten with the fillies, also a registered Quarter Horse. He had hurt a leg and got some kind of distemper or other sickness--not real serious but he was too valuable to risk not treating. Ginger was the foal of the paint mare Susie and sired by Chief. She was about six months old at this time, and we were weaning her.

I never did have a lot of skill in doing my hair but had finally developed the ability to use the rollers that were getting to be very popular about that time.I  mostly kept my hair shoulder length or longer. I tried to wash it at least once a week and then either braided the pony tail or put it up so it dried with some wave. My hair is naturally straight--but both Charlie Mike and Alex had nice wavy to curly hair! Not fair.

Did I spoil my second hand kids? Not so much I guess. But they did get things I never had and also were allowed to do a lot I could not. I tried to learn from my experiences and not repeat the mistakes (to my perception) that I had suffered from. I hope I did not perpetuate some dysfunctional aspects.

Gotta have pix! Ginger, about the same time as this date. Patsy at the corral. I often fed grain or supplements in feedbags, all hand stitched from empty bags from grain and such! Next me with Leo--about 1 year old. He was gray with a light wash or undercoat of buckskin--made an unusual color. And me with Happy--she was a  buckskin. Photo does not show the nice white star on her forehead.