Yesterday, I joined Maya (dear friend and confidant) to have lunch at “our”  Mexican restaurant, Agave, in Summerlin, NV north of Vegas-Baby. It’s what  we  do first when I’m in town. Their ambiance is a superb example of up-scale  interior design complete with colored glass mosaics at the open kitchen counter-front, beautiful tile work throughout and topped off with authentic old world Mexican doors and hardware even in  the bathrooms. The sink in the bathroom is the coolest. It’s a long, flat, slightly slanted surface adorned with brightly colored green and deep blue tiles with hidden drain  system. Worth taking a trip just to look at the place. But, to top it all off, the food  is the BOMB! It’s all fresh and delicious. Prices are appropriate for a nice  restaurant but not outrageous (http://agaverestaurant.com). It’s a big thumbs up if you’re out this way and  won’t mind an amazing view of Red Rock, but  that’s another story.

Second, we go to Costco. We had to buy the caffeine free coffee drink my mom loves not  sold in any of their Atlanta stores called Caffe D’Vita. Yep, I drive 3000 miles to  buy this for my mom. Wouldn’t you? Last October, I bought her 12 cans and this  year I got 24. We don’t want Mama running out!

Next, we were off to the stables to play with Moose and Jessie. Well, at least for me it was play. For Maya, she worked her tail off shoveling the horses’ by-products! I brushed Moose and did whatever Maya directed me to do, within reason, took pictures and stood in awe of her energy and enthusiasm doing hard labor even of love.

Maya and Jessie

Moose is loose!

Tac attack.

When I was a kid, we had horses. We never worked hard with our horses,  but,  then again, I wasn’t the parent and we had pastures for them to run in. We  didn’t have dried poop-filled arenas that needed daily cleaning-up to ward off  hoof problems. Because grass is expensive and downright impossible  here in  Vegas-Baby, the locals who want horses take the horse by-product, dry  it and  re-surface the arenas and open stalls with it. The wind stirs it around  constantly making the air not only full of dust but horse poop. Makes having  horses in the desert less attractive to me but I’ve known differently and wouldn’t  do it this way. Nope. When I live out west, I won’t have horses. I’ll rent one if I  get a hankerin’ to ride.

As with people, there are so many more health issues with our animals, big and  small alike. For example, just last week, I heard of a herpes outbreak with some  horses in Utah at a rodeo type event. As there’s no cure and, because it  attacks their neurological system, they all had to be destroyed and the state is in  quarantine.

We  rarely called a vet or blacksmith. We just “had horses”. We didn’t have to  labor  over any of it. I fed the horses and jumped on their backs when I wanted a  ride around the pasture. And, after being reminded yesterday of Maya’s hot, backbreaking daily tasks with  even these extraordinary animals, I wouldn’t do it. Nope. Even loving  horses as  much as I do, it ain’t happening. Plus, I woke up this morning with a  horrible  spinning in my head from an allergic reaction to all the poop in the  wind. I’m  basically incapacitated even with two daily anti-histamines. Any  fast  movement of my head sends the room spinning until I sit still again. Now,   those of you who know me well, know I don’t do well sitting still.

The funny part? Jessie. When Maya scratches just in the right place, Jessie  extends his upper lip like something I’ve never seen. He moves it like an  Aardvark snout in hunt for tasty ants! Maya administered just the right  scratching needed for Jessie to show his “Dopies” while I clicked away. Look at  this crazy horse.

Jessie “Dopies”. Can you see how far out he extended his upper lip from his lower one?

I’ll keep trying to download the video. It’s absolutely hilarious!