Oh What A Day !

One day was much like the other lately, so much work to do but only the same time to do it in. Johnny was still grumbling at all the work he had to do. Even hinting it was all getting too much for him and he might have to leave himself. I'll have to find someone soon to hire to help him, but it would cost money.
 Mom and dad was rather disappointed that I couldn't make it to the family get together at Thanksgiving this year...but they'll get over it. As it happened, mom invited her sister, that's my aunt, and my uncle along with their three kids, that's my cousins...and their respective families...are you still with me ? Well seeing as they had lost their houses in the wildfires when it had destroyed quite a few buildings in Jurupa Valley, that's where my aunt and uncle live, and also throughout South-Central Idaho where my cousins live...spread out...well you can see what I'm leading up to...mom had her hands busy and I guess I would of been hardly missed.

some wrote letters

I had spent the time with Kate, along with a few of the disadvantaged kids she did her voluntary work with. So we had our Thanksgiving. We played board games around the table. Afterwards some wrote letters home to their parents or just talked. Others went outside to kick a ball about.

Tyler

Tyler or Ty as he liked to be called, was a spotty seventeen year old with a lot of problems. It didn't help when his parents divorced six years ago. He got too much for his alcoholic mother to cope with. How did she get custody ? Well, she wasn't always an alcoholic. He was put into foster care, and because of always getting into trouble was moved on from one foster home to another...poor kid. I could sympathize with him...to some degree. Kate was...beginning to get through to him somehow and he had started to respond to the counselling given him from higher up as Kate was not qualified in the full sense.
 Kate told me that all Tyler really needed was a sense of 'worth'...and a sense of being 'needed'...and as I had mentioned to her that Johnny had been bugging me to get him some help around my stables...well now I had Kate begging me to give Ty a go. Just general work like cleaning the horses tack that Johnny was not all that keen on. Besides, I had bought another mare much the same size as Pepper. 'More tack to clean' he had moaned and as up to now, I hadn't employed anyone else. Well it was all a matter of $'s.
 The day when Joe had brought the gray mare over....Oh what a day that was. The day started out with brilliant sunshine, then after I had loosed the as yet unnamed mare in to the field behind my farmhouse, the sky in the distance started to darken and Johnny had said that it 'looks like we're in for it.' The sky grew darker as the storm brewed. Lightening bolts shot along the sky...then...the heavens opened and the rain fell.

The sky grew darker as the mare was loosed into the field

It wasn't cold rain, even so I tried to get to the mare to put her in the barn. More lightening shot around the sky, the rain was so sharp it stung my face. I had to leave the mare in the field for three hours solid, however as quickly as the storm started...it abated and out came the sun again making all the grass glisten. Except for the large puddles on the ground and the rainbow in the sky, you would hardly think anything had happened. All clients had rung up to cancel that day, and I don't blame 'em. Good job the 'Holiday Let' I had bought was earning. That had been fully booked for two weeks now. First by one family and then by a honeymoon couple.
 So...where was I ? Ah yes, I named the gray mare...wait for it...Storm. Pretty appropriate don't you think ?
 I gave Tyler a months work, well you can never be too careful. He would clean the horses tack and be a general 'dogs-body'...oh he could interact with Life, my bitch too, I was busy, real busy, too busy to do much with her lately she needed a bath and some stimulation. 
 Tyler was to come round after school for a few hours Monday to Friday. Then Saturday for as long as needed. Depended on what time he could shift his ass outta bed. 
 Johnny was a bit sceptic of Tyler. Time will tell. Johnny now had the hours Monday till Thursday from eight a.m. till three p.m.
 Kate helped pro bono a few hours filling in when needed on Fridays, Saturdays and most Sundays. Well that's not entirely true. Her payment was to ride Drifter whenever she wanted. Kate was grateful to me for giving Tyler a chance to prove himself. I might get him to paint Johnny's battered truck...as Johnny hadn't made any improvements that I could see. Perhaps I could get Tyler to set it on fire ! Only kidding !

 Meanwhile, I got on my laptop and bought two tickets to see a band she enthused about...The Atomic Tree Toads, not exactly my kind of music...but Kate would reward  me after i'm sure!