Ramblings:

Taylor had a meeting of her club yesterday. They had a special treat. A person in the neighborhood owns horses, and agreed to give them rides in his carriage. It was an authentic carriage, about 100 years old. Then they took turns riding the horses. It was a beautiful day, the birds were singing, the weather was just right, and I couldn’t help but think what it would be like to have that life. Lots of open air, caring for animals that the kids love to be around, lots of open space for the kids to run around in.

Then I thought about the work. The man that owns the horses says he gets up at 5:30 every day to feed and care for them for about an hour and a half. Then he takes another hour with them in the evenings. The stalls have to be cleaned, the fields cared for, the horses cleaned and exercised, etc. etc. I’m sure Dad knows better than me, though I suppose horses wouldn’t be as bad as milk cows.

I would love to have my kids grow up where they would learn to work hard and enjoy being outside. But for that to work, I would need to be there with them, which means that I would have to find a way to make a living at it. Maybe after I’m rich I could quit my job and have a ranch or something. Maybe a Bed and Breakfast with some riding horses or something.

I have been trying to decide what I will do with my money when I am rich. (Yes, that’s right, when). It would be fun to travel around a lot. I’ve always wanted to visit Australia and New Zealand! At the same time, I should probably use it to help people, instead of just squander it on me. So I can’t decide if I would keep enough to live comfortably, and give the rest to the church, since you know the church will use it right, or if I should start a charity or something. Shirley and I have talked about starting a ranch for handicapped kids. There are so many people that need help in so many ways; it’s hard to settle on one. But you would have to to be effective. I would need to find something or I’m afraid I would spoil our kids rotten!

On a side note, if any of y’all are looking for an essay topic, I‘m curious to know what you would do if you were rich. I’m talking Bill Gates rich; with enough money to do just about whatever you darn well please.

Shifting gears again, Taylor woke up this morning to the sounds of birds singing. She just had to call me at work to tell me how sweet they were to wake her up like that. But then they hid so she couldn’t see them. It’s fun to be reminded of the simple things in life.