One Horse, One Kid at a Time

 I've just gotten a flicker of what I want to do when I grow up.

Thank goodness for flickers, because this getting old thing sucks rocks. 

I hate feeling used up and useless. 

I hate dwelling on the future with a sense of fear and doom. I just hate it.

I was talking to Victoria, a young woman I volunteered with before Jim's stroke, when I was still 1/2 time at the paper. I did a story on her work with homeless youth for the paper and ended up volunteering with her until life took me away.

What we did was called homeless youth outreach, we walked the out of the way places where homeless kids live/hide. For the most part, in tents or cobbled together shelters in the empty woods areas around train tracks, waterways, city trails etc. Then we'd go through the parks and library downtown, where they spend their days.

We handed out socks, gloves, snacks, water, personal items, condoms, and information on where to get help without being picked up to street kids, from twenty somethings to kids barely in their teens .

I added books and rain ponchos to the list and got my family to donate $$ and a local book store to give us books.

It was my kind of volunteering, no judgement, no moralizing, just handing out some much needed supplies and schmoozing. Once in a while we'd lend an ear.

Anyway, her program was shut down, due to lack of funding, and she's working elsewhere, but worries about the kids. As of now, there's no help in place for them.

I told her that every year I donate my x-mas money for my family to a local charity. I was thinking this year I would put it into socks, gloves, snacks and water and we could touch base with the kids.

She's all over it.

Anyway, this tied in somehow with all of the things that have been buzzing around in my head. Here's a synopsis.

1. I want/need a place to live that gets me outside with my critters, no matter what's going on with me or Jim.

It needs to be easy enough to maintain to keep us safe, but me from drowning in the day to day.

2. I want/need to have a purpose beyond being Jim's caretaker.

3. I miss working with horses -- so much it hurts. My well trained duo just doesn't cut it. They aren't rotten enough.

4. I want for Jim to find a purpose beyond waiting for two terrible things, to die and for me to become a decent housekeeper.
5. We both like teenagers, the more rotten the better.

The Universe has joined forces to open a path for me.

I'm seeing it fall into place and I'm impressed yet again, how the world makes things happen.

1. My husband Jim and I really need something to do other than watch Netflix.

2. The Big K and his wife are hoping to adopt. They are also becoming foster parents because they believe in the power of horses, hard work, time to think and horses when it comes to shaping a person.

3. I was talking to my dad about buying a place where I could keep my horses. He raised doubts about my ability to take care of them. 

4. In my very typical way, I got my hackles up and thought, Don't tell me I can't....

5. I talked about the homeless kids with Victoria, which got me missing them.

I woke up with a very clear picture in my mind of what we need to do.

If I have a place where I can have one extra horse at a time, I'll pick one up at a sale, rehab/start it and sell it. Then move onto the next one. Not as a money making venture (God knows, I can't be doing that!), but to help a good horse stay out of a Mexico-bound slaughter truck. The horse industry is still in a huge mess. The only horses that can make it need to be kind, safe, healthy animals with a purpose. I can do that. I can also find decent registered stock for little to no $$.

Jim is a race bike, vintage motorcycle mechanic extraordinaire. He used to rehab vintage motorcycles for himself and clients as a hobby and to pay for his motorcycle habit. Now his hands and eyes don't let him do much.

I could take on one homeless kid at a time. Teach her/him to work, care for and train my project with me. While the horse would be sold when ready, the kid could stay as long as he/she needed to.

Jim would offer the same opportunity to a mechanically inclined kid. They would restore a vintage bike together, using Jim's vast knowledge and his protege's eyes and hands.

I would keep a running video progression going on the blog for you guys. So you would actually get to see me train stuff and teach a kid how to become horsaii. 

I would have fresh things to write about. Oh my, I think my head is exploding.

BTW...I might be sorta, maybe finishing up a Tally story here. Stay tuned.