Sunday, April 17, 2011

She Stole My Nopalito Recipe! or Cowgirl (Almost) In The Sand!

Today has been great. This afternoon Tony and I went over to visit with our good friends Carol & James and he and I had a blast!

When we arrived at the ranch we spotted Carol and James waving at us from inside their new corral, that they had just recently built. After howdies and hugs the fun began. As we took turns catching up with each others news Carol surprised me and said, "Yesterday, I fixed your Cousin Nancy's Nopalito Salad and it was delicious and James loved it too. And, because it is very healthy and so easy to prepare I've stolen it from you—like you steal all of your friends recipes!" We all started laughing.

 Then James quickly quips, "It's now called, Carol's Nopalito Salad." I couldn't quit laughing about her stealing my (Sandy Wolfmueller's) cactus recipe and I was thrilled that they had tried it and loved it as much as we did. Then we took off so Carol could show us her and James latest landscaping improvements.

Our first stop was at the chicken coop where Carol showed us her soon-to-be flowering plants that they had planted and would soon be covering the entire chicken house with beautiful flowers. As we admired it I said, while trying not to drool, because I want a chicken coop, "I love it and I love chickens. I want a chicken coop so badly, because I miss not having free range chickens and eating their delicious farm eggs..."

As we walked around the yard admiring their newly planted flowerbeds we were either talking non-stop or laughing, as their beautiful hens and horses roamed freely nearby. Then they invited us into their screened-in-porch and I wish that I had said, "No," because they had me and T. laughing so hard, about their latest cutting-horse adventure in Arizona, my back started aching.

When Carol starting telling us about how well her new horse Dude had performed in their 1st calf-cutting competition together, that she won second place in and also in the money, I was rolling on the floor with laughter, as she reenacted it. "I was so nervous, but Dude wasn't. When the competition started Dude went into action and knew exactly what to do and I nearly fell off of him when he suddenly went down on his front legs and left me in the air and then he was going left and right so fast my cowboy hat turned sideways on my head as I held on..." We burst out laughing.

"It was so hilarious!" James said. "Carol and Dude were great, but her hat was literally sitting sideways on her head and then it fell off. And when Dude's front legs quickly dropped to the ground to cut out the calf, like a great cutting horse is supposed to do, Carol actually got some sand inside her boots. She and Dude were absolutely amazing and..."

After Carol finished telling us about the second calf and the third calf that she and Dude had cut out from the herd—James told us about his calf-cutting competition on his new cutting horse, Jari, which they placed fourth in, but no money. Then we went inside the house so they could show us some videos of the competitions that we had asked to see. And as I watched the exciting videos of them cutting calfs and then buffalos, I was in total awe and so impressed with Carol's and James' amazing horsemanship skills—they rode professionally and unlike many riders like me—they were with one with their horses. I loved it.

On our way home Tony and I talked about how much we loved Carol and James and how impressed we were after watching their videos and then I started laughing. "I can't believe she stole my Nopalito recipe." And we laughed about it—the rest of the way home.

Y'all have a  great evening!

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