I look like a skeet :(

I took off a little early today to get a ride in. Cersei is insufferable if she goes more than two days without serious exercise, but I was just too tired yesterday so she had to wait. Anyway, I zoomed home and grabbed Cersei, zoomed out to the field and grabbed Champ, and donned my new Anti-Deer-Hunter device.

See, I came down with a cold Sunday so I took off work Monday and laid around the house and slept a lot. I also went to the library and to Walmart, which is a major ordeal for me. I hate Walmart, on a bunch of different levels - (liberal) it's destroying America and it's a horrible place to work, (foodie) the "food" there is destroying our bodies, and (funder) I get lost and can't find what I need. Anyway. So I had a cold and felt woozy and out of it and I *still* went to Wal Mart. I bought exactly what I intended to buy ... plus a hunter orange baseball cap for $2.50. I have a hunter orange knit cap for when it's cold, but people have been back in or near our trails target shooting a lot lately and I pity the fool who shoots me but doesn't kill me.

So today was day one of "I am not a large deer." We headed out, at a walk/trot, but then Champ acted like a retard and made me mad so we trotted more. Good news - knees on definitely feels more natural now, and I got a really nice rhythm where I felt like my torso was very centered.

Then the damn shooting started again. As soon as I'd started out - like, when I was untying the gate to get onto the trails - I'd noticed somebody had been back there. Very fresh tire tread prints. I assumed it was one of the guys who'd gone fishing, but when the shooting started I realized whoever it was was still back there. Champ thought we should run away, but I assumed it was Ross back there and we pressed on.

I made damn sure that the shooty noises weren't "moving" and that I could hear where the shots started and stopped. My trail wasn't taking me anywhere within the range of fire, and I DID have a lovely hunter orange cap on, so I rode on back. When I figured out where they were, I called Ross to ask if that was him back there. By the time I got him on the phone, I was within hailing distance so I hollered hello. Turns out it wasn't Ross at all, it was three youngish rednecks dudes in camo skeet shooting over the lake. I rode up and said hi. We talked for a minute - they laughed and said my cap looked just like a skeet, and I laughed and said I was hoping that I didn't look like a deer. Then Champ insisted we LEAVE so we left.

I know the barn owner's gonna be like "Well why didn't you tell them it was private property and that they needed to leave!" and you know what? Hell with that. I know our world is mostly civilized, and I wasn't expecting they'd jump me or shoot me. But I sure wasn't going to get near them, or get off my horse, or say anything remotely confrontational. Didn't seem prudent.

ANYWAY. Then we trotted back home, and again, I felt really secure and comfortable posting. I'm gonna call the BO tomorrow and see if she'd padlock the gate to the back trails. I think most people are too lazy to climb the fence and WALK that far back.

Cersei is sacked out happy and tired. Mission accomplished.