Trigger! And other unrelated stuff

I've been thinking about Trigger since I did the Meme the other day. So here is a picture of him:




Unfortunately, I did not grow up on a farm (sob), so we boarded Trigger with a family who gave riding lessons a little way out of town. Gosh, that pic brings back memories. One year, a bunch of us who boarded our horses there went out into the nearby woods, cut down Christmas trees, and brought them back on horseback. Good times! When I got my (admittedly scraggly, small, and nearly branch-less) tree back home, Dad put the kibosh on actually using it for our family Christmas tree, and I threw a screaming, sobbing, throw-myself-down-on-the-floor tantrum. At the age of 12. Ah, memories. But Trigger was a beautiful horse, no?

Speaking of Christmas (shudder), I was watching the news last night, and the graphic for Sunday's weather showed the evil snowflake symbols. Noooooooooo! Here is what I have to look forward to:



Why, yes, that is a picture of me! With snow! I remember building snow forts and snow tunnels as a kid. A few years back, I read a news item about some kids who built a snow tunnel which collapsed, and one of the kids died. So I guess parents probably don't let their kids build snow tunnels anymore. We'll put down snow tunnel building as yet another of those Insanely Dangerous Things I Did As A Kid Which Parents Do Not Let Their Children Do Anymore. Of course, most of the time, my Mom had no idea of what I was up to, lest you think I was raised by wolves. Then again, I don't know if kids are even allowed off by themselves to get into mischief anymore. I used to hop on my bike on summer mornings and not show up back home until lunchtime. No "playdates" for me. Just totally unstructured wandering around the neighborhood and nearby woods. Oh, and I also rode my bike to school. (Ten miles! Each way! In the snow! Ha ha.)

So! Snow! Which means it's time to turn OFF the traction control on the Saturn. In the manual, it says do not EVER turn off the traction control unless you are trying to tow the car out of a ditch. Unfortunately, if I leave the traction control ON, every time I am driving on snowy roads and need to (oh-so-gently!) apply the brakes, the car goes insane, and alternately (a) lurches and bucks across the entire breadth of the roadway, totally out of control, with the brakes going THUNK-THUNK-THUNK the entire time, or (b) goes into a several-blocks-long sideways slide. Traction control? Um, no thanks. So from now until spring, every time I get in the car, I turn off the traction control. I'd rather live to drive another day, thankyouverymuch.
Don't ever buy a Saturn.

Coming soon: Boredom, thy name is craft show.