This land is owned by Farmer Steve; that house is where he and his family lived until sometime after the mid-70's.
I tried to imagine what it must have been like to live in such a place, with a view of the Missouri River bottoms that goes on for miles. What was it like to awake in the morning to this scene? But of course, it's the river bottom, so no doubt it flooded at times.
I rode near the river, just because I don't usually see it at this time of day; and I can never get enough of the river.
As I rode along the dam, I saw quite a little crowd over at the next levee: Farmer Steve was planting something, and his son was burning dead weeds off the dam. His wife had just driven down to see how he was doing...
.... along with a couple of grandchildren. Now, here's what I really regret: The kids petted Blue on the nose and I forgot to take pictures. The oldest girl asked if she could ride Blue, and I told her yes, as long as I led him. She was all smiles. Then the tiny, youngest girl wanted to ride, so we put her up in the saddle and told her to hold on. Her face was wreathed in smiles. "Oh, I wish I had a camera," the grandma said.
I pulled out my camera and handed it to her.
Unfortunately, she didn't press hard enough; so the picture didn't get taken. I found this out after I got home from my ride. And that little girl has a million dollar smile, believe it.
Hopefully they can bring the kids up here to my house before long, and we'll try again.
I discussed the old farm house with Mrs. Steve; she told me the flood of '73 ran them out of that house, and said that they are still trying to make up for damage done and money lost in the flood of '93. I'm so glad I don't farm for a living.
She agreed that, yes, it was a lovely place to live... except for the flood factor.
As I rode off, Farmer Steve went back to his planting.I'm very appreciative of the fact that these people welcome me on their place to ride my horse. Great folks.
(Click on any pictures to make them larger.)
yeah i've heard of people tying horses to tractors to lead them. We don't want to rush the whole process though.
ReplyDeleteTheres two ways to do it and get the same result.
1. you can 'attack' the horse and halter them against there will and pull them around the place unwillingly
or
2. you can get use to the horse and do everything in time
i'm aiming for the later.
shes starting to get comfortable and she's also happy to have us in the stable now to. she comes up to us now where as before she ran away
What beautiful pictures! That's too bad you didn't get the kids riding Blue but hopefully they will come over soon. You are so lucky to have so many nice places to ride. Where my horses are boarded right now there isn't much and we do have to go on a very busy road to get to where there are some trails. I'm going to try to get some shots this morning when we ride. The guys will be back home soon after we get back from Florida and I have some pretty good trails here. We sometimes trailer them places that are awesome but there are three of us that usually go together and I only have a two horse trailer and they don't have any so that makes it hard. We have more sun today! YEEHAW!!!!!
ReplyDeletebeautiful!
ReplyDeleteI love to see the pictures of your rides to the river bottom. It reminds me of my visit and our trip there. I can smell the air through your pictures :o)
ReplyDeleteKeep them coming.
J
Now you already know I love abandoned houses and "ghost" towns. So I'm sitting here in awe that you got to know a bit about this abandoned house. I entered first grade in 1971. I'm so intrigued that this house was still full of life then and that it all ended two years later. And you know who lived there and raised their family there (and it still looks like a fine place; I found myself wanting to fix it up).
ReplyDeleteGreat post.
BLessings,
~Toni~