Cowboys and Indians

        I remember playing Cowboys and Indians when I was little.  I remember running to the barn with my brother Josh when I was 5 years old.  He climbed up the ladder to the top of the barn and grabbed the kid saddle.  I was waiting to watch him climb back down the ladder holding the saddle in one arm and gripping onto the ladder with the other.  That was the day I learned that life isn't always going to go how you picture it to go.  I heard Josh shout 'CATCH'!  The next thing I knew, he was throwing that old saddle out of the barn door and I was standing right under it.  I quickly put my arms out and caught the saddle as it knocked me down.  We took the saddle home and grabbed a saddle stand out of dads shop. We got it all set up and got ourselves ready. Taylor and Josh came out with a rope and a toy gun and I came out with a toy bow and arrow and lipstick on my face like Indian paint. The boys came chasing after me as I tried to run away, only to be roped around the ankles and face planted into the ground.  They ran to the saddle and pretended to run away on their horse while I ran to the shed using it as a hiding spot.  Once the boys realized I was gone  and they had run to the other side of the yard looking for me, I snuck around the shed to where the fresh cow hide was stretching.  I started beating on it like a drum, dancing and yelling like an Indian.  The boys came on a dead run chasing me around the yard.  That's where the memory ends, but it is a memory I will always remember.  Now I look around at these small kids, playing on their tablets or iPods.  It's only been 10 years since I was the little 5 year old running around but everything has seemed to change.  Here's to the kids who used their imaginations to think of games to play instead of Google.
   
-Emilee

All the pretty horses

Their long, thick, unconfined manes flowing with the wind.
Their thundering hooves beating the ground in a rhythmic sequence.
Their pink, flared nostrils breathing in the fresh, lonely air.
Their excited spirits flying with their bodies across the open country.
Here comes all the pretty horses.