Camping Story

Here's a little story for you I could have included in my last post, but I didn't.

My children (OK, Chloe) wanted to have a campout in the backyard last week. Brandon agreed to sleep out with her, so I did my part and helped her set up the tent. Sophie couldn't decide if she wanted to camp out or not, so I told her she would like it. She likes me to make decisions for her. Chloe asked me if she could build a fire pit. I said sure, as long as she did it in the back-back yard. She took some bricks and made a beautiful fire pit! It's not in the spot she's going to build her official one, so it will have to be moved, but in the meantime it works. So... they all head out, hang out by the fire until it's time to go to bed. Around 2:00 in the morning they are awoken by some horses acting wild, running around, neighing. Brandon said it felt like they were right next to the tent, and there are a bunch of cords that hang out of our tent. He was worried a horse would trip over the cord and fall on them inside the tent! They had no idea whose horses they were, but he assumed our girls had left the gate down and our neighbors horses got out. Not knowing what else to do, he went over and knocked on the neighbor's door (at 2:00 AM). No answer, so he went to their basement where the younger couple live. Still no answer. So, he was just walking around trying to call to the horses, "here horsey, horsey." He's not very experienced with horses. That's when another neighbor comes out and yells "Who's out there?" Brandon went and talked to him. He knew horses. He just quietly whispered "boo," and that magically calmed them down. This guy was able to catch them and lead them into his corral. He would find out who the horses belonged to in the morning, and said he hoped someone would do the same for him if his horses ever got out. Then the cops showed up. They just drove up and down the road, so Brandon didn't know what they were trying to do -- until the next day. Our neighbor that lives in the basement next door came over (to bring us more food!), and let us know that she had heard someone knock on her door, but by the time she got there to answer it Brandon was gone. She didn't know who it was, and her husband wasn't home, so she called the cops. Just asked them to do a drive-by and make sure everything was OK. Sophie was able to fall back to sleep, but Chloe and Brandon were too worked up. I guess backyard camping isn't any safer than camping in a forest. The girls didn't get the tent taken down before it started to rain the next day, and then it rained and rained. By the time the tent would dry out it would rain again, so it took us a few days, but it is now safely put away -- and I believe they found the horses owner.