The Saga of Woody's Hat

On Easter Sunday my dad had arranged to get together with some friends and buck a couple of horses (My dad raises bucking horses). We loaded up the bucking horse he had at his house and a saddle horse for my brother and headed to town. Dad, I, Spud, Bub and Shorty all in the Mega Cab pick-up. We drove into town and stopped at the fairgrounds to drop off the horses we had, then headed out to the friends' house to help them load the other bucking horse and saddle horse and the branding supplies since we needed to brand the two bucking horses too. Just outside of the fairgrounds Dad stopped because Bub's door wasn't shut tight. Bub shut the door and we headed on.

When we got to the friends' house the adults went to help load. Bub came up to me and said "Mom, Woody's hat is missing."

I asked if he was sure that he'd brought it from the house and he said yes. So, I told him that it probably fell out at the fairgrounds and we'd look when we got back there. As we drove back I watched for the place where we stopped to shut the door, and sure enough, there was Woody's hat on the side of the street. Woody and his hat were reunited and all was good.

We proceeded to the arena, unloaded the other horses and got ready to brand. Bub and Shorty asked if they could play in the arena and I said yes. My parents live in a sandy soil area, so it is basically a big sandbox and the kids love it.

My mom showed up and we were talking with one of the friends when Shorty came running and giggling, climbing over fences to get to us. Following her was a VERY angry Bub. I asked what the problem was and Bub informed me that Shorty had BURIED Woody's hat in the arena.

I rolled my eyes and told her to go dig it up and give it back. She sooooo loves to torture her big brother.

Twenty minutes later we were ready to start bucking the horses and the kids were still digging in the arena, trying to find the hat. I helped them dig for another ten...no hat. Bub turns to me and says "Mom, a cowboy has to have a hat." At eight years old, Bub has great sad puppy dog eyes. Just kills me every time. Poor kid is heartbroken that Woody has lost his hat. The arena ate it. It was never found. Unfortunately, it's hard to find just the hat for a 16" Woody doll, so a brand new Woody is on his way thanks to eBay. And Shorty owes me at least $10 of her tooth and birthday money. Hope everyone had a great Easter!