William came home. His plane was delayed hours on the run way at JFK in New York because of very bad weather and he missed his connecting flight in Seattle to Spokane. The airline paid for a nice hotel suit for him, even though the flight delay wasn't their fault.
William explored New York City and was walking 150 blocks a day as well as riding the subway. He was in the audience on the Letterman show and was on the plaza for the Today Show. I asked him what time he was there because I never saw him and he told me it was when they did the segment for the dogs needing to be adopted.. well that explained it...I was busy looking at the dogs and not the people.
William, being a hard working farm boy, walked all the way around the outside of central Park and zig zagged across it several times. He went to the river to go to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum, but walked to the East River.. realizing his mistake, walked all the way back across town to the Hudson River. I wish I could still walk like that! He even explored Harlem and declared it his favorite part of NYC. He didn't much care for the rest of the city. I enjoyed hearing about his adventures in NYC and wished I could have been there. The first time I went to New York was when I was 19 and that was 38 years ago. The city has changed a lot since then, it's cleaner and safer now. It doesn't bother William to travel and explore alone. While he was in the UK he took a ferry over to Northern Ireland to do research in Belfast. He went to London to visit the museums and do more research. He travelled to Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and other cities. He declared his favorite city that he has visited on his travels so far to be the city of York...the old original York, not the new one.
The first thing William did was take a walk around. Echo was sitting down and when he saw us all coming he leaped to his feet. I thought for a moment he was going to snort and run off, but he came trotting across the pasture to see his long lost friend, William.
He wanted to give William a proper kiss but William just let him kiss his cheek.
Echo likes to give people kisses. If I ask him if he wants an apple, he'll give me a kiss. He's very gentle and not at all pushy. Here he gives Brad a big kiss.
Because I'm shorter, Echo can give me in a real big hug. He puts his head around me and squeezes me in tight. I have never known such an affectionate horse.
He follows close behind us when we take a short cut through his pasture. Today was his first day of being turned out without his breakaway halter on. Needless to say, he's very good about being caught. His training hasn't progressed very far. I just groom him, feed him treats and give him lots of cuddles and kisses. That will be his job in life...being a pet.
William is home for awhile now. He plans to work on the farm for a year and then hopefully start Law School next year. I can't tell you how happy I am to have my boy home. He's already making himself very useful working with his dad. What would be perfect is if Keegan, Nicky and Amelia were living here as well... a mother can only dream. :)
