Then the fun part happened. I went into the tack room--all that's left of the barn where they kept the horses for the girls camp. I've been in there before. It's now owned by my friends Duncan and John. Nailed to the wall are the "cookies" (pieces of birch logs) they used to hang the bridles of the horses. There are only two names I recognize from the last batch of horses they had when the camp was still in operation: Babe and Mosca. Babe was Molly's favorite (as I remember it, anyway). She was a brown mare with a big butt but was the gentlest horse I think I've ever met. I think she must have been a quarter horse because she was smallish and stocky. So here is Babe's cookie. Duncan told me I can have these if I want to take them down, I just haven't gotten around to taking them down yet.

The riding instructor's name was John Stoecker but the girls called him Mr. John. He was gay but of course we didn't know it then. We were young, pre-teens, and would go to watch the riding lessons every day, most of the time we were at the lake--6 weeks or so. He was really, really nice to us. We learned a whole lot about riding and horses. We'd watch the girls saddle and bridle the horses at the barn, then run behind them as they rode the horses through the woods to the riding rings. It was really great for us. The cabin is where Mr. John stayed. My friends at the other camp called it Hernando's Hideaway. It's now on my property and I have asked two different people if they would like to dismantle it for the lumber. They've both said they would like to but so far not a board has been removed. It leans a little bit farther each year and is perched precariously on cinder blocks. It's insured for $8000 so I suppose I'm waiting for it to fall down so I can collect the insurance money. Am I a bad person? I don't know what else to do with it. It's too close to the road and too far from my house for me to use as a guest cabin.