Hippodrome

For as long as I can remember, I have disliked the smell of the mulch that they put around the trees in the fall. I always assumed it was because it was mixed with manure. And, don't get me wrong, that's a really good reason to dislike the smell, but there was something else I couldn't really put my finger on.

This labor day, we went to the South Dakota State Fair and spent a bit of time in the Hippodrome watching my niece and nephew ride horses. I hadn't been in that barn for many many years - probably since watching my brother and cousin play hockey after I moved on from that career. It was fun to walk around it again and realize that we were playing hockey in a horse barn growing up, and not the other way around like I had thought as a kid. I remember thinking it was strange that there were horse stalls and a concession stand named "The Feed Box" in our hockey rink.

So all this brings us to Friday when I walked out of work early to get to a friend's wedding and the landscaping company had just put manure mulch out that day. Finally everything came together with my recent Hippodrome visit and I realized all this time that when I was smelling the manure enriched mulch my subconscious was actually bringing me back to my wonderful days playing hockey in the Hippodrome! I'm serious, that is exactly what went through my mind when that odor wafted through my nose!

So, without further ado, equal opportunity guest blogger Mom has sent some pictures that instigated me to write this post. From my old hockey days, and one of them even features the Feed Box!

Mom tells me that the reason I was sad here was becuase I had broken my stick in the game.

Really, I did have fun, I just hated all of the preparations and getting suited up.