I live on a busy street and until a few nights ago I didn't know the neighbors who live on a big plot of land on the opposite side of the road.
For the past few weeks they have been building an animal pen in their yard and this week it had an animal in it.
I decided to walk The Mayor and Rooster across the street to investigate.
My neighbors were outside and they waved and invited the three of us to meet them at their fence gate.
We made our introductions and then, because we live in a city, I had to ask,"What's with the pony?"
My neighbors looked both amused and defeated and the husband said,"I told our eleven year old daughter she couldn't enter that essay contest because the prize was a horse, but what did my wife say? Oh, HONEY. We never win ANYTHING. It'll be okay. So I signed the waiver and she entered the contest."
Oops. Their daughter won the essay contest and the pony.
I apologized for my tears of laughter, but I couldn't help myself.
What is the fondest dream of eleven year old girls everywhere?
Winning a pony, right?!
Can you imagine what it would be like if your child wrote an essay and won a horse?
You would be powerless.
That pony would be moving into your backyard and costing you twenty thousand bjillion dollars.
So it goes for my neighbors...
The Family Joy is invited to visit the four month old foal named Storm anytime we wish.
There is a God and he has blessed me with hours and hours of free kiddie entertainment right across the street.
All bow down in praise of the great and powerful one who delivers ponies unto thy neighbor's (and not my) backyard!!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Winning Neighbors
He said, "Let there be ponies in the city."
...and it was so.
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103 comments:
hahahahahaha
Lucky you, but your poor neighbors! A pony!
Perhaps they should have explained to their daughter that the local zoning laws wouldn't allow for a pony in the front yard. In fact, I'm kind of suprised they do!
Congrats, indeed!
What kind of contest delivers a pony prize? Where do my neighbors sign up? That's awesome!
I'll leave you with a little Lyle:
If I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat.
I wonder how much that thing would bring on Ebay?
Just sayin.
Nothing sez "I love you" like "Go ahead, enter, you won't win, anyway."
Tee, hee.
Karma.
that gorgeous, gorgeous house across the street? the one i saw? a pony there?
sigh. ponies. and ponies you can love and not have to care for. it's a pony bonus.
OMG. That sucks....for THEM! Hahhaaa!
And look, it will give you the opportunity for almost endless amounts of compost and fertilizer (and flies)
Wow! I've never heard of a horse for a prize in an any kind of contest, much less an essay contest! What on earth did she write about?
Oh my God, that is hilarious! I love your neighbors. That is the kind of thing that would happen to me. (The winning the pony, not the neighbors winning the pony.)
Oh, that is AWESOME!
OMG!!!!! As a parent you would be screwed...I was when Miss-D's preschool sent home little bitty yellow baby chicks....The chick-Little Bo Peep lived in our house-free range, for almost a year. She was paper trained and would come when called...but having a house chicken was just weird.
Oh, that lucky girl. I totally wanted to win a pony when I was a girl. (But I'm guessing even if I had, my parents wouldn't have let me keep it...)
note to self, no pony prize contests for offspring. ever.
but for me, now...? ooooo, a pony! always wanted a pony!
i know, i know.
hope the neighbourhood doesn't, erm, smell like pony from here on in. otherwise, glad the gods have blessed you with Storm, the urban pony.
They won a pony? Awesome. Are they even zoned for that?
A freakin' pony!? That must have been quite the essay.
Who gives a freakin' pony as a prize? Weird.
Oh, poor Storm. Imagine, his surprise upon waking up one pony morning and finding himself shipped off to a family that only had a cage for him to live in in a big city.
The contest organizers need a wake-up call.
That is such a random prize for an essay contest. I mean, I could see a family pack of tickets to Six Flags or something.. a savings bond... geesh. Wouldn't living on a farm be a requirement for entering a contest with that as a prize!?
Jane, Pinks & Blues Girls
I'm thinking that poor little girl got screwed because it's not even a broke pony. It's a colt that will grow up wild and made into glue.
I'm just full of optimism, aren't I?
That is awesome. I think my girl would hire help to write an essay if there was a pony involved. Yikes.
But so fortunate for you.
[There are horses next door to my parents' house. They are adored.]
Gee!
And I thought it was bad when my kids came home from the neighbors' church carnival with a gold fish.
What a lucky little girl!
And lucky you for that free entertainment that just moved in.
This leaves me with so many questions, I don't know where to begin. Sigh.
A pony? In the city? In a cage? For winning an essay contest? Oh my, my, my. You must keep us updated. Are you starting a pool (poll?) for how long it will take for the neighbor/parents to put their collective feet down and sell the pony? Could make for an interesting little contest. I give it three weeks.
I seriously would like to read the essay that yielded your neigh-bor (I know, I know) a pony. A PONY!
My parents did it right. When I was about that age, having read Black Beauty and deciding that I too, wanted to have a pony, my parents called my bluff and said, "Sure." I could have a pony if I took care of it every single day - mucking the stall, feeding it, and doing all the other pony maintenance. I folded.
Wow! Write an essay, win a pony?! What a contest! Lucky eleven year old, lucky Joy family, unlucky neighbor parents. ;)
You know that father was dying to tell his wife... "I TOLD YOU SO!"
But instead he built a pony pen. Good dad.
OMG that is hysterical. Poor neighbors. Good dad though for building a fence for the pony. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have gone down like that in my house. Nice ice breaker with the neighbors though.
Now THAT is funny. But yay for the Rooster and the Mayor -- fun times await!
This could be the funniest thing I've read in a very very long time.
WOW! That's hysterical. What "luck" they have, LOL.
Really, who would think they'd actually win a contest where the prize is a pony.
And who are the crack heads who'd offer up a pony as a prize? They must hate parents.
A pony? Seriously? You DO live in the south don't you?! ;-p
I would love a non-maintenance pony in my 'hood.
That Church of Zoo thing is really working out for you! I need to start attending since my neighbors this week moved a flock of chickens into their yard...smelly, noisy and not at all cute like a pony. I do hope the pony at least gets its own rented stall before it is much bigger.
your poor neighbors. LUCKY YOU
Praise the God of the Church of the Zoo!
Alleluia!
And when the wind blows the right way, the aroma of horse poo.
I found out as an adult that my parents were all ready to get me a pony at that age (we lived in the country) but my sister totally vetoed them (she was an adult by that point) because she never had a pony. Cruel, cruel world.
Pictures of the pony. Yes, please.
We won half a pig once at the County Fare - same situation - Dad said, oh, we don't ever win, sure I'll pitch in for the 4-H. Weeks later, he was sure surprised to get a phone call from the Porkers Association asking when they could deliver the 1/2 a pig... Didn't need a pen, just a big freezer...and, yes, we even got 1/2 a tongue.
Yeah, you gotta be careful letting your kids do anything. We let our daughter raise a puppy for a seeing eye dog non-profit. A year and half we trotted around with that dog to church and to restaurants teaching him to be a great seeing eye dog. Guess what? He's blind in one eye and now we have for the rest of his sweet little doggy life and the girl child? Well she'll be going off to college and we'll just be empty nesters with a dog we hadn't counted on. Good thing he's so cute and loveable!
Clearly I need to worship at the altar of the Church of the Zoo more often. It seems to be working for you!
Oops, meant "fair" not "fare" - or maybe I meant "flair" or "hair" or - wow - I'm getting way off topic.
where was this contest when i was 11?!?!
hehehe poooor parents...
What a cool prize and a lucky girl to win! Yay for her (and you too apparently!)
That is too funny!
Lucky Rooster and Mayor!
As for moi, you've sufficiently scared me. There's NO way I'm letting S.B. enter that content he saw to win a Piper Cub. "What are the chances he'd ever win?" D. said to me.
Um. Yeah.
When I was in first grade, I won a chick. My class hatched eggs in an incubator, and two chicks survived. The entire first grade (four classes of 30 kids) was allowed to enter a drawing and my mom allowed me to do so only because she was SURE I'd lose. Surprise. Not only did I win, but I unknowingly chose the male. Which meant that six months laters, there were some very confused neighbors in downtown San Diego trying to figure out where that CROWING was coming from!
I hope everything works out for your neighbors. Having owned horses as a teenager, I know how much work they are (especially an unbroken colt!) but it can also be very rewarding.
Hahhahah.
It reminds me of that Shel Silverstein poem that has the little girl demanding a pony, and if she doesn't get it, she'll die.
Wow, I couldnt imagine if one of my kids won a dang pony!!!
I would have KILLED to be that 11 year old. I remember lobbying for a pony to live in our backyard forever.
Incidently one of my favorite Shel Silverstein stories is "Abigail and the Beautiful Pony" in "Free to Be You and Me". It's hilarious- you should check it out...
wow. Don't your neighbors know that you can pay a stable to keep your horse?
But that would not be nearly as fun for you! :)
Note to self: Never enter any contest where the pony is a prize.
THAT is the funniest thing I've heard all day. That would be the contest I'd win too-the one that would end up biting me in the ass.
Oh, the irony!
But congrats to you guys on your new pony neighbor.
Holy crap. Those are some good parents. I would have told my kid the pony died on the way over.
Who the heck offers a pony up for a prize????
OMG - I still want a pony. Lucky kid.
Where is my God and the ponies? Where I ask you!
That is awesome. I want a neighbor with a pony and a pool and full-time nanny service and maybe a swim up bar. Yeah. ;)
Yea for you. Those poor people! ;)
The dream of eleven year olds everywhere? What about 35 year olds? I've been wishing for a damn pony for three decades now.
Enjoy the smell. ;)
I wish I could win an essay contest just so I could BET on the ponies.
That is the BEST essay contest EVER!
I'm so jealous! Where can I enter that essay contest?
I'm a hard-hearted beyotch. That pony would be sold to a local stable before my girls could say giddyup.
LMAO!!
So, no more Church of The Zoo?
Just Church of the Pony Which Lives Across the Street?!
Wow, that's some zoning. Got any Water Buffalo?
You totally lucked out. Cool.
That rules, I would love to have a horsey, but yeah I don't think cloven hoofed animals are allowed where I live either.
That is hilarious and wild and...
I want one.
They got off lucky. I was "THIS CLOSE" to winning a greased pig in a rodeo when I was 12.
I was so disappointed.
I thought my parents were, too. I mistook the horrific shock at almost having to own a pig on their faces as dismay.
Oh, you have no idea how jealous my inner 11-year-old is right now!
Wish they would've had a contest like that when I was little. I would've rigged it for sure!
OMGosh! I haven't laughed that hard in MONTHS! Please thank your neighbors for their piece of sunshine and humor hitting my piece of Canada and thanks for posting - you are always a Joy to Read! ROFLMAO!~!!!
LOL!! Some people have ALL the luck!! :)
Priceless. Steam has a neighbor who's yard abuts his and they have chickens AND 12 chicks. And eggs. Finding worms and feeding the chickens offer hours of entertainment for the kids the few times we have gone there to play with Steam's son.
When my husband won a fish at the fair, I made him take it back.
Guess you can't do that with a pony, eh? But yay for you!
Ponies from heaven? That doesn't happen very often, sister.
Oh wow, I can't imagine! My neighbors here in Suburbia would LOVE that!!
Your blog is fascinating!
hahaha - that is great!
I loved having ponies live across the street from me. Probably the only thing I miss from that particular house and town.
71 comments is just too many for me to read each and every one, and I doubt anyone knows my story (though may have similar). When I was -- well, maybe 11? What's 7th grade? We had a HUGE backyard. I asked my parents if I could have a horse. I was an extremely shy kid, so my parents figured they'd be helpful but nip this in the bud by telling me that if I went up to City Hall and found out what the zoning was in our neighborhood regarding horses, then they'd think about it.
Much to their astonishment (am sure they looked at each other and thought "Oh, shit" when I came home) I rode my bike up to town, marched into the Town Hall, asked who I needed to ask, went there and asked, and came home to report that as long as the neighbors didn't complain, we were free and clear to have a horse.
I never got one. But did get to go to TWO horseback riding day camps that summer!
That is the best story I've heard all day, hands down! Yay for you guys ~ free hours of entertainment... Nice!
HA. If that happened in our neighborhood, they'd not only have a new pony, but a new kid as well. My DO would make a pure nuisance of himself. That poor guy is going to have every kid in the neighborhood camped outside his front door!
Had a pony as a kid, I'm sure my dad was wishing it belonged to the people across the street. Lucky you!!!
I can't believe that is even legal. OMG..I would die. Ebay..Yep, that is where it would have to go.
Heck, all these people need to do is hold an essay contest with a prize of a pony! Sounds like what the previous owners did!
Reminds me of a show...."Ponies In The City"! You should pitch a pilot to NBC.
That is too funny :)
Here comes another one of those "OMG! That's hysterical!" comments. I love this. I would have loved a pony, and rainbows, and glitter, and metallic streamers, and mylar balloons!
Amen.
Ponies for all!
Hilarious! I won a contest when I was 11 and my parents had to consent to letting me go to Egypt for a month (in 1979!) I would so be those parents, good for their daughter, may she always be taken seriously from now on. Can't wait to hear how it all unfolds.
I wonder exactly what they plan to do with the poor little foal when it grows up and needs breaking in?
However I can see your point, we have horses in a paddock adjoining our house and they provide hours of toddler entertainment.
I thought we lucked out when our neighbor got a rabbit.
You, on the other hand, have won the freaking jackpot.
And when the Rooster asks when she can expect her very own pony (to keep the one next door company)? What will your answer be?
Well, that changes my whole outlook on the God thing!
That is crazy. Poor neighbors. I wouldn't no what to do. I really wouldn't. But gosh, what a break for a city kid like you. It is almost like an instant petting zoo.
LMAO! That is so hysterical (and very sad for the neighbors). Whatever you do, don't tell The Princess about this contest - she'd be begging to enter it.
Still laughing...
OH. My. GOSH. That is so freaking hilarious! Seriously. That'll teach them to not believe in their child. MWAHAHAHAHA
Living next to a petting zoo?!? Now that is Cool....as long as you are up wind, that is.
Ths is exactly why I'm not teaching my daughter to read or write.
Mikeeo
Neighbors with ponies are the best! because then you don't have to buy your own! Our nieghbors have horses and I couldn't be happier.
How can you have a pony in the city, by the way? Aren't there livestock ordinances?
Wow. You'll have to show me this pony on Saturday.
Also confused abt the legality of an urban pony.
I looked into buying a minature calf to eff with my neighbors awhile back.
Wow .. .I can't imagine a contest where you could win a pony. A real, live pony! I thought those kinds of cool prizes ended back in the 60's! Who knew??
Neat!
If that had been our neighbors, Gavin would have asked if the pony wants to come over every other week to eat the grass so he doesn't have to mow!
Amazing! I would have killed to win a pony. Where I grew up, our backyard was practically vertical -- a hill covered in ivy. We knew someone who was giving away a pinto. My dad said we couldn't take it because the horse would have two legs shorter than the other.
(wrinkle brow)
What an amazing child too -- I wonder what the essay was? Can you get a copy?
I won a rabbit in a school reading contest in 6th grade. Brought it home, and found it to be rather annoyingly antisocial, plus it had this habit of backing up against the cage and peeing out. My mother found another family to take it. I wasn't sad though. It wasn't a pony after all.
that girl is gold.
oh and god says the same thing about toaster ovens too. god's pretty busy, huh?
Talk about bad luck. There's no way you're convincing that kid to let you get rid of it.
Fabulous! Now here's what you can do: find a bunch more essay-writing contests for that neighbor girl! Slip them to her on the sly!
A PONY? Seriously?
gosh. and i was bummed to have to buy cotton candy for my girls at the fair last weekend. whew.
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