I would like to send a very heartfelt thank you to all of those who have checked in on my household! I deeply appreciate you! I am very blessed to live in this caring community. Sometimes it feels like all of this a dream, a really bad dream, then I realize how blessed I am to have a warm home, plenty of food, access to medical care, friends and family checking in on my household. Although this is stressful, I am grateful. For the past couple of weeks I have heard of many people helping others, the spirit of our great community is truly amazing! Two of these amazing people are volunteering right here in our Valley Home community. Bonnie and Sandra are voluntarily delivering lunches to Valley Home students at their homes, along the bus route. We appreciate you both so much! Our former community member Kathy Bryhni, who now resides in Oklahoma sends her thoughts and prayers to all her friends here in Valley Home. Kathy helped with almost every event in the community for many, many years. We miss her helping hands and her amazing spirit! Our loss is Oklahoma’s gain! We are grateful for the caring folks here in Valley Home such as Lisa Jones, Jeff Combs, and all those who continue to reach out within our community to make sure community members have what they need. We live in such a special place! Normally, we would be enjoying our Oakdale Rodeo this coming weekend. We send a huge thank you to the Oakdale Saddle Club and everyone who works so hard year round to make this great rodeo a reality! We will miss the exciting sights and sounds of this very special weekend. We can take heart in the knowledge that even though not now, this great event will definitely once again welcome cowboys and cowgirls! If you would like to be uplifted and fuel your rodeo spirit riding high, just listen to the great Chris Ledoux. Chris Ledoux was the bronc riding World Champion in 1972, then went on to an amazing country music career! His hits including “Running through the Rain” in which he sings of rodeo time in Oakdale California, makes your spirits soar! Take a listen to this great ode to rodeo, you will definitely feel the heart, the soul, and the passion of our very special Oakdale Rodeo. God Bless you all, stay safe!

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As always you may reach me by email at winniemullins51@gmail.com. Until next time, “Happy Safe Trails to All!”