aug 31 2022

I don't know if any of you are you studying the minds of aging people but I have a most definite problem with binary decisions ..  I've always had a significant right/ left up /down on/ off problem but yesterday demonstrated the complications ---simple problem of go pick up the coffee for Janine ,myself and mark -------the problem was that there are two Dunkin' Donuts places Rowley or topsfield..   and then did Janine want her coffee at home here or at Meredith farm..(where she had to go to feed.)   the problem was these were both presented to me as 2  binary single questions consequently I had to guess and where to get  it whe're to go------ now if she had said to me get it in topsfield and take it to Meredith I would have no problem remembering that but to present it to me as two binary things I didn't have a clue...

 

I am tech disadvantaged.----- already We know that---  already "phone flustered"---- on occasion I just surrender myself to the idiocy of trying to work my cell phone.. when I went to Dunkin' Donuts to pick up the coffee there was a pile of 2022 calendars on the passenger seat which fell down as I put the brake on in the parking lot.------peep. Peep. Peep.  i assumed  this set off my car telling me that I needed to put a seat belt on the passenger seat --- still on the driver seat I turned sideways to try and explain to the seat that it was really calendars and I had a few choice words taught to me by some sailor I'm sure... and the window was open so the people on the next car heard me cursing out the seat and the beeping etc. as I turn back to the left it was just in time to see  two porta potties on the back of a truck that was   backing up nearly backed into my mirror.which was the beeping.  

 

That was the initial fluster.  And I tried to call Janine on my cell.  to try and figure out where where to take her coffee. when the car got stuck on the busy signal at full volume and I didn't seem to be able to shut it off.. the full volume magnified my technology fluster factor 

 

At full volume , I got th e coffee delivered.    I figured I'd go down and visit my friends  down there at the ira Toyota dealer because this car was going on full volume.... now you all know about our ghost of the left hand drawer Goldie who organizes very weird things.. I decided to go down to the ira dealership service department where I have two buddies 1 is nick who has moria ( harl female)  And bill who's just a jolly sort of guy but I've known for years since I've owned a Toyota the two of them seemed to have a lot to do with managing the service department somehow..  so when I pulled in with this car blaring forth the busy signal...  and of course I had three dogs in the back seat hanging out the window,,, let's say I attracted a little attention...   and very shortly right outside my window there were about 5 shall we say well dressed businessmen..    so nick told me that they were the big bosses..  well for years I have tried to get the Toyota dealership to put explorer.org on.  Their black”smart tv’s."    .  so I took this opportunity for what I would call an elevator  speech---- you know you have 30 seconds of undivided attention.....  I gave teh explore speech...... as I handed them a poker chip with service dog project on it... as I did that , one of them turned to nick and said “give her what she wants”   that could  be a tremendous thing for both Toyota dealership and explore.org so I will follow through that and see if we can't get the nature cameras on the 4 or five black smart TV's in their dealership waiting room.   I figured goldie's sent me... I've been trying for years to figure out who to talk to to get those black television is working.

 Rebooting the phone and Turning the car off and on. Stopped the noise... 

 

Meanwhile mark has picked up paint from the neighbor’s “street collection” of free items.. we will  have a pink chicken house.. and he found some perfect purple for th e shop door at the same street collection.

Our sidewalk collection has been whittled down to just two seats from my Sequoia.and   a tub of kindling wood--- having gotten rid of two mowers, a bathtub, a dryer and a jug of hardware...

 

Mark is getting us cleaned up for dog fest....

 aug 29 2022

  i had  a few comments from cp's on the  car problems  mostly windows...

EXHAUST FUMES COMMONLY SEEP UP INTO THE BACK INTERIOR AREA OF CARS WHERE THE DOGS ARE RIDING.  DOGS DO NOT LIKE THE SMELL OF EXHAUST FUMES, SO REMEMBER TO ALWAYS HAVE YOUR CAR WINDOWS CRACKED OPEN A BIT IN ORDER TO LET THE EXHAUST FUMES OUT OF THE BACK AREA OF THE CAR WHERE THE DOS ARE RIDING.

****

at highway speed open windows can cause a strange air pressure in the car...

***

and then one i forgot... carrying a dog in a crate in the car,or a van...be sure there is no hot spot caused by things like muffler.... 

 not a problem if the dog can get away... but in a crate... be careful

----

that concept  of containing a dog in a crate goes to ---???? is that crate in an unpleasent draft in winter.??? ...or  things like that....

---

today is. hay day.. maybe....   the"hay guy" now in salsibury  expected a load  from canada saturday-- sounded good to me so i want to be therte early.  he has a very small yard now..... i hope i can get turned around-  but if a 52foot gets in there, i shoudl  be able to--- unless teh 52 foot truck is still there... which it could be...  should be interesting.

second trip-----then pick up the 35 dog beds from tractor supply.

which presents the problem of the day---   tractor supply will sell  chickens for 5 cents.... or give away the remaining baby chickens---  now i had wanted the carpenter to make me aq portable chicken coop.. and we never got to do it..  so this afternoon i could be blessed with chickens which we need... and just have our normal chicken coop for them ... we have one hen left....if she does not like  children, we could have a problem. 

so expect some chicken maneuvers today,,,, and i will try and get the carpenter to do the coop thing....

****

and i did make people think more like dogs.....

Hi Carlene, 

Listening to my dog has made a big difference, we communicate so much better and I owe it to your teachings. When you said you let the dog choose his person, it was a revelation to me.  I now try and think about what my dog is saying.  It's added a richness to our relationship.  Taking time to figure out what he is saying is so important.  

Thank you, you are truly a master!-----Pamela

*****

 ? never stop learning?????   ok...... sizzle refused to get on a table i have set in the yard...  she looked at me with a "what are you ??? nutts????" she knew darn well what i was asking and turned away... sizzle is not what you would. call a disobedient dog.... so what's going. on??- wellllllllll...  remember a few weeks ago i spouted on the. faCT THAT SHE DID NOT LIKE GETTING OUT OF THE CAR .. UNTIL I SPREAD HER TOWEL ON THE GROUND- AT WHICH TIME SHE WOULD PLANT HER 2 FRONT FEET ON THE TOWEL...   I ASSUMED IT WAS THE ACORNS ON THE GROUND THAT WERE HURTING HER FEET WHEN SHE LANDED ON ONE... AND THAT MAY BE TRUE....  SHE CERTAINLY JUMPS RIGHT OFF ONTO THE "RED CARPET" TOWELS SOMEONE SENT US...  BUT NOW REFUSING TO GET UP ON SOMETHING SHE WILL HAVE TO JUMP OFF OF---- FOR WHICH SHE SEES NO REASON....... I AM WONDERING IF SHE HAS HURT HER SHOULDERS SOMEHOW....  SHE RUNS LIKE A DEER--- BUT SHE CLEARLY SAID  "NO "   TO GETTING UP ON. THE TABLE.

SHE IS TELLING ME SOMETHING ... AND I  HAVE NOT YET FIGURED IT OUT.  THERE ARE TIMES WHEN SHE WILL ASK "DO YOU REALY WANT ME TO DO THAT?" AND GIVE ME THE OPTION OF  INSISTING ... 

BASICALLY SHE HAS STARTED THE CONVERSATION ABOUT THE TABLE- AND I HAVE YET TO FIGURE OUT WHAT SHE IS TALKING ABOUT.  MAYBE I TRY A RED TOWEL THERE TOO????  I WILL WORK ON IT.
IT IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS ABOUT DOG TRAINING THAT ONE CAN NOT OVERLOOK.  YOU SHOULD NEVER OVERLOOK AN UNEXPECTED BEHAVIOR.. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A REASON.... WHICH YOU MAY LIKE OR NOT LIKE...BUT TRY LOOKING AT THE BEHAVIOR FROM THEIR STANDPOINT.

CLASSIC  PROBLEM

 I OFTEN GET ASKED ABOUT  " SOMETIMES HE WILL JUMP IN THE CAR  WITH US- AND OTHER TIMES HE WON'T".  OK... SO WHAT  IS A VARIABLE ABOUT THE CAR?  LIKE WHO IS IN THE CAR AT TIMES?  ANOTHER DOG HE IS AFRAID OF?  OR A PERSON HE IS BEING ASKED TO SIT NEXT TO AND DOES NOT LIKE???? 

ANOTHER CAR PROBLEM

"HE STOPPED GETTING IN THE CAR".   OH?  DID YOU HAVE AN ACCIDENT (BIG BANG TO HIM THAT MADE HIM FALL?). OR HAVE YOU - OR SOMEONE IN YOUR FAMILY TAKEN TO JACK RABBIT DRIVING???  MAYBE NEW TEENAGER??( WAS THE CASE ONCE)....

THAT IS WHERE DOG TRAINING TAKES SO MUCH TIME..... TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY SOMETHING IS HAPPENING... AND THEN EITHER ALTER THE  CONDITIONS OR TEACH THE DOG TO ACCEPT THEM. THEY ARE NOT ALWAYS "WRONG" 

    aug 2 7 2022

10 years !   thank you Charlie !   W..h..aaaaaa.......ttt?   who's Charlie???  

You could call Charlie a naturalist, and also an enabler.  Because of Charlie’s.   interest in nature documentaries ---- we were enabled to develop service dog project, by installing 7 cameras around our crazy acres farm.as part of his efforts to  provide the means  of.......never stop learning.

those cameras enabled us to develop a community of camera people AKA ....c p’s .... Who allowed us to develop and train  great Danes as wonderful service dogs for both 6 foot 4 inch veterans and 4 foot 6 inch kids.. both doing amazingly well..

Way back at the beginning Courtney who was Charlie's helper asked ME if I would mind getting on camera once in a while and talk to the people who were watching----of course I wouldn't mind---that developed into mail call---which developed into the SHATUPON SOCIETY... Which has enabled over 200 people to get up out of a wheelchair and walk with a Great Dane.. 

 

I can remember.....   someone coming up the driveway and asking me if I would mind if they put cameras around the farm.. I was busy at the moment and didn't pay an awful lot of attention but I said certainly as long as it didn't cost me anything.. and the next thing I knew  there was a crew of five people. installing cameras around whatever we were doing..  which was fine ----  That evolved. into. ANNE  Peterson and I. going to Los Angeles to meet this Charlie person-We started out terrified..  and we had a dog with us ----a black female callED order... because she was order out of chaos... turns out order preferred Charlie's right hand person Courtney...   so we left order with Courtney... 

 

In spite of the fact both Anne and I were terrorized.. OF meeting all the important people we totally enjoyed the very normal group.. and one night after dinner somebody said "let's walk to the office it's only two blocks and it's a nice night,"  ------ that sounded all well and good as the whole crew including anne  went  striding off into the evening air along the ocean in a very athletic manor...  however I don't stride off athletically... and I struggled to keep up with the group as they went ALONG A very long two blocks... the only thing that saved me was the pedestrian traffic light that they had to wait for to make a left turn across the road.. fortunately it gave me a chance to catch up... because I had begun to wonder how far ahead they  would get before they lost me entirely....

 

So here we are 10 years later and they ain't lost me yet.  I hope we can continue to do a good job for them... and the way we can do that is to put the word out that these cameras are totally free of any cost or advertisement..  they are perfect for all of these senior living places.  or also hospital waiting rooms... or any other waiting room for that matter because all of these smart televisions..  are somehow capable of streaming these cameras..  with perfectly beautiful photography. from Australia to Alaska to Africa  to Ipswich MA... and once again I plead all of THE  crew here please be conscious of keeping entertainment in front of the cameras...   that's one way we can help Charlie TO continue his concept of never stop learning..   even though in our case it may not be understaanding the effect of warming on the glaciers and something far more mundane. like how to fix an Abscess in the foot of a rescued mule.   learning is learning

here is a need to learn to learn.

 aug 26 2022

i already started 2 topics and had to delete--- could be misconstrued-

 maybe my hay problem is safe.

i got distracted yesterday following a huge hay truck at 5:00pm  only to find out the hay company has moved to salsbury( up rt 95 not far),,, i will go there today... but the hay topic is complicated becasue  what trailer is full. of hay..... where..... and how  to not have to unload and load to get the correct driver going to boston. .

****

how about dog beds?

tractor supply told john( who was in there working a dog) they had 35 dog beds to give to us-- so i quickly went there with my forerunner

while talking to the manager she pointed to a pile of beds--- about 24 x 40 x 6" thick.. and said most are larger than that..   therefore the forerunner was not even close...  i needed the trailerr--- which had gone out the driveway on 3 out of 4 wheels to hopefully get fixed...

i know not where or how......i do not know how normal people live without a horse trailer.. i mean ... how do you buy a new sofa??? 

****

my exccitement of the day... larkey jumped out the car window as i was going very slowly in. the driveway---ther was enough to roll h im over and scare him...( on the street i have the windows 1/2 way) but when wandering at homw i have left them open...  he has one scrape about 1 inch long... otherwise seems fine. 

***

 well.... i am learning to use my cell phone exclusively.. i don't know what lynn will do with the othre phone numbers. 

that and changing banks will keep me busy  for a few days... sept first is the change over...

****

i need time to regroup

  lynn has pulled the calendar. almost together.....i helped .00457%...   kathy pulled her weight and beth came thru with some beauts of bubble conversation but lynns computer skills were astoundiong as she flipped pictures around.... never will i figure out how. so we may make teh deadline of "printer. ready" by aug 31.

she is now working on which printer...  for how much....and i am supposed to proof... for spelling????? so you can. see how that will. go.....

as for  spellers anonymous-- i didn't realize if i just get the first and last letters correct, it is. readable?????

I cdnuolt blveiee 
taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The 
phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at 
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the 
ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the 
first and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae 

****

i never ceased to be amazed  when someone  comes up and starts conversation about danes .. and very quickly someone  in the group will  comment on the size of the poop.   it happened in the  newspaper last  month... about the kennel they were trying to open over on route 1a...  the size... hire a company.. the odor...

AND I REMEMBERED..........   there is no doggie doo that compares to the people mess  i literally ended up in while doing a disney movie  on boston common..."just hide behind those bushes while we shoot."   

 i bet you never thought of the fact that being homeless means  you are also minus parts of the home that are critical.... and they end up doing something somewhere....  that somewhere is behind the bushes  on the common.

****

now how is that for a jarring discussion...

*****

on a different note.......someone needs to put out food for the college student.. in little packets that can be warmed/cooked with the cup of hot water that comes out of the  Keuring...  we ought to have more available than the  ramen noodles...   i do pretty well with the oatmeal.... but  how aboiut....potatoes... peas... corn... things like that...

*****

have a cheerful day.   //

"my kid is going to school for the first time standing up straight without crutches or walker !!  "  i did hear that -- and it is all because we decided a great dane was not a useless toy.  ----- or alot of other things people think of huge dogs.... ( some rightly so...) 

and then there is george bush senior... who said  "if you can't help 1000's, help one "   we certainly have helped more than one,  but sometimes we wish we could have a dog for everyone who needs one.

i hope "you people out there" realize that  it is a strange matching process... so if you think a dog might work for you, go ahead and do the inquiry thing on our web and see what happens next....one requirement i have is anyone getting  one of our dogs has to have a sense of humor--  that is true of  anyone thinking of owning any  dane....

bella's mom can tell you first hand.....

 When you add a service dog into the mix it takes more planning.  “Bella did George go pee and poop this morning?  Did George have breakfast?  Do you have his vest/chain?  Did he have 5 minutes to run?  Do you have his coat if it's cold?” It's a lot to plan every time you leave the house. Then planning for the unexpected such as keeping a container in the car with water/ food bowls, treats, food, fluffies, and water.

 

Does Bella always do 100% of his care?  No of course not but she does 95+% of his care.  She will happily take him to the bathroom, feed him, brush him, scoop his poop,,.

 

Would we change anything?  No way.  Seeing the improvements have been amazing.  Bella is so much stronger.  But when you have a service dog you have to remember this is a 24/7/365 day job.  Bella doesn't decide when she wants to use George or when she wants to use crutches.  George doesn't stay home alone.  He is always with us including overnights at the hospital. 

 

Has it changed anything?  Of course it has.  Are their places we don't go?  Yup. Does it draw attention?  Yes, at times Bella doesn't feel like saying Hi but she has to because she isn’t allowed to be rude.  So before you think of getting a service dog remember they require a lot of work, training, even after you think they are trained there is always more they need to learn, love, time and attention. Are crutches easier?  Yup but we have adjusted our lives to include George and wouldn't change it for anything. It's not an option to give up on him and decide one day we don't want to put forth the extra effort. 

 

It is a lot of effort but he gave Bella her life back so we will do whatever we can to make him happy! 

But look at that face? What's not to love?  

*****

how's that for getting someone else to write the dd?  

 

cosmo.  -- ready willing and able... 

 aug 22 2022

i have a framed needlepoint....

happy to share with you such as i've got

the leaks in the roof, the soup in the pot

and that sums it up.   i get soooo many thank you's from people who enjoy the constant acdtivity... like reading the electric bills at mail call

someone sent me this "reminder" and suggested i include it in the dd...

Since we have cameras streaming  on the property not much goes unnoticed.  Followers are able to report the staff/volunteer's every move, and the activities of the dog/animals on the property.  Viewers often reach out by email, phone, and comments. 

Sometimes the comments are very helpful...- the horse on camera got her foot stuck in the haybag.( taxi)   or a dog experiencing early signs of labor.

Most of these comments are benign and a result of genuine concern but  sometimes  a lack of understanding of the context.  For example:

We got a call at 11:30 pm that one of the goats was in labor which is improbable because the 5 goats are all boys.

One of the 9 puppies is being smothered by the mother dane.  Since we only had 8 puppies there was no puppy underneath mom.

The bottom line is the Board of Directors and Lynn  take all comments seriously and investigate all of them.

Please recognize that the power of Social Media is both positive and negative.  Trust that the organization is hyper-focused on the welfare of the animals.  

Thank you for your continued support -

*****

camera people. (CP's) have come a long way in the 10 years of cameras..... i remember.........

i had a 2am call the first week .. a CP was afraid the  birds got locked in the barn.. so they called me to go let them out.  she was shocked to hear it was normal... and there were plenty of open doors anyway.  my phone number is no secret...

hardly. anything on this farm is "one layered"----  usually both  lynn and i keep a dog for  possible future breeding --- right now... i can... lynn can't ----because it would cost SDP  about $50,000... why. ?    you. may ask---- first reason.....i can put 4 dogs in my four runner and if she gets another dog we would have to buy her a new  bigger van because they would not fit in her rav4 .   there is alot of "stuff" like that.  

***

here is another wierd piece.....

Farm life is very complicated... someone is offering to donate a bunch of fencing---

 it would look lovely to line the driveway  with it instead of the falling down split rail-- and i thought  just pull up the posts and put inthe new ones....except... the. white fencing is on 8 foot centers and split rail 10 foot,,,, and even worse-- i have forgotton where the underground electric lines are...   so it is a call for   DIG SAFE. which by thier own description. 

  Dig Safe is a free service, funded entirely by its member utility companies. (Note: Dig Safe does not mark utility lines.)

how' s that for clarity? also if you are digging it is apparently a law in. mass that you call them. 

******

 so on we go...

 aug 21 2021

non scripted conversations...   

 During the Pandemic you were often the only real people I heard each day, it meant alot to me.   Non scripted conversations are so important in making someone feel connected. 

I never really thought about it but the last few days I've had two comments about why they read the daily doggy ----   both referred to it as a source of non scripted conversation.. in other words just a head rattling first thing in the morning without too much thought to the whole thing.  which brings to mind the creativity---which is sometimes another word for being disorganized---but there is great virtue in brainstorming any problem.. and allowing a freedom of thought without any fear of rejection... because if nothing else it might spur some practical previously unthought of solution to an impending decision that needs to be made.

 

I immediately have to go back to Ken Robertson  TED lecture on creativity

aside from being darn right---- he's pretty funny..---- when he says that American education is geared to producing college professors ---Which I think is true.

He goes on to talk about how his wife can do brain surgery with one hand mow the lawn with the other while organizing the children play time ----while ---if he is in the kitchen he has to have absolute silence. saying “please get the children out of here can't you see I'm trying to fry an egg”

 

He has some classics like his daughter did not want to move to United States because she had a boyfriend in Britain and Ken said what she didn't realize was that's exactly why they wanted to move to the United states..

 

It's a very funny/dead on correct.  20 minutes and I recommended it many times-   ken Robertson TED lecture education. – that will shake you up for the day.  

 

My point being--- Is someone can be told 1000 times some ideas  are ridiculous.. but  we are only trying for one million dollar idea which might be hidden. In the pile  --pay particular attention to a child’s ideas.. which are so often pure  logic unadulterated by  conventional wisdom. 

 

From’ ted lecture...

Teacher to child—“what are you drawing”

Child  “I am drawing a picture of God”

Teacher “ but we don’t know what God looks like “

Child “ we will in a minuter”

 

You cannot beat that logic. 

AAUG 20 2022

someone accused me of grabbing bessy by the ears and dragging her-- if i. had done that, bessy would not let me near her ears.... which in the online camera she just showed she had no hesitation about me touching and playing with her ears....

.SO SOMEONE GOT IT WRONG..... and has tried to damage me... 

IN THE PICTURE WE JUST TOOK, SHE IS REACHING OUT  TO ME FOR MORE EAR SCRATCHINGS....

 

 aug 19 2022

my head is. consumed with  stories of rats for the moment..... boston is now  #2 in rat problems according to bobby corrigan  who is an urban rodent expert... Philadelphia is #1    with  washington dc #3 and new york #4.  everybody has a reason rats are a problem... with their 20 minute gestation cycle..but a significient problem is their IQ.....they have an  ability to find accomodating food and housing... not terribly unlike humans.

i do wonder how a young couple of  newly wed rats  found thier way. to a penthouse  in nyc... did they study which wires to chew and cross to make the elevator  go  to the 102nd floor????

i did read also that nyc and boston both are "using" exhaust fumes  produced by a special exhaust fume producing machine.. --- so what is the matter with ny AND BOSTON TAXI'S????

i tried that some 20 years ago. with a huge tree in the yard...... that had a rat hole under it.... i assumed the hole went to a networkj of holes underground.... as i had read.... so i backed up my car and ran  my vacuum hose fro the exhaust to the  hole under the .tree and waited..

 i expected to see rats appear in the pasture or around. the gound somewhere... but no...   over head-- some 30 feet in the air were a few very annoyed rats  and a puff of smoke.. eventually. we did cut the tree down and it was indeed hollow.. who would have thought???  

it is my opinion that we stop reading what anyone else think rats like-- like fake plastic cheeze on the traps.... or strange tubes of  "rat attractant" produced for a tidy profit from "garbage"  and set out a buffet of  possibilities... then get them trained to come for. dinner... at which time you can set a snap trap and get them... sort of like las vegas does with humans... then the water gets shut off....

who would ever expect a rat would choose  ridx.  to a dog cookie?  but there is something in many hardware stores that attract rodents of some kind....   my service dogs tell me ... there is somehting in them there shelves besides nuts and bolts.----- maybe it is the glue holding the cardboard together???  spoken by a person who had 2 toyotas "totaled " by parking them in the wrong place.

ah well---- the presence of rat feces does not indicate the presence of rats--- it indicates  where rats have been---- i bet you could "age" i that feces.... and tell how old it was.... or  if it is current... but people don't do that...

re elevators....

Hi - You have made me very aware of making sure of inspections. Cosmo travels in one of two elevators 6 to 8 times a day, he’s a pro! Always sorry about your horrible experience. I am knocking on wood!

   i can not come up with anything inspirational today.... but someone did comment about driving 8 animals.....budweiser style. 

I'm really getting hard pressed for topics today.. but when someone asked me about driving the 8 donkeys and how you steer them I did find the photo of one of their bridles,. i hope it lands in the email

 

so this may be totally boring however I'm stuck... you notice on the bridle for the donkey's that there are no blinders or little square things covering their eyes....which prevent the animal from seeing behind them.. with a horse this is dead on critical.. you must never hitch a horse to a wagon or anything without having blinders because the horse notices whatever it is behind them must be chasing him so he better run faster.. (******** note. Dogs will do the same thing,,, and often get in bad trouble because thay have their leash tied to a chair leg ... and they start,,, and the chair chases them  with devastating effect t )this idea has been the death of many horses and people because the faser they go the closer that thing stays right behind them.. I do know of a case and I believe Fall River parade where some well meaning person suggested that the driver of the a team of draft horses take their bridles off so they could get a better drink of water and the old draft horses as well trained as they were got in their heads that the wagon was chasing them so they bolted and ran up and over a pickup truck killing the people in the pickup truck.   you cannot take the blinders off a horse that's hooked to anything. I think in my whole life I have seen one horse not have blinders and that was a Trotter in a race.   I tried that once with a horse of mine and it ran off and broke up the wagon miserably...   the donkeys are different they wanna know what's going on so they understand and then they'll cooperate..  which is why I don't have blinders on the bridles for them

 

this particular bridle. in the photograph is the bridal for the left hand Wheeler..  which waqs weenie.  the one close to the wagon and I know because of the rings on the side of his face..  those three rings carry the reins till the donkeys in front of him...   with the one right close to his head is for the donkeys right in front of him..  the middle ring the next pair.... and the bottom ring goes to the leaders.. 

 

 all these rains . split.    just before the donkeys ... and  the split goes to the left hand side of both leaders so that when you try and steer the pair you're steering both at once... There is one additional complication about trying to drive a horses or donkeys and that is when you go around the corner if it is at all tight he let the leaders get well into the corner before you turn them and if you start turning them to the left you have to hold the next pair back with your right rein so they don't cut the corner because if they start cutting the corner by the time you get to the Wheelers they'll be pulling the wagon over all the spectators...   driving 8 it's not as simple as it sounds to start with ..  And when I started driving these I had the lines hooked up in the living room up and over the rafters so I could get the feel of holding 8 reins in my hands... and manipulated them at will..  it was critical to start with but as these donkeys got more experience I didn't even have to get in the wagon I could sit in the back and put a stuffed bear the driver seat---  at least that's what I did for the parades in. Merrimack Massachusetts.. we did that parade for eight years.. and every year they gave us a brass “thing”  Which are on the wall under our spiral staircase.

 

So now go have your. Coffee.... that is supposed to be a picture.      hmmmmmmmmmmm

 light rain.. showers..., light rain.... showers...    ?all day???? way to go !!! mark even told me he had heard it would be 1/2 inch !! 

 ½ inch of rain  how exciting can that be especially after bud dug a post hole down three feet and said it was entirely dust---- there's no moisture in the three feet around us today---- any rate I shudder to think of Southern California as a matter of fact I think I'd have to leave I don't like the writing on the wall out there----- Courtney Are you sure you shouldn't move to New England? 

 

Mommy nature. as a way of having the last word... and I could just see mommy sitting on her throne somewhere and saying “you earthling idiots wanna worry about the price of tea in China... let me show you what you really should worry about.. have a few fires then try and put it out with salt water”

 

the actual news that caused me to perk up was the hay dealers in California are not raising hay now because it takes too much water they're now raising some sort of desert vegetation..  I had heard a few years ago about the Arabs shipping California hey to the Mediterranean because they didn't have enough water to raise it properly either.

 

and if you don't have hAy what on earth do you feed these horses ?

 

so I went to the Department of Agriculture in Pennsylvania... and found there are hey auctions twice a week... right down there where Janine goes to the  horse auction..  wolgemuth  auctions...  CLICK.... then hay.. then video of hay auction  was interesting....price of haY IS WONDERFUL DOWN THERR... EXCEPT  FOR THE TRUCKING... BUT AS JANINE SAYS.. YOU GOTTA LOVE THE AMISH.... IF YOU. ARE WILLING TO PAY FOR SOMETHING , THEY WILL DO IT. IF YOU GO WATCH THAT  AND LOOK AT THE PRICES .... THINK. WE NEED HAY WE CAN HANDLE.   LIKE 2 STRING BALES--- MAYBE EVEN 4 X 4 BALES ... BUT NOT THE ROUND THINGS....  WE HAVE TRIED THAT ....

 

I HAVE PURCHASED LOTS OF THINGS FROM AMISH LAND... LIKE THE TABLES IN THE T TENT...  AND HARNESS.... AND   CHAIN LINK FENCING.

BOTH JANINE AND I THINK EVENTUALLY THIS  WINTER IT WILL BE A QUESTION OF BEING ABLE TO GET ANY HAY AT ALL – AND FEEDING HORSES GRAIN INSTEAD WILL JUST CAUSE ALL SORTS OF  PROBLEMS WITH TUMMIES WANTING ONLY THE BULK OF HAY.

 

SO WE ARE ON IT.  ?30 TONS? RINGS A BELL......I THINK THAT FILLS OUR LOFT....BUT THEN THERE IS MERIDITH BUILDINGS -- OR ANN'S AT GROTON HOUSE... THINK UNLOADING????  WE HAVE A CONVEYER-- BUT STILL... THAT TRUCK DRIVER WOULD EXPECT TO HAVE US PREPARED TO UNLOAD AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE... IN ONE PLACE... NOT DRIVE ALL OVER TOWN.....

PROBLEMS.

HERE'S WHAT A HAY AUCTION LOOKS LIKE....