Americano Blue's musher/mushing chat thread

[RezChamp]

Oh, why do feel no Sheps for mushing?

 

[charnic44]

Wow. Me too. I thought the days of that lifestyle were dead and gone. Kudos to your parents for working together teaching family and hard work ethics.

I was also brought up to lead by example. Didn't work. My kids are more a product of their mom. Town/city girl. Divorced parents.
I could say much but I don't wana sound like an ignorant, sexist, macho man and that's the way most people take it when I say what's on my mind. Most likely because I no longer have the patience to deal with frail human egos(in adults). Apparently honesty aint a virtue, it's more a vindictive irritation.
So now I just avoid confrontation and do what I need to do to make sure my baby don't go hungry and/or thirsty, or gets lost and/or injured outside because everyone else is sitting around inside. I just wana make sure she gets old enough, and has enough teachings, to make it on her own. You know cook, clean, healthier choices on all levels etc.
And of course I keep busy,...chores, wood, sidewalks, vehicle maintenance, dog area, poultry, horses, rabbits and food for everything and everyone.
Ha! I don't even do dishes, sweep or mop anymore, or anyone else's laundry, just mine.
I actually have time to go visit my folks or my buddies from time to time. But mostly work eat sleep. It's a pretty darn good life.
Oh ya, Nature ain't silent. Far from it. Very, very far from it. But it is quieter than the un-Natural world.

Yeah... My parents didn't raise my sister's and I to be lazy. We've worked everyday of our lives but because of that, we will probably end up farther in life than most (nice house, good job, decent education, ect). Sometimes a little break would be nice. But then you gotta find someone who can take care of the animals. Plus you worry the whole time your gone. And of course nobody does everything exactly the same. By the time you might have it all figured out, it's not worth the vacation lol.

I make my own bridles. Different bridles for different types of sleds. On your sled I would probably attach it to every stantion. At a strong point of course.
I'm sorry I don't know of any sites that could show you. I learned from my mushing buddies and my (now deceased) mother in law.
I wish I could help you more but it would take 4 or 5 pages for me to describe to you in writing how to make and attach one.

I think I kinda have an idea of what I'm gonna do but I don't want to mess it up.

 

[Americano Blue]

Oh, why do feel no Sheps for mushing?

Bad experience.

OK. I see.
Well.... Lots of mushers use CrazyGlue. If you ain't comfortable with that get the medical stuff. It's the same stuff just got some anti bacterial in it. Stings like the dickens too.
If you want you can get some wild sage, chew it into a pulp and apply it with a bandage. And/or you can boil about 1/4 cup in a gallon of water and bathe the foot on the slightly warm tea"ish" water resulting. You can take the pulp out of the water, squeeze out as much moisture as you can and apply a small amount much the same as the "chewed" version.
Of course applying it to the cut would depend a lot on the dog too. But if you do apply it to the cut and the dog eats it(the sage not the bandage material) will cause an antiseptic/astringent effect to go through his system. I do that for myself sometimes. Taste bitter as all get out but it works. Mind you I don't really need to use as much sage in the water as I do.LOL

Alright. Thanks.

Have you ever seen pix or whatever of a sundance?

Um... No

 

[RezChamp]

Yeah... My parents didn't raise my sister's and I to be lazy. We've worked everyday of our lives but because of that, we will probably end up farther in life than most (nice house, good job, decent education, ect). Sometimes a little break would be nice. But then you gotta find someone who can take care of the animals. Plus you worry the whole time your gone. And of course nobody does everything exactly the same. By the time you might have it all figured out, it's not worth the vacation lol.
I think I kinda have an idea of what I'm gonna do but I don't want to mess it up.

Yeah, us too. My brother 2 sisters and I. My Dax's fam had 90 cows. They'd freshen half every 6 months. So everyday there were 45 cows to milk. Outa bed at 5AM everyday. 40 hens to collect eggs from. 20 some odd pigs, small flock of geese, ducks, turkeys, sheep and 48 horses. Everything had to eat before the humans. Well actually the humans ate what was produced on the farm them days. We even still have the old winnower and mill. Ya. we made our own flour...and porridge...and potbarley. Good life. lots of work but an extremely good life. Lucky there were 9 siblings to share the work load. By the time I came to stay with my Nana & Pampa they only had 30 milkers and ....well a little less of everything because there was only me and 2 of my uncles and 1 of my aunts left at home with my G-parents. ....and a huge garden. But we still had to rise at 5. No milking machines them days either.
We did have an awesome cream separator though. We had the only one with a bell in the handle that when it stopped ringing that was an indicator that we were going fast enough to open the spigot and start the process of separating. We made our own butter too. We had a 5 gallon churn and a press that made eight 1lb bricks at a time. Wow. I'm just really lonesome for them old days now. Less bickering, less fighting, less crime, less BS politics, less pretentiousness. We didn't have time for frivolities and trivolities. Don't get me wrong, we had time for fun too. Community picnics, hide and seek, tag, family baseball games, family picnics. LOL. Our family picnics even revolved around work. The hay grounds were 5 miles from home. Not far....by car or truck. We used horses. So we would need to take our lunch and supper with us. Sometimes some of my cousins would come(y Nana's or Pampa's brother or sister's kids) and we were allowed to go play on the bush up the hill so we weren't in the way of the sickle more or the binder or something.
Sorry guys, I could go on for a long long time. Gals I mean.
Anyway charnic44, please relay my gratitude and regards to your folks. Also to you I extend my encouragement. The way you have been/are being raised lends me hope for the world. I've seen a great deal of change in my short 56 years, not very much of it actually turned out for the best. Mass destruction of the earth, mass social degradation, mass hate and disregard for way too much that I was taught was given to us by the almighty to take care of in a good way.
From someone so young as all you young ladies, I am beginning to feel that there is still hope. I pray you all have a good day today. It's a glorious day to be alive. The sun is shining so brightly it actually makes me squint, the air is fresh and invigorating.... Even with just 1 arm that works I need to get back outside and keep busy. It's a much to beautiful day to waste indoors. Can't mush, do's orders, and besides I don't wana chance screwing it up worse for longer, but I can CAREFULLY keep busy.

Bridle.....EXAMPLE. Please keep in mind my sled is probably bigger with more stantions. Brushbow joins rear stantion at ski = A. Handle joins brushbow and intersects middle stantion=B. Brushbow joins front stantion at basket=C
I got a length of 1/2inch Derby rope longer much longer than I thought I would need. I folded it it half and knotted a strong dbl loop right at one end(middle of single length). Iliad it out so the loop was out in front of sled(brushbow) by 1&1/2feet. I used a magic marker to mark C. Tied a dbl half hitch there both sides of sled so C mark was visible ahead of knot. I pulled snug and used a dbl half hitch on B making sure of line(rope)tautness both sides of sled. Did the same at A. The ends were cut about 6 inches past knot and melted with a lighter to prevent fraying then I used electricians tape to tape to stantion.
I do not put shock cord between sled and knot. It makes the sled wiggle. I put shock cord on main-line/brake-line to bridle connection.
LOL. I hope this makes sense to y'all.

 

[RezChamp]

...

Bad experience.
Alright. Thanks.
Um... No[/quote]

Oh. OK. Some people, even in this day and Age of Enlightenment, say the sundance is barbaric and gruesome and a whole bunch of other remarks based on ignorance and judgmentalism.
Anyways, part of it stipulates that a male human would have slits cut in his skin, large enough to have stick poked through it much like skewering a piece meat onto a stick. I'll spare you the teaching as it's quite lengthy.
My point is, wild sage was used on the slits to aid healing. Some people have very small scars. Some that tried to deviate from that tradition by using modern medicine's antibacterial ointments and salves have horrendous scarring.

 

[RezChamp]

Yeah, us too. My brother 2 sisters and I. My Dax's fam had 90 cows. They'd freshen half every 6 months. So everyday there were 45 cows to milk. Outa bed at 5AM everyday. 40 hens to collect eggs from. 20 some odd pigs, small flock of geese, ducks, turkeys, sheep and 48 horses. Everything had to eat before the humans. Well actually the humans ate what was produced on the farm them days. We even still have the old winnower and mill. Ya. we made our own flour...and porridge...and potbarley. Good life. lots of work but an extremely good life. Lucky there were 9 siblings to share the work load. By the time I came to stay with my Nana & Pampa they only had 30 milkers and ....well a little less of everything because there was only me and 2 of my uncles and 1 of my aunts left at home with my G-parents. ....and a huge garden. But we still had to rise at 5. No milking machines them days either.
We did have an awesome cream separator though. We had the only one with a bell in the handle that when it stopped ringing that was an indicator that we were going fast enough to open the spigot and start the process of separating. We made our own butter too. We had a 5 gallon churn and a press that made eight 1lb bricks at a time. Wow. I'm just really lonesome for them old days now. Less bickering, less fighting, less crime, less BS politics, less pretentiousness. We didn't have time for frivolities and trivolities. Don't get me wrong, we had time for fun too. Community picnics, hide and seek, tag, family baseball games, family picnics. LOL. Our family picnics even revolved around work. The hay grounds were 5 miles from home. Not far....by car or truck. We used horses. So we would need to take our lunch and supper with us. Sometimes some of my cousins would come(y Nana's or Pampa's brother or sister's kids) and we were allowed to go play on the bush up the hill so we weren't in the way of the sickle more or the binder or something.
Sorry guys, I could go on for a long long time. Gals I mean.
Anyway charnic44, please relay my gratitude and regards to your folks. Also to you I extend my encouragement. The way you have been/are being raised lends me hope for the world. I've seen a great deal of change in my short 56 years, not very much of it actually turned out for the best. Mass destruction of the earth, mass social degradation, mass hate and disregard for way too much that I was taught was given to us by the almighty to take care of in a good way.
From someone so young as all you young ladies, I am beginning to feel that there is still hope. I pray you all have a good day today. It's a glorious day to be alive. The sun is shining so brightly it actually makes me squint, the air is fresh and invigorating.... Even with just 1 arm that works I need to get back outside and keep busy. It's a much to beautiful day to waste indoors. Can't mush, do's orders, and besides I don't wana chance screwing it up worse for longer, but I can CAREFULLY keep busy.

Bridle.....EXAMPLE. Please keep in mind my sled is probably bigger with more stantions. Brushbow joins rear stantion at ski = A. Handle joins brushbow and intersects middle stantion=B. Brushbow joins front stantion at basket=C
I got a length of 1/2inch Derby rope longer much longer than I thought I would need. I folded it it half and knotted a strong dbl loop right at one end(middle of single length). Iliad it out so the loop was out in front of sled(brushbow) by 1&1/2feet. I used a magic marker to mark C. Tied a dbl half hitch there both sides of sled so C mark was visible ahead of knot. I pulled snug and used a dbl half hitch on B making sure of line(rope)tautness both sides of sled. Did the same at A. The ends were cut about 6 inches past knot and melted with a lighter to prevent fraying then I used electricians tape to tape to stantion.
I do not put shock cord between sled and knot. It makes the sled wiggle. I put shock cord on main-line/brake-line to bridle connection.
LOL. I hope this makes sense to y'all.

...sickle mower....

 

[RezChamp]

Oh ya, my dad's fam not "my Dax's fam". Obviously spell check is much smarter than me saying I actually have a Dax. LOL

 

[RezChamp]

Well finished my 2nd breakfast. Time to get back outside. Talk to y'all later.

 

[Americano Blue]

Well finished my 2nd breakfast. Time to get back outside. Talk to y'all later.

I think of Hobbits.

 

[SternRose]

I got pics of the Dam and Sire.
I'll post in a little bit.