The Front Porch Swing

[Triple Willow]

She tried.  Still heart sick over it all.  That one person using hearsay could cause so much trouble. 

I am OK with being "P"issed off...  I get over it....  I am OK with being scared.... I get over it....  But "P"ISS ME OFF AND SCARE ME too.  Forgiveness ends there.

She lived in my home and I only required her to pay her utilities and Keep Trash service active.  for Five years...  I could have rented that place for close to a thousand a month.   She had been living on a goat farm in a fifth wheel behind a workshop.  Now I know why they asked her to leave.

deb

That's pretty low down. I really wonder about some people, what goes on in their head and HOW they justify it to theirself.

 

[perchie.girl]

Very interesting conversation.
I have been a country girl all my life. Tagged along hunting, and trapping, scraped the hides for selling. Cut up and processed beef, chicken, venison, coon, pheasant, rabbit, turkey, fish and probably more that I'm not remembering right now. For some reason I just can't be the one to actually do the killing. I don't know why, maybe because I never had to. I don't dwell on it, it is what it is. As my boys were growing up I made it very clear if you shot something you ate it and they did. Let me tell you their isn't enough meat on a squirrel to feed a mouse, but they still ate it. I suppose if I had to kill an animal myself I would. I'm just that kind of person. If it needs doing you just do it.

I had a friend who was a lot like the room mate Deb described. Her animals were pampered way more than my kids ever where. She came along with me to my sisters dairy farm once. She started acting like she knew everything about cows, and lectured my sister on how awful it was to take the calves away from their mothers. I pointed out to her that she loves beef, and milk, and cheese, and ice cream. She said yes I know but I just feel so sick to my stomach when I see how these cows are treated. Trust me my sister and her family go with out things to make sure the cows are well cared for, after all the cows make the money.

People have gotten so separated from their food. I actually am happy to see people try to get back to farming. It gives me hope for the future that more and more people are trying to be self sufficient. If they want to learn and are truly curious that's great. If they are self righteous and think they are more intelligent than a "dumb farmer" because they saw some dumb documentary on TV, well then I don't have time for ya.

I thing the peeta people are contributors to misinformation in alot of ways. I was watching a show on tv and a woman was prosthletizing about how cheese is cruelty to animals. the more she talked the more I wanted to slap some sense into her... sheesh.

I had only one peeve with the Dairy industry when I was growing up. and that was the production of veal.... I heard the horror stories... Back in the sixties they may have been true. Now I dont have an issue with people eating veal... I still wont.

I run into people now that wont eat their own home grown eggs. I asked why ... because they have a rooster and they know those eggs are fertile. Sheesh again. Thank goodnes there is usually a family member who will happily eat those eggs.

Its those people who will re inherit the will to farm...

WRT documentarys... unfortunately because it says its a documantary people think it has to be true.

I have had horses 47 years one at a time just a rider and occasional lesson taker. Learned alot.... but would never profess to be an expert on the subject. I have seen alot of misinformation floating about through the internet or bloggers even articles written in trade journals Sheesh. I have always taken in a thousand more times the info than I needed for a subject and weeded through it all to find the truth for me.

I have run the gambut from being trained to ride Cavelry style up through western english jumper and dressage and finally carriage driving. Each group has zealots who say "its the ONLY way to go". I have seen barbed wire wrapped bits (turned em in to the humane society) all the way to proponents of NO Bits Ever. While I wouldnt go as far as doing perminant damage with barbed wire I do see points of each... but its a grey area not black and white never will be or should be. Because its green when you are learning and we all are or should be learning something new every day.

So as long as I see food or evidence of food a glossy hide and a full water tub I am happy.

sorry I am kind of on a soapbox... grandma has been "difficult"

deb

deb

 

[Beekissed]

I saw some vids from a guy that didn't use bits and even some where they were showing the increased scores in the show ring when the same horse was ridden without a bit...ever since then I've been intrigued about the no bit riding. I had a horse when I was a teen and he was trained to neck reining and never did like a bit and traditional bridle... but he did wonderful with just a halter and lead rope.

I think, if I were to ever have another horse, I'd go bitless...it appeals to my nature. Of course, I also liked riding bare back more than I liked using a saddle, so maybe it's that "all natural" streak in me coming out.

Deb, have you ever tried going without the bit?

 

[perchie.girl]

Hey I just finished transcribing this journal... Woo Hoo.

Journal pages handwritten 180
transcribed to word 67
Total word count for this journal 26,094

I still need to track down some illustrations I mentioned in the journal... Along with those are some small notebooks.

But once those are done I can start on the next journal....

Seriously I estimate I have written and transcribed about 50 thousand words give or take. I foresee at least three or four times that much once its fleshed out.

So now i am relaxing on the front porch... its about 78 degrees and the stars are twinkling through Costal Eddy (fog like moisture from the ocean off San Diego) The star Jasmine is blooming all over giving the air the scent similar to orange blossoms. Having a glass of Cabernet and trying to wind down from family drama vs the progress I made in this past seven days.

In seven days I have typed 24 thousand words... for a "failure in life" this is something to say. I really dont subscribe to Grandmas point of view.... i do get scarcastic about it though.

deb

 

[Triple Willow]

Dad could do the deed.  I won a rooster at a raffle when I was about thirteen.  Little SOB was always getting out of the yard wed have to chase him down.  I made dad late for work trapping him, It was his last time.

Without anger then next day he wrung its neck plucked it gutted it and handed it over to mom.  You should have seen the look on Moms face.  I think she made chicken and dumplings out of it.  Surprisingly as a kid I was ok with it all.

deb

That reminds me of my pony that got out one day and refused to be caught. My mama got mad and grabbed the shotgun and a couple of shells and headed out the door. LOL I plead for his life and she didn't shoot him. LOL (She wasn't going to kill him.) About that same time one of my cousins' ponies pulled the same stunt and my uncle did shoot him. He used bird shot and shot him broad side. "Boom!" and red dots all over that white. LOL That pony never pulled that stunt again, never. LOL I'm sure that would get somebody a huge fine or a couple years in prison these days.

 

[Beekissed]

That's a big accomplishment! I can't imagine staying focused that long to actually get a manuscript done...even partially. I've started writing the same book three times and crashed and burned on focus all three times. Hit a wall and can't climb over it no matter how hard I try. Kudos to you, Deb!

 

[Blooie]

I'm not sure where I fall in this interesting and thought provoking discussion. I've been hunting since I was girl - usually got rabbit, deer, elk, pheasants and Milk Duds. I have no problem killing them and no problem eating them. (The game - the Milk Duds are dead when I open the box) I do go out of my way to make a fast killing shot and I'll pass up anything that I don't feel I've got every chance of bringing down cleanly. I've seen too many "hunters" take shots that were stupid at best - game too far out, or at the wrong angle, or trying to shoot them through brush that deflected shots. I don't want to have to chase down what I am hunting and shoot it again and again. You only have to hear a deer cry once to remember it for your whole life. And if we aren't going to eat it, we don't aim at it, period.]

I remember once, many years ago, when Ken and I were deer hunting along the river in South Dakota. We were cold, tired, and hungry, deerless, and our motel room in Bonesteel left a lot to be desired. So we cleaned up a little bit and then went to get a bite to eat at Fort Randall casino. Our waitress was slow, busy flirting with every young man in the place, and looked like she was barely out of puberty. After she opened her mouth I began to wonder if she was even out of diapers. She smiled at Ken and asked, "You've been hunting?"

Well. let's see....hat hair, fluorescent orange coveralls, boots....here's your sign! But Ken replied, "We've both been hunting pretty hard today and we're starving!"

She turned to me in shock. Then her expression changed to total disgust, like she's smelled something bad. (Truth be told it had been a long day so perhaps she did) "YOU were hunting too? Oh, I couldn't do what men do and go out hunting....how can you look into those big brown eyes and kill a deer?"

For that brief moment I was mesmerized by the fact that her eyes were brown and I didn't think I'd have too much trouble ....well, never mind. Anyway, I guess I was too tired and hungry to play games with her. I just looked back up at her and said as nicely as I could, "Sweetie, when I'm hunting I ain't aiming at his eyes."

I must have said it less nicely than I thought. She disappeared and another young lady came over to take care of our table. Ken said I'd sneered at Miss Bleeding Heart. Maybe I did. But it was hunting season and Fort Randall Casino is in the heart of some pretty productive hunting area.....it couldn't have been that she was unaware that almost every table in there was full of hunters. No, it was the fact that I was a woman and I hunted, so she felt some kind of God-ordained need to separate herself from the barbarian. Back then not as many women hunted as they do today and she was looking at me like I'd forsaken all things womanly.

My grandparents all lived in that corner where South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota meet up. I knew what I was eating and I knew where it came from. Often I helped with the butchering. It's not that I don't feel anything when it happens...it's more like a sort of inevitability about it. There's a cycle to life and I'm just one little part of that cycle. Someday my spirit will leave my body and I'll feed the grasses and bugs that feed the chickens and cows and so it goes.....

 

[perchie.girl]

I saw some vids from a guy that didn't use bits and even some where they were showing the increased scores in the show ring when the same horse was ridden without a bit...ever since then I've been intrigued about the no bit riding. I had a horse when I was a teen and he was trained to neck reining and never did like a bit and traditional bridle... but he did wonderful with just a halter and lead rope.

I think, if I were to ever have another horse, I'd go bitless...it appeals to my nature. Of course, I also liked riding bare back more than I liked using a saddle, so maybe it's that "all natural" streak in me coming out.

Deb, have you ever tried going without the bit?

Many times. Halter and lead rope but mostly hackamore or Bosel. Since those years I have learned about other options. There is something called a side pull that has been around for at least a hundred years. Just learned about it in the past 20.

Side pulls are hard woven rawhide like a Bosel but they have rings on the sides and they have flexible points and much more adjustable for different horses.

There is also a new bitless bridle that works off Poll pressure and jaw pressure Those are very new comparatively. The literature and testimony of the people I have corresponded with say the best of those bit-less are bridles have a good release of pressure once its applied.

But as a rider and an equestrian I say use the bit that works best for the horse and your hands. I used to ride with a double bridle two sets of reins one for a curb bit and one for a snaffle bit. Takes practice but in very good hand and a very well trained horse its like communication on a very very fine level.

My horse Katee doesn't like a snaffle bit. Her pallet is too low. her mouth is like butter so I couldnt figure out why i was getting these indications of pain from her.... setting her jaw opening her mouth... I have good hands so I know I was not harsh on her... So I read up on Snaffle bits. and realized her issue. So I tried Mullen mouth smooth bar snaffle. Intstant happiness from my horse. She was now communicating and learning the stuff I wanted to teach her.

I could NOT ride her or drive her bitless. She has power and knows it and will use it if she forgets she needs to listen to me. "selective memory there" So When I rode I went back to the doube reins but this time I went to a Pelham. Same smooth mullen mouth snaffle part but with a second pont to attach reins for "breaks" I rarely needed them.... I suspect it was just because I needded the reassurance to be able to insist.

Riding a Percheron is like sitting on top of a very friendly drag racer. The power in the engine is soo much you can feel it resonating through your body. Especially when she realizes she is away from the ranch and there are no horses around... I didnt have the emergency breaks then... She responded to dressage style half halts on the way back... It was amazing... first and only time I ever rode Passage.... two miles of it.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

That's a big accomplishment! I can't imagine staying focused that long to actually get a manuscript done...even partially. I've started writing the same book three times and crashed and burned on focus all three times. Hit a wall and can't climb over it no matter how hard I try. Kudos to you, Deb!

Bee I have been writing now thirty years. One thing I discovered for myself it may not work for you but it works for me... I stop in the middle of a thought. sometimes in the middle of a sentince. It works to pick your mind back up for when you start again.

The other thing I do is when I get bored or run out of steam on one leg... I start another leg same book but maybe a diffeerent character.... With word processors these days you can move em around like puzzle pieces.

When I get blocked I take a break and if I am still blocked I write something anything even if its poetry or a list of words you like..... I sketch too.

OH and When i write I NEVER mess with format spelling or grammar. Thats why when I write I write in Ball point pen, no pencil. NO erasing if i dont like a sentince I line through it and move on. BTW my most creative place to write is in the car waiting for one of the grandmas to go in or out of the docs office or the Grocery store... But thats my adaptatiojn. There have been times when i have gone someplace quiet with no distractions to write like the park.

These are my techniques may or may not work for you.

deb

 

[Blooie]

On a different note, I did something today that surprised me. I have served Cowley on the Planning and Zoning commission, and then I ran for and was elected to town council. I love being part of what's making Cowley one of the most admired communities in the state (that's according to the state reps who were here when we applied for a grant for our new park - which I just learned today that we got!!) But my term is up this election. When I announced to the council 3 months ago that I'd decided not to run, the mayor and my fellow council members just smiled and the mayor said, "Write in!" I decided that I'd served in one capacity or another for the past 7 years - 3 on P&Z and 4 on council. When I made the decision not to run, it was with Katie, Evan and Kendra in mind. I want to spend as much time as I can with them, making laughter and memories and leaving them something of me behind when I'm gone. But today Ken and I were driving home and from Powell when I looked at the clock in the car and said, "Well, the deadline for filing is in another 20 minutes." He was quiet for a while then he said, "You need to call Lisa (our amazing town clerk) and ask her to stay for a little bit. And you need to reconsider not running." He made some pretty persuasive arguments....telling me that we had so many projects that we'd started and I should stay to see them through; that I had made a difference on the council (I'm famous for smacking the table and saying "It's NOT my money!" and voting no if I think that's the right thing to do); and that people in this town really do like and respect me.

I told him that I appreciated the way he believes in me, but that I was leaving because of Katie, Evan and Kendra, and because in 4 more years I'd be 68 years old. He was silent for a minute then he replied, "I thought they were why you ran the first time. And how old will you be in 4 years if you don't run?"

So I filed today. I am running for re-election and when I left the town hall I felt good. I hadn't realized how much serving the people of this town meant to me until I'd almost muffed the chance to keep doing it.