Teenie Little Super Guy

One of the prettiest places we have visited....and so quiet

Yesterday started well before dawn with a four-hour drive to Western NY. We breakfasted just after daybreak at a Cracker Barrel near Binghamton....who knew there were Cracker Barrels in NY?

Then we traveled through beautiful hills and quiet valleys dotted with small towns that clearly cater to farming and hunting. Feed stores, farm stores, grain elevators, sporting goods stores were everywhere, with small farms lined up out in the country. Despite impending rain and general gloom it was really nice land.

We turned into the hills upon a narrow, but scenic dirt road, and drove until we landed at a lovely little gem of a farm and kennel, where logging is done with 19-hand Belgians, American Fox Hounds are trained and used to hunt, and a few Jack Russell terriers are born to come home to places like Northview. 

We met the horses, all the dogs, and were licked and nibbled by many friendly dog mouths. Although Alan is a good friend of the man who raises and trains all these amazing animals, it was a first meeting for me.....you know those friends you just haven't met yet? It was like that with him and his lovely wife. We talked and talked and talked. Dogs, horses, construction, farming and family.....so much in common, so many good stories.

Then it was time to make the four-hour drive in reverse, this time with a teeny puppy in my lap.

He had already baptized both of us with a little nervous barfing....he sprinkled his new doggy bed a bit too, until we learned that when he wiggled and waggled and tried to get down, he need to GO. I'm sure we smelled just like him by the time we got home.

Daisy seems to like him, as does Peggy, although both seem a tiny bit jealous of all the attention folks seem to lavish upon him. 

He only woke me up to go out at 3 and 5, which I suppose wasn't too bad......although it felt pretty awful at the time. Now if we can find something he actually likes to eat. I can attest that he was full of dog food when we met him, as we both ended up wearing some of it, but so far he isn't crazy about anything we have here.

Anyhow, meet Mack. We tried on a least a hundred names over several weeks until one fit, but he answers to it already, so I guess he approves.

Demoing Daisy's toys already

Never Forget

Carl DiFranco

Always Remember

The World Trade Center

Little Things

Contrasts

The Little Blue Shirt

I don't suppose this day will ever pass unmarked here. Memories of these terrorist attacks  are etched in acid in all our brains. 

The people we lost. 

Innocence lost. 

So very much lost.

Repairs that are still ongoing and often involve family members.

This is a great nation. I firmly believe that we are among the most generous people in the world, but the World Trade Center attacks shattered more than the foundations of New York City.

They injured us all, in ways that may never be healed.

I was awakened not too long before midnight last night by the ringing of the portable phone, which I cart upstairs whenever my boy is on the road. He and my brother are both working in the City right now, so today has a bunch of extra worries for me....

I clawed up out of restless sleep and fumbled in terror....that is what terrorist attacks do...they leave an aftermath of fear even in those not damaged directly. It was okay....it was Lifeline calling to tell us that an elderly relative had taken a little tumble, but had been checked out by paramedics and was A-Okay and fine and no worries mate.

It took me a long time to go back to sleep.

Stand strong friends and neighbors...we are all there for each other.

I Hope You Can Stand

I was trying to sneak up for some candids, but Kegan spotted me right away

A little more stuff from the fair....this time my dear brother and his  son working on getting their hit and miss engines running in their display at the fair. They make the cornmeal and it is delicious. I have a bunch in the freezer and as soon as the weather warrants I will be baking corn bread with it again.

Obstacle

Look who got roped into offered the amazing opportunity to help set up one of the draft obstacle courses.

All the while this was going on the horses in the previous post were being groomed or readied for the class or exercised in the arena nearby. They seemed utterly unperturbed. 

The nefarious noodles.
These are placed so ponies have to walk between them with them touching on both sides
Ooh, scary!

Sheer Terror

Horse in close proximity to a train. Train had stopped for a few minutes, but was starting up making lots of train noises..
Liz says this was a truck-in horse that had just arrived. You can see by his ears that he is noticing the train behind him. His driver is off to the side...you can see the reins going off to the horse's right

There has been a particularly irritating little meme going around the Interwebs lately showing a smug, self-satisfied, young fool standing next to a NYC carriage horse while holding a poster saying, "Horses are terrified of traffic and loud noises".

No problem

She may even believe it.. The horse is resting, hip-shot, head at a comfortable half mast, eyes drooping, ears akimbo, obviously to anyone who has ever been around a horse...or for that matter watched a John Wayne movie...half asleep and perfectly contented.

Another one.
She was at the fair all week...you can see just how worried she is about the trains and commotion there.

And yet a visit to this girl's page yields reams of comments of the same ilk. Poor, poor frightened horsie, he needs to walk in green meadows with unicorns, far away from awful human beings and their scary stuff.

I just love self-proclaimed equine experts.

But they don't know nuttin. Can't even tell a sleeping horse from a runaway. I actually stepped outside the boundaries I usually set for myself on this stuff and confronted a couple of people about care of the NY horses. It is a damned shame that they want to remove this last little bit of actual nature from the stone and concrete jungle because of their own ignorance.

I ain't afraid of no ghosts...or trains...or much of anything

I also took a few pictures over at the fair of horses in conjunction with railroad trains. The tracks abut the northern edge of the fairgrounds and run right past the stables....mere feet away from hundreds of horses, every single year.

If I were a horse...alas I'm not but....I would think that thousands of tons of hurtling, whistle-shrieking, thunder rumbling train racing past might just be a little scarier than a few cars and taxis....well maybe the taxis are worse but...

Anyhow, within a day or two, usually even in just a few hours, most horses grow accustomed to the trains and the noise from the midway and the hundreds of people pushing strollers and trailing broods of noisy kids and ignore them completely.

Just like people do. They are adaptable beasts, not too stupid to learn to cope with their surroundings. The anti-animal-interaction activists cannot, in my opinion, make the same claim.

This is worth a look too.

Draft Horse Show

The judge awaits his class

Standing for the National Anthem

Here they come

We visited the fair yesterday for the last day....end of summer..it is now autumn in the Great Northeast, no matter what the calendar says....and enjoyed the six-horse hitch class at the draft show. 

Turn your sound up to get the best of this little video. There is nothing like the pounding of the hooves and the jingle of the chains.

Sunday Stills....Happiness Is

I could fill this post with photos of family, cows, plants, birds, frogs, road trips to exciting places, babies, and everything around me. They all bring joy every single day. It has taken over six decades but I am contented a good deal of the time and happy often.....something some people are born with and others have to work for. I work for it because it is worth it. Oftentimes I fail. I fight with fear every day, irrational but powerful. I expect most folks do. Prayer helps with that, but it is always there. We are so terribly fragile....

Anyhow I had to think about this for a while....and finally decided that I am closest to how I imagine Heaven might be on the porch at the cabin on the lake at sunrise.

So, here are a couple of the sunrises of fire and tinfoil that I enjoyed this summer.

Hope your day is happy.

For more Sunday Stills....

Almost a Mystery

Steers waiting for the fair rodel

There is a pony show halter in the dining room. Bags of decorations...Halloween decorations at that is..... in the kitchen. Eggs on the counter and tomatoes everywhere.

The evening meal is being cooked now...roast beef to slice for sandwiches....so when it is done people can eat when they need to....whether it is evening or not. Big events going on at the fair so getting in and out or even over to Fonda to the store is problematic.

We all know what's up.

It's fair time. 

Summer is over. 

People are coming and going at oddly random times and the things that come in and out of the house are strange indeed.

Next week it will all be so dull....

A tiny dragonfly decided to sit on Alan's hat
 while we were talking at the fair horse barn

The Halloween decorations are for the pony stalls....orange and black with spider webs...fake ones that is, the ponies must feel right at home, but here we have real ones....and they look pretty good.

Liz had some time to take them all around the back of the fairgrounds yesterday to see the sights and get used to the excitement. Diamond is an old hand but at barely three it's a big deal for Gambit.

Tommy!

Me, I just stay home and pick stuff and put stuff in the freezer and do a lot of laundry and pick up at least some of the oddities that have cropped up. The rest will have to wait until the fair is over. Soon now.

Between a Rock and a

Hard place....that is my title for this photo of some stones in our bird bath....or if you watch Police Academy, it also reminds me of this quote, which is oft repeated around here in all sorts of circumstances....some of them cruder than others.

Scarlet Runner Beans are about done blooming

Busy week. Alan's home. Fair's on. Guys are trying to bale some second cutting but it is so humid that it stays a little tacky. Tomatoes have started. Hooray for tomato sandwiches.

I froze some corn a friend gave us and picked our beans again and must freeze the result. Can't say enough about Slankette or Slendrette green beans. They just bear and bear, nice long, straight, beans of excellent texture and flavor. There are some other kinds in the patch this year, as folks bought me seeds and I planted them. Not gonna happen next year except for a few yellow beans and some of the purple ones. No need to mess with success. I am gonna have to rip the other bean plants out and feed them to the hens, as they are done.

Looks as if we may be able to save Scarlet Runner Bean seeds
 this year and not buy them next spring.

Anyhow, with all the coming and going and tag team people there isn't much time for posting. Sorry. I'm sure things will get back to what passes for normal soon.

Fine Farmall Tractor Lineup

At the Fonda Fair

But I liked the Case the best....because....Case....yeah