Monday, September 01, 2014
If You See These Folks
Wish them a Happy 63rd Wedding Anniversary!
Congratulations, Mom and Dad, we love you!
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Saturday, August 30, 2014
A Tornado at the Fair
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| Miniature farms in the 4-H building |
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| Bison at the museum display |
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| Just one of the model railroads |
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| Adirondack Wildlife Museum |
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The part I avoid religiously
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Friday, August 29, 2014
It's in the Blood
The love of the outdoors that is. It is cold here this morning, at least for summer, but I keep the door open just the same. Got to catch all the sunlight, fresh air, bird song and tame turkey chatter that I can.
Tiny Peggy is the same way. She has been at the fair all week with her folks, and thus outdoors most of the time. Yesterday they lingered home a bit, as there was a big horse show going on over at the fair and they didn't want to try to do their stall chores in the middle of the uproar.
She had a fussy tummy and was a little bit cranky from being over tired. However, every time her mommy took her outside for even a minute the tears stopped and she was happy as a clam....it was kind of funny. Going through the kitchen door in either direction was like tripping a crying switch...inside holler, outside giggle.
In just the three or four days that she has not been here all the time she has gone from much enjoying her hands as chew toys and blanket holders to reaching out for people and things and purposefully reaching up to touch her own face and such. What a fascinating journey it is, watching a baby learn and grow.
I wonder how long it will be before she is running through clouds of puddling butterflies like these that were all over the walk way to the barn the other day.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Sheep at the Show and a Small Rant about Things which really Ticked Me off this Week
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| A goat for good measure |
You can't have an ag fair without sheep, and there is a fine showing at this year's Fonda Fair. Here are a few I noticed on the way to the oxen.
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| Not impressed by all the excitement |
Don't they look comfy?
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| Border Leicesters |
I think it is telling that a well-known animal rights group, whose name I won't share so I don't attract trolls, would find the treatment of every single one of the pampered and beloved animals I have shared with this week to be cruel in the extreme. (You know who I mean.) They pitched a fit about an emergency C-section that took place at the Birthing Center at the State Fair.
I guess the calf was structurally compromised in some way and did not survive. However, thanks to the intervention of a team of highly-trained and knowledgeable veterinarians the cow was saved.
With living creatures, no matter how diligently you undertake their care....stuff happens. Heck the ones that are out running wild die in horrible ways....pretty much every single one of them sooner or later. Survival of the fittest rules and eventually all become unfit.
Perhaps this incident did not showcase the simple majesty of a straightforward birth, but I would think that rational beings would see that things go wrong even in the finest human hospitals. I could name you far too many good people who have come home from one with all sorts of infections and ills they didn't have when they went in.
The outcome of this sad bovine birth to me showed the level of concern, caring, and up-to-the-minute technology used by modern farmers in their care for their animals.
However, when your goal is total extirpation of domestic livestock, including pets, nothing is enough. Those sheep? Shoulder deep in fresh bedding, clean, well-fed, and as happy as sheep get....yeah, those sheep.
They should be running free on the hillsides, cavorting with unicorns.
Of course to anyone who actually knows what a contented sheep looks like, these are downright happy, chewing cud, and resting comfortably. If they were nervous, in pain, frightened, or in any way distressed, they would be standing up at the very least and blatting like bugles, and at worst caroming off the walls of their pens like pin balls.
I have had sheep. I know this. Most people haven't and don't and thus are ripe for the real exploitation that takes place in the animals rights movement...the exploitation of innocent people who don't understand and so believe whatever they are told.
Those ponies? They should be out running with the wolves and bears, under rainbows, among pots of gold. They must hate the hurly-burly of the show scene right?
Wrong. In so many ways. Little Jack is around thirteen and has never been to a show before. It took him about thirty seconds in the ring to figure out what it is all about.
When he got his big laugh leaping the cavaletti, he tucked his chin and played his audience. Little stinker. Little show off. He was so proud of himself...and.....
He loved it!
When I worked at Saratoga Race Track the stable that employed me claimed a big, chestnut gelding. He showed me how much race horses love the thrill of the chase too.
He wasn't a big winner, and no one would recognize his name today, but when I was walking him back at the stable he could hear the faint sound of the bugle calling the horses to the post parade. He would always stand on tiptoe, ears pricked, eyes bright and eager, and fairly quiver with the desire to get down there and run.
Animals are so much more than untutored sycophants of animal rights groups, who troll the newspapers and blogs demeaning the people who care for them, give them credit for being.
If they took the time to actually know anything about them, they might begin to understand just the faintest glimmer of the joy of life with livestock...and the bond we share with them when we take the time to learn their ways.
Cows at the Fair
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| The wash rack opening day. When their young owners finish their cosmetic efforts these girls will shine |
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| Like this |
Because of course there are cows, and Fonda Fair has a serious dairy show, with contenders that would not embarrass their owners at any show.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Fonda Fair Pony Classes
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| Photos by Becky, shamelessly stolen from Facebook |
Jack was kind of slow on the backing up, but did great until he got to the cavaletti. He jumped the cross poles brilliantly and then did a perfect capriole over the cavaletti and onto Jade.
I don't think that is exactly what the course designers had in mind, but it was good for some laughs. Jade said if he hadn't woven the cones backwards they would have placed higher. They certainly jumped higher.
Diamond and Liz did well too, with a third in halter, and second in the trail class. Diamond too was a bit slow to back up, but really showed her stuff on the other obstacles. Good job!
Beck is trying to send me videos she took but we may have to wait until tonight to use a cable instead of quirky cell phones and questionable emails.
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Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Ox Training Demonstration
There were three or four yokes of little milking shorthorns. They and their handlers were so cute and fun to watch.
Fonda Fair
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| City ducks |
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Country ducks
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| And Hooter, whom we have known since he was dark grey |
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