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Month: February 2008

Have You Been Wondering Where We Are?

Have You Been Wondering Where We Are?

Where is everybodyI hope so! We had to leave town for a while, because our covers were blown…no, not really. Well, we did leave town, but it was to attend a friend’s wedding in Phoenix. We stayed with our kids in the southeast part of town, and all the rest of the family & friends were on the west side of town, so we spent a lot of time in the car. We haven’t been able to spring for the satellite internet service that goes with you wherever (despite the Kid’s pleading), so our internet access was a little scarce.

Anyway…so after a week away, ignoring you all again, we got home to find out we had no site. Network problems, again, apparently. Bill thinks they’re trying to get rid of us because we are grandfathered in to a sweet hosting deal. I have to admit, it sounds suspicious.

But for now, we’re up and running again (knock on wood). All our critters were fine when we got back. The weather here is awful, especially compared to Phoenix, where it’s spring already. We are really looking forward to spring here! We have lots of fun horse-related things planned (and some horse-related projects, too). Our next big adventure, we think, is to go ahead and buy the horse across the street (Champ). We’ll keep you posted on that.

In the meantime, please accept our apologies and those of our hosting company (if they are indeed sorry). We’ll try to get this issued resolved one way or another, and start posting more often.

Help Keep Our Trails Open!

Help Keep Our Trails Open!

In addition to our expensive horse hobby, we have an expensive Jeep hobby, too. We have a modified Jeep Wrangler and love to go off-road. Some of you may know that off-road trails across the country have steadily dwindled as certain interest groups have pushed to have them closed to “protect the environment.” I guess that’s not surprising, since a few off-roaders have given us all a bad name. What is surprising, however, is that the same battle is being fought over horses. That’s right; there are many, many people out there who want to deny trail access to horseback riders. Believe it or not, one of their most frequent arguments is that horses are bad for the environment. Their hooves tear up the trails and their manure brings in foreign plant seeds, among other things. I’m sure they have other complaints, but we’re still kind of new to this issue.

No horses signThe important thing is, if we want to be allowed to keep riding in our own national parks, we have to take action. Trails across the country are being closed just because someone complains, or brings up an environmental concern, and no horse people speak up. I suspect it’s simply because, like us, horse owners are not aware that this is happening. By the time they find out a trail is closed or about to close, it’s too late.

We recently joined a group in our area, the Southern Appalachian Back Country Horsemen. It’s a local chapter of a national organization, Back Country Horsemen of America. These groups, local and national, keep track of current events affecting trail riders and their members do what they can to keep the trails open: writing to government leaders; challenging efforts to close trails; keeping good relationships with their local Forest Service; participating in trail cleanups and maintenance. I urge you to look into an organization in your area, and do what you can to help keep trail riding alive. If we don’t fight, we’ll eventually lose all access to public lands. That would be a shame.

What the heck just happened?

What the heck just happened?

Network serversIf you stopped by in the last two days, or should I say tried to stop by, you probably noticed the site was down. To our surprise one of our dedicated servers was being moved to a new data center. To our further, albeit more unpleasant surprise, the data center had trouble getting it back online. Not sure how that can happen in this day and time but it appears someone finally figured it out and here we are.

Sorry for the downtime! In the two years we’ve had the site, nothing like that has ever happened. I’d like to take this opportunity to make a note of something though. Barring some unforeseen disaster, we have every intention of continuing this website. If, however, we decide to end the site, we won’t just pull the plug. We’d make a note and then let it die slowly. So if you come here and the site’s not working suddenly, it’s almost assuredly a technical problem of some kind. Please check back later.

Thanks to those of you who got in contact with us to make sure everything was okay!

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Storms and Tornadoes

Storms and Tornadoes

Old damaged barn
Photo by Richard Burlton on Unsplash

Our condolences to those who lost loved ones, pets and property in the violent storms that rolled across the south in the past 24 hours. MSNBC is reporting 52 people confirmed killed as a result of the storm. I was looking at the photos of the wreckage in Tennessee a few minutes ago and noticed a photo of two people hugging next to destroyed property. A few feet away sits what looks like a saddle. It reminded me that storms like this can happen almost anywhere in the country. If a tornado hit, what would you do? There is very little any of us could do because there isn’t much time to react, if any. Seek shelter. But what about the horses? Sadly, I think there is little to nothing we could do to prepare our horses for tornadoes. I once saw a show on the Discovery Channel (about peculiar homes) where a couple had their barn underground. Maybe that would help but who can do that really?

I suppose the best we can learn from this is to be prepared. Think of options in advance. Where would you go, where would you take your horses if your barn was destroyed, what would you do it your fence was down and your horses got out, etc. And perhaps have supplies in stock to help others if a storm spares you but not your neighbors.

By the way, we’re in far east Tennessee and best I can tell the majority of in-state damage was in the far west section of the state. Thanks to those of you who contacted us for a welfare check, though.

Note: the photo above is Richard Burton on photo site Unsplash and is not directly related to this particular storm.

Kid on a hay rake

Kid on a hay rake

Kid on a hay rake 1915
Jack on Hay Rake: 1915, courtesy of Shorpy.com. Photo used with permission.

Boy, things sure aren’t what they used to be. This picture was taken in 1915 of an eight-year-old boy driving a hay rake. Eight years old?! Looks pretty dangerous to me but that’s how things were back then. This photo comes to us courtesy of Shorpy, a website that features old-timey photos. Click on the image for the larger version.