Putting My Big Foot In It

There's a joke that's going around here, and I'm sure it's out west as well.  It goes:

Do you know what the difference is between the 1970's and Today?

In the 1970's we had Steve Jobs, Johnny Cash and Bob Hope.
Now we have no jobs, no cash and no hope. Sigh

We went to a dinner party the past Friday and the talk was all about the Occupy Wallstreeters.
As you can guess, the majority present had very little sympathy with those camping out in city centers across the country.  Those of us in our fifties, myself included, worked our way through college, started out in crumby jobs and saved to get where we are today. While those lazy lay abouts would rather camp out singing peace songs than work.

Then I got to thinking.  I worked my way through college answering phones in a call center.  The only way someone could do that today, is if their name is Indira or Ramesh and they live in Bangalore. My husband worked construction and that has dried up.

And then I was talking to another friend who has a multi site practice and he was bragging that he has sent all of his bookkeeping to Pakistan and his billing to India, because it saved him a lot of money.  I felt like jumping for his throat and asking if being a bazillionaire wasn't good enough?If he honestly felt that if he wasn't a gazillionaire, he was nothing. So, instead, I asked him, what about the kids graduating from school.  What jobs are going to be there for them if people like you send everything offshore? And he said, "Well I guess they're going to be in a lot of trouble.

So as calmly as I could, I told him I had been a classics major in college and would he like to take a guess as to why Rome fell. Then I gave him a hint, and told him that it had nothing to do with gladiatorial games and debauched sex. When he came up empty.  I said well, the Romans had put all engineering, all manufacturing and everything else in the provinces and the only folks living in Rome were the very rich and the very poor, who lived off the government.  So the when Barbarians took over the provinces, it was all over.

Sound familiar?  When Obama talks about creating jobs, I wonder how many college and graduate school graduates want to work on road crews? Why isn't anyone saying anything about how most of our manufacturing is now done in China and most of our IT is in India. And now bookkeeping is going to Pakistan? Why isn't any politician gutsy enough to say "tax the hell out of companies that take their jobs out of America."  Whatever happened to "made in America." We don't have to create new jobs, we just have to bring the ones we used to have, back.

Hello It's October

I've just got a few minutes, but guess what? It's pouring down snow.  It's October 29th and it's pouring down snow.  I am so not ready for this.  If I wanted snow in October, I'd be living in Wyoming, not Maryland. I took this shot five minutes ago.

Doesn't this look like January?  This is what I expect October to look like.  I took this picture last week.

Oh well, what can I say?



She Beat Them Both

Kitt and Jolie share a two acre pasture with two off the track Thoroughbred race horses, Izzy and Promise.  I was at the far end of the pasture giving apple slices to my girls, when Izzy decided that she was going to chase Jolie away and get her slices.  Well Kitt was not going to have any of that, so she let Miss Izzy know, in no uncertain terms that was not happening.  In response to a less than gentle reminder, Izzy took off at a dead run across the pasture.  Promise, seeing Izzy run, thought, "oh boy, a race. That weenie girl is not going to win and so he took off after her.  And folks, my five month old Quarterhorse foal, seeing all of this, took off.  She came from behind and beat them both to the fence. Yep, my five month old foal beat two adult racehorses who were running flat out.  Suffice it to say, Izzy and Promise were so mortified, they refused to show their faces.

Bits of This and That

Work is insane and when I'm not there, I'm at the barn.  So much for free time. I'm glad none of you can see the inside of my house.  YIKES.  Anyway, here are my favorite shots from this week. I took them the few days it wasn't raining.  This weather pattern doesn't give me a really good feeling about this winter.  But I'm not going to anticipate blizzards. Time enough to do that when they are actually on the horizon. 

I had all sorts of plans this fall about doing a lesson on September light. Well it has to be sunny to do that, so the rain put and end to that good idea. Oh well. Have a great week everyone and I'll hopefully be back next week with more shots.  

Jolie at Four Months Old Angel Halo/Devil Horns

Jolie is really most of the time the sweetest of peas.  She comes running up to the fence when she hears my car, she follows me around the pasture when I'm working with Kitt.  Here are her accomplishments thus far.

1.   She stood like a real little trooper for the fairer, in fact he said she was remarkably well behaved and the best foal he had ever trimmed. 

2.   On a lead line she can walk in circles and figure eights as well as just going forward being led on both sides.

3.  She  only flinched a little when I put the bath towel on her back and now it's such non item, I'm thinking of moving on to a saddle blanket next.

But then just when you think this is the best baby horse in the world, the halo starts to slip and two little devil horns sprout out of the top of her head.  Here's what she does, she gets a certain look on her face, she flattens her ears and starts switching her tail.  Then she bunches up turns her back on you, wiggles her butt as she gets ready to kick, and receives an immediate smack on the rump. After a "what the hell" run, she comes back all nice and sweet, but the horns are still there and then she turns and gets another smack on the rump.  There are some times when I'm working with her, I feel like a monster.  This bad behavior has returned. She hasn't done it for over a month. But most of the time, she really is the sweetest of peas.

PS:  I never work with her for over five minutes.  She's just a baby and needs to play.

And Then There Were Three

We decided to introduce a gelding into the pasture with Kitt and Jolie since it was time little Miss Jolie learned some manners from another adult horse.  To say she was becoming a brat was an understatement.  With a lot of consulting with the barn owner, we decided to introduce Mr. Promise to our little group.  The only trouble with that, was that Mr. Cougar, the alpha gelding, boss horse and grand imperious poobah of all was not happy with  the situation.

Here we have Mr. Cougar letting Mr. Promise understand just how not happy he is with this.

Mr. Cougar is the guy with the ears back and Mr. Promise is the guy running away.  Well about half way down the pasture, it occurred to Mr. Promise that there was absolutely nothing Mr. Cougar to do to him.

So he proceeded to turn around and gallop back to the girls, putting on a big show when he got there.

Check out the girl to the left, that's Miss Magic, the alpha mare and Cougar's girlfriend.  Well she was so appalled by this revolting development, that she turned and let Cougar have it.



Well if Wednesday was Jolie's bad day, Saturday was certainly Cougar's.  And as for Miss Jolie, her bratty behavior has evaporated, for now at least.  I'll keep you posted.





My Very Bad Day - Jolie

Jolie:  Here's what happened, yesterday.  My mother was not paying any attention to me at all.  She was spending all of her time making goo goo eyes over the fence at the boy horses.  Just when I thought this was going to be the boringest day of my life, Maia and Tommy show up with carrots. YUMMY.

Well I went over to them to get my carrot pieces and do you know what happened?  That big old boy horse, Cougar came over and they gave him some of my carrots.  Yes they did. They gave him my carrots. So, being little and cute I snuck over there and tried to take it out of his mouth. Do you know what he did. HE BIT ME!!!  The big ogre bit me.

Big horses are not suppossed to bite little horses that's not allowed.  So I was really mad and I figured if he could be mean and do things that were not allowed, so could I.  So plotting what I could do and who I could do it to, I turned around and got ready to.., when a hand came down and SMACKED ME ON THE BUTT and Tommy said, "No you don't." So, I turned around and got ready to look big and mean when Maia smacked me and yelled, "That is not nice." I was beside myself.

Maia: So she took off running and bucking around the pasture. It was almost as though she was moving in time to Michael Jackson's song, I'm Bad, except in her case, it was I'm Mad. I'm Mad, I'm really Mad. I don't know what was funnier, the look on her face when Cougar bit her, the way she changed the pleading, "I'm little and helpless, so please don't hurt me, " mouth motions that foals make; into a shocked an affronted, "I'm little and helpless and that big oaf bit me;" or the way she ran around. It was hilarious.   She ended  it by stomping off into the run in shed and sulking in the corner.  I guess we've all had days when nothing goes right.