Thank you Mrs Tucker

You can count on whatever the subject I have for my blog, it will usually have a horse picture or two or more. This is SC Lady Ace with "Toro" aboard. 

I had some really good teachers in high school. As a matter of fact all through school. Some were better than others but I ended up with a good education. When I went to school, the teachers were not so bound up with federal and state regulations that they actually had time to teach. Some taught every minute of every day.

I remember especially a day I learned to pronounce a common word correctly. That lesson has stuck with me all my life. I was in the Freshmen class in High School. We were the under classmen and we had the largest class in high school. So they put the entire Freshman Class in the gymnasium for study hall. We had to sit on the bleachers so it was very inconvenient to do home work.

One day I decided I could do better if I went to the Library to study. Or perhaps being a reader, I just wanted to check out a new book. But never the less, I raised my hand. The conversation that followed went something like this, "Yes MISS Rogers, what is it?"

I responded, "May I go to the liberry?"

"Where do you want to go Miss Rogers?" I thought surely Mr King had not heard me since he was rather old. After all he must have been at least 25 years old.

So I spoke a little louder, "May I go to the liberry?" See I already knew the difference between "may and can". That was probably something else he taught me.

"Miss Rogers, I do not know where you want to go." I thought he must be pretty dense if he didn't know what a liberry was. I was also turning red because I couldn't make him understand where I wanted to go. By now my class mates were all listening to the conversation. I heard some snickers from high up in the bleachers

Finally I said, "Mr King, I want to go to the liberry to check out a book."

Now I thought we were surely going to get somewhere and he would excuse me to go to the liberry.

Mr King said, "Oh you want to go to the Library". He emphasized the first r until it rolled around on his tongue before it dropped off and lingered in the air for a couple of seconds before the sound evaporated from the large gym.

Now I was really blushing. But he asked me again where I wanted to go. That time I knew how to answer him. And I finally escaped the giggles of my class mates and out of the gym to the safety of the LIBRARY.

Yes, I was embarrassed. But I learned something that day that has followed me all through life. I learned the importance of good pronunciation. To this day if I hear anybody say "liberry" I cringe and almost look around to see if Mr King was standing there ready to pounce.

Mrs Tucker was our high school English teacher. I loved English and found I was really pretty good in that class. I stayed up with all the smart girls in the class with my good grades. My tests scores showed I worked hard and really had a knack for the spoken language. Mrs Tucker was not a favorite among my class mates. Some really hated learning proper English.

To this day, I catch misstatements in English usage that probably makes Mrs Tucker turn over in her grave. I catch misuse even among professional broadcasters. I heard someone giving a thank you talk a couple of days ago. This lady was thanking everyone for their prayers and support of her family when she was sick. It was all good until she said "Thank you for the ways you helped my family and I though this hard time in our lives".

My mind went back to Mrs Tucker's little test. If you left out my family would it be I or me. Of course it would be me.

Now I think I have carried this all too far. But in my defense, I do not correct people for their misuse. I do try to avoid those kinds of mistakes because I had a teacher that cared.

Thanks to Mrs Tucker and probably Mr King as well, I cringe when I hear someone say something like, "I seen him do it". They wanted us to have a good education and cared enough to see that we learned.

I have had many other teachers in my life. In fact, education lasts throughout one's lifetime.The more I learn the more certain I am that I really know very little.

May God bless and keep you in His loving care. And may your education always begin and end with the God of our Universe.  "For the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord"

Regards

Mary

Bob on Venture's Golden Satin. This was made during one of the Competitive Trail Rides sponsored by ACTHA. To learn more about ACTHA and their CTC programs go to www.actha.us Don't forget our ride on November 3-4. Prizes, beautiful scenery, challenging obstacles and fun will make it a day to remember.

"Do you remember"? That is the words of a song written after 9/11/2001.

It was a day none of us should ever forget. It was a day that death and fire rained down from the sky in New York City.

I remember another such day that is forever seared into my mind. The date was November 22, 1963.. It was also a day of death. Fire did not rain down from the sky but death was in the streets of Dallas Texas that day.

I was hanging clothes on the line in my back yard in Jeffersonville Indiana. My neighbor came out of the house and I stopped to talk to her. It was leaning over the fence in my back yard that I learned our young President had been shot and was most likely dead. I was very young and the thought of someone killing our President was the furtherest thing from my mind. The office of the Presidency changed hands that day and life went on.  But so many like me had lost a part of themselves.

Fast forward with me to the 1970s and the day the Supreme Court of the United States found a right our Founding Fathers would have never envisioned in the Constitution of the United States. That was also a day that death rained down on the ground of the United States. Death and destruction. Perhaps you don't remember that day as clearly as clearly as 9/11/2001. You may even be wondering what happened on that day.

It was the day that abortion was legalized in America under the guise of a constitutional right for women to choose. Some may agree it was a good decision but I bet most of you agree that it was a horrible misinterpretation of the Constitution. It is the day that led to the death of over 50 million American citizens. We are horrified that 9/11/2001 brought about the death of 3000 people but can you comprehend the death of over 50,000,000 people?

We are horrified at the death of people under Hitler that he was able to kill so many people. Not only Jews but those that were handicapped or political enemies. We see the pictures from the Holocaust and we are sickened. We see the pictures of people starving in other countries. Not just hungry but starving and we can hardly look we are so troubled.

Yet the world is a wonderful place. How can I say that with all that we see on the news every night?

God's creation is marvelous. It is man that has destroyed through the prompting of Satan who has come to "kill, steal and destroy". The work of Hitler was through the prompting of Satan. The work of John F Kennedy's assassin was the prompting of Satan. The work of the 9/11 terrorists was the work by the prompting of Satan. The killing of over 50,000,000 unborn babies is the work of Satan.

Why write of this in my blog? My blog are usually not so serious. Those of you who follow usually find them uplifting and often funny as I relate to life, horses and everyday living. Abortion is a horror to me just as the holocaust, John F Kennedy's murder and the 9/11 massacre.

As we approach the anniversary of that day in 2001, I am reading that those who are in charge of remembering that date, the Mayor of New York City has decided that God has no place in the ceremony. How can that be? What is he thinking? Does he not know that our nation has never prayed any harder than people prayed during that time? What about the 3,000? Does he think they did not pray as they realized death had come calling that day and they were about to meet their maker?

So here we are on the eve another Anniversary of the day the twin towers came crashing down.  And worse, the thing that we thought would never, could never happen, on our home soil happened. We have lost our way.  We have invited God out of the classroom and what do we see.  Kids murdering kids in schools.  We have taken the 10 commandments down because it may offend someone.  Murder in the classrooms offends me and a host of other people.Abortions are legal so the "Every child is a wanted child".   And yet we see more abuse than we have ever seen.  Babies forgotten in hot cars.  Babies and young children badly beaten to the point of death. Every day it seems there is another little coffin lowered into the ground because of the mistreatment by a care taker.

Are we as a society better off because these things have come to pass?  May God have mercy on our souls.

God bless and keep you in His loving care.

Regards

Mary

Wall Street Protests at Whispering Oaks Farm

This is a little heifer that is an escape artist. She knows when the electric fence is off before we do. She has several nicknames. David calls her Whopper Jr. I call her Mini-Cheese as in mini cheese burger. My brother Bob calls her Happy Meal. Do you see a theme there? It is apparent that we have food on our minds.

Today the horses got out. All the horses from behind the barn was in David's yard when he got up this morning. He called me to let me know they were out and to get some help getting them back in their field.

I went to the barn and there they were in the camper yard.

We started rounding up horses. By this time they were running into the barn. They soon run through the open gate and back outside the barn to their field. We walked over to talk to them. I asked them why they would want to escape out of their nice pasture.

Flair for Fury was their spokes person. But the others soon added their complaints to Flair's tale of woe.

Flair told us they had been following the Wall Street Occupiers on their Iphones. I knew then it was a mistake to let them have Iphones. I asked them what they had been seeing about the Wall Street Occupiers and what was that all about.

Here was their story.

"We got the idea of our escape by watching the news about all the Wall Street Occupiers across the country. We saw that the occupiers were active in Louisville and Lexington. That is close to us. We didn't know why they were protesting at first. Then we began to realize that they were protesting the unfairness of those who have so much and those who don't have what people on Wall Street do."

At this point I ask them who the Wall Street Occupiers actually are. I thought that was important to know.

Flair responded, "Well many of them are kids that don't have to work and don't have anything else to do because they are trust fund kids."

I knew that was right because I had seen one of them I knew on our local news that was exactly right. A trust fund kid who had never worked a day in her life.

Flair continued her story. "We have worked hard.'

At this point Velvet, Satin and Rockin Andi agreed. "Yes we have." said Rockin Andi. We have to ride people around. We have to go horse shows and they ride us whatever the weather is. It could be cold and raining and hot and humid and it doesn't make any difference. And how about training? We have to train. It doesn't matter whether it is cold or hot. Jamie was riding me in all kinds of weather. David rides me into water and up and down hills."

I stopped them at this point and reminded them that now they are like trust fund kids. They aren't working very much and they still get fed.

Satin now took over as spokes person. "Yes," she said, "but now we don't get as much feed as we used to get. We only have all the hay we can eat and all the water we can drink but we don't get oats but once a day."

"But don't you have everything you need, I asked? After all you all look pretty well cared for to me" I didn't want to hurt their feelings but I was thinking they were a little on the fat side.

"Well we do", Lady Ace, agreed, "But we deserve more."

"Why" I asked?

"We see everyone having more", Lady Ace continued. Look at Mini Cheese out there. She gets to run all over the farm whenever she wants to. She has all of that grass to herself. And besides that Cody gets to stay in the barn. He gets oats twice a day. I know that because he told me. Apple, Celine and Dixie get oats twice a day. Dixie told me she gets four scoops of oaks a day. It is unfair. That is why we escaped from our field and was in David's yard. We wanted to be occupiers."

At that point I told them if they tried that trick again I would be taking their Iphone away from them.
 Well there it is.  Life on the farm.  You have your occupiers and we have ours.

May God bless and keep you in His loving care.

Regards
Mary

WOF Code's Mt Wind

In the first picture is LS Mt Wind Socks and her 2012 foal, a filly, we named WOF Code's Mt Wind.  It perfectly combines the name of her Sire, SC Code of Honor and her Dam LS Mt Wind Socks.  But her name also comes from the news of the day.   The second picture is of WOF Alyssa's Grace.and her dam WOF Once a Hobo.

Think back with me to March 2, 2012 and if you remember that day and many of you will, tornadoes ripped through Kentucky towns like West Liberty and Indiana towns like Henryville.  The tornadoes almost completely destroyed those and other towns across the area.                                                               

The next morning on March 3 we found Wind Socks with her new foals in the stall with her.  It was the little filly you see in the top picture.  In deciding on a name for the filly, I thought of the previous day and  decided on the name of WOF Code's Mt Wind.  OK it might be a stretch but there it is.  

From the very first day there was something very special about this filly.  Most new foals find their way behind Momma when a human or an animal approaches.  Not this filly.  When anyone walked up to her stall, she was there to greet them.  Wind Socks didn't seem to mind.  She has had several foals and over the years has come to trust the humans that invade her space from time to time.  She is completely comfortable with us in the stall with her and her babies.

Every day we went to the barn the little filly ran to the front of the stall to meet and greet us.  She would put her little nose through the front of the stall to smell our hands or to allow us to pet her.  She loved us putting our hands on her.  She had no "Don't touch me there" spots.  

She was about a week old when David called me to the barn.  She had somehow gotten under the gate that separated two stalls.  She was stuck solid and we didn't know how long she had been there.  But she looked terrible.  Her one eye we could see was glazed over.  We gently lifted the gate off of her and I called the vet to come put her down.  Or so I thought.  It wasn't long before she got to her feet.  She looked terrible and I was still worried that Dr Thompson would be coming and telling me that he thought it best to put her down but I had a glimmer of hope. Although she was having a hard time,still she had still found her way to Wind Socks and started nursing.  She could only nurse from one side because her eye was so sore from where she had struggled to free herself.  But she was nursing and Wind Socks looked content.

Dr Thompson soon arrived.  He examined her and gave us the good news that her eye was not damaged and it would heal and be ok. But he found she had a couple of broken ribs.  He gave her some shots and left us some medicine for her.  One was a ulcer medicine.  We gave her doses of that for a couple of days to keep her from getting an ulcer.  He told us because of her age she could easily develop one from the stress of her ordeal.  

You may think that this baby was finished with humans.  You may think her experience would sour her on life and make her fearful.  But none of that happened.  Every time we walked to the field where she was pastured with the mares and foals she immediately came up to us for lots of loves and petting.  She is fine with her ears being rubbed.  She likes to have a massage anywhere you please.  She will willingly pick up her feet.  You can rub her on the face and close to her eyes.  In short she is an amazing filly.  

Where the gate was on her, there is a little white spot that tells there is scarring there.  But other than that, who would know of her ordeal.

It is a mystery to me what this particular filly is so loving and sweet.  Oh they are all sweet and cute to boot.  But she goes out of her way to make friends with humans.  She will let us walk up to her in the field.  Most often she seeks us out and wants to be close to us whenever we are in the field with her.  Walk away and she follows.  This is a true testament to the kind of horses mountain horses are.  She just has some extra qualities that set her apart.

Animals have always been a mystery to man.  We have always sought to make friends with them.  Someone made friends with a dog once upon a time and found them to be good companions.  Someone had to figure out about miking cows and how to get that milk and still be in one piece.  I have to wonder about that.  I have milked cows that would have gladly removed my head had they the opportunity.

I have had some experiences with animals that seem unique to me but maybe they aren't so unique after all. 

 It was fall.  We were milking a herd of Holstein cows.  Bill was always in a bad mood when we were harvesting the crops.  It was always the  first and last thing on his mind.  .  I know his stress came from  the worry about getting the silage into the silo or corn picked before the rain came or before he was called to work.  Of course there always seemed to be the equipment breakdown that plagued us when we had field work and depended on things running smoothly.

Stress permeated the whole family in the fall.  The days were getting shorter with less time to work in the fields.  We had milking to be done twice a day and the barn to keep clean for the always unexpected visit from the milk inspector.   

Mike, Steve and I had milked this particular morning and for some reason we had some angry words.  I really don't know what it was about but when they went to the field to help their Dad I was feeling pretty down about it.  It seemed nothing was going right for me right then.  Bill was in a bad mood, the boys were mad at me and I had the barn to clean by myself.  

I walked out into the loafing shed after I ran the silage unloader to put out feed for the cows.  They were all lined up along the bunk feeder eating the good smelling silage and acting very content.  Far from what I was feeling at the moment.  I sat down on the edge of the bunk feeder and watched the cows eat for awhile.  I was in tears and leaned my head against the railing.  Suddenly I felt a hot breath on my neck.  I was startled and looked up quickly.  There standing close to me and offering me comfort was a young cow that we had just put into the milking string.  She was just standing there like she was saying "It will be OK"  or as a friend of mine always said, "This too shall pass".  It is still fresh in my mind to this day.  I sitting on the edge of the bunk feeder and she standing close to me to give me comfort.

A recent experience I had involved Erica.  She is my five year old Labrador Retriever.  Erica sleeps by my bed most nights.  I go to bed and she comes in my room and lays down.  This particular night I had a nightmare.  I was screaming and hollering in my sleep. I was awakened by a rough paw on my arm gently shaking me like a human loved one would shake one out of a bad dream.  It was such a sweet moment.  I petted her and thanked her and she went back to her rug beside the bed to sleep and keep watch over me.

Isn't God wonderful to provide us with companionship in dogs such as Erica or in a milk cow.  Or a special horse.  I have seen people come to the farm who have terrible stress in their lives that have buried their heads in the horses mane and let the tears flow and then the release would come and joy and comfort would replace the stress and agony of moments earlier.

The Lord tell us He is with us to give us comfort and security.  He tells us in Psalms through the words of  King David, "The Lord is my strength and my salvation.  Whom shall I fear, of whom shall I be afraid." I believe sometimes He gives us that strength through the friendship of animals who minster to us. 

May God bless and keep you in His loving care.

Regards

Mary