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TGO (The Great Outdoors)is the name of our community here in Titusville, Fl. And I love the outdoors –  this morning at 8 am I went on the golf course and played a few holes by myself –  and of course took numerous photos of the outdoors  that I love so much. No horses though! Perla would love this golf course pasture.

Our section of TGO is called Hidden Lakes.

Remember we are on a kick to wonder where the poweres to be got names for streets and towns around us! How did TGO and Hidden Lakes get their names.

Why did I tell you all that — because I want to put our community names and my house/water problem in perspective.  As, I explained in earlier blogs, the foundation is sitting in water and the moisture is wicking up and destroying the wood floors around the outer walls –  by the foundation –

So, here goes the perspective – If you have ever been to Floride you know that the outdoor environment in Florida has lots of water around – you know, that is so we will have places for our alligators to live. And around here we have lots of alligators – back in 1990 the developer had a pet gator – he left the door to his office open and in walked the pet alligator – he shouted to the older, hard of hearing person working on the development plan – “Hey Joe, go outside and call that gator into The Geat Outdoors”  Just before the gator up and bit his leg off, Joe shouted back “Sir, that is a very good name for this development – I’ll write The Great Outdoors on the name application page now”   While Joe recovered in the hospital and got his peg leg fitted, someone submitted his papers without looking at them and that is how TGO got it’s name.  Now, go research your town and see how it got it’s name.

Now the Hidden Lakes thing – where in the world do you think the That name came from? Simple, there are 2 lakes which this section of homes is built around – So, Joe suggested the developer call it Twin Lakes — of course that was rejected by the God of town name in the State Town Naming office in the capital building. Uhdaunted, the developer told Joe to call it “Hidden Lakes” – “How so?” Said Joe?  “Oh, to keep down the gator population we hid a few lake under houses – Jim’s house is hiding one –  there are a few others  – now, you know how Hidden Lakes got it’s name. Again, I say, go research your town and see how it got it’s name.

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A running horse is a beauty to behold! Even if it is running away from you because it thinks you are a danger to it.Horse behavior is best understood from the view that horses are prey animals with a well-developed flight instinct. Their first response to a threat is to flee.

Nonetheless, humans domesticated horses thousands of years ago, and they have served humans ever since. Through selective breeding, some breeds of horses have been bred to be quite and docile, particularly certain large draft horses. Thus, they are not so flighty.

Perla is the Icelandic Breed – they are a pure breed because it is said that since the Vikings brought horses to Iceland – no other horse came into Iceland – For generations, this “Viking Horse” was used for every type of work and entertainment from draft to riding to companion to being a war horse to food – yes if a horse had a bad trait,such as too flighty, it was culled from the herd and used as food. The result is a breed, selectivley bred, that is more docile, smarter, and more trusting of its human partners then many other breeds  –  I am biased I know – but Perla is the best of the best!! Never the less, Perla is still a flight animal and will run when scared — I must be careful. A few years ago, in Texas,  my horse, scared by my hat being blowed off, ran right over me. I wore an arm cast and leg brace for weeks to prove it. But, I love to see Perla run – look at the photo of an Icelandic “Tolting” above — is that not a beautiful sight! Oh, what is tolt, u say?  “tolt?” is one of the Icelandic’s gaits – about the speed of a trot, but perfectly smooth – perfect for my old bones –  and let me tell you I am learning how to comminicate to Perla that I want her to Tolt – it is a fun exercise – when we communicate clearly, we are a real team. Love it

Oh, did I say my kids are the best of the best too – on that I am not biased  – it is a fact!

Back to horses — Most light riding breeds were developed for speed, agility, alertness and endurance; building on their natural traits including the natural flight instincts to run fast! These natural instincts can also be used to create a bond between human and horse. Training techniques vary, but natural instincts are always part of the art of horse training.

Now, let’s look at training:  1. A 1,000 pound horse, 2. A tiny grasshopper, 3. A home builder

I am not a trainer of any of these, but I do try to get them to do what I want them to do it!!! And in each case, I think about  how I can use the natural instint to convince  them that they want to do it my way!!! This approach works well with dogs too – but do not try it on wives. – I did,  and Grandma still does it her way. I think “Blue Eyes” got that song from her – Hint for you young folks: “Blue Eyes” has the initials F. S. – And the song “I did it my way”

1.

I have already told you of Perla’s way of thinking – my work techniques in the round pen are based on her natural instint to flee and then turn to see what scared her,  then return to me for leadership – as if to say “You saved me, kind human, now what shall we do”. I did not really train her – I just got her to trust that it was ok to do what I wanted — after that, communicating to her what I want her to do was the easy part.

2. Do you think I really trained this grasshopper? I got it to do what I wanted it to do- I wanted it to sit there while I photographed it. I was riding bike on St Johns trail yesterday when I saw this guy sitting in the road — got off the bike – took out my iPhone – walked back to Mr/Ms grasshopper – naturally it hopped away. Say I to me — open road is scary to GRASSHOPPER – every time I got near – even if my shadow got near, it hopped away – could not get a photo – Say  I to myself “I have here a tiny flight animal”  It needs some grass to protect it, then it will trust me-  so, I got a clump of grass and set it where I thought the next hop would be – lo and behold – it was – Mr/Ms hopper landed on it and it allowed me to take many photos – even if the iPhone was only inches away from it. Did I train it or just convince it that it was safe and it was ok to just sit there for the photo shoot?

3. Told you one of my jobs was to convince the builder that he wanted to solve our wate problem – we have taken the first steps with success. Technique here is a little different – I think the flight here is to run toward success (money (in case you did not know, home builders love money), builder reputation, respect ) – still working on this one.  I am convinced I can not train him but I know I will find a way to convince him that he wants to solve my water problem — at mostly his expense.

Hey Grandkids, did you smile as you handled today’s challenges?  I tried to smile as I handled mine — was not easy! – but, I did it!

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Hey Grandkids – 2day we drove to Orlando and saw may interesting clouds – be safe but look up – it is fun!

WOW – When we arrived, in May, at the ferry to Drummond, I said, “Boy this is like going on an exciting vacwtion” — being at our home in Florida is like being on a vacation too!  Not that we are not busy – but the early morning warmth, the retired neighbors doing retirement things, you know, it is fun to see and be part of a change like this. Since I plan a return trip to Drummond soon, I get to see change three times this fall — pretty neat.

Another aspect of this week in Florida is that I have reason to get up – you know, I have real jobs to do – work with the builders convincing them to want to solve our water problem – the problem I told you about where the foundation footers are soaking up moisture and ruining our wood floors.  Then each day maintaining and “opening” up a house after 6 months away throws many challenges into the laps of Grandma and Grandpa – so guess we like to work – at lest we do work well together and laugh sometimes – do not let Grandma see this – she may not agree– OK enough on that subject – 

 Hey Grandkids – bet you have many school, after school activity, and social challenges each and every day –  says your old Grandpa to you “Practice enjoying the fun of taking each challenge on and do it with the biggest smile and the most enthusiasm you can muster up. -Oh, by the way,  you know that smile will get you a lot of help from friends, brothers/sisters, and parents”

Back a couple blogs ago I ask you to think about how towns got their name, and all the streets with in them – next time you look at a street sign see if you can make up a story about how the powers to be came up with that name – and maybe about the names they rejected. So how did the St Jim River – oops St Jim was rejected – but it had many other names before St Johns.

Before European involvement in North America, the Timucuan Indians called the St. Johns River Welaka — or river of lakes.

In the early 1500s, Spanish seamen called the river Rio de Corrientes — or river of currents.

In 1562 — almost 50 years before the settlement in Jamestown — the French established Fort Caroline on a high bluff overlooking a river they called Riviere de Mai (River of May) because they arrived there on May 1.

In 1565, Spanish soldiers marched north from St. Augustine, captured Fort Caroline and slaughtered the French. The Spanish renamed the river San Mateo to honor the saint whose feast followed the day they captured the river.

Later, the river was renamed Rio de San Juan after a mission near its mouth named San Juan del Puerto. The English translation of the name Rio de San Juan — St. Johns River — lasted through English, Confederate and American possession of the river and remains today.

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I love my Perla – only as I love animals – i love them them not as big people – or small people – but as animals – but I do miss my cows   – cows are not like horses – why because I think I can think like a cow – they are not so spooky as a horse – so maybe I will get a few cows to keep Perla company when I bring her to Whitney Bay next year for some of her daily training — maybe I can train the cows to be oxen?…. Any volunteers to help this crazy Grandpa??

This iPad and work schedule has kept me from getting to my blog – sorry for that. We been working with builders on a water problem here in Florida — house sits on a water table that has water table  above bottom of the footers  – thus h2o wicks up to floor boards glued to concrete – not good – but builder working hard and spending lots of money to fix problem – many meetings and resolution ideas explored. Next we have 4 zone air condition in house – some mix up in that my bath room gets all of the air targeted to Grandma “art studio” – hits 65. Degrees when 72 is target – most of us northern folks say that is warm but it is not right, so delt with them.

Gofl carts are to go forward when you tramp on  the “gas peddle” but when they do not move an inch, Grandpa the mechanic must go to work. Motor cycle batteries are to be easy to reconnect — when a nut falls down in the frame structure — Grandpa with fat Menonite thumbs tries to retrieve it – much time is spent. 6 weeks of mail accumulated in the mail room , make for much administrative effort.

Clocks with dead batteries, floors and window sill with many dead bug bodies, cars with 2000 dead bugs on the grill after 2,0000 mile trip from Drummond, office bills, and bank accounts that need to be balanced, — that is only the beginning WOW — I do love the excitement of setting up our winter home. But most of all I miss telling u of the happenings of your retired Grandpa – the one with nothing to do.

But tonight, I got in my golf cart and took the garbage to the recycle station then rode around the cart path of all 18 holes of the golf course. Beautiful moon – cloud scape. WOW Not like my beloved Drummond and Perla but Florida has some fun times! Rode my Motor cycle to the store before dinner – saw some very interesting clouds that I would like to enhance in PhotoShop but no computer yet – I will do best I can on iPad: Sorry, I can not get from my iPhone photos to this blog – I will work on it 2moro but for now – no pictures – I will show you an old one. OK

OR – To see the new page click here– You must do this extra click because my iPad and I had a disagreement – guess who won? Hope it taught me how to behave for next time and then we will be back to normal – or if we like the extra click we may use some form of it every day???

Love to see people enjoy their animals.  If only none animal people knew how much work it takes to have animals.

As U know I am traveling and am writing to you from my iPad in club lounge in the hotel where breakfast is available as a hotel compliment – for free. well nothing is for free   I already saw the bill for the hotel. Now I know how they can give me a free breakfast –  this is a beautiful hotel in beautiful down town Ann Arbor. Near hospital and university of MI. The day is bright and in the 60’s. Wanted to send u pictures. I will see if the cloud in the sky sent them from my phone to my iPad and the I send them to you.  Think grandpa understood than?

I hade 2 comments on last blog posting — one from Shannon and one from Marc – Marc, the stones are Drummond Pudding Stones   Will research and tell u more later And I will bring u some  next time I see u. Or get grandma to send some via snail mail! Or over night  do u think grandpa would understand – he did carry rural mail with horse and buggy Shannon thanks for nice words about blog and we will drive with the best care I can and we are enjoying the trip so far.

Oh I do miss working, clowning, training, playing with Perla and I am so in debt to my friends for boarding, tending, caring, loving her.  Only because of their care and generosity can I be here on the road and still live the animal life on Drummond. Thanks, Thanks.  Some day I want to write to u about loving, enjoying, getting support from, and having a life with animals. I will also comment on my experience at the SPCAwell, what I wanted to show u did not get here yet so just be reminded by me to go out an cloud watch today and study this cloud – I see many things  but I must get on the road now and eat a free breakfast snack  finally got photos from the iCloud in the sky!classy hotels to me are those that have big enough letters on shampoo bottle for me to read while standing in shower with no contacts in!