I love the outdoors here on my Island – Well not really mine — but I will borrow as much of it as I can as long as I can! And I will try to share, thru photos, as much of it as I can with you. – Today you get 5 topics!
1. My hobby of cloud watching,,
2. Snakes in the grass,
3. Loons on the water,
4. Flowers and dry grass,
5. Deer in the yard,
I love my Island summer and I say “Thanks to those brave folks that helped keep this country free so we can enjoy the Great Outdoors in the United States”
I hear you Grandkids are each having some really fun days this summer too — softball, swimming, yoga, friends, tennis, swimming, boating, paddle boards, kayak, hiking,…on and on your list goes. WOW!
Been reading a book “Flying Low” – Memoir of a Fighter Pilot during 1960’s – Have a friend that was a fighter pilot in the 60’s – shot down on mission 22 and POW for I think 5 years. Maybe that prompts my brain to see low flying plane when I look to the sky — hope you can find the airplane in this photo art.
Hey Grandkids – no smoking or you may end up looking like this cloud guy – blowing smoke rings
Yesterday – while weed whipping I encountered a 10 inch baby snake — almost too cold to move — I picked him up, laid him on a rock warmed by the sun, guarded him from gulls ’till he crawled off the rock – to grow big like this cute mad guy.BEFORE
AFTER – Last week this little guy spent most of his time on Moms back — Now he does much more swimming on his own!
Seasons come and go. I think I like this shot I took down by the dock this morning – but see the dried grass in the background — that means the full growing season is moving toward the fall seasonA return customer last night. – Some call it a deer — I call it a salad garden customer. Wiped us out!
I think these young daredevils had fun – until something went wrong — In all cases they helped us maintain this beautiful country as we know it.
Sorry – I missed yesterday doing the blog . Some times my day just gets away from me and I just do not finish all that I wanted. Do not worry, because it is really a great feeling to have more to do then you can get done. You know, now I have a real reason to get up tomorrow and see if I can catch up – if I do not– Do not worry – I hope I get up yet the day after that — At my age, we call that getting-up thing “winning” you know!!!
Any way — how did the day get away?:
1. Yesterday was Grandma’s first day back from the big New York City and we had much catching up to do. Among many NYC stories, I heard about her and the granddaughter getting their nails done in the city.
Horses are like like Grandma and the Granddaughters — “First we get our nails done then we do lunch”
2. The farrier came in the morning. Getting horses into the barn, bringing them out one at a time, — and of course shooting the breeze with the farrier – then cleaning up all the poop out of the barn (You know nervous horses make more poop then usual) Some of the horses get a little nervous wondering what is going on with that man with knife, pinchers, and file — all that took us beyond lunch time.
3. Wed is golf day for me — the folks my partner and I played against are are very slow players — 3 hours for a 2 hour game – why did I tell you that — because I needed an excuse for my score — how can I use slow playing as an excuse — well standing around waiting for them to line-up, practice swing, and hunt for lost balls makes me nervous — and I did not want to be like a horse and poop more when nervous – so I just loose focus — fear not — we won big time anyway!
Have you seen what a day with the farrier is like? — well I will show you a few photos:
The knifeInstalling special ortho shoesHey, what are you doing?Kinda like this guyThe pinchers — The last foot of four x 7 horses = 28 at 5 min. each = over 2 hours with out breaks!
Toenail clippings
Poop
That is how we won — Look at my form! Now I must go catch-up with my day.
Love this modern stuff — friend just sent me access to some of her photos — Outstanding photos.
It is fun living in the modern age: The photos I was given access to were “POSTED” somewhere up in the sky. I went to the sky and viewed them in my home — while watching the recreational fishing boats leave the marina.
Hey — think modern — After traveling 50 miles including crossing a mile wide river/lake in just a little over an hour to pick up Grandma — who was transfer from New York City — in less them 24 hours in bad stormy weather. And we did it with almost no physical effort and we did not have to deal with caring for and training a horse!
Now lets look at Grandpa’s day:
FEB 28, 1903 “Got half a ton of hay from Frank Shaffer — Made rails in afternoon”
MAR 1, 1903 “After school, Hauled rails. Hauled coal for us.”
Mar 6 ,1903 “Churned for several hours – and did not get butter, hauled rails in PM”
Mar 7, 2903 “At Hooversville in forenoon, at Reitz in afternoon”
My observation – Training horses and exercising were just a part of what one did when you got up in the morning. The horse was used to go from town to town, haul stuff, and loading hay/coal/rails was a lot of exercise.
Now what does all this have to do with my progress with Perla’s and my transformation from 2 independent animals to a smooth team of 2 companion animals — Perla and me?
Not sure, but I know I love my modern way – I get to pick and choose how and when I train and exercise — He had to do it in heat, cold, snow, rain, sick, or health — Dang, I got it good!
SURE DO!
I will tell you 2moro or the next day what progress Perla and I are making on each item in our 10 step transition plan. Transition from 2 independents to 1 great team – Not because we have to but because we want to !!!
At the end of the rainbow in the sky I see a horse!!!
This morning just got away from me — spent much time on phone with mail order pharmacy — I take Celebrix and not very good at re ordering when I get close to end of bottle — I know they send me notices that it is time to order but I get occupied with horsing training and cloud watching — — That is my excuse and I am sticking with it!!!
any way I must go to airport and pick up Grandma — If I am late I guess I could say the ferry was late — but she would know better so I would have no excuse and I will stick with it — no excuse that is — so must go oh the photo above — Last night I saw a rainbow and shot it and when I got to computer I saw a horse in sky
WOW I have so many other subjects i want to get to — Friends duck pictures, storms impact on Grandma, trail ride, Perla’s and My transition, and much more — Tomorrow — Off I go.
Do not worry if time gets away from you — Just keep doing what you are doing and do the rest tomorrow — I t will be OK — My thought for today!
As I have mentioned to U, two of my hobbies this month are cloud-watching and working-playing with Perla – I call this photo “Perla’s transition” (not sure which way!) Do U C 2 Perlas?
People have asked “What in the world do you do every day with that horse of yours?” — This blog is designed to answer that question.
I have studied many books to help me develop my transition (training) plan. For you, I looked at 5 books in my Horse training library just to give you some of my funny thoughts:
1. BE THE LEADER – Yesterday, a friend ask me “Is your training of Perla going well, are you now the boss” — I said yes , but training a horse is like a marriage — we men never rise to the level of boss – we do not even approach it!!” That is what I said — It got a lot of cheers from the women in the room.
2. NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP – There is nothing natural about this 160 pound man trying to tell a 1,000 pound horse ( that has had it own way for some number of years) what it should do.
3. THINK LIKE A HORSE -Wrong! – My object is to get the horse to think like me.
4. HORSE TRAINING MADE EASY – If you believe this, you believe I could sell you the London Bridge at a great price or u believe a married man could be the boss of his home!
5. LIFE LESSONS FROM A RANCH and ranch community – Now this one I do believe — I have have learned many things about relationships and dealing with challenges, animals, and people from my experiences working with animals, animal trainers, ranchers, and small community people. Better then college — Now Grandkids — do not believe me — GO TO COLLEGE, then you can afford a horse and a personal horse trainer (and many other things) to get you and the horse to really enjoy the ride through life. Remember it is to enjoy the ride – not work at it!
Here is the daily lesson plan this week. All of it is about Perla U think — BUT — It is much harder for me to consistently communicate the same message day after day, with the same demeanor (Attitude, respect, authority, humility, energy, and yes, praise) then u may think — so the 10 step plan is really for me — if I learn do my part welI am sure she will do her part well:
1. go to pasture and get Perla to catch me – not me catch her.
2. brush Perla down – really caress and rub her back — to get her in the mood.
3. ground tie – drop lead rope, say stay, walk away, jump around, throw hat at her — then walk bak and praise.
4. ask her to circle me left, then right, then return to me for praise when I say “All done”
5. lay lead rope in front of Perla, I walk to end and ask her to come to me — for a praise of course
6. walk beside me with head at my shoulder – first normal speed, then slow, then fast, then turn left, then right, then stop. — always keeping the exact same position. Praise
7. walk into open trailer by following me, then walk into open trailer with me outside, and always back out slowly at my command only. Praise
8. walk to stall, enter at my command, turn to face me, stand for bridle and bare-back pad – (I do not use a saddle), stand quietly by big rock so I can use it as a ladder to get on her. Praise, praise
9. ride — away from barn and herd, close to barn and herd, around trees, with only body signals, with rein signals, slow, normal, TOLT, near scary things, be steady as cars/motorcycles/four wheelers/logging trucks pass, stop and stand quietly while I shoot breeze for 20 minutes, let me reach down and open mail box, etc Praise praise.
10. return to barn, enter stall when commanded, tun to face me, stand quietly for pad and bridle pad removal, another brush down, and more praise, and not bolt out of barn when I say “All done” – but rather come to me for one more praise before walking out of the barn.
That is close to two hours of time spent with a friend, Perla! — Hope it is mutual friendship.
Next blog I tell of our transition progress and what graduate school may consist of. U will have to wade through my photo portfolio of Perla too– Drink coffee to stay awake if necessary.
Was going to give U a Perla update but that will wait because yesterday I got a comment –” Did you photoshop the white fang cloud?”
White Fang the cloud dog
Honest — I did photoshop it — I search my cloud photo library and if, in a photo something jumps out at me, as most cloud photos do, I darken, lighten, copy from one side to the other, combine, — what ever my imagination lets me do — and some times more — just so I get what i want to see at that moment!!!
— so today I will show some of the results of my goofing around with cloud photos:
Original elfStep oneFinal product: I see an elf with a tassel cap riding a sled — how ’bout U?Original whateverSomewhat modified whateverOriginal photo: do you see a whale like fish, a dragonfly, and a airplane — I do.So I went to the extreme so that they would be visible to you
Now you know my secret hobby – in addition to clowning around with Perla — it is cloud watching and photoshop art!
Always fly straight – and stay out of the clouds — SAY I TO YOU: Always look at the bright sunny side of things. Maybe you will have to sort of use Photoshop in your mind to make things be the way you want them!!! But That is OK!
I see an elf with a tassel cap riding a sled — how ’bout U?
I do not pass along forwarded e-mails — but sometimes I extract info and pass it along — Yesterday I got a joke or a wise crack from an old cowboy — about a dead cowboy — on the dead cowboys’s tombstone he had some advise for a happy life; I want to pass it along as a segue to my golf score ( Not really but I needed a reason to pass it along):
On this old cowboy’s tombstone are 4 bits of advise for a happy life — advise to my Grandsons you might say:
1. Have a woman who is a good cook.
2. Have a woman who never lies.
3. Have a woman who likes you.
4. Make sure these three woman do not know each other or you might get shot like I did.
The segue, Oh — it has to do with telling lies (advise #2) — Now which do you consider a fact — You respect me and want to be my friend because I have a good golf score — or — you respect me and want to be my friend because I tell you the truth?
Yesterday I told you I would write down a score of 40 —- Well the truth is I had a score of 52 for nine holes — In fact that is not far from my average on that course — Now you know the rest of the story — or at least the truth of the story!
After golf I did photo shoot just to show you some of what I see — sorry I put you thru watching photos of my life. Wake up and have some milk and cookies — or a glass of wine you older folks!
Lake shore livingMy transportation to a great hour on flat H2O last night. Loons, geese, and unknowns!Dinner time — deer know the sound! only kidding.On it’s way to the Soo Locks and into Lake Superor.I call it a beautiful flower — most call it a weedSome call it a deer — i call it a salad garden customer.The queens lace — getting ready to visit great grandson I think that is what George of Cambridge is?Some call it a spider — I call it my bug zapper.Beauty in it’s form — my dockWe all call this a beautiful flower — for some reason the deer only wanted it 4 a table decoration — never ate it!
ALL DONE — That is what I tell Perla when I release her from training and shecan go play with the other hores!
Thanks Maya, She said the other day –– Us and grandma were talking about this colonial school house I went to in my sleep away camp in school! What a coincidence! Ps this is Maya!(:
Marc asked: Great story about the haircut. I know you mentioned this last time, but was this a “play” as in theatre, or “play” as in gym class for the kids? Must be theatre, as 40 cents was a lot of money back then.
I think it must to have been paying Miss Shaffer to order a play — that would be copies of the script for a school play — one for each actor to use to memorize the lines — I remember having such scripts for High School and Church plays that I participated in! and that was in 1950 +/- Was copyright laws a strict then as now???
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Feb 6 1900 Grandpa wrote about ordering books — that sort of says that Miss Shaftner (Note spelling change) was the “purchasing person” for the school — “Snowed very fast in morning. In after noon cloudy and melted the snow.
Prof E.E. Pritts and C. L. Spencer visited School.
Gave Miss Shaftner 50 cents to send for books, 5 cents to Samuel Cessna and 12 cents for coffee. Ella is washing dishes and fixing for baking. 7 o’clock p.m. Paid 5 cents for postage and 50 cents for fish.” He goes on to say Feb 7 “Clouds and warm. an uneventful day.”
Now U must sit through a few photos I found in my Photoshop library: ’cause I do not know what else to say & posting pictures is esay — sorry — — and I need to do some maintenance work around here before I golf and go to post office for mail.
White Fang the cloud dogBlue Dog – Texan wannabe
Blue Perla – Texan wannabe
Florida tractor tracks — not really — Sea turtles heading back to sea – photo sent 2 me via GrandmaLast evening baby gets a free rid and boy at night the do a lot of loon sounds!!!That is not my stiff German body swing — I will tell you my score tomorrow — I guess I could fill out my score card now — who would know different — why not — on the front 9, I did 40!!! r u impressed!!!
I got up late this morning, rubbed the sand from my eyes, and in a state of being half awake put the coffee pot under the spigot, tuened the handle — turned it the other way , tapped it on top, — by now my brain was getting into gear — says my brain — “Something is wrong here” because this is what I got!!!
But what a great Island — our neighbor is the Island plumber, and his whole family are very nice people — and they are friends — and the take care of us “From away or From below folks” (Below the mac Bridge) even when we are “Below” — They also take pride in making sure that our home is tended to — The plumber’s father drives the dead-end road here every morning just to check things out — often stops for a chat and 1/2 coup of coffee. ‘spect he only takes 1/2 cup ’cause I bet he gets many 1/2 cups before he returns home — being the local verbal newspaper and gossip editor is a tuff job U know!!!
That was a long story just to let you know that the spigot is now gushing H2O and that Island life is quite a pleasant way to retire!
Oh, I had another problem — I look like a very shaggy dog — hair pointing every which way and getting into my eyes when the wind blows — which is very much today — 20+- mph. So I call my local friend to see what she can do about that. OOPS! she is going off (That means off-Island) on the 4:10 (That means the 4:10 ferry boat) and right now she must play her league golf match. — Wellll – the nerve of some people — actually last time she cut my hair, she ran down from the little landing strip on the Island just to cut my hair and then she ran back up to the strip to hop into a little airplane — climb to 10,000 feet and jump out — with an instructor and a parachute of course. I run up and snap a few photos with my iPhone:
Where are they — I think I see a little dot up the!!!That is them — the dot is getting bigger — yea!!!Yea, Yea, They made it home alive!!! I get to have yet another hair cut next month!!!
Anyway — — we decided, this time, I will take the 12:10 (Go over-seas – I mean over-lake) and go to a mainland village 25 away and get the deed done this time. — C both problems solved.
Yesterday I told you of Grandpa soliciting for advertisements for play program — well I discovered he had to pay for play or the play director?– well here is some excerpts from around the same time in 1900: “Very very cold but had 26 pupils in forenoon — school room cold — afternoon 20 pupils.” now Thursday “very, very cold Paid miss Shaffer 40 cents for play and 7 cents for bread” Saturday “Ellie (Grandma) is sewing hooks and eyes on her brown waist.”
If you could please send me your idea of art — I went to Google and ask “What is art?” — guess what I got 1,400,000,000 matches — that is 1.4 billion matches. I hope one of you will make it 1,400,000,001. THANKS ahead of time!!!
In the year 1900 March 26, Grandpa was the school master — think about 15-20 students attended — the actual number any given day depended on temperature, wind, rain , snow, and farm work to be done: He wrote “Snow in morning, rained and snowed during day. In evening solicited advertisements for on program of play. Succeeded well. W.T. Hoffman here over night. Noah Ripple here”
I assume in 1900 Grandpa “Solicited” some form of art work for the cover of the school play advertisement too? Wish I had a copy of it for you but I do not. So, I went to web to see what a typical advertisements looked like in 1900 — found this one for Coke — at least it shows the style of then:
1900 Cocacola – 5cents! looks like quality art — shows a typical person toady sitting down for some Coke — I mean a cola! Ha ha!!!WIKIPEDIA.com says art is: The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture,…: “the art of the Renaissance” Works produced by such skill and imagination. JONAS GERARD says it is a van.The chef a Laughing Seed Cafe’ says art is food.Here is art – George Rodrique selected an single art object for paintings on the wall, books, book covers, mugs, towels, even a bar and restaurant and more — The object is a simple Blue Dog — I am sure you have all seen a blue dog – right??? Come to think of it, I never saw a blue dog and I never saw a purple cow — bet I could Photoshop one though — maybe I will try?These authors selected a book cover. – they approved the art workWOW – From my front window this morning — baby loon on momma’s back. God decided that this is His expression or application of human creative skill and imagination — that thing WIKIPEDIA describes as art. OOPS — I think WIKIPEDIA.COM allows only humans to create art — Just look outside at nature and tell me if you think WIKIPEDIA really knows what they are talking about when it comes to art!!!Somebody created this and thought it was art — and I will use it to say goodby until tomorrow!
AFTER – Last week this little guy spent most of his time on Moms back — Now he does much more swimming on his own!
