You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2007.
My new team! Ron and Roz. I could only make the picturew of Ron work on here, so I will try and get Roz’s picture up tomorrow or later today.
I’m still not sure whether it should be Roz or Ruth. I guess as i work with her, she will let me know.
Here’s Ron.
I went up northwest of here yesterday and got these two. They are Haflingers. Kind of 3/4 sized Belgiuns. They sure are gentle. Ron was driven and used some last winter. He’s 3 years old. Roz is just halterbroke, but she seems real nice.
Now, I just got to get out there and get to working them. 🙂
A bunch of baby butts!
Just colt’s butt’s actually. LOL
I hauled one of these to the neighbor girl, yesterday. Then today, Brad, the young man who has been working in California, came over and worked with the other two. Went real well. I re-learned some stuff and made me realize I was on the right track.
Rel nice weather today. hated to be in the hoiuse, but was doing some leather work. Tomorrow will be a better day to be inside from the sounds of it. Lots of wind. Must be some politicions comeng thru’! 🙂
Yup Jim, your welcome to come spend a day here anytime. Come early and stay late! 🙂
And the winner is……..
(drumroll)
Jim!
Man! What a good lookin’, cute littler rascal! And the kid ain’t too bad either!
Jim will have to respond and tell us all more about the picture under comments.
And he’s kind of already won the grand prize, seeing as how he spent a day here not too long ago. Tho’ I suppose I could let him come back and spend a day with Jinglebob, if I have too!
Congrats Jim.
This picture was chosen by a panel of independent judges who were highly paid. They agonized for days over all the entries. Tough, tough job. Good thing they were so highly paid! 🙂
And thank you all for your entries. They were all great and you just never know, they may show up on here yet, in the future.;)
I just found this, thought I ought to share it with all you guys. It came from allen nations blog. He’s the publisher of Stockman’s Grassfarmer Journal.
“The first rule of journalism is that bad news sells more newspapers than good news. Consequently, the world seems a drearier, more threatening place than it actually is. I thought you might like to balance out your worldview with some good news.
The New York Times reported on October 5, that the amount of energy needed to produce one dollar’s worth of economic output has been cut nearly in half since 1980. Yesterday, they reported that USA oil demand is now basically flat and is falling in Europe. This is significant as the USA consumes 25% of the world’s oil compared to only nine percent by China. Through August, the trade deficit in 2007 was down $46 billion from the same period in 2006, a nine percent decline, according to The Washington Post. This added 1.3% to the growth rate of the American economy, which was 3.8%. The USA is the world’s largest exporter of goods and services.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the federal budget deficit fell by 35% in 2007’s fiscal year. Since 2004, deficit spending has tumbled by $251 billion, which is the most rapid three-year decline in history. The deficit as a share of the economy is down to 1.2% or about half the average of the last 50 years. This is particularly remarkable since homeland security expenditures have climbed $150 to $200 billion a year since 9-11-01.
In 2007, Americans paid a record $2.568 trillion in taxes to the IRS or 6.7% more than in 2006. This means federal receipts have climbed by $785 billion since the 2003 investment tax cuts. This is the largest four-year revenue increase in American history. Last year’s increase was 11.3%, or more than double the rate of growth in nominal GDP. The American economy is now $13 trillion a year. All privately-owned assets equal $165 trillion. Here’s some perspective on those figures.Texas has a larger GDP than Canada, California equals France, Illinois equals Mexico, New Jersey equals Russia and Orlando, Florida, equals New Zealand.
The national medium income exceeds $54,000. The average family income of American millionaires is only $130,000. In 2006, the average farm household earned $80,000, about 20 percent more than the average urban household. In 2007, net farm income will set a record at $87 billion. Only three percent of adults with full-time, year-around job of any kind fall below the poverty line. If every American had a house on an acre of land, everyone would fit into an area half the size of Texas. Only 5.4% of the USA has a population density of 30 people per square mile, the level at which land is considered “developed.”
According to the American Economic Review, three-quarters of the rise in income inequality is due to the fact that the population is both older and better educated today than it was in the 1970s. Air pollution has declined by 25% over the last 30 years. Since 1900, American life expectancy has increased 25 years. Today’s Mom and Dads spend four to six hours more time per week with their children than the previous generation did. Sixty-nine percent of Americans own their own homes. Sixty-eight percent of today’s high school graduates go to college. Twenty-nine percent of men and 26% of women have college degrees today compared to only 7.7% in 1970.
And, to show you that all the pessimism in the news hasn’t totally sunk in, 39% of Americans expect themselves to eventually be in the top one percent of income earners.”
And also this from the same sources.
“Vegetarians who say their diets result in lower greenhouse-gas emissions than the standard “meat rich American diet” may have to eat crow if the meat is grass fed and locally produced according to an article published on October 23rd on Slate. Free ranging laying hens can make use of land unsuited for crops and can utilize lower quality feed stuffs than would otherwise go to waste such as grain screenings. Pastured pigs can similarly be raised on byproduct feedstuffs that would otherwise be thrown away. Grass fed cattle and sheep can spend much of their lives on land too poor for grain production and that would produce no food crop without them. Also, if all of these animals are raised and consumed locally, it reduces the fuel needed to bring them from elsewhere.
A recent Cornell University study found that eating two ounces of locally produced, cooked meat and eggs daily would actually be better for the environment than a vegetarian diet if the above conditions are met. All of the greenhouse gas savings from a vegetarian diet come from less energy use. Letting the animals gather their own feed through grazing and scavenging is the most energy efficient way to produce human food.”
Take that all you veggies!
Here’s Peahes baby.
I weaned the colts the other day. They are feeling sorry for themselves cuz they can’t get to mom to suck that wonderful milk they’ve been getting all their lives, up to now. They are getting all the feed they need, but it just isn’t the same. Poor babies!
This filly looks like Woody when he was a colt. I’ll have to find a name to remind me of that. What was Woody Harrelson’s girlfriends name on cheers? That’s who my woody was named after, as his daddy was a Bartender.
Windy and chilly out there this morning. Touch of fall in the air! About 45 for a high today. Guess it’s a good day to stay inside and work on leather.
I believe I have a winner in the blog picture contest. Watch for updates! 🙂
By the way, those of you like me, who enjoy a fine bit of hair on the face and especially the lip, check this out!
This was the coolest thing we saw at the zoo.
Afterwards, we went to a friends who lives northwest of the cities a bit. Another couple and their twin daughters came and we had a great time visiting and Jodie made us some real good food to eat. Thank Jim and Jode!
Sunday we got up and went to Mass and then off to the east to see Carl and Kay, the guy who made the book about Ranchers in this area. He is coming to Rapid in January to have a book signing. They have a lovely house and old buildings, set up in the woods along a river. Very pretty. We had a great time and spent the night. Kay made some wonderful cherry pie, at someones insistence!
We headed home the next morning and I’ve been trying to catch up on my rest ever since!
Horse pix tomorrow Mad!
Okay, now where were we? Oh yeah, here.
Tyler took us to see the Cathedral in St Paul. Magnificent!
I was in awe.
And then we learned there is a stone in there from Joan of Arc’s tomb, or some such. I am always amazed at how gifted some people are who can build something like this.
Then we went to downtown Minn. and drove in all the traffic and people and had to block at least three blocks away from the hard Rock Cafe so Cindy could get a couple of glasses. She collects them.
Again, the people around there must not see a lot of people in boots and a hat!
We walked about 4 blocks one way and then back to the car. then we drove back across the river and went to Bucca’s which is an Italian restaurant. We waited for 2 hours to be seated. The food was good, but not that good!
On Saturday we got up and went to apple Valley to the Zoo.
to be continued
This was the prettiest thing I saw for about 5 days. Home!
Cindy and I took off Thursday morning and headed east to the Twin Cites to visit Tyler and some friends. We got in after dark and it had rained on us all day. The roads were wet and shiny and I could hardly see the road with all the headlights shining at me from oncoming traffic. Boy, was I glad to pull in to St Thomas seminary! We went out with Tyler as our driver and went to a Perkins for crappy food. The next morning he took us to a little place he liked and I wasn’t impressed with my eggs on a cold plate. Of course they didn’t cook them in lard, so there really was no hope!
After breaffast we drove along the Mississippi and saw this.
Then we drove back to the seminary and went to a Mass in spanish. That was cool. We went and ate at the Muddy Pig, kind of a little dark place where they served lots of micro-brews. The food and the beer were really really good.
to be continued…..
Here is a picture of Sweety for you Mad.
This is a picture from last year, but seeing as she is at the colt man’s place getting some training, I imagine she looks like this now, with a saddle on her back. At least I hope so!
See you all in a few days when I return.
Me and the little woman are going to run over and visit Tyler this week/weekend. So those of you in that direction, beware!
The rest of you, I will update when I get the chance!
We are leaving Thursday morning and probably won’t be back until Sunday or Monday evening. The chores will be done, along with a whole bunch of work around here I hope, in younger and perhaps more capable hands! LOL
