goats in PJs

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If you need a break from the cares of your day (or of the world), have a look.  :-)



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Adventures in Yarn Farming

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Yesterday, when we were having thundersnow, I turned off and unplugged the computers, and I read this book.

Some people have fantasy football teams.  I have a fantasy farm. Reading a book like this one reminds me why my farm is a fantasy.

While I would love some aspects of doing what she does, I would not enjoy others......

So grateful to people with the courage to thoughtfully and lovingly raise animals (and wool), and also grateful to those people for sharing their lives with the rest of us! Mostly all good (just a few terrible moments).

I recommend this book to anyone who has a fantasy farm of her own.....

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July 15 -- the rest of the day

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At this point my back was bothering me, so we looked for a cool place to sit.

Christ Church was not what we were looking for.  Cooler than outside, perhaps, but not air conditioned.  And the pews were very uncomfortable.  The backs were straight up and down, with no respect for the curvature of human spines.

Remember that we looked at Bishop White's house, a few days ago?  This was his church.



Memorial plaques on the wall.

Better seating, on a bench outside, in the shade of a big tree.

Bookstore. 

Upstairs from the prev.

Left end of the facade of the bookstore building.  What do you suppose this means?  There was a "shaftway" sign under each of the windows, on all four above-ground stories....  What does it mean, and why is exterior signage to this effect desirable/necessary?

Ah well.  Somethings we'll never know the answers to.

Returning to street level -- small white fuzzy dog meets smaller white fuzzy dog.

The sidewalk on our side of the street.  I like the colors.....

Still looking for a place to sit down, inside, with cool air....  Planter by a bar's outdoor seating.

We did, eventually, find a place where we could sit inside in the cool and have a glass of iced tea.  And a Dove bar.  Ahhhhhhhh.



Meandering back to the hotel.

There are lots of horses pulling tourists in carriages.  I hope this is an ok life for them!  I only saw one that looked bony, and none of them were covered with sweat (despite the heat and humidity).  I never saw any of them looking upset or scared, and didn't see any bad behavior from their drivers, either.

I hope it's ok.

Handsome dude, taking a break.

In front of Independence Hall, looking up.

Heavily embellished bank.

Another mural.

Love that they are supporting the library, and love the reflections of the trees in the window.

Waiting to cross the street back to the Marriott.  William Penn, on top of City Hall.

Excellent sky, from our hotel window.

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pony

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There is a part of me that still wants a pony for Christmas.

How about that nice red and white one in the middle?

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another chuckle

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This, like the prev, from CuteOverload.



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another smile from 7MSN Ranch

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For those of you who are tired of being cold, here is Wynonna over at 7MSN Ranch, enjoying a pleasant dip in her pool on a hot summer day.

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7MSN

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Back to Seven Miles South of Nowhere Ranch for another smile.

I don't know enough Horse to know what Hank was trying to convey, but George does, and he doesn't look concerned. Maybe that's a yawn?

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a good-looking guy

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One seriously (large and) handsome dude.

Wow, eh?

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several smiles

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More seasonal smiles.

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September 18, Greenfield Village

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Among the many types of machines that interested Henry Ford were clocks. He knew them well, as he repaired watches for a time as a young man.

This building, with its animated clock and dragon weather vane, housed a jewelry store in London. Here only the top and bottom stories are displayed, as the full five-story building would have been much taller than its neighbors.









Love the decoration on this building, and the green with the rust-colored bricks.....





Heinz donated a lot of advertising material, some of which is displayed in a building in the Village.





I remember it being "Heinz 57" but I'm not sure I ever realized that they actually had 57 different products at some point.....





Perhaps someday I will acquire video-degrading software that will let me turn the 700 megabytes of Model T ride into something I can actually upload. In the mean time, here is the first frame of the movie.

Look at all the dots on the road. Oil/grease dripping from all the Model Ts leaves a trail on their route through the Village. See the clock building, on the left?





After our ride, we pretty much headed for the exit.

These two seemed to be buddies. My guess is that they are work partners.





One of the first houses we toured was the Firestone house. They were prosperous merino sheep farmers before their young man left to make his way in the world of tires. These are merino sheep.





Love the sculptural quality of rams' horns...........





Glass available for purchase in the museum shop. Love all the color.....

The bowls we saw being made are the largest sort, with wide mouths, on the left, one green and one blue.





Little bitty ... zinnias?





Coleus.





I've seen these elephant-ear things in green before, but don't think I've ever seen purple. Someone had fun designing this grouping!





The courtyard where these grow is often the site for weddings. As you might guess, there are many spots in the Village that are very beautiful and well-suited for hosting important happenings..............



And that was that.

A very nice day. Interesting things to see and do (and eat!), congenial and interesting people to see them with, and gorgeous weather.

Happy sigh.

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baaaa-studs, indeed

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This may be the most amazing video I have ever seen. Keep watching; it just gets better and better..............





Thanks to Punkin's Patch for the link.

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September 5, Saline fair -- horses and cattle

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But what are they looking at?





Halflingers, getting ready to show.





I believe this class was for four-year-old geldings.

Some of them were got up regardless!

I know exactly nothing about what halflingers are supposed to look like, or how they should function. This handsome lad came in second, so I guess he's pretty near to what they ought to look like.

(I promise I did not flash at him -- or anyone else. My camera makes an array of little beeps and clicks, and I suspect that is why he was looking right at me.)







I know that horses compete in a raft of different activities. Performance from cow-cutting to dressage. Conformation. Costumes ("fancy Arab" is one class I've seen at the state fair). On the 5th, for halflingers, it was conformation.

I was interested by how similar it was to a conformation dog show. The handlers encouraged the horses to put their feet just so. They carried those rubber-tipped rods you see, and tapped or poked the horses to get them to move their feet. (Dogs are enough smaller that people pick up their feet and reposition them.)

The horses were trotted out and back, just as dogs are, so the judge could evaluate them in motion. I guess I've never seen this sort of competition before; I don't remember seeing that. I wonder how often the handlers get stepped on. Ouch. Only one of the handlers was younger than I. They've got to be in pretty good shape to run fast enough to get a horse to trot right out!





The judge was younger than I, by considerable.

Here he is, looking over all the horses once he'd seen each of them individually.





All smooth and perfectly groomed, with flowing tresses and painted toenails.....





Back in the cow barn, some of the inhabitants break for a rest.





Some are still looking out. These are steers. Hard to not imagine he is wishing he could be a horse. And not get eaten. I am feeling less and less happy about eating animals. This sort of vignette pushes me in that direction.



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September 5, Saline fair, animals

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Let's go see the animals that are competing in this fair.

This is what I'm talking about.





Do you believe that I never saw that they had matching hair?

It's true. This is what I was focusing on. The girl could just have well have been a hitching post, for all the attention I paid her. This is a Halflinger. Wishing I could run my hand down that smooth round warmth.........

Study in monochromes.



I love horses....................

Ok. Moving reluctantly on. (Once I get situated, looking at horses, I can stay, content, for quite a long time.........)



More monochromes. Chocolate-chip/caramel marshmallow rabbit (my name for it, not the official one, as far as I know.)





Velvet rabbit (again, my own take rather than an official designation). Don't you long to sink your fingers into that fur.......... (Always assuming the rabbit actually wanted to be petted and didn't rather bite you!)

(I noted that any rabbits who had boards in their cages were positioned on the boards, and concluded that anyone bringing their rabbit to show should bring a board for comfortable resting!)





This handsome guy was hanging out with his girlfriend. I could stick the camera right up to the bars and get a decently-without-bars shot of anyone against the rear of the cage, but this fellow was not interested in the back, no, he was ready for his closeup.....





"A Million Bars," or, "Roosters, in Black and White". I was trying to get the stripey one in the foreground, and never noticed until I got home that his nearest neighbors were black and then white.....

This one shot had all of them heads-up and facing one side or the other.





This one's coloring is similar to the one in the closeup, but that one's tail feathers curved down rather than standing straight up.





Donkeys.





These two were named Chip and Dale, I think, indicating that they are a pair and spend plenty of time together, but they were snarking at each other while I was there. The one on the left is about to tell the other to get out of his face.....





A brand-new chicken.





Some slightly older chickens. I never thought for a moment these shots would come out. It was dark, the glass was dirty.......... Just goes to show -- "take the pic!" You Never Know.

The one in the left corner is about to tell the one looking at him to quit pecking his beak..........





Companionable napping.

I didn't see any contention amongst the pigs, but almost all of them had fresh scratches that looked suspiciously like bite marks.

Travel is stressful, and when you didn't ask to go, and are on display for hundreds of clueless gawkers, well, sometimes you just have to bite your cagemate. I can see that.



Look at the hurricane whorl of hair growing in a circle just where the bigger one's jaw meets the neck......

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