A Worthy Cause

There are so many save-the-animal worthy causes our there. I'm so very grateful that people work together to end the animal abuse that comes in so many shapes and sizes. At the same time I'm so disheartened that these groups need to be in existence....

While in college I was in an equine management class. We had to choose an equine-related project which we spent the better part of the semester on. I chose equine slaughter. It is a topic that is not common knowledge for many people- even in the "horse world" and I thought that these equine-friendly students needed to know about it. So, I dove into the project head first with great passion and, although I was already familiar with the topic, I finished broken and downtrodden.

Anyway, the point of this depressing post is this: The Humane Society has an article up about equine slaughter and at the end of the article is a link to write your congressman and ask him/her to support this cause. I suggest you read the article and watch the video as I think it will best help you to understand. (Quite frankly, I did not watch the video. I have too many memories and I am fairly well-versed in the whole process.) But, the most important thing is writing your Congressman.

Obviously this is not mandatory! And, I struggled with deciding whether or not to post this as I try very hard to stay away from polarizing topics. But, I decided that we are all animal lovers here!!! If you choose to do this, I appreciate your help greatly!

Click link to tell Congress
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/horse_slaughter/facts/grisly_end_for_horses.html

Charleston, South Carolina : : Part Three

Okay... this is my 3rd and final post about Charleston. Don't worry, no more random building pictures with which to bore you to tears. This time, just animals and a toddler... much cuter! Anyway, for anyone planning an upcoming visit to Charleston, I am a free companion! Just sayin'...


My sister and her family live just outside of Charleston so we stopped to visit with them briefly on our way out of town.



Their house is full of critters! Dogs, goats, pigs, cats, and a little rugrat....



It was raining quite a bit so I wasn't able to hug and smother the animals as much as I would have liked...



My niece let me snap a few pictures of her... though it wasn't easy!! Especially since she spends most of her time torturing loving on my sister's poor Min Pin named Lilly. Though, my niece considers Lilly her sister, and calls her "sissy." I'll make sure to remind her of that in 13 or so years... preferably in front of her friends... :)



I'm pretty jealous of the menagerie... but, I definitely have my hands full at home. In fact, I think I spend 90% of my life feeding animals and husbands...


That's all I'm good for 'round here...

Blankets Galore!

We have had a slight reprieve from all of the rain. Yesterday was GORGEOUS! Blue skies. The perfect time to air out the horses' blankets. Well, some of them. One thing about horse ownership- you acquire, and acquire, and acquire. It is truly amazing. But, as usual, I'm getting off subject...

Anyway, today has been stunningly beautiful as well. Since I left the blankets out overnight (due to the fact that I made ribs for dinner. Then ate said ribs. Ate way, way, way too many of said ribs. Then realized that I could no longer stand and was unable to put the blankets away unless I could find some Oompa Loompas to roll me outside to do so and that seemed unlikely... since I couldn't even stand to call directory assistance to ask for them to connect me to the Oompas...so I left the blankets out overnight). Then this morning, it was another gorgeous day- and the blankets were slightly damp from the dew. So, I left them out to dry off and bask in the warm, loving sunshine.

Except?

Except?

It just started POURING down rain....

And the moral of the story? Don't eat too many ribs. Terrible things will happen.

b l u e

Meet Blue. He is a new member of our family. Blue is a 29 year old (in other words, quite and elderly fellow) Quarter Horse that belonged to the previous owners of our new home.

When we were in the process of purchasing the home, they were concerned with where Blue would live and asked us if we would like to take him and allow him to continue living here. We did not want to disrupt the life of this peaceful little guy if we didn't have to and so we agreed.

In a previous life, Blue was a Hunter/Jumper. I believe his show name was "Rock's Cutter Blue" though I do not have any of his papers and I am not 100% sure of that. He lived here all by his lonesome and I think he is very happy to have a couple of equine companions now. Horses are herd animals by nature and many of them do not do well alone. Blue, however, seemed to manage fine over the years but he seems to be keen on having friends.

For those of you wondering what is on his face... it is called a fly mask. It is see through (so he isn't blind-folded out there!) but it keeps the flies out of his eyes.