Here is another great story in three parts, sent in by reader, Mark Whitney. This is part one.

Prologue
I was at the Veterans Administration Hospital having my right calf checked over, before heading back to my second year of college in the fall, when the doctor asked if I had ever ridden a horse before.  After giving him an odd look, I replied I was driving a team on my own and plowing the lower forty acres by the river when I was fourteen.  I also told him I started to ride the local trails when I was in high school, since the offer of a horseback ride seemed to improve my dating success with the opposite sex, and I needed all the luck I could get.  However, after my draft number was chosen and I ended up serving my time in the Navy, I had not been on a horse since high school.  The doctor looked thoughtful and said, “But you are comfortable with horse’s right?”  I replied, “I like horses just fine, so long as you don’t expect me to be riding in the rodeo or at the racetrack!”  By now I was really wondering where this conversation was going.  The doctor said, “As you know all the metal is out of your leg now, but there is some motor and sensory nerve damage, which may regenerate with time and therapy.  We are experimenting with a new form of physical therapy which uses riding, and you seem to be a perfect case for it.  We want to try it out first with people who aren’t nervous around horses, so we can make an unbiased appraisal of how well it works.”  I sarcastically replied, “You should always be nervous around an animal that out weighs you at least five to one and will run like hell away from anything it thinks is scary, but I figure I can handle it.”  Now it was the doctors turn to give me an odd look.
September of 1979, in Newton, New Hampshire. As I drove the car up the gravel drive to CPM farm, I was beginning too wonder a little too late what I had gotten myself into.  But after I parked and started to walk toward the barn, I began to relax.  It was a cool and pleasant Indian Summer evening, and the stars were beginning to peak out of the eastern sky.  A horse nickered at me as I passed the paddock, and the scent of fresh cut hay from the fields was strong.  I felt like I had traveled back in time past a war and a decade to my youth, and more carefree days.

Cheryl met me at the barn door and we chatted a bit about my experience with horses, and my medical condition.  She figured I should start out on the 14 year old Morgan brood mare named Starfire, as she was very gentle and experienced, and I would need the large English saddle that fit her well.  I told Cheryl that a gentle and experienced mare was fine with me, as I had no desire to gallop off into the sunset.  She replied we would be riding in the indoor ring, so I won’t have to worry about galloping off anywhere and getting lost.

 

TURTLE WHISPERER

Tina Anderson sent me this story:

I wanted to thank you for your newsletter and blog. I put one of your suggestions to work today and was so grateful that I had taken the time to read it yesterday. We live on a pond and today my husband discovered a huge snapping turtle sitting in the middle of our street sunning. It’s not a busy street, but still, not a good idea. My husband was trying to “herd” it back to the pond, but every time he got near the turtle went into it’s shell. My husband went to the garage to get a shovel to scoop him up. While he was gone I told the turtle, “You really should move out of the middle of the road. You’d be safe over by the curb, but you’re not safe here.” And then I visualized him moving to the curb and then back in the pond. Before my husband could get back with the shovel, the turtle was on his way to the curb. He sat there for just a few moments and then went back to the pond. Now my husband is calling me “The Turtle Whisperer”. 

 

 

ART FROM BURNING MAN

The Burning Man Festival takes place once a year in August in the desert in Nevada on the salt flats. I had never seen any of the art until I came across this blog. It is amazing - almost enough to make me actually think about going. But then I think about my innate reaction to dust. I wouldn’t be able to stand getting dust all over me and  in between my toes…YECH! I don’t know why but I hate it the way some people hate screetching chalk on a chalk board. Burning Man is all about dust, lots and lots of dust. Therefore, I have never even considered going to Burning Man. Glad there are lots of  pictures. Check out the some more at http://matadornights.com/12-coolest-art-installations-in-the-history-of-burning-man/ . And you can follow the links to learn more about the event.

 

 

NATURAL FLEA AND TICK CONTROL

I use natural flea control products from onlynaturalpet.com, including boric acid powder which I put on rugs and under cushions etc, and diatomaceous earth, which I rub into the base of the animal’s  fur. I also vacuum once a week and wash or put in a hot dryer, anything the animals have sat or laid upon. As long as I keep upt with this, it seems to do the trick for fleas. Onlynaturalpet.com also carries the Anibio Tic Clip which is a safe, non-toxic device, clipped to the collar that uses the  principles of bio-energetics to create an energy field around your dog or cat that provides safe, non-toxic protection from mosquitoes, fleas and ticks for two years.  Used successfully in Europe for years, it strengthens your animals aura and energetic field. The healthier your animal  the more effective the Anibio Tic Clip will be, as it works with your animal’s energetic field.  For severe tick environments, my friend and student, Sarah Wadleigh, who works for onlynaturalpet.com, recommendS the tic clip used in conjunction with rose geranium essential oil.  Dilute 10 drops in 6 ounces of water for a spray, or in 6 ounces of oil for a repellant that you can rub on.  Ticks hate rose geranium oil. You can find this oil at http://www.naturesgift.com/essential/Geranium-essential-oil.htm

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