The Riley Factor #87

The Riley Factor Fort Plain, NY
November 15, 2010
(All the Rock Creek Farm news that's fit to print, along with unfit to print rumors, prognostications & bloviations.)

Horses -- Stop in and say hello to Rio and Lady, our two horses, who arrived at Rock Creek Farm last Saturday.  Rio is an eight-year-old gelding that rides and drives, and walks easily on a lead.  Formerly a race course trotter, he is a full-blooded Standardbred, about 15-and-a-half hands high and as gentle as they come.  He was recently owned by an older couple who rode him and also used him for a handicapped child relative to ride.  Stablemate Lady is a two-and-a-half-year-old filly, a 50/50 mix, half Morgan and half American Saddlebred.  A beautiful young horse, green-broke with plenty of energy, she runs with grace and smoothness, and frequently strikes that standard Morgan horse profile pose, which makes the breed so distinctive.  Independent minded, at times, Lady can be a bit of a challenge when on a lead.  She is slightly smaller in stature than Rio, but almost the same height at just short of 15-and-a-half hands.

Planting and Plowing -- All quiet on the western front.

Riley -- Riley has taken up a new sport - curling.  He found a two-pound round stone somewhere and has dragged it into the kitchen, where he pushes it around various obstacles with his more-than-insignificant nose.  Now if we can only teach him to pick up a broom and do some of that sweeping that accompanies the sport as we see it on TV.  He has yet to have a first hand encounter with the horses -- stay tuned.

The Herd of Five -- A day of sleet on Nov. 8, covered a few things in wintry white.  No problem for the Holsteins and the Dexters, who run hot and enjoy the cooling effect.  Late Monday afternoon, I went down to the barn to check on them in the storm and wind, and also to feed them, and we played a little game we like to play around here -- it's called Slap the Bull.  Some fun on a cold and slippery day.  Go Wild Hogs.

Fowl Weather -- Turkeys fly; or more accurately described, jump-fly.  they really don't ever fly away, but in a pinch can fly 20-30 yards five feet off the ground.  Or could fly 10-15 feet straight up into a tree.  Certainly they fly well enough to get out of our outdoor turkey coop, which has six feet tall fencing and gate.  On Tuesday, we captured each turkey and clipped the top feathers, about 20 or so, on each wing, So far, no great protests.  Some of them can actually still fly up in the air about 3-4 feet, by furiously flapping their remaining feathered wings - a bit of barnyard entertainment.  Otherwise, the birds are growing fast and furiously, still tracking Susan's every step.  Lefty, the turkey who lost his foot three weeks ago, is flourishing in his private 12'x12' stall - the most pampered turkey in America.

Mowings, Musings and The Woods -- At5 a local restaurant recently, we bumped into our friend Robert Hancock of Cobleskill.  In his spare time, when he isn't running his environmental consulting business in The City or his pool installation business in Fort Plain, he operates an animal rescue shelter of sorts at his home in Cobleskill.  He has an assortment of mostly old and/or hobbled horses, and a cow or two, in various pastures, pens and barns.  Recently he acquired a pair of horses from an elderly lady in the area, recently widowed, who could no longer care for them.  We spent Thursday afternoon with Robert's stable-girl, Lily, walking and brushing the horses.  Very relaxing, except for the one moment when something spooked one of the horses, which in turn spooked the other horse, which in turn reared up and bolted, knocking Lily to the turf.  No harm, no foul and all was back to normal in a minute.  Still, all in all, a very pleasant warm and sunny afternoon with the animals.  The horses are now in our barn and pasture.

Quotes of the Week -- Several excellent ones this week, from a few unusual sources ...

        People talk about the Haves and the Have-Nots.  What they should speak of is the Will-Works and the Will-Not-Works. -- Bill Galt, from The Galt Ranch, Last American Cowboy, Planet Green Network
        History will sum-up this (Obama) administration as weak and feckless. - John Bolton, Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., November 8, 2010
        And if Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, we're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us, if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder. -- Barack Obama, October 2010.  Of course, later corrected with the proper take on America by presumed Speaker of the House John Boehner, who reminded Obama that people who evaluate and criticize governmental and political moves and motives are not 'enemies', they are 'patriots'.

        NOW HERE IS THE QUOTE OF THE CENTURY, MAYBE EVEN THE MILLENNIUM

Some people have the vocabulary to sum up things in a way you can understand them. This quote came from the Czech Republic . Someone over there has it figured out. We have a lot of work to do.

"The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency.  It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president.  The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America.  Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince.  The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool.  It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."