Shooting the Breeze- general chit chat

[Earcutter]

Man you guys are killing me! Altamont? Seriously, I thought these guys were the worst!

I made an order for some wood scales. After two or three weeks I emailed asking if there was a shipping #? They responded, oh sorry, we forget to email you, pick something else, what you want will take months to get back in stock. We did that twice!! And they made it clear that they wouldn’t give me a discount on anything for the inconvenience.

Of course they had withdrawn my moneys the day after my original order. Sigh.

Anyway, months later I finally got something...

I hate them. They lasted a day or two on the gun, and will sit in my drawer till the day I die. Unless you want em.

 

[Esox]

I just read about the best horse ever. It is Secretariat. It won the Kentucky Derby in 1973 . And it won the triple crown.

There has never, and quite likely never will be, another horse like Secretariat. The world record set by that horse at the Belmont in 73 still stands today. Its something that needs to be seen to be believed.

At the finish line, that horse was still accelerating and Sham was a fast horse. If you look into it deep enough you'll find that he had a birth defect that was passed down to him by the broodmare Somethingroyal. An enlarged heart, that let him run like like that.

Secretariat's Run Into Immortality at the 1973 Belmont Stakes - https://www.beckett.com/news/secretariat-1973-belmont-stakes/

"After his death in 1989, a necropsy revealed that Secretariat’s heart was far bigger than that of the average thoroughbred, whose hearts weigh between 8-9 pounds. Secretariat’s was estimated at a whopping 22 pounds, which certainly would have contributed to his strength, speed and stamina."

 

[Ad Astra]

Man you guys are killing me! Altamont? Seriously, I thought these guys were the worst!

I made an order for some wood scales. After two or three weeks I emailed asking if there was a shipping #? They responded, oh sorry, we forget to email you, pick something else, what you want will take months to get back in stock. We did that twice!! And they made it clear that they wouldn’t give me a discount on anything for the inconvenience.

Of course they had withdrawn my moneys the day after my original order. Sigh.

Anyway, months later I finally got something...

View attachment 1137202

I hate them. They lasted a day or two on the gun, and will sit in my drawer till the day I die. Unless you want em.

Wholly heck! Not good to hear, but. First bad I've heard ... Thanks for honest reporting. Why you can watch the news for hours, and not hear something true ...


AA

 

[Earcutter]

Wholly heck! Not good to hear, but. First bad I've heard ... Thanks for honest reporting. Why you can watch the news for hours, and not hear something true ...


AA

I’m glad to hear that I’m in the minority. It happens.

 

[jar_]

But who does she wake up when things go bump in the night? That's right, yours truly. I'm gonna buy her a dog.

Have I ever told you about Buck?

 

[FarmerTan]

Have I ever told you about Buck?

No. And thanks for the happy tears.

We had not one, but two cats that did that.

Except we were the humans that the cats chose to live with most of the time.

These two cats never met each other. One replaced the other. The first cat WOULD NOT live indoors, occasionally come in to warm up. The second one was like an indoor outdoor rug, lol. Equally at home with either place.

But for years, 17 in the case of the second, they would disappear for a couple weeks at a time. The first time with each we kinda panicked, but each time they came back fat and happy and GROOMED!

We used to joke they were on vacation at the Spa!

Who knows the Way of Cats?

All I know for sure is every cat I've ever had rescued ME.

 

[nortac]

Historical (but timeless) quote of the day:

"What we do today echoes in Eternity"

Marcus Aurelius

 

[Ad Astra]

Historical (but timeless) quote of the day:

"What we do today echoes in Eternity"

Marcus Aurelius

Ah, Rome.

Built a pilum once, I was astonished to see it pierce half-inch plywood like nothing.

Still have it in the garage; almost threw it at a trespassing cra@pping dog once. I did something else instead that was humorous and never saw the dog again.


AA

 

[ScottChapin]

Historical (but timeless) quote of the day:

"What we do today echoes in Eternity"

Marcus Aurelius

Monika Lewinski comes to mind.


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[nortac]

I'm thinking more of current and near future events.

 

[ScottChapin]

I'm thinking more of current and near future events.

Oh. I was thinking eternal events.


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[Billski]

Monika Lewinski comes to mind.


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Yes, she does.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Ah, Rome.

Built a pilum once, I was astonished to see it pierce half-inch plywood like nothing.

Still have it in the garage; almost threw it at a trespassing cra@pping dog once. I did something else instead that was humorous and never saw the dog again.


AA

I don’t blame the dog, I blame the owner. I have cussed out a couple of them that were not cleaning up after their dog while walking them.

 

[Earcutter]

Oh. I was thinking eternal events.


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We can have both current and “eternal”

 

[ScottChapin]

We can have both current and “eternal”

View attachment 1138958

Life’s tough.


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[Earcutter]

Life’s tough.


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Right...

You know, they say that between the wealth disparity, high unemployment, systemic racism bla, bla, bla, that the 99% are close to revolting!

You know, I’m doing ok. I still have my job, a little wealth, and I can live with Yanks always telling me to go home being I’m not an American, but these 1% taking all the hot chicks by volume is going to see me lose it!

Bring me their heads!!

 

[shoelessjoe]

There has never, and quite likely never will be, another horse like Secretariat. The world record set by that horse at the Belmont in 73 still stands today. Its something that needs to be seen to be believed ... If you look into it deep enough you'll find that he had a birth defect that was passed down to him by the broodmare Somethingroyal.

Forty-seven years later & my eyes still well up as I watch replays of Secretariat’s ‘73 Belmont Stakes race ... when asked why the emotions, my reply is always the same: “I am moved by greatness”.

Not quite ready for the real world, following college graduation I stopped in Lexington, KY while on that long drive from Central Florida back home to Chicago. Intending to spend the weekend with friends, three years would pass before I finally crossed that Illinois state line.

Made the visit to Claiborne Farm to see Secretariat & well, if ever a thoroughbred knew he was being fawned over, it was Secretariat! That horse would actually pose for the camera ... that is, when he wasn’t primping or running around the paddock like a mad man for his adoring, awestruck audience.


Tony Leonard’s, 1973 Secretariat Kentucky Derby photo that hangs in my cave.

As fate, no, as God’s grace would have it, a couple weeks later I found myself working on a thoroughbred broodmare farm a couple miles outside of Paris, KY.

Following, a few of the hundreds of photos I took while on the farm.


Field collar I have from the Jane’s Harbour-Secretariat foal


Dam, Jane’s Harbour ... in healthier times. She was a real sweetheart


Jane’s Harbour-Secretariat foal & Moose, her Shire-mix nurse mare.

I would spend nearly 7 months with Jane’s Harbour, adminstering medication & her liquified diet, via a feed tube. She had developed an agressive, terminal condition shortly after becoming in-foal ... at the end of her gestation period, they took her female foal via C-section and immediately thereafter, they put down Jane’s Harbour.

For the next five weeks, I literally lived in a stall with the chestnut foal & Moose, her then unwilling Shire-mix nurse mare. I was told to whip the teathered, hobbled & nostril-filled (Vicks Vapo Rub) Moose on the rump, each time she rebuffed the foal’s attempt at nursing. Took nearly three weeks for Moose to accept her as her foal & shortly thereafter, the Sherman tank & the Porsche 944 became inseperable.


Revidere, the 1976 Eclipse Award winner/American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly


Field halter from Revidere, ... not only was she a fast, but just like every other racing-successful mare on the farm, she was meaner than a snake! I once asked the farm manager why particular broodmares refused to mingle with others & he told me, “Those are the ones that excelled on the track. They were great & they know it”.

Revidere’s speed came as no surprise, as her grandsire was none other than Somethingroyal’s sire, Princequillo. And as if that wasn’t enough, Revidere’s sire was Reviewer, who also sired the greatest filly ever to race, Ruffian.

 

[OkieStubble]

Awesome post.

 

[Esox]

Forty-seven years later & my eyes still well up as I watch replays of Secretariat’s ‘73 Belmont Stakes race ... when asked why the emotions, my reply is always the same: “I am moved by greatness”.

Not quite ready for the real world, following college graduation I stopped in Lexington, KY while on that long drive from Central Florida back home to Chicago. Intending to spend the weekend with friends, three years would pass before I finally crossed that Illinois state line.

Made the visit to Claiborne Farm to see Secretariat & well, if ever a thoroughbred knew he was being fawned over, it was Secretariat! That horse would actually pose for the camera ... that is, when he wasn’t primping or running around the paddock like a mad man for his adoring, awestruck audience.


Tony Leonard’s, 1973 Secretariat Kentucky Derby photo that hangs in my cave.

As fate, no, as God’s grace would have it, a couple weeks later I found myself working on a thoroughbred broodmare farm a couple miles outside of Paris, KY.

Following, a few of the hundreds of photos I took while on the farm.


Field collar I have from the Jane’s Harbour-Secretariat foal


Dam, Jane’s Harbour ... in healthier times. She was a real sweetheart


Jane’s Harbour-Secretariat foal & Moose, her Shire-mix nurse mare.

I would spend nearly 7 months with Jane’s Harbour, adminstering medication & her liquified diet, via a feed tube. She had developed an agressive, terminal condition shortly after becoming in-foal ... at the end of her gestation period, they took her female foal via C-section and immediately thereafter, they put down Jane’s Harbour.

For the next five weeks, I literally lived in a stall with the chestnut foal & Moose, her then unwilling Shire-mix nurse mare. I was told to whip the teathered, hobbled & nostril-filled (Vicks Vapo Rub) Moose on the rump, each time she rebuffed the foal’s attempt at nursing. Took nearly three weeks for Moose to accept her as her foal & shortly thereafter, the Sherman tank & the Porsche 944 became inseperable.


Revidere, the 1976 Eclipse Award winner/American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly


Field halter from Revidere, ... not only was she a fast, but just like every other racing-successful mare on the farm, she was meaner than a snake! I once asked the farm manager why particular broodmares refused to mingle with others & he told me, “Those are the ones that excelled on the track. They were great & they know it”.

Revidere’s speed came as no surprise, as her grandsire was none other than Somethingroyal’s sire, Princequillo. And as if that wasn’t enough, Revidere’s sire was Reviewer, who also sired the greatest filly ever to race, Ruffian.

The memories you must have! Thanks for sharing some.

Forty-seven years later & my eyes still well up as I watch replays of Secretariat’s ‘73 Belmont Stakes race ... when asked why the emotions, my reply is always the same: “I am moved by greatness”.

Like you, I cant watch that race without tearing up. "Moved by greatness" is very well put. I find myself trying to see every step, every breath of those horses. Watching Sham run himself out trying to keep pace is a bit sad but many dont even realize how fast Sham really was because he was out distanced and fell back so suddenly.

I once asked the farm manager why particular broodmares refused to mingle with others & he told me, “Those are the ones that excelled on the track. They were great & they know it”.

Animals can be proud. Many people dont have the eye or the experience to see it but that doesnt mean it isnt there. Animals are far more intelligent than many people give them credit for. I saw that with my Lab after his first goose hunt. He knew what he was suppose to do and he did it flawlessly. I think this picture captured the moment where he really understood he was good at what he did.

He was so proud of himself there getting all the attention and he knew why. He was only 9 months old. He retrieved each of those geese from a single volley of shots. He marked where each one fell, remembered and didnt need to be told to go back for the next.

From there he became a star and it went to his head lol. He was painted by the Ducks Unlimited artist Tammy Laye and developed a certain air around him. He understood.

He wouldnt just walk around, he would strut with supreme confidence. I found it fun to watch but very few others knew what they were seeing. After that though he could get a bit haughty lol. He wouldnt always make a retrieve if I was hunting on land. He knew I could get it but we worked through most of that in time. On water though he never failed me.

I havent spent a lot of time around horses but I can easily see and understand them doing the same, and more haha.

 

[jar_]

Just about this time of year, before Covid-19 but still within the span of "Rites of back to schools" I was at the neighborhood drug store to pick up some prescriptions. While waiting I wandered the aisles jess looking.

There was a mother with her daughter who was picking out her "Back to School" supplies. The daughter was at the age where everything had to coordinate; pencils and pencil box had to match and not be like "HERs" (I never found out who "HERs" was but it was clearly important); folders and binders and erasers and paste and ... all the very most important things that she had wanted her whole life were selected, compared and either rejected immediately or accepted. The little girl was truly serious about the importance of the quest and as she paraded up and down the aisle her long pony tail swished and swung and dominated her personal space.

Now my hair had grown fairly long recently, certainly no match for hers which came about halfway down her back.

The mom was just looking on with only the very occasional comment or reminder of things that were needed.

"That's quite a pony tail" I said. "I wish I knew how to make a pony tail."

The little girl stopped and turned to look up at me and with hands on hip said; "Even a First Grader knows how to make a pony tail!"

I laughed but her mom said "That's not nice to say!" only to get the response of "But it's true!"

Mom turned and apologized but I explained there was no problem and that maybe her daughter could teach me how to make a pony tail.

Laughing I turned my back to the little girl and knelt down. She grabbed my hair and pulled hard enough that I was sure I'd never be able to shut my eyes again. She pulled and twisted and produced a thing like a fat rubber cloth covered rubber band like magic and with a constant stream of instructions punctuated by random commentary created my very first pony tail.

"Did you go to school?"

"You have really skinny hair!"

"You are going bald!"

"Your hair really is too skinny!"

"You're really old!"

Mom was laughing and telling daughter those weren't polite to the tune of repeated "But it's true Mom!"s and I'm on my knees in the middle of Walgreen being tortured by a second or third grader.

But I did end up with a pony tail and did learn enough to be able to make one on my own when desired and she did finally find all the essentials to go to school.