Congratulations Jon and Rosie - December 12th, 2008

All is not doom and gloom, there are good things to announce as well. On Friday 12th December my eldest son Jon, marries his long time partner Rosie in Mullingar, Westmeath, Ireland. Jorg and I would love to be there and join in with the celebration (and the craic will be awesome) but raising a glass (or two) here will have to suffice.

As I have said before, our children never really get older than teenagers in our minds, and as I have a hard job identifying the old visage I see in the mirror every morning, imagining Jay (as I still think of him from childhood) as a responsible adult is just as difficult! So Rosie gets our special thoughts today in taking on his hopeless pranks - like climbing out of his bedroom window and escaping to the pub (served him well in his rock climbing years, the wall not the pub - OK, maybe the pub as well!); picking up a bale of hay (from a load that had come off a tractor trailer in the road) and shoving it in the back of a friend's car so that Claudia could play horse games in the garden, and I then had to collect them from the local police station; making Claudia climb the 15 foot sea wall at the end of the Coastguard Cottages gardens if she wanted to play with him and Ben; picking him up after he got the sailing boat "Skipper" pushed into Cork Harbour by the tide (possibly the largest natural harbour in Europe!) trying to impress a girl with his sailing prowess. OK, that's probably enough marriage-day humiliation.

So Jonathan, good father and significant other, congratulations on finding a wonderful partner and wife in Rosie; and Rosie, congratulations on selecting my outstanding eldest son for your husband and life partner. May you have a day to remember and a long and loving marriage.

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.
And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
(Irish Blessing).

All our love to you both, and to Aoife and Alex (and not forgetting Amy) from Jorg and I.

Annie Goes Home

Today was a big day in the short life of Annabelle Lee. After lots of chin scratches and advice about how to get along in the big old world (from Annie), she went to live with her new Mom, Pamela. Annie, as you remember, was the star of the video taken on July 18, in which she appeared seconds after her birth, and the calf who caused us such consternation when she refused to nurse from her mom.
The girls have been eating solid food for months now, and had been put up at night away from their moms. This past week, amid much bellowing and crying (ours, mostly), we separated them from their moms for good. So, they were fully weaned in preparation for this important step into adolescence. In the photos, Annie steps bravely into the trailer that will take her to her new home. Okay, maybe not too bravely, as step two took about 5 minutes, but she got there in the end.

There is nothing in the world more appealing than these tiny fawn-colored calves, and nothing more lovable than one raised with a bottle. It would be tempting to keep them all. But we know this isn’t feasible, and we also know that Annie’s loving personality will brighten the lives of her new family and everyone else who meets her.

On Monday, our newest canine resident, Cassie, went to visit the nice folks at Ridge Animal Hospital for some reproductive reorganization. As much as we love this little dog, we know that the shelters are overflowing with dogs just as sweet, and that bringing more of them into the world is just irresponsible. Thanks to Dr. Gates, Cassie sailed through her surgery and is now ready to enjoy a life free of heat cycles and aggravation.

And the winner of the contest to find Mr. Right is: “Son of Fat Louie” owned by Fonnie Thoman! Aside from the fact that we just love his name, this good-looking guy is everything we were looking for in a potential dad for our next calves. He is tiny (39 inches), refined, has a good temperament, and most important, is completely unrelated to Bessie and Rosebud. This last attribute isn’t as simple to find as you’d think, as the American Miniature Jersey Association Registry contains only about 700 members. So we have a call into the AI technician, some champagne chilling in the refrigerator and the complete collection of Barry Manilow ready to pop into the CD player.

We are hoping to introduce them (in a sort of clinical sense) in December. In the meantime, we will hang pictures of him in the girls' stalls and tell them stories about his feats of bravery and daring, while emphasizing that he is also very sensitive and a good listener.


Photo of Son of Fat Louie by Fonnie Thoman.

'Tis the Season

I’m not talking about Thanksgiving, which is known by its other name in the UK: “We Finally Got Rid of Those Troublemakers Day.” I am talking about Charitable Giving Season. So, I am going to take a moment (or maybe longer) to explain why you might want to consider our organization in your seasonal giving.

The White Bird Appaloosa Horse Rescue is a non-profit (501c3) organization that Tom and I founded in 2003. Before then, we had been involved in the rescue of companion animals, serving as rescue transporters. Just before Christmas 2002, a plea for help came across one of the Internet rescue lists we monitored. A family in southwest VA had lost their farm, and their two horses were without a place to go. The mare and gelding had been bred by this family and owned for 23 and 24 years, so this was devastating to them. After a discussion with the owner, we decided that we could take them in. So, the owners drove for four hours to deliver the pair to us the day after Christmas. The family was in tears over having to part with them, but some of those tears were tears of relief. PJ and Heather are shown in the photo above, which also includes our friend Cody Perry.

Up to that point, Tom and I had been fairly oblivious to the problems faced by horses and their owners in this country. Unlike those for companion animals, emergency shelters for horses are few and far between. That’s because horses take space, money, a lot of work and a specialized knowledge of equine behavior and disorders. You can’t just drive them to the SPCA and drop them off (not that we encourage that). So those without a place to go are often neglected by their owners in their own back yards, or worse, passed along until they end up in the hands of kill buyers, who then sell them to slaughterhouses. The White Bird Appaloosa Horse Rescue was created to provide emergency shelter for horses in urgent need, to provide medical, dental and hoof care, and to find them loving homes or permanent sanctuary. We decided to specialize in Appaloosas because we know and love them and because we felt that it was efficient to have a single point of contact between those needing to surrender these horses and the people looking for them. We have taken in many breeds, though, because our real priority is the need of the horse.

This year, like many charities, we are bracing for the fallout from the weak economy. We are receiving many calls from people who have lost their jobs or farms and cannot afford to keep their horses. At the same time, people worried about their finances have been more reluctant to donate money to charitable causes, so donations for the coming year will be less, while operating costs have continued to rise. For us, these are primarily feed, bedding and veterinary care. This rescue would never have managed to accomplish what it has without the support of many people. This past year, we were granted permanent non-profit status by the IRS, which was quite an accomplishment that we owe to many, many individuals. I am asking now for our friends who read this blog or have visited our rescue and met our horses to consider making a tax deductible contribution to help us continue rescuing urgent need horses through these difficult times.

It doesn’t need to be a lot to make a difference. For example:

$13.00 buys one bag of feed.
$15 will medicate a Cushing’s horse for a month
$20 will provide one hoof trim (this needs to be done every 6 weeks)

And its easy to do. Donations can be mailed to:

White Bird Appaloosa Horse Rescue
1688 Burkes Tavern Road, Burkeville, VA 2322

or Sent via Paypal to: wingsofangels57@yahoo.com
A convenient “donate” button is located on our web site at: www.whitebirdapps.com for this purpose.

White Bird is an approved member of the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign, so state employees can designate donations through their paychecks, tax free. We are Charity #3388.

White Bird is also an approved charity of the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capitol Area, and the Combined Federal Campaign, Central Region, so federal employees in these areas can donate the same way.

There are so many horses who need our help. But while you are munching on your holiday goodies, you’ll know that a horse in need has a dry stall and a full belly and that you’ve helped to make that possible. On behalf of our horses, we thank you for your kindness and support over the past five years.

Tom and Jorg

(Photo by Tom. When the horses arrived, we discovered that PJ, in addition to partial blindness and arthritis, also had a large squamous cell cancer that needed surgery. This photo was taken at the Middleburg Equine Hospital, where the wonderful Dr. Adams surgically removed it. Heather was there to keep him company).

What We've Learned - A Synopsis of the Summer

Having reached the end of our first season of attempting greater self-sufficiency, we have learned a number of useful things. We are passing them along in the hope that others will be encouraged by the knowledge that there are people out there who are even more inept than they are. We hope you find these observations helpful.

Calves are often born with their eyes open. While you can’t help thinking how creepy this is, it’s also helpful to consider that we must look like aliens to them, too. Also, calves that are bottle fed, like Annie, view humans in a very different way than naturally raised calves. As suckers. But in Annie’s case, we were fortunate. Mom Bessie taught her herd manners, so we ended up with the best of both worlds- a friendly calf with a high level of respect for both people and cows. Important lesson: keep a bottle on hand if your cow is due to freshen.

The Stilton cheese that we have been curing for several months is starting to look a little less objectionable. We went into the home cheese-making business with high hopes and low skill levels. Once we got past the idea that the stinky, moldy object in the downstairs refrigerator was not in any way like the similar-looking stinky, moldy objects that we have been routinely throwing out, we settled down into a comfortable routine of reminding each other to turn the cheese daily, while forgetting to do it, ourselves. We are now preparing to drive holes into the cheese, in order to encourage the blue mold to grow deeper into the interior. This is something we normally try to prevent in our food. We’ve discovered that pretty much everything you do with raw milk is counterintuitive. Once the cheese has reached a stage of ripe perfection, one of the dogs will probably find it.

We can, indeed, live without credit card balances. We undertook this step in order to preempt what we are predicting will happen next in this fascinating economy: credit card companies will lower available credit limits, which will raise the balance-to-credit ratio, which will lower credit scores, which will then increase interest rates. Since we don’t want to provide any more corporate reptiles with golden parachutes, we just won’t provide them the opportunity to finance them. My apologies to all actual reptiles, who fill a useful environmental niche, for the comparison to investment company CEOs.

Aged horses might benefit from increased protein levels. We’re kind of proud of this one. Most senior horse feeds contain lower protein levels in order to be kind to the less robust kidneys of senior horses. But horses are individuals and some will need more to keep fit. We increased the protein fed to two horses using soy meal and while the result was inconclusive with one horse, it was startling in the other. We are constantly looking for ways to better care for rescued horses and this is another good tool in the arsenal. The horses are trying to convince us that lots of apples will work even better.

Your loved ones will eat even really bad cookies if you make them.

England losing a Rugby match might cause transient amnesia. We are not sure, though.

A lot of intelligent people are growing their own food. We are not them, but we have met some wonderful people who have graciously shared their knowledge and talent.

A puppy’s breath still smells really sweet even at about six months old.

You have to consider carefully which you love more in your garden: the sight of black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars, or dill. You won’t have both.

We wished we’d tried some of our cost-saving measures a long time ago.

Peppers are the easiest vegetables to freeze. Really fresh vegetables are beautiful.

Chickens will eat things that no other creature on earth would eat.

Even sore, grouchy cows will ultimately consent to being milked if you are gentle and patient. Corollary: even neophyte milkers will figure it all out with a patient cow and a good coach- and a milker that works when you turn it on.

We are probably never going to learn how to do everything perfectly, or even well. We will never completely understand everything, either.

There will come a time when you will look back at lost loved ones and smile, even if you think that day will never come. We’ve said a lot of “good-byes” this year.

It never has been about getting everything you want. It’s about valuing what you have.

Detecting when cows are in heat is impossible. Bessie and Rosebud are snickering and making fun of us when we aren’t looking. It's gotten completely humiliating. Bovine husbandry is a humbling pursuit.

Random Jottings

Winter came hard on the heels of a warm wind here. Well I know by US standards freezing is not cold, it's just us wimpy Brits who think more than two days of low temperatures is a new ice age! But still, when a northerly wind cuts like ice and the troughs start freezing over, I am thankful for my all-in-one quilted overall and can (sort of) laugh at the elements. As a Billy Connolly joke goes "........... there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes"! Our older residents get nice warm blankets as well, and it is time for their "soup" to be served hot. In fact Sunny, Jorg's old riding horse, keeps dipping his nose into his cold mash and raising the horse equivalent of an eyebrow in disgust. Mea culpa, but we still don't have the flash heater I bought a year ago fixed up in the tack room - it is next on the list!

The fall leaves are mostly in the yard now, and it still astonishes me how dead the trees always look in winter over here. Maybe it is because there are so many, or the types of trees, but I never remember my homeland trees looking quite so desolate over the winter. I am always surprised, and very pleased, when they spring back into life again.

Our new puppy, Cassie, is proving to be an absolute gem. Well apart from an ethernet cable, my beard trimmer, the back of my cell phone, and sundry tights and stockings (Jorg's not mine!) that is. I had forgotten what having a small child around the house is like. Move everything four feet above the floor until the difference between chewing toys and personal possessions is learnt! However, this is a bright little dog and anxious to learn. She watches everything that is going on and really only gets into mischief when left to her own devices - silly us! I have always wanted a dog that would be a companion, especially around the farm, and she has every sign of being that dog. Once I can get her to remember that, while the other dogs don't mind her seizing them by the leg, a horse might!

We have been putting up with the "desperate" sounds of mothers and calves separated at night, prior to full weaning. Goodness knows what we will have to put up with when we finally separate them for good. Apart from finding a suitable place on the farm out of sight (although probably not out of sound!) of each other, it will put a strain on our "soft" hearts to hear them missing each other. Talk about the children leaving home, this is way worse! (Sorry kids, only fooling!)

Happy Birthday Alice - Twenty-one

Graduation with Jorg

Wedding with Dad

Alice with Emma

My youngest daughter, Alice, is twenty-one today. Although I had already passed my parental responsibilities on to her husband, Jimmy, two years ago this December, it is still a poignant moment to see one's children pass into formal adulthood. I'm not sure how significant a date it is these days as there is little that Alice has not been able to do before the "key of the door". Married and with her own little responsibility, Emma; taking college courses part-time and working; and making a home with her husband. Great responsibilities at a young age, and with so much of life still to come. My other four children, Alice's half siblings, two boys and two girls are well into adulthood, but I worry for their well being, especially in such troubled times. Of course I find it hard to imagine they can survive without constantly being told what to do, but they all seem to have made their niches in life. Alice, I am sure, will make hers as she, like me, adapts to her country of choice, by bringing to it a British perspective. If I was to give any advice (and I'm not sure I am all that qualified) it is that we pass this particular way only once, so make the most of opportunities, be true to oneself, and treat the world as you would wish to be treated yourself. The following is one of those Hallmark card type of sayings but has always appealed to me:

Dance like there's nobody watching

Love like you'll never get hurt

Sing like there's nobody listening

Live like it's heaven on earth

And speak from the heart to be heard.

Happy Birthday sweetheart, enjoy the day.

A New Dawn?

Relax this is not a political post, and we do not espouse political ideology of any variety on the blog. But it would be a nonsense not to reflect on, regardless of your political color, the momentous occasion that we saw tonight. Here were two adversaries the one, gracious and statesmanlike in defeat, offering the hand of bipartisan support; the other equally statesmanlike, accepting it and offering a path to uniting a troubled country in trying and difficult times. A defining moment in US history, that I am sure struck a chord across a world that has been less than receptive to the America of the last few years.

This is not a time for triumphalism, or sackcloth and ashes. As we have commented in previous posts, life is going to be difficult for a while and whoever had won the Presidency was going to have a rough ride. Being able to put aside differences and work together is going to be the key to success. If that also makes for a successful President,whose political philosophy you disagree with, then so be it. After all Presidents come and go! But to make this great country both strong and respected once again will take the combined efforts of those who are the engine room of the USA - the American people.

We rejoice at the opportunity presenting itself, along with all the millions of citizens who made this night possible, and who represent the wonderful kaleidoscope of ethnic and cultural ancestry that make up the United States of America.