Picasa Blog: Moving on from Picasa

Picasa Blog: Moving on from Picasa

New Magazine

8 April, 2010

Thursday

Well, the Item's newest endeavor, a high quality magazine on glossy paper, Pearl River Trails, made its debut. I am the editor and am very excited about it. While it is still relatively small, only 24 pages, we have hopes advertising will take off and thus the magazine can be expanded.

Follow the link to the e-version and tell me what you think.

Patty

Here are some new pictures.

Spring awakens

Thursday, March 11, 2010
Adjustment to Mississippi has come much slower than I had ever anticipated, but slowly I am feeling more comfortable with the people, places, and things that make up this small southern county. Perhaps the most difficult aspect has been the attitudes of some who attend church on a regular basis and when they discover that I no longer attend or that I am a Catholic, I can almost see them take a few steps back, wary that so close to a heathen may send them directly into the wrath of hell, the fiery gates slamming behind them and casting them to a forever damnation.
The most pleasing aspect of life here is the easy to adjust to weather. Spring officially arrives in a few days and I am thankful for that. The daffodils by the barn are in full bloom and yesterday, with the rain we had, the grass alongside of White Chapel Road appears to have not only turned a delicious green, but grown a full three inches in a matter of hours.
The above picture is of Jim and Elliot in the pasture, taken about a week ago.

Hurricane Ida

Hurricane Ida is trudging its way across the Gulf of Mexico toward the Mississippi and Alabama coastline and is expected to make landfall sometime this evening. Here in Carriere, I am not much worried about it as we are far enough from the coastline that about all we will get is a lot of blustery wind and rain.

The skies are already quite cloudy and Ida is still about 130 miles out, traveling at 18 mph north, northwest, but is expected to make a turn to the east.

I added a new member to our equine family - a part Tennessee Walker 19 month old gelding we have named Ely. We were given him by our neighbors after they discovered caring for a horse is a bit more complicated and expensive than they expected. He had been very neglected before they got him, and although they tried at first to fatten him up, it soon became apparent he was just being grass fed, and that was at the end of a lead.

When the vet came out to give him his shots and test him for Coggins, we were both floored to discover Ely is almost two years old. We had both figured from looking at him that he was about a year. Dr. Dean explained that because of being malnourished for so long his body had to give priorities and one of those was to stay alive and quit growing. He went onto to say that Ely will probably never get as tall as he should have been because of the neglect.

I also was concerned that he might have a neurological issue because of a catch in his gait, but that, said Dr. Dean, was due to him having limited or no exercise and the ligements and muscles were not able to stretch with his growth. He did say that now Ely was in a big pasture, he should outgrow the hitch.

Elliot continues to be a love. As well as a brat. We have started trail riding, though much of that is on hold until I get finished filling in for the Lifestyles Editor at the Picayune Item, which should be around the first week of December.

It's Hot

I never thought I'd hear myself utter those words after living in the Northeast - but boy is it hot in Southern Mississippi. One day seems to blend into the next this time of the year with little variation. I have also noticed differences in the plants. The pansies that grew so lovely in the summer in the Northeast have died off here. We noticed them struggling as the days grew hotter, but the shade of the oak offered them some reprieve. Or so I thought. They are now all gone, even with regular watering.

Another thing was the tiny nest of a brown thrasher. Three, very vulnerable chicks hatched. The nest, which sat about five feet off the ground and on the edge of the woods, was well-made and hearty. But the day after I snapped this picture, the babies, and Mom, disappeared. She did not lay another brood.

Bad Horse, Bad

Yesterday was a great day with a lot of time and hard work spent running a larger area enclosed with the electric fence so that Elliot and Earl, along with Rose and Baby Bob would have more room to graze. At one point, though in the evening, Elliot decided during a moment of hijenks and stupidity, to attempt to jump over a four foot section of barb wire while running alongside it.

He won't make it to the nationals let's just say.

Instead, he tore down about a 15 foot section, nearly impaling himself on a T-post, and cutting up his chest, front right leg, back ankle, and little spike holes along his neck. The are all pretty much surface wounds, but the worst part was after an entire day of fencing, we had to de-fence the broken fencing, dig a new post hole about four feet deep, and run four new strands of wire.

And when I got up this morning at 4:30 a.m., here is Elliot grazing not in the pasture, but once again our front yard. Munch, munch, munch.