Letters to the Editor
Nequals1
Published Letters: 332 Editor's Choice: 7
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Chickens, minis and shires
[Read the article: John Yoo: Spearhead or scapegoat?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Oh, you all are getting me started:
I also had chickens - started with unwanted roosters, including one who was a lovely sweet-tempered Polish cross - his comb was in the shape of bright red horns, and he slept on a maple branch over the farm drive, where he could surveil his kingdom and protect his girls - feathered and otherwise. I helped more than one chirper out of the shell and into the world, and the horses, goats, ducks and buns all seemed to get along just fine with the occasional wandering possum who would eat with the barn cats, hiss at me whilst I was leading horses past, but generally not be bothersome (I vaccinated four of them one night when they were pestering around the kitchen window bird feeder, and the senior and special needs rescued dogs wouldn't bother them enough to even have them play - well, you know - possum.)
I was a first level in perpetuity dressage rider, and I had to stop riding after one too many back injuries from a variety of causes - the last being during hauling feed sacks and baling too much hay in one day.
I had miniature horses, and I barn sat for neighbors' Shires. At one point, a miniature stallion was dispatched to visit there to tease their mares. It was quite the sight as the mini ruled, and the Amazonian mares were quite polite and deferential, all the while snickering behind his back as only horses can.
One of the rescued buns lived in the house and ruled over several large senior rescued dogs.
The predator/prey rules seemed to warp, and I think rescued animals have a very real sense of generosity and civility across species. If only we could learn....
One Easter morn, a guinea hen strutted up the farm drive and voluntarily joined the chicken flock.
The farrier used to love to come during egging time so that he could cackle along with the girls when they announced each morning's arrivals. He'd linger way too long enjoying watching the roosters chase the hens chase the rooster and then all settle in for dust baths in the sun with arabesque flourishes when things were just right.
The horses liked the chickens as they kept the bugs down and the parasite load minimized in the pasture, and the goats loved to rule the barn gossip, butting in between the horses, the chickens, the rabbits and the ducks.
When the Shires got out of their pasture, they strolled down to join my crew for a day of equine news catch up. There's nothing like washing dishes and having one of your horses peering in the window supervising, or having a goat sneak in the house among the dogs when called for supper and outed by an indignant rabbit awaiting dinner service at the cat chow bowl....
Each species had its own section of the garden, as well. Carrots, leaf lettuce and strawberries were very popular, as was the wild catnip and rye grass. The horses finished off the corn cobs, leaves and stalks, and I even got to harvest a tomato, squash and a few sugar snap peas now and then....
Yep, just a city slicker librul who lived in Carhartts and was known to do morning barn chores in a nightgown, barn jacket and muck boots (and leather chore gloves, of course).
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@ Annie W: Re 18 Warm Blood Cross
[Read the article: John Yoo: Spearhead or scapegoat?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Refers to the horse's height at the wither (near the base of the neck where it takes off from the shoulder). 18 hh = hands high, and that's a TALL horse. Warm blood cross refers to a cross breed of the German style large war horse, now bred to the more refined sport horse type and suitable for jumping, hunt seat and dressage (very much favored in dressage).
A horse is anything over 14 hands high. Thoroughbreds are often in the 16-17hh range, and western style riding breeds, such as the paints, appaloosas and quarter horses often are in the 15-16hh range, where they are a bit lower to the ground and are more nimble working cattle. (Very abbreviated and short cut general version)
The Tenn Walkers and American Saddlebreds are in the 15.2 - 16.2 range, as I recall, but I don't have much experience with them and may well be off in my recollection.
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The media's job
[Read the article: David Brooks' fictitious defense of his industry's behavior]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Jaques Steinberg at the NYT wrote about the ABC "debate"
url to the story
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/us/politics/18moderator.html
Per:
Don Hewitt, the director and producer of the Kennedy-Nixon debate of 1960, said ABC’s structuring of the questions was an acknowledgment that a debate entails “a big dose of show biz” and “trying to keep an audience.”
“When you’re in television,” Mr. Hewitt said, “that’s your job.”
Thought Glenn and the commentariat would appreciate one more piece of evidence that television is a public disservice and quite possibly a domestic enemy in its current iteration.
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@ casual observer Re: LWV debate moderation
[Read the article: David Brooks' fictitious defense of his industry's behavior]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Spot on. A dispassionate, informed third party with no party ties or interests is needed to control and to moderate debates and other forms of candidate/public interactions so that the substantial issues are addressed with cogent, on-topic questions which have relevance to national policy, the public interest, and which are aimed to inform the public about the candidates' overall knowledge of the subject material, his or her stance on those issues, and the professional and health qualifications held by the candidates as they relate to the performance of the office being sought.