PD SINGING THE BLUES and PANDEMONI SIN MANCHAS discovered how marvelously this new marketing tool can work this week. They went from last weekend's wind chills of -50 to shirt sleeve weather in one long trailer ride. They reportedly LOVE it.
Since we were having blizzard warnings and the weather was to go to sleet first, I really had expected Joe and Andrea Adkins, who live in southern Alabama, to cancel their 18 hour trip. Nevertheless, I had a neighbor come over and blade the driveway, which has a 2-3% slope for about 1/8 of a mile, just to be on the safe side.
He'd bladed it clear down to the grass in the high center, which sounds good, and was, on the part of the drive where I had shoveled more gravel into the tire tracks during last summer's "rock aerobics" sessions. But the majority of that hill DID NOT fall in that category. I'd concentrated on the steeper slope leading to the bale pen, which was suffering from some serious erosion. On the lower part of the hill closest to the road, the blade job had put several inches of loose, fluffy snow directly into the tire path.
I got my two wheel drive truck part way to the blue gates (about half way up the first hill) and had to back down. I took a run at it, hit the same tracks, and got a few feet further up. Back down I went again, and the third time, was able to keep coming, sliding all over between the bobsled-like lanes he'd created with the excess snow. I got to the top and parked.
"You need some weight in that rear end, gal," he commented, leaning out of the tractor cab. (Since I am quite amply endowed, I was not sure if he was being ironic, or talking figuratively about my truck. I deliberately decided not take the remark personally.)
He continued blading up the bale pen road, as the horses will soon need new hay. On the way back down, he again leaned out and asked me if I would like a bucket of snow in the back end to give me some traction. (Yup, my instincts had been right. His ambiguous remark had been directed at my truck.)
Scooping up some snow from that piled over 4' deep in one corner of the yard, he mounded it carefully into the bed, filling it completely, and leaving interesting shaped mountains of snow with bits of green grass and dirt showing over the sides of the truck.
I decided against trying to make the second hill leading up to the bale pen to test the traction with weight in the rear end.
When I got no word from them Thursday night, their scheduled arrival time, I had nightmares of their truck and trailer off in the ditch somewhere enroute. Or they might have been among the ones who had lost their power and not be able to leave as planned, nor let me know. They'd warned they might be quite late, and knew that I had a meeting after school and would not be home before 9:30 or 10.
But to my great relief, Andrea and Joe didn't cancel, showing up safe and sound a day late, and as delightful in person as they had sounded over the phone.
Because I had no way to warn them, they tried to come up the freshly plowed driveway. Of course, they got stuck part way up. I do have to admit that Joe got further with his two horse trailer than I got with my truck the day before (while the guy with the tractor sat in it at the top of the hill and laughed at me, waving me on for try after try.)
Andrea is originally from Germany, where it snows, but Joe, a native of the deep south, stepped from the pick up into the soft snow in TENNIS SHOES and drawled, "Ah've neve-ah seen snow befor-ah!"
How delicious!
He definitely has now! I'm not sure it made as good an impression as it could have. Southern Iowa right now resembles southern Minnesota more than itself in a normal year...When he switched to his boots, he parked the now-infamous tennies on a convenient corner fence post. Off we went to pet the herd. Sure enough, when I came back to the house, one of Joe's shoes resided in a snowbank to the north of the gate and the other graced a smaller one to the west...Some friendly nose had investigated them.
Missy Waddle writes, upon hearing of the pending trip from Alabama, "We lived in Alabama for a year, and we spent that winter laughing at everyone trying to drive down the road. If a snow flake would blow out in front of them, they would be in the ditch. I still get amused when I drive south and all of the bridges have cautions signs that say 'bridge may ice over in cold
weather'. WELL DUH.
"I hope your company arrives in good weather and leaves in good weather."
San points out, "Well, I sure can't throw any stones. I put my truck in the ditch on a little tiny bit of snow one day, and have had several other close calls. Being careful, going slow, left extra time, good tires on it, but... I suppose you could attribute it to being born in Biloxi, Mississippi, in a now-gone hospital overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, about as far south as you can get in that area, but I learned to DRIVE in Rochester, MN, and nobody ever accused them of not having WINTERS, snow, ice, and ample opportunities for ditching vehicles. (LOL)"
Is My Homework Late?
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 19:56:33 -0600
Hi,
After a lot of writing and thinking and rewriting, I finally came up with a piece for the recent sales column. Boy, that was a hard assignment!
I have always wanted to own my own Arabian. Last summer, I bought a 3 year old untrained purebred gelding who broke out well, but after spending considerable time at Pandemonium Pintos and Arabians, I developed the desire to start my own breeding program at OSo Mystic Arabians. Purchasing OSoBay Pandemonium provides me the opportunity to start my own farm that will be capable of producing the high quality Arabians found at Pandemonium.
OSoBay is one of the youngest purebred Arabians sired by SX OMEGA,. She could
possibly be the last purebred from SX Omega (*Serafix x Calina). Being able to continue the
*Serfix line made OSo Bay even more desirable to me.
Missy
July, 2000
Missy Waddle, IA, , writes, "I had a hard time deciding between UGOTASEA MONTE and OMYWHAT PANDEMONIUM. I which I could have afforded both of them.
"Do you think there could be a problem keeping the two geldings (or more) together, since they are strangers?
"I'm going to see Monty again tomorrow at 10. I just had to go visit with him again. "
"The gray's registered name is ROLO REFLECTION. I don't
remember the name of the farm. He is a purebred Arabian, but I'm not sure what line, like Egyptian, or Polish, or whatever. (we call him RAH) is a good
horse. He took to my daughter real well.
ROLO's kind of a clown. He's young, but is learning some manners. ROLO came from Queen City, MO."
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