Goodbye Frisky, hello autumn

Frisky was a Welsh pony cross who was a diminutive equine of about 12 hands and about 400 pounds. A cute little guy who had worked at stables as a riding pony for kids and was quite tolerant of their antics. A few years ago our neighbor's kid was having a sixth birthday party and we gave all the kids a short pony ride on Frisky who came out of retirement for the occasion. Some of the kids were a bit nervous getting on him, but once the braver kids did it they all wanted to. By the end of the session you could see that Frisky was getting tired of it, but he did what he needed to do. It was about five or six years ago that we took him in to our "retirement home" so he could have a quiet life just grazing and wandering around the pasture. His pasture buddy, Timmy, was put down at the ripe old age of 30. Here they are together.

 Then Frisky moved in with Vedas, our big Fjord mare, and they kept each other company until her passing last summer. 

 Frisky put up with all kinds of nonsense from human beings, but never lost his dignity and remained a faithful friend until today.

He had occasional company with our other horses, but preferred his own pasture and got to stay in at night with nobody to compete for his food, water, or space. He was pretty tired this morning and I was going to leave him inside for a while, but he insisted on going out anyway. Who was I to say no? Stitch found him this afternoon a short way into the woods where he had died. He will be buried next to his old buddy, Timmy. Frisky was 31 years old.

The trees are continuing to change color and fall will be in the air after this next cold front passes through. Here are some from this morning.

 That's a 'shroom on a mule muffin.

Maple in the woods.

Geese in the pasture.

Flowers around the yard.
Here is a nice one I got from my friend, Ann, who was out bicycling with a friend not too far from here. They were under the maple canopy which will be changing for the next few weeks. As always, click to embiggen.

Casinni, cranes, and colors

 

I watched much of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's control center's last couple of hours following the Cassini spacecraft's final moments before burning up in Saturn's atmosphere.  I've been fascinated by space stuff since Alan Shepherd's first Mercury flight.

When it finally plunged into Saturn's atmosphere it was going well over 70,000 miles per hour (112,654 kph). Radio contact was lost and Cassini was no more. It was launched in 1997 and took seven years to get to Saturn. It orbited Saturn, checked out the rings and the moons (Titan, Europa, and 50 plus others) and gathered data for thirteen years about the makeup of all these places that only existed in little more than our imaginations previously. Amazing things like water on Titan, ice jets spewing from Enceladus and unbelievable things about the rings. There are volumes of things I could tell you about, but I only have what's left of my lifetime. Follow the link above and be amazed. At the end of its twenty year mission everyone in the control room looked a bit misty-eyed. After so long and all the dedication and time put into it I can't blame them. The scope of what they have been a part of is nearly unbelievable and will continue to educate and fascinate for many years to come.

You may wonder what connection I have to such a thing. I wouldn't have believed it either, but I owe it to my father. Remember when he was a foreign student at N.C. State back after WW2? Some faculty would bring the foreign students to their homes for dinner and discussions and broadening horizons. What I didn't know until after my father, Otto, died was that he had kept up a correspondence with the young daughter of one of the faculty members he met at one of these dinners. Otto regularly corresponded with hundreds of friends and relatives throughout his life and in going through mail that kept coming from these people (I did respond to all of them in one way or another)  I found several from Jim and Barbara in Pasadena. It was hand written from Barbara about Jim's exploits at the JPL there and had all this cool stuff about the satellites and probes that NASA sent out into the universe. It turns out that Jim was the Deep Space Radio guy transmitting and receiving from all these probes. He's the guy setting up communications with Mariner, Viking, Galileo, Deep Space 1, Dawn and numerous others. Holy shit!

About five years ago Jim and Barbara were on their way from Pasadena to visit their kids near the Adirondack Mountains of New York. They stopped my my humble abode for a quick visit and I was thrilled, honored, and overjoyed at getting to meet them. I lost contact for a while and am now trying to re-establish it. Wish me luck!

The sandhill cranes stopped by for a visit. Probably thinking about heading south for the winter. At least the have the sense that god gave geese to figure out that this is a good idea. They probably spent a winter here once and that was enough. They were way down in the pasture, but since they are about four feet tall I spotted them when going out to feed the horses this morning.

Fall colors have started in earnest now. With the wet conditions all summer and a gently cooling fall predicted it should be a good show this year. Predictions being what they are and Nature being what she is I'll just keep my fingers crossed and my eyes open for some good photo ops.

Fall Fair

Once again it is time for the Hymers Fall Fair. I think it is the 106th year of the event in the Whitefish River area of Northwest Ontario. It's just outside the Municipality of Neebing and not far from South Gillies and Nolalu, nestled back in the woods where you have to be looking for it on purpose. Otherwise you wouldn't know it was there. I only "discovered" it about twenty years ago and have attended on an irregular basis as Labour Day weekend can throw unexpected things at a person. For example, my brother came to visit and brought his two friends Mohammad and Mohammad who helped fill in the evenings with their company. (I want them to go on the road with their musical group, Mickey and the Mohammads and I could be the opening act.)  Professor Batty is in town, but I can't seem to get away to hunt him down. On top of everything I have tweaked my back and am having trouble moving. If not for pharmaceuticals I don't know if I could move at all. 

So I went to Hymers anyway. I caught a bluegrass band, Gibson, Martin, and I, that I have followed for about 25 years. It's good to see that they are still upright, but they have turned a bit gray (just like me!) and can still play the notes and be entertaining. We're not dead yet!

There were a couple of inspired dancers, too.

There were lots of dogs there this year which added to the people watching experience.

Dogs:

People:

There were farm animals and equestrian events.

There were exhibits of many types:

Being in Canada there were all sorts of things maple which I had to taste and then acquire for myself. Nobody better touch my maple butter!

Then it was time to return to the United States.

It was a fun, but somewhat tiring day and the trip home was fairly quiet, although the corn dog and onion rings kept reminding me that I had eaten them earlier. I looked carefully to see if there was a wall being built to keep us southern riffraff out of Canada. There wasn't. The Border Patrol did want to inspect our bags of goodies that we were bringing home and fortunately for them they didn't try to abscond with my maple butter. We got to bring our corn and fudge back, too. I hate to think what an ugly scene it could have been.

Happy Labour Day to all who celebrate it! Thank you labor unions!