Texas Horse And Home

Rescuing Morgans One At a Time

tjumonville@texashorseandhome.com — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:19:16 GMT

I am on the board of an online group, ForeverMorgans, that is devoted to rescuing Morgans who are headed for slaughter, one at a time. We rescue Morgans from brokers that purchased them to ship to slaughter. We're working on getting our non-profit status. We function through a YahooGroups list. When a Morgan is identified, we'll decide as a group about making the effort to rescue that particular one (we can't save them all), and everyone will chip in - $10, $20, $50, one astounding time, $500 as a gift to the person who has everything. These funds are raised to pay the "bail" for the horse, its quarantine costs, and transport to its new home. We locate forever homes for these horses (an application must be filled out and approved by anyone wishing to provide the forever home - rescues can take a lot more in terms of time and money to rehab and gain their trust, and some of them may never be more than pasture pets, and the home has to be able to deal with all of these issues). Mostly, members volunteer to take these horses and give them the love and care they need.

So, it's basically a lot of people who love horses, and Morgans in particular, coming together to do something about the problems that the horses are facing through no fault of their own, because of overbreeding, because of the economy, for many reasons.

The good news is, by talking about this online, I've had people from various breeds contact me to ask how they can get something like this started for their breed, as well. So seeds have been planted and more horses may be saved. If you love horses, and you'd like to get something started like this for your breed, please contact me and I'll give you an idea of what we've found works and what doesn't. We can't depend on the government to fix everything, folks - a lot of it is going to be up to us.

One of our members, Sherrel Stephenson, posted her story to the list, and it spoke to me of what we're about. I got her permission to post it here. Pictures will be coming later. So, without further ado:

(Go here for the rest of the story)

Are We Waiting To Be Stimulated? Or Should The Stimulus Package Come From Us?

tjumonville@texashorseandhome.com — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:10:53 GMT

I read an interesting article on CNN this morning about a woman (granted, the wife of a legislator) in Florida who, through an act of kindness, is doing something on her own to help deal with the current situation we all find ourselves in together. Chene Thompson is letting Henrietta Hughes and her son, homeless and living in a car, live in her vacant home that is not selling in the depressed Florida housing market, until they can get on their feet.

The article got me thinking. While most of us don't have an extra, empty house lying around to donate the use of to someone who's in need, there must be plenty of opportunities for us to help each other through these times, if only we look for them. It could be helping someone learn a new trade, it could be mentoring a student in need, it could be running a food drive to help the local food bank (our office is doing that right now), it could be helping someone find a job when you don't have to, it could be just listening to someone who needs a sounding board to figure out the next step, it could be providing clothing to someone down on their luck who needs to do to a job interview and be dressed "right", it could be any number of things.

We've become so used to depending on and waiting on the government, in many cases, to "fix things" for us that we forget that this country was founded on fixing things for ourselves.

Isn't it time that we remember that? Shouldn't we all be giving each other a helping hand, rather than waiting for someone else to do it?

What have you done to help fix this problem and help your fellow man or woman through it?

Which Home Is The Greenest of All?

tjumonville@texashorseandhome.com — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:39:48 GMT

There's a lot of attention being given these days to building "green" homes, and to renovating existing homes to be more green. This is a Very Good Thing, in my opinion, for many reasons, not the least of which is, these homes cost less to run.

But how many think about something very basic, the thing that makes any home "greener than thou", when it comes right down to it?

What is it? Do you think you know? Ponder it for a moment, then read on.

The answer is TIME.

Not the time it takes to build the house. Not the time it takes to pay for the house.

No, the time the house is built to last. If a house is built to last for 10 years, then must be replaced, it has a certain environmental cost made up not only of the materials used to build it, but the materials used to build the replacement home, as well. If the house is built to last for 50 years, the environmental cost is much less, over time. If the house is built to last for generations (as some houses in Europe have), the environmental cost is dramatically less, even taking into consideration repairs and renovations that are made over those generations.Houses that are designed with additions in mind, if they should become necessary in future, houses that are designed to be living things, to "grow" with the families that inhabit them over time, houses that are built to work well in the environment in which they find themselves, are the greenest of the green.

As a culture, we have a tendency to disdain the old and insist on the new. That's not the environmentally friendly way to think, however. If a house is sound, if it was built to last forever, the last thing that needs to be done, if you want to be truly "green", is to tear it down and build a new house in its place.

Without that very basic approach, we're hampered in building green homes, and in treading gently on the earth. And yet I never hear this mentioned in all of the talk of "green building", of how the quality of the house and its ability to last over time is, with how it's oriented on the lot, the very foundation of building green.

Wonder why that is?

Don't Mess With Texas!

tjumonville@texashorseandhome.com — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:37:50 GMT

"Don't Mess With Texas!" We're all familiar with this saying, but I've discovered hanging out in online relocation forums that a lot of people who aren't from here really don't understand what it's about.

They think it's too aggressive. They think that we're being pugilistic. They think that we're saying that we're better than anyone else. Granted, there've been some riffs on the phrase that could lead to that conclusion - I, myself, have a cherished old red t-shirt that says, in big red letters, "Don't Mess With Texas Women". Now, that's pretty accurate - we are known to rip off the velvet glove rather quickly, and a lot of us ARE armed!

This confusion has become widespread enough that I've actually seen a billboard by the Texas Department of Transportation that says, "'Don't Mess With Texas' Means Don't Litter". Now, that's sad, that it has to be spelled out so bluntly.

In actuality, "Don't Mess With Texas" is an award-winning advertising program sponsored by TxDOT intended to, with some humor, remind people that "messing" with Texas in the form of littering is not the manly thing to do. Commercials with such Texas icons as Willie, Lyle, Stevie (yeah, a lot of our icons are known by one name), Joe Ely, Marcia Ball, George Foreman, and others encourage our citizens to treat Texas with respect, not throwing trash on her highways and byways. We're proud of our state, with good reason, and don't hold kindly with people treating her with disrespect.

So, when you're traveling in Texas, whether you're just visitin', or you've lived here all your life and all your granddaddy's life, or if you're relocating here, and you see a sign that says, "Don't Mess With Texas," just smile and put that trash away to throw in the trash can at the next stop, or put that cigarette (yes, they do count) out in the ash tray instead of throwing it out the window. Texas will thank you, the environment will thank you, and we won't have to get aggressive or pugilistic with you!

Festival Time in Central Texas!

tjumonville@texashorseandhome.com — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:08:11 GMT

Spring is turning, and it's festival time! (Well, it's always festival time in Central Texas, it seems, but we have more in spring and fall when the weather is delightful.)

I thought I'd share a few of the possibilities - you could probably party all spring long without missing a beat!

Today, I'm off with the Central Texas Food-Centrics to the Austin Chocolate Festival (yes, we DO celebrate anything and everything).

Other options, in no particular order:

Texas Wine & Food Festival (I highly recommend attending Sunday Fair at the end of the festival)

Eeyore's Birthday Party is a longstanding tradition - they're having the 45th this year.

The Old Pecan Street Festival is held spring and fall - the spring edition is in May.

SXSW started yesterday and runs through the 16th.

The Star of Texas Rodeo is going on right now.

The Old Settlers Music Festival is April 17-20.

The Austin Fine Arts Festival is April 12-13.

The Kerrville Folk Festival runs from May 22-June 8.

The Republic of Texas Bike Rally is the end of May.

Frederickburg holds a Crawfish Festival May 23-24.

If nothing here strikes your fancy, I'm sure there's a festival somewhere in Central Texas that will celebrate your special interest. And if there's not, just start one! I guarantee you people will come!

The Passing Of The Queen of The Night

tjumonville@texashorseandhome.com — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:38:29 GMT

Eulogy For a Queen