Coop's Corner: Finally.....A Ride Post

Saturday, May 25, 2024

Finally.....A Ride Post - 2024/05/25

A Saturday with no employment responsibilities, finally some time for a decent ride. All of the bikes have been out (again...finally), most have helped me get to/from my bus driving responsibilities each day. I made a 'Tube video of my VStar ride to work this past week.

This morning early some chicken chores, a quick trip to town for 5 gallons of diesel and 10 gallons of gasoline to keep the machines running. After that, I replaced a taillight bulb in the Breva (had it on hand!) and off I went.

No real plan other than avoiding a southeasterly direction and that was because next weekend is our Hiawatha BMW Rally at Money Creek....road southeasterly will have a great chance of being explored then. So across the river to Wisconsin I went. No GPS, I made the Route above after the fact, retracing my ride. Lunch in Gilmanton at Donna Mae's, the Mushroom Swiss about perfect. Contemplating a longer ride I decided that based on the forecast it might be best to make a mostly straight path home so that I could start burning up all that petroleum that I'd purchased early day. Our lawn and adjacent weedy areas really needed a trim.

County NN, one of many favorites....

North out of Gilmanton, towards but not quite to Mondovi, I jumped back on to Hwy 37 and barely got moving when I went past the horse arena/racing facility. I've been past many times and don't ever remember seeing anyone there doing anything. Today was different. I looked over as I passed....hmmmm....big work horses.....that's odd. A mile down the road I understood. A Horse Pull, something I'd never seen before. All I knew about horse pulls was my grandfather's disdain for them. As a farmer that never owned a tractor, he was convinced that the horses he knew would be abused and harmed by pulling.

All of this through my head and then some more quick thoughts. My friend Jack has mentioned the Gilmanton area, work horses AND horse pulls. He pulls or did, his son and now grandson still do. Less than a mile and a half past the arena, I turned around and went back, hoping to just possibly see Jack.

At Donna Mae's cafe, a couple of old guys (more than me) were eating lunch while I was. We gave a cheerful hello to each other and a nod of the hat, all acknowledging the beautiful day.

Off the Guzzi and walking around, lo and behold, the two old (more than me) guys were sitting in a car. I went over and asked them where they were from, satisfied they were local enough and asked them if they might know Jack....someone that knew work horses and horse pulls. I had momentarily forgotten Jack's last name, only that it started with "D".

"Jack D____", well yes we know Jack, he should be here, are you lookin' for him? I told them the story about my connection, we talked some more, I heard about potential other Pulls that Jack and his boys might be at and then one of the guys asked....

"When you were talkin' to Jack, did he give you a chance to say anything?"

With a smile I replied, "No".

"Same Jack D____"

Where they'll pull.....

Two competitors in the Lightweight class, combined weight of the horses not over 3500#. These two came in at 3430. Their first pull was 2500# and they pulled through. The other competitor didn't pull, waiting for the next weight increment, blocks of concrete weight 1000# each.

Waiting their turn.....

Once the connection is made to the sled.....get out of the way!

Adding the 3rd block, now the sled weighs 5500#. Both competitors were pulling through, 27.5' if I heard correctly.

Pulling the stone boat....

The other competitor in this class....from Hokah, MN

Too excited, the boys started pulling before the hookup was made.....

Circle back and try again....

Really enjoyed watching, I didn't stay long enough to see the outcome of the Lightweight class and what they truly could pull. It's possible that friend Jack showed up later, I don't know, we never saw each other. I did get home in time to get the lawn mowed, the non-growing part of the garden cut down and about half of our 1.5 acres of weeds that aren't treated like lawn.

It was a great day.

School is almost done, my bus driving is almost complete....for the '23-'24 school year. I'm very much looking forward to a full term driving session next fall. I'll have some bus driving thoughts to share in a Post soon, possibly after our Hiawatha Rally weekend.

Hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend!

4 comments:

motormikeMay 26, 2024 at 7:17 AM
Years ago during Wildcat came upon a horse pull. The horses knew the ..game... they backed up to get hitched... got ready... when the horn blew, they took off and knew where the end was...They had classes also... the big boys... Belgium's.. ? The size of the ones in the Budweiser commercials.. HUGE ! :)
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redlegsridesMay 27, 2024 at 7:00 AM
Never heard of a horse pull, but I guess tractor pulls had to be inspired from something! The horses seemed to be "into" the event.
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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)