June 2012...Summer time!

oh boy, here we go again, we have fires burning out of control due to our 70 mph winds we are having....one fire on Hwy 20 near Mt. Home, and one fire near King Hill near I 84 and they have burned the main power line and we have no power. Luckily I had a charge on my puter and the kids have their skanners so they will let me know where the fires are and if they are getting close...this is some miserable stuff and the temps have dropped 20 degrees already in an hour.

Do some of your best "HUMMINS" y'all....this wind they can't even fight it, no drops from BLM and no ground crews as its too dangerous...its just gonna burn until this wind goes away. Kid Jaemi said she thought they lost a doctors house on the hiway...big beautiful house he has too...and it had jumped hot creek road..which runs east to Oregon Trail which I live on....ya know I can't wait to get moved, donchas?

Rick, I am so envious, thanks for sharing your trip and memories...it sounds so great! a trip of a lifetime!

CB:
Big hums that the fires go away fast. I heard about the Idaho and New Mexico fires on the news this morning. I sure hope they stay away from you!!

RICK:
I am enjoying your travel story, too!! I wonder when they started charging to go into working cathedrals?


Pretty day here today, although a little windy. Nothing like CB's wind, though. My hay guy says he is coming Wednesday or Thursday. Uh-huh..... Going to be straw soon.

CB .... hope you guys are all still safe this morning. How is the fire situation for you? Hugs and positive thoughts headed your way.

Ark ... sorry about your ride. Was he OK in camp before you headed out with a big group of horses???? This is not unusual behavior for a young horse. You are doing OK ... you are riding your own horse on a trail..... that has been your goal for a long time!!! Progress is being made!!!!

Beautiful day here ... pretty low humidity and high of around 80. Perfect summer day.

we are still alive and well...others were not so lucky, trees on houses, hay stacks burned to the ground, and I'm still waiting to hear more on the news...

I am thankful I live in an area where these ranchers/farmers say enuf is enuf...they took their tractors and graders out there last night in that wind and plowed fire breaks which save our town last night...and saved a lot of other ranches and homes for folks. I am proud of them all and they are my heroes today!

Power is back on which is amazing as the one line burned, poles and all, i guess we must be on a nother line or something...I'm just glad to have it so I have water. It makes ya feel helpless...you can't even hose anything down to keep it from burning...sit in the dark with a candle and listen to the wind..that horrible wind....that could drive a person nuttier than I already AM! I was loading things in the camper last night in the dark just in case...my eyes feel like I have sand in them...I wanted to be able to pull out and go....thank goodness for these tough ranchers who weren't ready or willing to lose everything they worked so hard for over the years. I only lost a few small branches...and my peace of mind...I can't wait to get out of this part of the country...and I"m not sure if I want to come here for the summer months anymore either. The only thing is hubby would be here with me if we needed to go in a hurry. sigh....big sigh............I need a nap!

My palomino mare up at Jaemis' ran thru a fence last night...I called the vet this morning and they said unless they are really deep, doctor them ourselves, as they are booked solid from horses running thru the fence last night. I willgo up and help jaemi doctor her up and see if any need stitches...I can stitch a bit if I have to. My vet said he'd give me a suture kit cuz I told him mine is getting old. So I guess I"ll get dressed and head to town to see.

CB: That fire sounds terrible - but what good neighbours you have, that sounds like what I read about the pioneering spirit of the American West folks - when trouble heads their way, they deal with it.

Ark: It sounds like you are really working hard to get to understand your boy! Interesting that he settles in front of the others, it's like he gets confidence from their company but likes to be brave and take the lead.

Rick: I'm really enjoying reading your 'Travelogue' and your take on the British Experience! But isn't that disgraceful that they should charge for visitors to go into a Cathedral? Wonder what they would have said if YOU said you wanted to pray, or something!!! Would they still have charged?!
I'm going away for a short trip to Istanbul (Turkey) for a week next Tuesday and I know all the Mosques over there are open to tourists, any religion, free to come in and admire the beautiful architecture and mosaics.
You are not the only one to love the English Breakfast on holiday - I do too - I love the pork sausages, and the best bit is having it cooked FOR me.

CB:
How is your mare? Okay, I hope.....Your rancher neighbors sound like a good bunch of fellows. The town should throw them a party.

RICK:
I liked the thick sliced bacon and the stewed tomato they served at breakfast at the B&Bs, too. And the marmalade. And the sausage.

SILVERDANCER:
Send pix from your trip, please! Wow, that sounds like a very interesting trip!
I need a horse psychologist for Ivan and a rider psychologist for me . I rode him on Sunday after Saturday's stressful ride and he was perfect at home. Today we had a lesson with Lori learning to move his shoulders better and he worked hard to please.....It's our trips with other horses that turns him into a fire breathing dragon.

CAROL:
We weren't at a camp, just the horse parking area on the New River Trail. We got there first, but there were two TWHs who he didn't know and he got upset when they left for their ride. About the time I had him over that, our group of 3 horses, all of whom he knows pretty well, showed up and he got nervous again. I think I may need to ride in front for awhile. Lori and I are taking Ivan and Daisy to another stretch of the New River Trail that he hasn't been on on Saturday with no other horses. We'll see if he is better with just Daisy. He may end up an arena horse until I get a better handle on all his body parts and emotions. Daisy may inherit his group trail riding job for awhile.


The hay guys cut our fields this afternoon. They know it is going to rain tomorrow, but have decided that extra tetting will hopefully keep it from molding. The weather hasn't been very cooperative for hay making lately. Our fields are thick with clover this year. If it can be dried well, the horses will like that....although it can make them slobber pretty badly.

Ark: I finally enlisted son's help to put up a photo instead of my avatar... I liked the one you chose, sorry to see it go! But now you can see a pic of my 'dressage' horse doing TREC, while I study our map - all very different from the arena work we did for years, and very good fun for the two of us.

A lot of the talk on here recently has been about the weather over with you all - what huge differences, blazing hot (literally) or unseasonably cold. Well, here in Ireland we fit the last group. I still sometimes put on the heating in the evenings, it just feels chilly. We've had some beautiful, sunny days, but step out of the sun to the shade... and it's not at all warm, a cool wind.
I'm looking forward to some proper summer weather... but then of course, we'll all conplain about too much heat!

Tiberius at 2 learning to round pen.

https://2img.net/r/ihimg/photo/my-images/406/6612g.jpg/

Discovered that the link can be clicked and it will take you to the picture, but it's thumbnail size, too little to see very well. pfffttt.

INDYAPP:
Got your photo all fixed up! Tiberius is really a pretty guy! Are you doing his round pen training yourself? That's quite a job, isn't it? I have been slow about doing much with Areion with Ivan taking so much of my energy these days, but want to get back onto her training.

SILVERDANCER:
Love your avatar! Thanks to your son! Zarista looks like he is having a fun time. Bet you are, too!
We have had some cool weather here for us. We had a hot March and now this week in June has been in the 60s. Not very good hay making weather, but it is supposed to be back in the 80s by the weekend. Crazy weather.

CB:
How are the fires doing? And your mare?

CAROL:
Ivan did very well with his lesson yesterday with Lori in our arena. We did lots of shoulder work and I think I have almost figured it out, I actually got him to do it pretty well. We will need to do it about a million times so that it comes automatically, even while on a trail ride. He is better on one side than the other. Lori rode him for a little while and they looked fabulous. I guess it helps to know what you are doing . I rode Daisy while she was working on Ivan. Daisy is such a funny horse. She is happy to stand still in the sun and go to sleep while I am on her. That is sure not an Ivan move!

RICK:
Where's the next installment? Need a Welsh fix!


Today I cleaned the barn, twice, finally got my laundry put up, actually vacuumed some, and cleaned up Annie's room. I was a cleaning fool today. Annie is coming back on July 1st for a month.

ARK...Carol and I both have been like baying hounds with our near constant coughing, etc. I did a little "job" for Charlotte this morning (out in my shop) and just haven't felt good/creative all day. I don't know how she does it, but she is on the last days of the trip and I'm hardly started. I'll do some more tomorrow...I PROMISE...might even do a couple or three days worth.

Good grass hay that Phony Pony devours...5.00 per bale picked up at the storage barn...I'm hoping that 96 bales will feed one horse for one year w/o too much worry. Sure is a good feeling to have it in my barn.

Silverdancer...my ancestral heritage is English on paternal side (Angell) and "supposedly" it is "Scotch / Irish" on maternal side (McCullough, McCulloch, McCulloh, ??). I guess that is why I love going to the UK so much. I have an inward sense of "going home".

Love to all....Rick and Sir McSNOOP!!

ARK, thanks for posting Tiberius' picture. I get frustrated getting the links from one site to another to work. I know I'm making it harder than it is. I understand the concepts, just can't seem to get the actual steps down.

Yes I do my own training. Now that I have a round pen it will be much easier than using the open field. Tiberius has finally started to fill out and not look so gangly.

RICK, love your travelogue. Sorry you're feeling kind of punky. I know what you mean about feeling good about getting your hay in. I have a load of hay coming in tonight that will give me about half of my year's supply. Spring started out really great, early warmth, ok rain. Farmers were able to get their first cutting in earlier than I ever remember, then it stopped raining. We now have a drought going on. My yard is already burnt to a crisp and that usually doesn't happen until July or August.

CB how's that baby coming along?

Stormy will be alright, she is on hydrotherapy, antibiotics, and bute...she gets the big cut on her belly cleaned out everyday for a week and then we just hose it and put the meds on after that...it will take awhile for it to heal. She also got a tetanus booster. Jaemi rode her last week and she said she did pretty good!

Jaemis' mare Brandy got pushed thru the fence and into a huge canal ditch. She has a sprained shoulder, really sore and is limping, and a strained muscle in her flank that is swollen. Vet says he sees a lot of roping horses suffer from that. She is on hydrotherapy, liniment rubs, and bute and rest.

So all in all, pretty lucky...just take some time now.

OK, how do you get rid of foxes? does anyone have a good idea?

Our fires are out now, but it sure got close to some very nice big houses! It burned haystacks, outbuildings, fences...an older guy was trapped in his house, he had down powerlines on two sides and fire on two sides, they had to run a BLM truck into his yard thru the fire and he and his dog climbed aboard and took him out it was touch and go whether his house would be there when he came back, but it was! He was lucky in all ways! His guardian angel was with him!

Miss Muleytude is growing fast and man does she have attitude! She keeps getting her drag rope off and I have no idea how she does that! Jaemi is coming today to get it back on her! She just ropes her and she stops stock still, and lets us work with her! She is lil sh*t! and Harry will have to work with her a LOT! I wish he was home more to work with her...cuz I just can't do it! I'm scared I'll get hurt and have to have surgery again! and I DON'T want that. I work out there and clean and play with her Mom..getting her use to me, but I can't wrestle around with her!

Indy ... what a pretty boy you have. I bet he will be great when you get him going.

Silver .... what a beautiful picture .... great scenery and, OF COURSE, a wonderful beautiful horse with you up top..... Looks like a lot of fun.

CB ... glad everyone is going to be OK, but what a PIA when they all need medical attention at once. Lots of work. Hope they all heal up good as new.

Ark ... worse things could happen than riding Daisy on your rides. Sounds like a fun choice to me. Lucky you to have more than one choice!!!! LOL

Greetings all. It started out as a bright sunny and warn day, now the clouds are trying to take over and there is thunder in the distance. WE got a dandy of a T storm last evening, and it sure keeps things green and lush. I ordered my hay a couple of weeks ago, they called and wanted to confirm that I still was in the hay market. Yep, I get it from the same folks every year. Not sure what their rain fall is like it is iffy around here, as I can get rain and the neighbor behind me has not seen rain...strange.
CB, in answer to your fox questiong...Gun.
Rick, sorry to hear that you and Carol are still fighting the cough. It does get tiresome after a few days. Hope that you find a cure for it soon/ and I can't wait to read the next saga of the Angells.
Ark, hang tuff girl, you and your horse can do it. I am the one that needs time to even get in the saddle. This year has been strange for me as far as not finding time to ride. I guess the pup is taking up all of my spare time. I took pup for a walk this aft and scared up a deer...puppy wanted to chase...fat chance to catch it dude....it was already across the creek and through my back field to neighbors befoe pup found out that it will run from him.

INDY, your baby is sure gettin stocky, he looks like he has some stocky legs under him...and that color is VIBRANT!

Maximus is doing great for Jessi and the girls, he'll let the kids lead him around eating patches of grass and never tries to get away from them, he loves the attention. We will be mailing the saddles for the girls tomorrow...I found 3 small saddles for them to each have their own. I'll try to take some pics before they go in the box.

My dogs were going NUTS today and there was a car on the ditch bank behind the house, but my dogs were really not happy about it being there, usually they just bark, but today the bark was a severe barking, very upset type...well, I got in the truck and went up and here we have two teenage couples making whoppie!...no clothes...oh lordie...I asked them to move please as I was hunting fox..and needed to get down the dirt road..the one guy, he says "yeah right like you have a gun in there"...I only showed it to him..and they jumped into there seats and tore out naked as jaybirds! LOL I BAD! it wasn't loaded! Not my shot gun...I carry it broke down in the vehicle, what can I say...

Some of you may remember me talking a couple years or so ago about doing some genealogy work. Aunt Pearl wrote a book … THE ANGELLS TRAIL… that detailed our ancestry all the way back to 1501 in England. There were “purportedly” three generations in her book before the 4th generation “crossed the Atlantic”. These would be my 12th, 11th, 10th GGF and 9th GGF was born in England and lived / died in Providence, Rhode Island. My 10th GGF “purportedly” was a blacksmith in Liverpool, England and had they had 20 children. My project...such as it is...is to locate and “visit” each of my GGF’s grave sites, make a few photos, and write an addendum to Aunt Pearl’s book. She had a bibliography listed in her book, but she did not “footnote” her information. Also, Aunt Pearl did not always say where someone was buried….and thus that was / is my dilemma. I am having to re-research Aunt Pearl’s work and hope that I can find that little nugget of information that will tell me where someone is buried.

When you consider the “time” period being looked at...the differences in English vs (early) American customs and record keeping...my lack of knowledge on what to look for and how to do the research and my computer deficiencies and generally being a cheapskate on spending a bunch of money, it was a real s-t-r-e-t-c-h on my part to ask for help. I did...ask for help, that is. I don’t remember just when, but back late last summer or fall, I “googled” and found Karen in Liverpool. She does genealogical work (professionally) in addition to her financial services work, mother, wife, etc. Without spending the next hour or so raving about her, let’s just say that Carol and I “adopted” Karen.

Our third day of this trip was a personal “high” for us. Karen met us at the Museum of Liverpool (see it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Liverpool ) to give us an overview of the life and times of when my 10th GGF … William Angell …. might have been here. Liverpool...back then...was a small town / seaport. After a lot of diligent work, Karen was NOT able to find any trace of William / Elizabeth and the other 19 children “purportedly” in the family. The best we could do was make a “kinda/sorta/maybe/possibly could be” guess about where he might have been buried. That is a “guess” because ALL church records for St. Nicholas Church covering that time period were long ago lost. And furthermore, the church building we visited is at least the 3rd building on that site. This probably gives the best overview of its history...especially the St. Mary del Quay that is more time appropriate for 10th GGF William Angell : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lady_and_Saint_Nicholas,_Liverpool . This is about the best I could find showing the structure today. We were able to enter the church through the door showing on the right side of the photo. The green lawn area that you see a “hint” of is perhaps a ½ acre in size. It is a given that there are people buried in the lawn, but there are no marked grave sites per se. http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Liverpool/OurLadyandStNicholas.shtml If William is buried in Liverpool, he is “most likely” buried here. It just “felt right” to me considering everything. This is not particularly a large church. Of interest is the very top of the spire. It has a sailing ship instead of a typical cross, etc. I wish that I could include a few of the pictures we made interior of the church to show the beautiful stain glass windows and the crucifixion hanging from the high ceiling. Carol “may” possibly do a “photo album” of her photos on Snapfish at a later date. If she does...you’ll be the first to know.

My 9th GGF … John Angell … who was born in 1609 in Liverpool / settled and died in Providence, Rhode Island…”supposedly” was a sea captain...had his own ship...and made a lot of money dealing in rum and slaves. There is a portion of the museum that is dedicated to slavery and has some (to me, at least) blood chilling displays about how slaves were “handled”. I could only bear looking at the displays for a very, very few minutes. It is the 2nd most horrific thing I’ve ever seen...surpassed only by stuff about the Holocaust from WWII. You won’t see much in this site, but there is some pretty good information: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/slavery/. Oh yes...as an aside and to backtrack to St. Nicholas Church...there were tie rings affixed on the church property to tie up / chain up your slaves while you attended “business” there.

After visiting the museum(s) and St. Nicholas Church, Karen took us (I drove...she navigated!!) out several miles to visit another possible site for William. This was Sefton Parish Church and was “several miles” out from Liverpool. Unfortunately, we were unable to gain entry to the church and had to content ourselves with a “walk around”. I did note a few dates on some grave markers that went back into the 1600s. What really fascinated me was a 1992 (may have been ’72...but late / modern at any rate) grave that appeared to be against the church wall. And I saw a few more that were within a couple feet or so of the church wall. This was an interesting place to visit, but all three of us agreed that it just did not “feel right” due to being so far out from old Liverpool.

LUNCH TIME...was in a pub next door to the church. We had a delightful meal and had some time to rest and really get to visit with Karen. It was during this meal time that we “adopted” Karen and vicariously her 10 year old son and husband. We had brought a couple small gifts with us and used the meal time to give them to Karen. That night...after we were back home at the B & B...our cell phone rang and Karen said her son wanted to talk with us. It really warmed us that a 10 year old boy would talk to “foreigners” for as long as he did. Calum actually took time to talk to both of us. Karen said in an e-mail that Calum wears his new NC State ball cap to school every day.

After lunch, Karen detoured us by her in-laws to pick up a map and to use “facilities” if need be. She and her father-in-law (“Mum” was working??) insisted that we have a cup of tea / coffee and we had a delightful visit in that home. Carol and I both could tell that there was a lot of genuine affection and love between Karen and her in-laws.

Karen also took us out to the beach to show us some famous artwork on the beach. When you see this site, you’ll need to click (or double click) on the picture to enlarge it for viewing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Place

I don’t even remember the name of the 3rd church we went to visit, but it was several miles from old Liverpool in the “other direction” from Sefton. The cemetery ground(s) was unusual to us in that the grave markers were ALL laid flat...giving an almost paved look to it. Tree roots had a few markers lifted. The whole place had a cold, dreary feel to it that pretty well matched the weather we experienced all day. Karen kept us warm with her charming personality and English accent.

By the time we finished looking at this third cemetery, It was time for us to get out of a busy, busy Liverpool. Karen insisted we drop her off at a train station to get her home. I offered to take her, but she insisted saying she wanted us out of town before rush hour really hit. We said our tearful goodbyes to our new daughter and started back home to the horse farm. We had to ask directions three times, at least, before we were on the “M” route towards home.

Day 4 coming up in the next posting.

RICK:
Were those headstones laying flat because they were made that way or did they fall down some time back? Interesting day!

CB:
I am glad your fires are out. Sorry about your mares, I hope they recover quickly. I don't know how to get rid of a fox either, well other than Eileen's way . We have a live trap and have caught everything we don't want to catch and nothing we'd like to catch. Today I watched a skunk amble across our newly cut hayfield. Cactus Jack told me it was there. I hope we don't catch the skunk. Donnie saw our fox, a red one, cross our driveway the other day and he is regularly making his weird noise in our yard in the middle of the night lately. Oh, and I think you saw more of your recent visitors than I would like to see!

CAROL:
You are right. It is nice to have a choice, but I am not mentally quite ready to ride Daisy yet. She is so darn big! I'll see how she does on Saturday and maybe ride her a bit then when Lori and I take her and Ivan out on a ride. Our goal is to see how Ivan does off property with no strange horses around mostly. And to practice those shoulder moving exercises.


Donnie stayed home from work today with some kind of flu bug. I hope it is a 24 hour variety and not a long one. He has been fairly miserable and I have been busy mollycoddling him. If I get it, I am doomed. I'll have to clean the barn area anyway.

ARK....laid out like paving stones. Yes...interesting to see. Now the large cemetery at Sefton had stones/slabs vertical.

ARK, how is Donnie feelin?

SILVERD, I love the looks of your horse, looks like a powerhouse!

Got tires on the Chevy truck today, got horse grain, and back home in time to catch youngest GS's play at the theater house in town! Should be fun! LOL

Tomorrow we finish the spare room and move Bluey into there to have her babies....is the work ever done? I think not!

Today is “moving day” as we say our good byes at breakfast, exchange hugs with our hostess Anne, and head south through Malpass into Wales. Immediately upon entering Wales, I wanted to stop and “buy a vowel...or two...or three” to try to make sense of the Welsh language. Fortunately, the country is bilingual to the point of almost all signs being in the Welsh language as well as English. We started...or at least I started...having fun putting my Southern accent to some of the Welsh place names. Here is some help on the Welsh pronunciation of some Welsh place names. Have fun and know that Carol will be giving a “test” on this at the end of this trip: www.bbc.co.uk/wales/whatsinaname/sites/howdoisay

Carol had ordered and received cards identifying us as Aelodaeth Cadw membership. We called it “Cad-doo” membership. This enabled us to have “free admission” to virtually all the castles we wanted to see in Wales. So, we started this day to put the cards to use by seeing Chirk Castle: See about the history / story behind this castle here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirk_Castle and if that’s not enough, here is a You Tube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXfmdaJTHZo. There was also a neat gift shop that gladly relieved us of several pounds (that’s a pun) of money for some collectable items for one of the girls. What doesn’t show in the links given is an active display / demonstration of making chain mail and other metal objects. There was a life sized “shirt” ( might possibly fit me??) hanging there that was heavy for me to pick up. The chain mail was also used for head gear. Considering how heavy all that stuff was...I wouldn’t want to be wearing it and have to swim! I’m continually amazed at “how” these structures were constructed without benefit of heavy machinery to do the heavy lifting, etc. We are also amazed at the size of such structures.

Next stop for the day...doesn’t require additional “vowels” to pronounce… was Llangollen Canal. There was / is a rather extensive canal system throughout the UK and many places you could rent a long “narrow” boat to spend a week or so slowly moving throughout the countryside. We had seen a spot for rental and launching such near the Ice Cream Farm back near Newton Hall B & B. This particular attraction for us was a two hour boat ride on the canal and enjoying a “Welsh cream tea” which is a scone, with some sweet “fixings” and served with Hot tea / coffee. At the end of the boat ride, which was shortly after crossing via the aqueduct , we were bussed back to our starting point to retrieve our car. This You tube video shows the scenery nicely along with what the boat ride was like. We had to pull over and back up a few times to let oncoming boat traffic pass...always seemed like it was in a curve on the canal. As a retired truck driver, I kinda / sorta could appreciate the skipper’s ability to maneuver his craft. Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bySYg2ZmlqU I might add that the highlight was passing over on the aqueduct some 126 feet above the river below. The structure is a bit over 1000 feet long and is a narrow trough of water only about 5 feet or so deep. This was built by Thomas Telford 1795 - 1805. Telford was well know for numerous building projects all over the UK … especially bridges. There are still some canal boats pulled by horses today in addition to the powered boats.

From the canal ride, we headed on to North Wales to find our new home for the next 4 nights. I think the country side was nice, but I really couldn’t see a lot with having to concentrate on my driving, narrow, unfamiliar roads, and hedges growing right to the pavement’s edge that were at least 17 feet tall!! OK...I did get to see some of the countryside and it was beautiful, rural, and green. Bryn Dansi Farm is a beautiful place that is well maintained and only about 3 or 4 miles from the coast. The weather was cool, but mostly clear (during the daytime). And the nice thing is that the place didn’t “smell” like a dairy farm. We took an immediate liking to our sweet, farm girl hostess...Brenda. There’s something “special” about farm folk wherever you go. When you open this link, be sure to click on the main picture to make it larger...you’ll see why we think its special: http://www.farmstay.co.uk/b-and-b/conwy-abergele-bryn-dansi-1304/

On our way to “Brenda’s” we passed through the tiny village of Betwys-yn-Rhos (I called it Betsy Ross!) and noticed the sign outside the Wheatsheaf Inn (and Pub) announcing “Welsh Singing Saturday Night”. Somewhere in the background of our collective memory, we had heard of “Welsh Singing”. After getting settled at Brenda’s, we returned to the village for an evening meal and to check out the singing and see what pub life there was on a Saturday night in rural Wales. As it turned out, this was not a paid performance and there was no pre-planned program. It was just a group of local men...maybe a dozen… and a few ladies that gathered here to “sing”. And s-i-n-g they did with some beautiful harmony. There was no stage and the room they were in was packed...standing room only. I think they were singing “for beer” as several of the singers had a glass of beer in their hand while singing. We certainly did NOT understand a word they were singing, but did recognize some of the songs as hymns. After finishing our meal, we had moved into the lounge area of the pub just to listen and got into a nice conversation with local “newly wed” couple that was about our age. The whole evening was fun. When we left after hearing the singing for over an hour, they were still going strong. Someone local told us that the singing would probably go on till 1:00 AM or so!! We got lost again on our way home. Things you “think” you remember having seen in the daylight just don’t look the same at 11:30 at night. Normally we try to take things in stride and look at “getting lost” as part of the grand adventure. This night we both were getting anxious and were real happy when we finally found the “Hay for sale” sign that was the marker on where to turn into Brenda’s long driveway.

Good night...I’ll see you at breakfast in the morning!!

Day 5 of this journey started out clear and a bit on the cool side. Brenda had breakfast HOT and ready to serve when we entered the all glass conservatory where she served breakfast to her guests. We were the only ones this morning. I know we both could easily get spoiled with these English Farm Breakfast meals prepared on her AGA stove. I had never heard of AGA (as a “type” of appliance) and Carol had heard of it but never seen one. Brenda let us into her kitchen (in the private quarters of their home) to see her AGA. It is a “dual fuel” model…??...and also electric. I believe hers was probably gas or oil. Here is a wikipedia site about the AGA and its history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGA_cooker and if that isn’t enough, just google “AGA stove”. Be sure and check the prices. Her stove was a wide model...I’m guessing close to 48 inches and quite “shiny”.

Today was the day we set out to conquer Mt. Snowdon. This peak is the highest in WALES at 3560ft. And one of the higher peaks in all of Great Britain. There are 2 or 3 in Scotland that are some higher. We drove to Llanberis (I called it Land Berries!!) by way of Conwy (“ConWAY”...the town)(Conwy…”ConWEE” the borough/county/and river) and on up north to Snowdonia National Park. Here is about the mountain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowdon We rode the railroad to the top. As I said earlier, the weather was clear...clear until we got to the very end of the ride and we were in clouds and a bit of wind. The railroad folks are very conscious of the wind and on the return trip we had to stop partway down for several minutes until the wind died down. Once at the bottom, there were announcements that the train would run...but only a little over halfway to the summit. We were fortunate to be able to get to the top. I urge you to look at the videos in this web site. The main video is about 15 minutes, but well worth the time. There is some spectacular scenery there. The smaller videos are real short, but “cute”. Please go get your coffee / tea, a good sweet roll or two and watch this: http://www.snowdonrailway.co.uk/

Carol would not let us go without seeing another castle. This one is perhaps the most famous castle in WALES and is where Prince Edward in 1911, and Prince Charles in 1969 were “crowned” as the Prince of Wales. A fair amount of the town of Caernarfon (pronounced “Car -narf-fon” )- lies inside the original wall lines of this castle. This wikipedia article outlines the history and significance of this castle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caernarfon_Castle and here you can maybe get an idea of the size. We were able to “park & display” in the lot where the tour buses are parked.

From there, we drove back through Conwy and stopped to explore a little and maybe get a bite to eat. We didn’t even try to see the castle there as we knew we would be back later. While walking around, we came upon a bit of whimsey when we found “The smallest house in Great Britain”. Yes...it was probably worth the nominal admission charge, but I sure would NOT recommend going out of your way to see it: http://lostfort.blogspot.com/2010/03/smallest-house-in-britain.html I could not stand straight directly under a beam for the floor above, and I could stretch out my arms and touch the inside of both outside walls.

Our daughter, Charlotte, got us “hooked” on the British television series “Doc Martin”… a funny, funny, delightful show set in a small coastal village along the southwest coast of England in Cornwall. One of the characters is “Bert Large” and he has a son, “Al”. Bert and Al are plumbers by trade, but Bert is seen as the “dreamer” and “schemer” to find ways to easy money. Al is the “straight” man. One of Bert’s schemes is to open a small outdoor restaurant….named LARGE RESTAURANT. When we were wandering the side streets of Conwy, we passed by the Galleon Restaurant. From outward appearances, this was a rather small establishment, but in bold letters on the window glass, there was “LARGE RESTAURANT UPSTAIRS”. I had a cheeseburger and chips (fries to us Americans) and Carol enjoyed a chicken burger...with an English beer for me and J2-O for Carol. And we didn’t really get too badly lost on the way home!!

I’ll see you later with tomorrow’s adventures.

Rick & Carol

A good close, SAFE race. Way to go, Michael.

RICK:
Did you stand on the slate circle where Prince Charles was invested? I watched that ceremony on t.v. when I was kid. I loved Caernarfon Castle, been there twice. Did you see the stone eagles?


ELLEN:
I didn't get to see the race. What happened to the horse who was supposed to win the Triple Crown? I heard he was lame, but not how.

CB:
Donnie is feeling a bit better, thanks. Poor guy has had to work pretty hard getting things ready for hay storage, despite feeling fairly puny. He is getting better, though.

Today we hauled Daisy and Ivan to the New River Trail on a part Ivan hadn't been to before. We worked them on the ground for probably a half hour before leaving for the trail. Ivan was very calm almost the entire day! He didn't like it when I made him walk way behind Daisy, he wanted to catch up, but he caught on that we were not going to get as near her as he wanted and accepted it. He was very brave and lead the way for most of the trip with Daisy way behind him. Daisy didn't like that either and Lori really worked hard with her. Daisy was nervous even when near Ivan and Lori had the ride I had last week with Ivan, lots of circles. I couldn't believe how relaxed Ivan was most of the time. We were on a loose rein almost the entire time. So for once I had a good time, but poor Lori and Daisy worked pretty hard. We are going to do this again soon and hope Daisy gets calmer. She did a lot of yelling when Ivan got too far away from her. Daisy was a big yellow pill, but Lori did a good job with her. Areion was soooo happy when we got home. She wanted her mama!

We got home to hay guys loading hay into our barn. The lower field is done, the upper field is half done and they will finish up tomorrow. The weather is perfect hay making weather here.

Day 6...breakfast as usual then we decided to head underground and see Wales from the inside out. OK...We were headed for a slate mine facility. On the way, we stopped at a tourist information office near Betwys-y-Coed (I called it Betsy Coed) to get some help in finding RHAEADR EWYNNOL. Yes...you guessed it...that translates to Swallow Falls. This was a pleasant diversion and an opportunity stretch some legs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awd12/3086339059/ Another 20 minutes or so later, we were at our first major destination for the day. LLECHWEDD SLATE CAVERNS. Be sure to click on both tours to see what we did with the “double tour”. I was particularly interested in seeing how easy it was to split off slate shingles. After our tour, we dined in the company cafe on coffee / tea and something “sweet”. Mind your head and keep your hard hat on straight!! http://www.llechwedd-slate-caverns.co.uk/ The area around the mine most likely had been scenic and attractive at some time in the past, but is a bit of an eyesore due to the H-U-G-E amount of slate debris. It is ground up for gravel, but there is just so much as to be almost an endless supply.

I must say that WALES has an abundance of old castles and there was another interesting one to go explore. This was HARLECH CASTLE that was situated out along the coast, south of the slate mine. This was built in 1283 to 1290 by the same Master Mason...James of St. George … who was also responsible for Caernarfon, Conwy, and Beaumaris castles. When built, the castle could be easily supplied from sea oing vessals, but the waters have long since receded and the castle is now left high and dry a good ½ to ¾ miles from the water. (My estimate). This castle had been in a number of military skirmishes over the years, and holds the distinction of enduring the longest siege in British history (1461 - 1468) before being taken by the Yorkists. This gave rise to the well known (British / Welsh circles??) military song “Men of Harlech”. I enjoyed standing in the court yard and trying to imagine what it looked like when it was occupied and what life itself was like. This gives you a bit of historical background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlech_Castle and this is a pretty nice exterior view. We parked near where the red car is parked: http://cadw.wales.gov.uk/daysout/harlechcastle/?lang=en

On our way back home, we stopped in a small village that was off the main route we were on to visit the Church of St. Mark’s in Brithdir. (I called it Birthday!) This shows a good picture of the exterior of the church, though I must say that the surrounding trees have grown in and the building is now heavily shaded. Also check out the smaller pictures by clicking on them: http://www.friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/CMSMS/index.php?page=brithdir Note the copper cladding on the front of the pulpit: http://www.imagingthebible.org/wales/research/essays/brithdir_vinemotif.html and more: http://www.imagingthebible.org/wales/research/fieldwork/brithdir.html. What does NOT show up is a big, fat Buddha sitting outside that was over 4 feet tall. Don’t ask...We haven’t a clue about the Buddha and there was nobody to ask. This church...like so many out in the rural villages...was unlocked and we were able to enter and see it our own pace.

Even pushing hard, it was after dark when we got home. Yes...we had to stop for directions and still managed to get lost for a bit. We had PBJs and chips for dinner out in the solarium. Bed felt goooooood!!