Audio-visual equestrian puns

Anybody else notice that Anky and Saliniero are piaffing to Piaf?

(For those not in the dressage know, the piaffe is where the horse trots in place. And Edith Piaf? Well she's French! The song used at the beginning and the end of this kur is "Je ne regrette rien.")

P.S. This video is from the 2006 World Equestrian Games. We can't wait until the 2010 World Equestrian Games come to Lexington! Whee!

L'hiver viendra, les gars, l'hiver viendra

Le jument de Michao, elle s'en repentira...

Right now, Bubba the Round is on turnout. Jean-Leo over at Percheron-International recently published a post about Breton draft horses. I think they look an awful lot like Bubba. (Or, rather, Bubba looks a lot like a Breton draft horse, particularly the rounder specimens.)

You can be the judge of Bubba's parentage. I found this lovely video of Bretons on youtube (you will also note the large numbers of people wearing white shirts and black vests):



The music in the video is a traditional Breton song called "Le Jument de Michao."

Here are the lyrics:

Et dans dix ans je m'en irai
J'entends le loup et le renard chanter
Et dans dix ans je m'en irai
J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

J'entends le loup, le renard et la belette
J'entends le loup et le renard chanter
J'entends le loup, le renard et la belette
J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

Et dans dix ans je m'en irai
Et dans dix ans je m'en irai

La jument de Michao et son petit poulain
Sont passés dans le pré, ont mangé tout le foin
La jument de Michao et son petit poulain
Sont passés dans le pré, ont mangé tout le foin

L'hiver viendra les gars, l'hiver viendra
La jument de Michao, elle s'en repentira
L'hiver viendra les gars, l'hiver viendra
La jument de Michao, elle s'en repentira

Translation:

In ten years I'm going to leave
I hear the wolf and the fox singing
In ten years I'm going to leave
I hear the wolf and the fox singing.

I hear the wolf, the fox, and the weasel
I hear the wolf and the fox singing
I hear the wolf, the fox, and the weasel
I hear the wolf and the fox singing

In ten years I'm going to leave
In ten years I'm going to leave

The mare of Michao and her little foal
Passed through the pasture and ate up all the hay
The mare of Michao and her little foal
Passed through the pasture and ate up all the hay

Winter is coming, boys, winter is coming
The mare of Michao is going to be sorry for it
Winter is coming, boys, winter is coming
The mare of Michao is going to be sorry for it.



Bubba spends all of his waking hours attempting to eat all the hay wherever he is.

This is the time of year when bad weather forces the carriage horses to either go on turnout or to stay in the barn. And it's when metaphorically we regret all the hay we ate in the field and didn't leave for the winter. A snow storm is coming in the next couple of days, so it looks like it's going to be at least Thursday before anyone does any work.

(Meanwhile, Bubba is out in Lancaster County eating so much hay that, if it's anything like last year, he won't be able to fit in the shafts come spring. If there's anything Bubba will repent for, it will be for getting so fat he'll have to go on a diet.)

On a tangentially related note:

We heard our own "wolf" Rinnie the German Shepherd singing yesterday afternoon when Noodle locked him in one of the stalls outside. I think Noodle was tired of Rinnie chasing him all the time.


Rinnie last year.

Some pics of Bubba from this summer:

Random Philadelphia history

"Wissahickon" means either "stream of yellowish color" or "catfish creek" in the Lenape language.

"Moyamensing" means "bird droppings."

You're invited to Ben and Betsy's wedding

Yes, it's true: Betsy Ross is moving on to husband #4, none other than Ben Franklin.


Photo from nbc10.com

Ralph Archbold, who IS Ben Franklin in Philadelphia, is marrying Linda Wilde, who portrays Betsy Ross. Ben and Betsy are getting married July 3rd in front of Independence Hall in a public ceremony at 8 PM. You can read more here, here and here.

Mayor Michael Nutter will be officiating.

Peter Nero and the Philadelphia Pops will be providing the wedding music.

And 76 Carriage Company will be providing the horse-drawn carriage for transportation from the Omni hotel to the ceremony and then afterwards to the reception at the City Tavern.

I was telling my guests during a carriage ride recently about how "Ben" and "Betsy" were getting married. A cabbie with his window down must have only caught the "blah blab Ben Franklin [...] marrying Betsy Ross blah blah" part, because he stuck his whole upper body out of the window and practically shrieked in disbelief:

"Wait--Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross were MARRIED?!?!?!?!"

"No, they're GETTING married." I reassured him that his history was correct.

Only in Philadelphia, eh?

----------

This is not the first time, however, that 76 Carriage Company will have carted around Ben. Noodle and I took Ben Franklin, aka Ralph, on a ride to his 302nd birthday celebration back on January 17.

Photo from ushistory.org. It makes me cold just looking at it. (A good way to forget about the 90 degree weather.)

Now THERE's a bourgeois tour!

Here's a fortuitous follow up to my recent post regarding whether or not horse and carriage tours were "bourgeois."

The answer is no.

This is the vehicle to take a bourgeois tour:




Photo 1: Chip is not bourgeois. The bus is.
Photo 2: Carriage 17 frames up the strange Canadian tour bus. Their tour bus name tops previous "silly tour bus name contenders" such as "Wombles," "Lamers" and "Kewl Tours."

That's what we've been tryin' to tell ya

This isn't "news" to those who know, but it's a newsflash to everyone who stops by my carriage looking for Pat's and Geno's in search of an "authentic" Philly cheesesteak.

From today's philly.com:

CHEEZ WHIZ IS OVERRATED FOR CHEESESTEAKS

A recent Philly.com poll asked, "What cheese belongs on a cheesesteak?" and Whiz finished third. American edged out provolone after more than 5,700 votes were cast.

Even Geno's owner Joey Vento, 68, downplays Whiz. "To be honest with you, I've never eaten Cheez Whiz, and I'm the owner," he said. " . . . We always recommend the provolone. . . . That's the real cheese."

A representative from the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation came to address our company at our annual meeting. She encouraged us, in our talking up our fine city, to encourage people to eat their cheesesteaks "the right way": "Whiz wit". This ridiculous suggestion was met with a chorus of boos from lifelong Philadelphians.

The cheesesteak was invented in 1932. Guess what? There was no Cheez Whiz. Not until the 1950s. Cheez Whiz cannot be historically correct on a cheesesteak, and truth be told, runs last among cheese preferences, except at those two famous institutions at 9th and Passyunk: Pat's and Geno's.

Originally, the Philly steak sandwich, invented by his Uncle Pat in the early 1930s, he said, had no cheese.

By and by, cheese was introduced. "Customers got tired of eating with or without onions, just like my Uncle Pat got tired of eating hot dogs," Frank Jr. said.

American or sharp provolone? was the original debate, he said.

In the mid 1950s - not long after Chttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifheez Whiz hit the market - his father, Frank Sr., began keeping some by the grill, and telling customers to try it.

"It worked well, it tasted good. . . . It caught on," Frank Jr. said.

Other places started "impostoring us," he said.

How's that for some history? (There's more in the full article.) And the fine folks at the GPTMC want tour guides to be licensed because supposedly WE don't know Philadelphia history.

So, to reiterate what I've been telling tourists who ask for a while. Don't let anyone bully you into ordering a cheesesteak "Whiz wit." Unless you like neon goo. Get your provolone or American if you prefer.

Carrot 2008 Campaign

Take the Bush-McCain challenge, sponsored by MoveOn. Then continue to the McCain-Carrot challenge.

The carrot compares favorably on all issues except for "which candidate for president would best be able to protect us from Percherons?"

Gentrification, then... Aristocratization?

Our carriage company sits in an increasingly-dense forest of half-million dollar townhouses and condominiums. They're springing up like dandelions this spring. Already, we've been in a battle with the construction guys across the street over where they park their backhoe (Answer: NOT in my boss's parking space next to the yard the horses use for R&R).

Daily movements to and from work are a maze of blocked streets, cement mixers, backhoes, and a particularly aggressive construction-cantina-on-wheels driver. Getting hay in and manure out is a headache.

So, it was with great amusement that I read this article in that great fake news source, The Onion:

Report: Nation's Gentrified Neighborhoods Threatened By Aristocratization

WASHINGTON—According to a report released Tuesday by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, the recent influx of exceedingly affluent powder-wigged aristocrats into the nation's gentrified urban areas is pushing out young white professionals, some of whom have lived in these neighborhoods for as many as seven years.

[...]

"A three-block section of [Chicago neighborhood] Wicker Park that once accommodated eight families, two vintage clothing stores, a French cleaners, and a gourmet bakery has been completely razed to make way for a private livery stable and carriage house," Kennedy said. "The space is now entirely unusable for affordable upper-income condominium housing. No one can live there except for the odd stable boy or footman who gets permission to sleep in the hayloft."

Be sure and read the whole article.

Maybe aristocratization would help the horse and carriage business, after all.

This has been your bit of random sillyness for the day, brought to you by thedrafthorse.com.

The photo of Scott and Rex on Fourth Street is brought to you by b a r t on flickr.com.

Looking back at the Taco Liberty Bell

Twelve years ago, Taco Bell ran the following full-page ad in The Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, and USA Today:

Taco Bell Buys The Liberty Bell
In an effort to help the national debt, Taco Bell is pleased to announce that we have agreed to purchase the Liberty Bell, one of our country’s most historic treasures. It will now be called the ”Taco Liberty Bell” and will still be accessible to the American public for viewing. While some may find this controversial, we hope our move will prompt other corporations to take similar action to do their part to reduce the country’s debt.

The sad thing is (or rather, sad things are):

1. Some people believed this.
2. Some of the people who did not believe this didn't find the humor in it and were gravely offended (even though Taco Bell gave $50,000 to the Park Service for the upkeep of the bell).

But, I guess that's what makes this the #4 all-time April Fool's Joke on the Museum of the Hoax's top 100 list.

You can read more about the Taco Liberty Bell April Fool's Day Joke here.

(By the way: 1.) You can't buy the Liberty Bell to pay off the national debt because the federal government does not own the bell or Independence hall... Philadelphia does. 2.) The city of Philadelphia tried to sell the Libery Bell already, in 1828, for scrap metal, but gave up--for good, it would seem--when they got no takers.)

Happy President's Day!

From youtube:




(History is admittedly more fun with a sense of humor...)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Mississippi (190th) and to my alma mater, Emory University (171st).

May the horse be with you

I've been on a posting-binge today, but that tends to happen when I'm doing lots of internautical house-keeping.

For the sake of old times, you can check out my ancient, dead blog here.

Update: Silly sports names...

Prince Fielder had to get in on the news action: He just became the youngest player in MLB history to hit 50 HRs in a season...

Funny sports names in the news

OK, so Da Bears are talking about replacing QB Rex Grossman with Brian Griese (pronounced "greasy"). I think that the guys on ESPN talking about "Griese and Grossman" sound funny.

Also, Milton Bradley of the Padres has been in the news for having knocked himself out for the season by tearing his ACL whilst arguing with an umpire. Yeah, Mr. Bradley, "you can be a winner at the game of Life!"

Sadly, one of my FAVORITE football names is out for the season as well. New Orleans Saints RB Deuce MacAllister is done for the year.

My current favorite baseball name is Prince Fielder.

Today was a bad day in history...

August 24th marks the anniversary of the destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii by Mt. Vesuvius. It also is St. Bartholomew's Day, which means it's the anniversary of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.

Yay, August 24th!

On a happier note, it's my day off!

Slower than molasses in January...

Just how slow is Pete?

On Saturday, we got passed by a dachshund.

A Pun from Peter

Which patron saint do horses pray to?

Saint Thomas Equinas.

(Ba dum bum ching!)

Thanks, Peter.

(The pic above is of the barn's very own Thomas, the tallest horse in Philadelphia. Tom is a 19hh Belgian gelding.)

Like a racehorse...

In honor of tomorrow's Belmont Stakes, I found this column on Slate today. Apparently racehorses pee 1.5 to 2 gallons a day. And Clydesdales pee more. (I could have told y'all that, having seen some of the draft horses around the barn down a five gallon bucket of water, and then having sat through not one, but TWO cycles of a traffic light waiting for Bud to finish up.)

Trump's favorite place is in front of Signer Park.

Many of the carriage horses participate in the long history of public urination outside of the Powel House (Samuel Powel and his wife Elizabeth were famous for their parties there...).

It's a greenhorn extravaganza!

On Tuesday, I reported the content of a conversation I'd had at work to Peter. Basically, a coworker had complained about "all these greenhorns" we've got running around the company at the moment. Peter looked surprised--he'd never heard the term "greenhorn" before.

On Wednesday, Peter and I settled down to watch Mythbusters, and Jamie made some comment during their segment on Wild West Myths about "greenhorns." "See?" I said to Peter, "He used 'greenhorn'. Why, it's a veritable greenhorn extravaganza!"

Then I got to thinking, "Now there's a phrase: 'greenhorn extravaganza.' I bet that doesn't show up on Google any place."

For the record, "greenhorn extravaganza" returns no hits on Google. Until now.

{cackles maniacally}

Do you believe that forks are evolved from spoons?

That was my random question in the Blogger profile.

Do you believe that forks are evolved from spoons?

No, I believe forks and spoons are both evolved from a common ancestor, a "proto-" or "ur-spork." Due to separate ecological niches (firm and soupy environments), forks and spoons have, through divergent evolution, become separate species. The fact that forks and spoons can mate to create sterile sporks reveals a common heritage. Sporks are the mules of cutlery.

Ah, to explain the speciation of knives! Or the speciation explosion that was the Victorian period! (Or are fish forks, pickle forks, butter forks, salad forks, desert forks, carving forks, etc. etc. just breeds of a single species, the fork?)