Park News

Switching gears and focusing on Mondays is always a bit difficult for me. Still the Weekend Warrior doing the nurse thing in town; arriving home late from K.C. Sunday nights chauffeured by my conscientious and caring champion/companion is the norm throughout our “off” months. This time we drove home in a 1949 classically original, cherry Chrysler Windsor. White walls, spring-loaded window opera handles, state of the art Fluid Drive Automatic with only 46,000 original miles, a large percentage of that acquired by Mr. K on a trip to Fairbanks, Alaska (and back) in 2002; loaned to Jeff by his Dad temporarily during this interim of truck repair. WITH the add-on windshield sun visor; the luxury of metal; no cars made between '42 and '47; Chrysler honoring its war contracts and falling behind in the competition… Jeff could go on and I enjoy it.

To clear cluttered thoughts, erase work worries, define the tasks at hand and the week's work ahead at The Park and farm; to prioritize and delineate, account for the weather and animal requirements and begin implementation is not as simple as writing it down; but just about as difficult as reading and comprehending what you just read!

Encouraging if not enthusiastic at least willing participation from above mentioned chariot driver is my first priority… and he's up! I'll sweeten the proposition with breakfast; he didn't get a decent meal yesterday I don't think… he's dwindling away, poor baby.

Jeff talks with the animals hence his new moniker, Dr. Doolittle…. We came to the nickname concurrently, laughing. He does talk to each one, crooning a litany of calm support, but unlike the word's implication of sloth and lethargy, Jeff gets the job done…eventually. His soothing, satisfying, pronouncements are soul-salving for bipeds as well, though sometimes lead one alluringly towards sloth and lethargy!

His new name, after skimming the above saccharin sentiments, as coined by him shall be, “Dr. Doeslittle!

He promotes the “Hands Off Method”

and bitches to the animals! J

You know how I can tell he's gay? He recognizes a bamboo steamer (found in the back recesses of my cabinetry) and insists all people can identify said object and use accordingly… with relish… he's going to steam some brussels sprouts here in a bit! (We've also been watching “40 Year Old Virgin”!)

Now with Spring as supreme seductress we have that too to consider.

Winter was a big pussyfoot, no doubt the bugs will be ferocious. Will the widening rabbit population with its amazing manure spreading capabilities help or hinder the verdant growth of spring? Will we have the new engine in “Mo” ready to go?!

At the farm, 2-6-06, evening

Aretha, our standard poodle, just threatened with a half hearted run, 10 or 12 deer out of the alfalfa field. Good girl, though the deer are so beautiful to observe… wish I had a video of them turning tail, their white flags disappearing over the fence into the woods. Our attention had been drawn initially by Laffeatte (the scary llama) gazing up the hill at a bunch … gaggle? of turkey. No a gaggle is a group of geese in the air; on the ground they're called a skein. A group of owls is called a parliament and a group of ravens is called a murder … ahhh, life on the farm. Sometimes I nauseate myself! That's not to say I'm bulimic… Just, sometimes I do go on….

Crikey!

A duck's quack does not echo, and no one knows why…!

I'm reading from the back of an old calendar,

“Interesting agricultural trivia”

Twelve or more cows are known as a flink and don't try to lead them downstairs….

The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. A donkey will sink in quicksand, but a mule won't. A baby oyster is called a spat. The top knot that quails have is called a hmuh. A horse cannot vomit, neither can a rabbit. Camel's milk does not curdle. Chickens that lay brown eggs have red ear lobes. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up in the sky. And remember, a full grown bear can run as fast as a horse!

Triplet update; Day 6

All three are up and running with Mom, merging with the herd and expanding their boundaries. “Darling” comes to mind!

Come and visit us down on the farm… I mean at

The Park

Sincerely and with a sense of humor,

Susie and Jeff at the

Pony Express

1-19-06

Are you bored with work? Tired of confinement? The same ole' same ole' getting you down? Have you staved off winters' pangs with catalogs and wish lists? Maybe Christmas included new camping gear or you “traded up”. You've put it together, set it up, sewed, sawed, and sat in it. You've polished the chrome, read the manuals, checked out the switches, fixed all the glitches (sorry I couldn't resist).

But now what?!

These mild winter days are toying with you, taunting you. Perhaps you find yourself staring vacantly out of windows, at TVs, or into unrecognizable family faces, oblivious to your loved one's requests. Or maybe pacing is more your forte; from window to window, searching for something, tripping over pets, friends, and furniture in the process.

Take heed! You may be suffering from a dreaded condition referred to as

Winter Wanderlust. Experts agree that if left untreated, i.e. you fail to make plans to visit The Pony Express RV Park & Campgrounds in 2006,

dire results may ensue. Specifically, you'll be out of the loop, ostracized and laughed at for not knowing what a great camping facility you're under-utilizing!

It's time to escape the doldrums of winter by transferring your thoughts and energy's towards spring.

Visualize your vacation with us at The Pony.

Start making arrangements; get your calendars and phone books out. Talk with friends and family. You'll find the early symptoms of “WW” dissipating; the lassitude, lethargy and laziness replaced with that little bubbly feeling, enthusiasm and anticipation for coming events.

You've heard the expression that planning a trip is half the fun… well, that's true unless you're referring to The Pony Express, in which case you'll find

We are the fun!

Pencil us in early; consider reserving your favorite sites. Remember, ours is the park where the RV sites are all unique and appealing. Tree lined with plunging creek banks define the secluded E and F sites; roomy, natural gathering areas would describe the A's, B's, and C's… and there's so much more.

For instance the tent camping is phenomenal. Last season I loved golf carting prospective campers around the grounds helping them pick suitable spots and showing off The Park. Listening to their “Ooh's” and “Ahh's” and other exclamations of delight was gratifying though admittedly some of their screams were out of fear when I took them “off road”!

We've worked hard, we've learned a lot, and we're proud of our facility. With 100 acres to tuck our patrons around in we've found that filling the needs of many a varied camping group can be accomplished harmoniously and satisfactorily.

You may not be aware that we have awesome hiking, biking, and riding trails cutting through acres of hilly, wooded terrain with crisscrossing creeks and connecting scary plank bridges.

We have the big air conditioned Rec room, music in the amphitheatre, play grounds and ponds.

Surely you've heard of our wonderful bathrooms and showers; if so we know you'll come back.

There's the “New Zoo 2”, our second fenced area adjacent to the original PettingZoo.

Expansion has included additions to our exotic animal menagerie. Two Barbado/Mouflon sheep “Sly” and his wife “Sylvia” joined us. Sly, graced with an impressive set of horns and showy full cape quickly took over “management” of Penney and Sasha, our 2 year old maiden Mouflon ewes. And we're counting on Sylvia to give them lambing instructions. She is wide as a barn door and reportedly births triplets successively and successfully.

Sadly we lost Munchkin our neutered Mouflon ram this past November. I rue the day I let his rumen go to ruin…. He was a character, always ready with a low pitched, “baaaad” when queried as to how he was being treated. We miss him and thank him posthumously for all he taught us.

Also acquired paradoxically through cruise acquaintances of my parents are a cow/calf pair, “Aunt B” and “Grizelda”. What a find! Aunt B is this huge headed shaggy behemoth of a cow, a Belted Galloway. As sweet tempered as she is stout, she has fringed ears, large limpid eyes, an impossibly huge nose and the most beautifully symmetrical white belt. Jeff is particularly in love with her. I'm partial to her daughter, Grizz, our Belted Galloway-Zebu cross. Talk about adorable! Closing in on a year, she's still smaller then my Zebu bulls and has a nice square conformation with longer legs then mom, proportionately (thank goodness). She's polled and belted, has a carrot top (looks like she's wearing a poorly fitted red wig) and sports a white foo-man-choo. The “boys” Zeke and Zach, our gentle miniature Zebu bulls, have become famous friends with Mrs. B, if you get my drift, and look towards spring no doubt, eagerly expectant for a go at someone more their size…. Yeha!

Think “Miniature Cattle”… they're the “Wave”! Seriously, for the new homesteader, the retired country couple, a 4-H project, manageable frame size, for clearing the back “5”, calorie conversion, tax breaks…. I'm making it up now but you get the picture. I believe in bovines, particularly the cute little manageable ones… for sure they're great for petting zoos… J .

Lastly, under Petting Zoo News, we're introducing a new species to The Park environs; Checkered Giants! Consider yourself forewarned and be prepared to stay another night so “Little Brittany” can play with the bunnies another day!

Large black and white bunnies; cute as pie! Billy Jeans' babies, over a dozen, seemingly oblivious to danger, hanging out and hopping around all over the place.

We acclimatized the bunnies slowly to the great outdoors and eventually released them into a prepared “Rabbitat”, the woods inside of New Zoo 2. They had “herd protectors”: Mabeline, our Appy mule, and Uno Llafeatte, our visually challenged though aggressively friendly black llama. Incredulously they're surviving… thriving; maybe from sheer dumb luck. Mabeline didn't chew them up into shreds; Llafeatte didn't stomp them into thin crêpes, accidentally or otherwise. The “Odd Couple” herd protection system seemed to work with turns taken shooing the bunnies back into the woods, that is, until the bunnies decided to move… hence, “Rabbitat 2” of course. For 2 ½ months we've been intrigued and charmed. Knock on wood; we're still in the experimental stages and I'm thrilled yet amazed every time I see them. I realize the odd bobcat or coyote could inflict a devastating blow.

We have an inordinately large wild rabbit population throughout The Park; perhaps predators don't feel welcome what with the people, the fences, and the fires.

In any case, we're thrilled at playing a part in enabling one of God's most defenseless and beguiling of creatures to find a niche… not to mention our pleasure anticipating projected revenues generated through the sale of rabbit chow! We'll have a

“Bunny Victory Garden”

and a lot less flower pots in front… I'd rather switch then fight!

For animal enthusiasts, with anticipated kiddings, lambings, kindlings (rabbits) and maybe the birth of a cria (baby llama) what more justification do you need to visit us at The Pony Express RV Park and Campgrounds?

On a sad but happy note, Bill, AKA our “Bubba” is moving on to a more suitable job, i.e. one that provides a salary more commensurate with his expertise in computers and a work environment more attuned towards his needs. He'll have advancement opportunities and all those “real job” perks. We could never recompense him for all the hours put in. He knows more about the RV Park business then we do and we'll miss him. It never was planned as a permanent thing here, though we milked him for all he was worth! We hope he enjoys and finds satisfaction in this new job and wish him well, “Thank you Bill… tear “em up!” Remember, there will always be a place for you atop “MO” (our zero turn radius professional Snapper mower) you showed us that man and machine can indeed fuse and become one!

By the way, we're interviewing Camp Hosts for the upcoming 2006 season. Pass the word. Call for information at 816-4492039, or email Jeff at jeffery54@aol.com .

We'd love to hear from you and are looking forward towards spring, our opening tentatively set for the weekend of March 24 th .

Sincerely and with a sense of humor,

Susie and Jeff at

The Pony Express