Hello!
I want to personally thank the people that made the commitment to come to
our fund raiser on Saturday. Special thanks to Kelly Wilde, who gave up
his entire afternoon to come and entertain us (no one sang karaoke but we
had great music)and donated his time. Thank you to Romance Store's Kevin and Nancy for their hospitality, and to
Grass Roots Barbecue for coming to feed everyone with such short notice. The ribs and catfish was delicious! As I looked around, I saw so many of the people who mean the most to me in
life personally. Their support is priceless and cannot go without
recognition. My in-laws, my two children (wish the other two could have
come), Lynette, Ray and Alice, one of my clients and his whole family and
staff (warmed my heart to have him there and so proud to show his family
how he could ride!), Diane and Duane, Lisa, Craig's friends from work,our
veterinarian Terry, Francis and Emma, Diane and Jessica, Jamie, Dennis,
Kathy and Andy, and many more that I am probably forgetting right now with
distractions in my background.......thank you for coming to show your
support of the work we do for the many horses that need it. Thanks to
Captain Hook's for their financial contribution and their donation of
passes on their Clements Fishing Barge, and thanks to Marie Glover and
Tabby Town for their contributions for the silent auction. Also to be
recognized include: Nelson Agri Center
Vernon Inn - Viroqua
Harvest Lane Treasures
Wahl Clippers
Chick's Saddlery
Absorbine
Peter Stone Company
Ray and Alice H.
Sue Kammel and Norwex
K. Swan
Andrea for the gorgeous home decor items! If we had to count on numbers for our fund raiser success we would not
have made our goal of coming out a pinch ahead after expenses. The silent
auction and other activities that day and evening and the support given
helped us immensely. Thanks to my wonderful hubby and daughter for making
it successful and thanks to my mother in law for "passing the jar"!!! Joe Cody closed up Romance Store with a band of faithful spectators and
dancers, and I managed to cut some rug towards the end of the night as I
was able to relax. I believe we made about $750 after all was said and done, which isn't bad
for a first year. With better planning and more help available to us next
summer we will plan another event similar to this and hope for a few more
people. With so few people adopting horses (I hear the horse market is dead across
the nation right now), we rely on donations and contributions to survive. This is opposite even five years ago, when our adoption fees could sustain
us better. So this fund raiser was a good event. I promised some tweens and teens that I would ride on Sunday, but forgot
to factor in that I was to help clean up at Romance. By the time we got
back it was 2:30 pm, and I had three girls all fired up to ride. Instead
of trailering to Duck Egg (we heard that there are rattlesnakes stil up
there), we rode 4-5 miles in our valley. We did tons of running and
trotting, which the girls loved. We passed one farm and the horse I was
riding came to a standstill and actually tried to turn around, sensing
something disturbing. I urged him forward, but he would not go. My eyes
turned to the left up on a slight hill near a barn, and it looked like
they were grinding wood into woodchips from a distance. Much to my
horror, when we got close enough, we noticed some women, and a sick
silence in the air. The women were holding up chickens, spreading out
their necks, and whacking the heads off. Then they passed the chicken
over to another woman who held the bodies up to a strange machine that
literally ground all of the feathers off, with feathers flying everywhere.
I exclaimed, 'OH MY GOSH' and jumped off my horse, who had sensed death
in the air. Covering my face, all I could hear were the girls behind me
looking on in desperate helplessness, never having seen such a slaughter
before. We talked about it for a long time afterwards, and I have come to
the conclusion that if more people had to see such a sick circumstance,
they either would never eat meat again, or they would be extra extra
thankful for the sacrifice of their own lives so that we can live. As for
me, I have not touched a chicken in either a store or restaurant since
following the semis down the highway that carry countless cages full of
crammed poultry to their final destination. I will not put money into the
pockets of companies or people that do not slaughter animals humanely. My
oldest daughter is now completely vegan, but I do not have the discipline
to be that devoted yet. I still consume dairy products and I love my
fish. My mother always told me that Jesus ate fish and she instilled in
me the belief (or fantasy) that fish don't have nerves to feel things like
other animals do. For right or wrong, I love her for telling me that as a
child (I must have been asking even then?). Our ride ended on a great note, and we'll plan to do trails on a less-busy
weekend. Thanks to Judy for picking up my mother at her condo to bring
her back to my house so that I could have more time with the girls and the
horses. It's so good for the soul! Thanks again, all of you, for a great weekend. Susan
I want to personally thank the people that made the commitment to come to
our fund raiser on Saturday. Special thanks to Kelly Wilde, who gave up
his entire afternoon to come and entertain us (no one sang karaoke but we
had great music)and donated his time. Thank you to Romance Store's Kevin and Nancy for their hospitality, and to
Grass Roots Barbecue for coming to feed everyone with such short notice. The ribs and catfish was delicious! As I looked around, I saw so many of the people who mean the most to me in
life personally. Their support is priceless and cannot go without
recognition. My in-laws, my two children (wish the other two could have
come), Lynette, Ray and Alice, one of my clients and his whole family and
staff (warmed my heart to have him there and so proud to show his family
how he could ride!), Diane and Duane, Lisa, Craig's friends from work,our
veterinarian Terry, Francis and Emma, Diane and Jessica, Jamie, Dennis,
Kathy and Andy, and many more that I am probably forgetting right now with
distractions in my background.......thank you for coming to show your
support of the work we do for the many horses that need it. Thanks to
Captain Hook's for their financial contribution and their donation of
passes on their Clements Fishing Barge, and thanks to Marie Glover and
Tabby Town for their contributions for the silent auction. Also to be
recognized include: Nelson Agri Center
Vernon Inn - Viroqua
Harvest Lane Treasures
Wahl Clippers
Chick's Saddlery
Absorbine
Peter Stone Company
Ray and Alice H.
Sue Kammel and Norwex
K. Swan
Andrea for the gorgeous home decor items! If we had to count on numbers for our fund raiser success we would not
have made our goal of coming out a pinch ahead after expenses. The silent
auction and other activities that day and evening and the support given
helped us immensely. Thanks to my wonderful hubby and daughter for making
it successful and thanks to my mother in law for "passing the jar"!!! Joe Cody closed up Romance Store with a band of faithful spectators and
dancers, and I managed to cut some rug towards the end of the night as I
was able to relax. I believe we made about $750 after all was said and done, which isn't bad
for a first year. With better planning and more help available to us next
summer we will plan another event similar to this and hope for a few more
people. With so few people adopting horses (I hear the horse market is dead across
the nation right now), we rely on donations and contributions to survive. This is opposite even five years ago, when our adoption fees could sustain
us better. So this fund raiser was a good event. I promised some tweens and teens that I would ride on Sunday, but forgot
to factor in that I was to help clean up at Romance. By the time we got
back it was 2:30 pm, and I had three girls all fired up to ride. Instead
of trailering to Duck Egg (we heard that there are rattlesnakes stil up
there), we rode 4-5 miles in our valley. We did tons of running and
trotting, which the girls loved. We passed one farm and the horse I was
riding came to a standstill and actually tried to turn around, sensing
something disturbing. I urged him forward, but he would not go. My eyes
turned to the left up on a slight hill near a barn, and it looked like
they were grinding wood into woodchips from a distance. Much to my
horror, when we got close enough, we noticed some women, and a sick
silence in the air. The women were holding up chickens, spreading out
their necks, and whacking the heads off. Then they passed the chicken
over to another woman who held the bodies up to a strange machine that
literally ground all of the feathers off, with feathers flying everywhere.
I exclaimed, 'OH MY GOSH' and jumped off my horse, who had sensed death
in the air. Covering my face, all I could hear were the girls behind me
looking on in desperate helplessness, never having seen such a slaughter
before. We talked about it for a long time afterwards, and I have come to
the conclusion that if more people had to see such a sick circumstance,
they either would never eat meat again, or they would be extra extra
thankful for the sacrifice of their own lives so that we can live. As for
me, I have not touched a chicken in either a store or restaurant since
following the semis down the highway that carry countless cages full of
crammed poultry to their final destination. I will not put money into the
pockets of companies or people that do not slaughter animals humanely. My
oldest daughter is now completely vegan, but I do not have the discipline
to be that devoted yet. I still consume dairy products and I love my
fish. My mother always told me that Jesus ate fish and she instilled in
me the belief (or fantasy) that fish don't have nerves to feel things like
other animals do. For right or wrong, I love her for telling me that as a
child (I must have been asking even then?). Our ride ended on a great note, and we'll plan to do trails on a less-busy
weekend. Thanks to Judy for picking up my mother at her condo to bring
her back to my house so that I could have more time with the girls and the
horses. It's so good for the soul! Thanks again, all of you, for a great weekend. Susan
