Hoof in Mouth

                    I don't know about you but I have a big issue with putting my own foot in my mouth!
          We had some good friends over for supper one night, my wife had made a delicious meal. (her Mennonite background at work) After supper my wife told me to go to our basement and get a big container of ice cream out of the freezer.  I was to put a little beside everyone's piece of pie.  Both families were waiting patiently for desert when I opened my big mouth.  "Honey, this ice-cream is a little freezer burned."  She told me that it would be fine, get it scooped.  I told her again, "NO, this ice-cream is bad!"  My wife calmly informed her husband, "Hun, it's fine... they brought it."

          This picture above is my good ol' mare Karma, rolling to get rid of some pesky flies.  Looks like she is rolling with laughter!  I'm sure Karm and Coke have wanted to laugh at me many times.  After growing up on  an Amish farm, they know how real horse-drawn farm equipment should work, yet, they patiently endure my slow learning curve, as I try my hand at it.

Part 2                                                                                

                             

                    During the next few days, I worked out a plan where I would be able to afford Abe’s mares, if I could only talk him down a little in price.  After work one afternoon, I sped quickly down the highway and turned down the gravel road leading to the 1800s again.  I parked my truck, awkwardly near the hitching post and rolled out, back in time.  On this visit, I only talked to Virgil.  I found him out in the barn.  It was milking time and large black-and-white Holsteins, each in a stanchion, waited patiently to be milked.  I drew in the sweet smell of hay and cows; Michael was milking and told me where to find Virgil.
Only too happy to show me the horses again, Virgil slid open a large door and the line of big black horses clomped into their stalls and calmly let the young man put on their halters and tie them.  I asked if we could take the two mares I was thinking about buying, outside, so I could see them in full daylight...

(to read more, click on Back in Time tab on the menu bar above)

If you already read part 1, scroll down to part 2

Part 3 will be added 6/26

Short Story

                               

                            In a small, gray S-10 Pickup, hustling down gravel roads over Iowa’s rolling hills, I had one of my experiences with time travel.  In a cloud of dust, I crossed a time warp and found myself somewhere in the late 1800s.  Stumbling out of my little truck, I headed toward a large, white barn.  I looked for signs of life inside.  Some voices could be heard coming from within, and I followed the sound until I found a young man and woman having a conversation.  The woman stood there, barefoot, with a long, plain, green dress, playing with her apron strings.  The man had his thumbs under his suspenders, his face hidden by a straw hat.  Unnoticed, I listened for a moment, and couldn't make out a word they were saying.  They spoke in a foreign tongue, but their conversation seemed quite pleasant, as laughter filled the air.
  Suddenly, they saw me and the room fell silent.  They looked me up and down, as if I were some kind of alien.  “Is your dad around?” I asked.  “He’s up at the house.” The young man answered in broken English.  I left them behind, heading up toward a very large, white farm house.  Everything seemed familiar; I knew I had been here, on an earlier voyage, but didn't know if those living here remembered  me.  Passing under spinning shadows of a windmill that clattered rhythmically...

           (To read more... click on, Back in Time, tab on the menu bar above.)

Chore Time!

       Anyone who ever spent time on a farm knows those words, chore time!
       My wife's dad is an older Mennonite man in his eighties and loves to tell stories of the old days.
       One Sunday, over a delicious home cooked meal he told me, "If you ever want to see something amazing, go to an Amish farm at chore time!"

He said that he had taken his push-mower to a local Amish farmer, who also has a small-engine repair shop. When he got there a young boy told him that "Dad" was gone but due to return soon. My dad-in-law decided to wait in his truck.
       He told me,"I was upset that I had to wait, until I realized I wasn't going to be bored! There were children everywhere doing a whole variety of chores. Everywhere, all around me! Some were feeding chicken, others feeding hogs. I saw a little girl, not much more than 5 lead a tall buggy-horse up near my pickup truck. I was amazed that she wasn't afraid to handle that big horse. She tied it to a hitching rack near my truck and left. Pretty soon she comes back with a screwdriver and proceeded to lift up each of that horses feet, cleaning them out with her makeshift hoof-pick." He laughed and repeated himself as he usually does. "That little girl picked up each of that big horse's feet and cleaned them out! I was almost disappointed when their dad came home and we loaded up my lawnmower."

       There are dozens of small businesses on Amish farms in the Kalona area!  I highly recommend taking a trip to any Amish community and doing business with the Amish.  I can almost guarantee you will come away with a great story of your own!  Just look for a sign along the road advertising rhubarb, brown eggs, rabbits, puppies, or a million other similar items for sale.

Buggy Etiquette

       You may be thinking this blog post is about how to behave while riding in a buggy.  When I was a nineteen-year-old, single man I took my very first buggy ride.  I had become friends with an Amish family and asked one of their daughters some questions about what Singings were like.  She invited me to come along with her to a Singing the next Sunday.  She suggested I come early enough for Church and stay until evening and go to the Singing.

       When we climbed into the buggy and started down a gravel road, their horse lifted its tail and began to drop, what we in the Kalona area call "buggy exhaust" on the road.  Let me just say I wasn't used to that view!  I let out a chuckle and those teenage girls looked at me to see what was so funny.  Immediately I knew that this was part of everyday life for them and I felt like a city slicker!
       Now, years later, when I give wagon rides to friends, I am surprised that they laugh when my horses lift their tails to take care of business.  I guess it is all what you are used to!

       I actually want to address the issue of how to act around buggies.

 1) When you are in an area with horse and buggy people, please remember that they are only going a fraction of the speed of a car.

2) Remember that horses have a mind of their own and no two horses' minds are exactly alike!  A horse can act up at anytime about something as simple as a plastic bag blowing out of a ditch.  Pass carefully!

3) Understand that Amish are not trying to attract attention.  They are just living their everyday life in the way they have grown up living it.  I'm like you, very curious about it, but at the very least give them some respect and don't treat them like a circus attraction.

4) Don't ask, "Can I take your picture?"  Amish have strict rules about having pictures of people.  Every Amish group has their own rules and some Amish people have different standards.  Some may not mind you taking their picture but that is rare.  That is why I only take pictures with no faces showing.

(Those pictures in my blog of our cover photo shoot have non-Amish actors in them.  That is why those pictures were taken with faces showing.)

Under the Heavens {Behind the Scenes of the Photo shoot}

Sunday was the big day for Robyn Rasmussen from Ruby Ellen Photography to do the cover photo shoot for the first book in the Amish Horse Series, "Under the Heavens". Take a peek at some of the behind the scenes look at the horses and their owner, the author of the book, Tom Nye.

 More photos of the horses with the actors standing in as Lenny and Leah, to come later. Keep coming back for more!

I gave up my horses for lent!

  

                                                Took these pictures yesterday at our home place!

       Have you ever woke yourself up laughing, because you made up a joke in your dream? A few years back I used to loan my horses to my Amish neighbor quite often, he used them for field work. I must have been thinking about that in my sleep. I woke up laughing and wondered why, then I remembered my dream.
       I had been telling a buddy of mine, "I gave up my horses for lent!"  He asked me, "What do you mean?"
I told him, "I lent my horses to my neighbor and he never brought them back!

Draft Horse Sale

       Kalona Sale Barn has a draft-horse sale twice a year. On my way up to see what horse-drawn equipment was available, I saw this nice team of Percheron draft-horses. Notice the steel wheels on this Amish hay rack. This draft-horse sale is a huge event for our local Amish community and for all draft-horse enthusiasts in the area. If you have an interest in rubbing shoulders with Amish folks, check out a sale barn during this type of event.

         If you are looking for Amish Horses to buy, click on this link below.

http://amishhorses.blogspot.com/2014/04/amish-horses-for-sale.html?spref=fb

       At our sale in Kalona, Amish women set out long tables full of baked goods offered at a reasonable price. I had a big plate of snicker-doodles, but I noticed a variety of freshly baked pies on the table too. Mmmm, mmm!

       One chapter in Under the Heavens, gives a detailed account of a visit to this sale barn. I believe that if I write about things I've experienced in my own life, it will ring true. This is the place where I bought a number of wonderful draft-horses, and met some Amish horsemen that I think qualify as horse-whisperers. Just seeing 2000 pound horses, all decked out in beautiful harness, is a great experience!

Are you interested in reading a novel all about farming with horses on an Amish farm?

click on the orange words here: Under the Heavens, Amish Horses Book Series

             
                                   If you enjoy this, check out Amish horses Facebook page                  
                                               https://www.facebook.com/AmishHorses

Karm and Coke, An artistic view {by Ruby Ellen Photography}

 

 

 

 

 

All images courtesy of Ruby Ellen Photography, copyright 2013 

Grooming

       My horses, Karm and Coke, have finally shed their winter coat! We had temperatures in the 90's yesterday. I brushed my Percheron mares in the evening and winter hair was coming off in globs. I could tell they enjoyed getting scratched all over with a curry comb, they stood quietly nodded as though trying to reciprocate.
       If you have ever watched horses groom each other in the pasture, you'll notice they each nip at the same spot on their partner. That way they know where it itches! If I chew on your lower back, that means, I want my lower back chewed on (in the horse world). Well I notice, when I'm brushing my horses, they get a chewing motion going as if they want to groom me! I have them tied, so they can't reach me. I'm sure it would hurt anyway, if they nipped on me like they do each other.

Please Come back Soon!

I- Robyn Rasmussen, am just getting started with helping my dad- Thomas Nye, start a web presence for his book that he has just written titled: "Under the Heavens". I myself have loved writing for quite some time now and have several blogs that I have manage including Tips from the Heart and Ruby Ellen Photography. I have a diploma in Retail marketing, combined with an AA in Interior Design, a photography business as well as 13 years of retail experience that have led up to me becoming my dad's "marketing" manager. Which leads me to the real topic at hand, my Dad! :)

As long as I can remember my dad has been a talker and a great story teller. As a little girl I remember having long conversations about things he remembers from being a young boy to when he met my mom and when he got his first horse. I must have gone over those stories dozens of times but listening to my daddy tell stories with so much detail and enthusiasm, I never got tired of them.

About this time last year I was blessed to have the rare opportunity to go with my parents and my brother on a trip to their timeshare. As an adult, with children of my own, it rarely happens that I am without children, and my other sisters, with time to just talk to my dad and mom. While on this trip my dad brought up the fact that he was writing a book!?! I thought maybe it was just a short story, as he had done many times before. But this was different. As he read the first chapter to me aloud I began to get tears in my eyes and chills up my spine- the good kind. That's when I knew this was something special, something different than before, something big.

Fast forward one year.

Throughout the year I remained diligent in asking him if his book was finished yet and so excited to see where it would take him. I will never forget the first night when I got my hands on that beautiful single spaced, inch thick, neatly-typed copy. As I sat down to delve into the book for the first time I had no idea the amount of pride that would flow from my heart as I finished reading it.

I knew that I was to be reading it with an editing eye but as I read and started making minor corrections I almost felt guilty, like I was changing something sacred? I took my time reading it, turning each page to the back of the stack as I reached for the next. Pen in one hand, thick stack of paper in the other I spent mornings curled up with my coffee mug and evenings curled up with a bowl of ice-cream. Carefully sipping and lapping each word in.

As I began to read about a young man, confused about where he really fit in, I began to connect with Lenny as I knew him. A clear picture of his surroundings, in beautiful Iowa Amish countryside, was ingrained in my head, the words painting the perfect picture. The climax of the story drew me in and tears flowed from my cheeks and I had that huge lump in my throat, as I could feel the pain of Lenny's heartache, the character that I felt so connected to. Yet, even through the pain, the story has a silver lining that brought a gentle smile to my face as I read the last paragraph and already started planning the sequel in my head.

Maybe I am partial, maybe I am trained to love horses, maybe I already wish I was Amish at times, or maybe this book is just plain amazing! I'm thinking the later of the choices is the truth. The copy I read, although not grammatically perfect, was the perfect marriage of truth, opinion, history and story.  What a little editing can do is no match to what it can't do, and that is-  make a beautiful story to read.  I am told by my Dad that after submitting to some publishers the critiques have led to an even better story line that I have yet to read. At any rate I am excited to see where this book is headed.

I am a strong believer in what is meant to be will be and I am just feeling like this is the time that my father is meant to get his voice out there in a big way.

Congrats to my daddy and please join us as we embark on the big and sometimes scary-overwhelming task of publishing a first book. I love you to pieces daddy! -Your oldest daughter, Robyn