Little Yellow Wagon

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Foxcroft, Scruffles' daughter who spent her first few days in a Penske truck driving from Lexington KY to Saratoga NY seems to have imbibed a love of travel and will climb into any car with an open window. If she can't get in, she will sleep on top. Yesterday she was lucky my son spotted her before he drove off with her curled up in the kayak on the roofrack. As you can see, she woke up in time to pose for her picture - no flies on her.

Closer to the time of our epic journey we will teach he cats the joys of walking on a leash. Unexpected things can happen to a cat first time on a leash.

Scruffles AKA Scruffy

Yes we are taking the cats along. They are family. Naturally we will be getting them used to the caravan at the same time we get Gungi used to the idea of pulling it. We have not made a decision about Grrrrl as she is old and set in her ways, how old, we don't know because she came from a shelter; She was mature and definitely stand-offish, unlike all the cute kittens, and Heather was afraid no one would adopt her - she was already living on borrowed time. . . . .

The name Grrrrrl she gave herself as it was her answer to all our friendly overtures. Ten years later and she still objects loudly to being picked up, prefers to live outside except in the depth of winter, and is an amazing actor - she can put on the best 'pathetically hungry' act I have ever seen from a cat. That is about the only time she tolerates any petting at all. Thank heavens she has been a healthy cat as I would hate to be the one taking her to the vet! I'd hate to be the vet even more.

Scruffy, who is coming with us, was found by a friend of ours, one of two kittens abandoned under a hedge in Lexington, KY, so young their eyes were only just starting to open. She took them home and called Heather. Oh well. What can I say? We agreed to look after them until they found homes. Naive of us. They had found a home! Scruffy, fluffy, long haired, black and white was very shy while Yoda, an almost perfect siamese down to the kink in his tail, very totally the opposite. Funny things, genes.

One thing they did have in common was precocity. Yoda suddenly became a man-about-town and, while he came home for the odd meal and cuddle, he had made enough friends down the street that he didn't really need us any more. I gave up looking for him and was kept informed of his whereabouts by our gossipy neighbour who would have kidnapped him given half a chance except for her Precious who took exception to him on sight. Very vocally.

We were discussing having them fixed when the move to Saratoga came up. There was a lot to do, packing, getting school transfers etc. and the operation was put on hold. Big mistake. Well, who would have thought? They were still a few months short of a year old besides being brother and sister. Scruffles the homebody and Yoda the socialite obviously had a secret life of their own. Come moving day and what did I find when they moved my bed? A very smug looking Scruff with three drowned rats which a second look proved to be brand new kittens.

Enter Foxcroft and her sisters. Their first few days were spent in a Penske truck. Minus Yoda who never came home on moving day. He was reported to be living with a family at the end of the road. They denied it but - - - he was beautiful, aristocratic and very, very charming. My spy later reported him happy and still doing the rounds - I hope he gives us a thought now and again. He would have loved the trip - at least until his next amorous encounter.

Gunga Din peeking out from under Lady Bug.

Hi, I am Val and the very senior junior partner in this crazy quest to see the world from behind the rump of a horse.

As the horse in question is Gunga Din, presuming he will oblige us by pulling the caravan, I will start with him. In the first photograph he looks, at first glimpse, like a bundle of old rags. A surprise package delivered by his mother within hours of a long trailer trip to my home in Vermont. We knew she was pregnant but, as she was bought sight unseen, not exactly how pregnant!

The three year old filly, soon to be named Lady Bug, was delivered after 10 O'clock one night and looked very unhappy and restless after her long haul. We settled her as best we could and Heather went home for the night. Having had a newly delivered horse break out, leap a five foot gate and head for home once before, I decided to keep an eye on our new arrival, going out at half-hourly intervals to see if she'd settled. No, and no and no. If anything she was becoming more agitated as the time passed. My 2.30 check revealed her standing calmly, head down and chewing on a bunch of rags.

Rags? I shook my head and focussed the light on the rags. They turned into a bundle of legs with a head attached! No wonder the poor mare had been a bit restless! And no, she wasn't eating him, she was being a very good mother and cleaning him up. I rushed inside and called Heather, her first reaction was utter disbelief. As I said, we knew she was in foal but had been lead to believe her pregnancy was in the early stages. Don't shake your head, she looked as if she had a bit of a grass belly, no more. The surprise was total!

Not only was the foal a surprise, but the very obvious breed of the father came as even more of a surprise. Later, when making enquiries about the stallion, purportedly a black and white paint, we learned that two Clydesdale, yearling, colts had been sharing the field with the mares. Talk about precocious, not to say sneaky, to have got away with the deed under the nose of the resident stallion! Ladybug herself was only just three! It reminded me of a jumper of no particular breed who's owner always replied "By Surprise, Out of Doors" when asked the breeding.

I must say, blogging is a bother to set up if you host your own. Yahoo 360 was just point and click. It has taken me ALL DAY to customize this very simple layout. Still have no clue as to how to have a tiled background behind the text.

Gungi at 5 months

I have worked hard today. The website is up and running. I even have a PayPal button (it doesn't work yet) so people can donate to my wagon fund. It took too long to make the backgrounds and buttons and stuff so now I am too tired to blog. The photo above is Gungi when he was 5 months old. I found the steel supplier today. I am hoping to have answers to my structural strength questions soon so I can order the steel. Oh yes, I registered the site. I have called it The Little Yellow Wagon so it can be found at www.littleyellowwagon.com if you didn't come to this blog from the site. Bye for now, I need to sleep.

Gungi imitating a deflated ballon - about 6 hours old

s it. Our quest has begun. I, Heather, will be sharing this blog with my mom, Val. She will probably be doing most of the blogging. I am very busy finding the steel with which to build our running gear. I have bought the front wheels, rims and tires. We have the axel and I will be getting the springs from the junk yard this week. Right now I am downloading a new draw program so we can design our own background for our site. The picture above is of our pony Gunga Din when he was born. We are building the caravan for him to pull. We will show him growing along with the building of the caravan. Or as Mom puts it, 'flash backs' of him growing up since he is 8 years old now. See you soon, H