Sing-Along Time: "Inch by inch, row by row....gonna make my fenceline grow"


Prior to leaving for the annual Pacific Northwest Endurance Rides conference this weekend, we emailed our PNER friends and asked them to bring us any fencing supplies that they had hanging around unused at their barns. Our good friend Paul came through with an electric fence charger, a spool of fence wire, and a bunch of fencing insulators, which he hauled to convention for us. What a nice guy!

The PNER convention this year was crammed full of educational seminars about horse health and fitness presented by an equine researcher from University of Guelph . Really good stuff.

But mostly, we go there for the parties, the dancing, and the shopping.



But the true oh-my-gawd bargain of the freakin' year was this:



a Very-Old-But-Perfectly-Usable Specialized Saddle, which we picked up at the used tack sale for Almost Nothing.

I kept checking the tag, because I was sure it was a typo. Jim and I have been trying to figure out how we could afford a mortgage for the farm AND a saddle that actually fits Hana. A Specialized saddle--new or used--usually sells for around the same cost as a mortgage payment. Sigh.

And there was this saddle at the tack sale for (gasp!):

Cost of the saddle:
$250
Cost of soap to clean the mold off the leather:
about 15 cents
Cost of velcro and some little nails:
about 10 bucks or so
Having a saddle that fits Hana and doesn't hurt her back:
absolutely priceless

Comments

  1. It won't take long to put the saddle to rights. It is clearly worn...it isn't pretty...and it has a TON of useful life left.

    The perspective of the photo showing me hamming with Lori W. makes me look gargantuan or her petite....

    For those who'se earworms are inching through their brains, here is a link to the viral verses:

    http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/garden-song.shtml

    ReplyDelete
  2. in defense of the convention photographs: neither the subjects of the pictures nor the photographer could be called "extremely sober" at the time that pic was taken.

    And Lori is rather petite, actually. It's just hard to remember that sometimes, because she has a full-sized personality.

    Not unlike Hana, I think.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i'm so jealous. one: fence. two: lori is an EN cover girl.

    i wish i had people donating fencing parts.

    and putting me on color coordinated EN covers.

    dangit, i cannot even get my currency converted without the huge fees, so my fence isn't even purchased yet. the sales person wrote me today, "Were you satisfied with our offer for your horse fence?"

    "yes. yes, satisfied. but not with your method of payment restrictions (cash only). if i cannot use my mastercard (debit, not credit), i'm stuck."

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am full of sympathy for the currency conversion problem (I grew up in a border town). Is there any kind of local recycling exchange? Or some German version of the annual 4-H Tack/Equipment sale?

    Germany is a country with a strong rep for not wasting ANYTHING. There must be some sort of recycling network....?

    Basically, I'm just counting on the fact that I've never visited a barn anywhere that didn't have a stack of T-posts stashed someplace, usually under an overgrown blackberry hedge. By promising to pull posts away from the blackberries, I'm allowing all those people to help me and simultaneously get rid of the hated blackberry vines...temporarily, at least. Maybe there's treasure hidden under the vines on your neighbor's property (#72) ?

    We pirates are always on the lookout for treasure.

    ReplyDelete
  5. the recycling network is a beautiful thing here.: ) everything gets reused. it's amazing to me. that means, at the moment something stops being useful, the recycling dealers come to your door and take it. they come by regularly to check if you have any raw materials (metal bits) they can scavenge, to sell for money to the recycling plants.

    that reminds me, i forgot to lay the barbedwire rolls in the spot where that guy checks by our barn.

    there's also "free junk pick-up day" monthly in the city where we live. they realize most people don't have cars, so the gov't comes by to get stuff you leave on the sidewalk every month. that was yesterday, old couches and litter boxes were out there, and today everything is gone, like magic.

    personally, i'm sick of taking bags of my empty water bottles to the store to get the cash back. i'm tired of not having the freedom to just throw my trash in a bin, any bin. but i do realize that this system is very clever, the garbage cans here are all tiny, because so much is sorted out. every single street corner has a recycling bin station - bins for glass and paper. those are free. plastics and cans we have to pay to have picked up.

    i ran into an american and said "what do you miss most about america" and she said "i wanna just throw something in the trash sometimes, ya know?" hehhee

    ReplyDelete
  6. If you ever come across a similar deal ever again - ever, ever, EVER - you will of course purchase it? A certain Becky from the BlogofBecky is currently alternating between extreme happiness at your good fortune and bitter, frothy, green-colored jealousy. You could even make a little money on the deal and she wouldn't know any better.

    ReplyDelete

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