#going back to pony clicker now

[vivizn]

well shit that's a tough one, uhhhh

i have close friends, i like them and they like me

i am both smart AND stupid

i have a very good family, very loving

i am a Decent Human BeingTM (which makes me a very good ally too)

being able to have and hold great conversations sometimes (you know the ones, where the world disappears and you wish the convo never ends)

so anyway, started needing help at #5 but a friend gave me like 3 new things plus some will to live so that's very 👍 of them. as a reward, you get to be the first on the list >:)

@alexxel @malt-rants-and-stuff @loafcat @26-cats-in-a-tr3nchcoat

Once you get this, you have to say five things you like about yourself, publicly. Then you have to send this to four of your favourite followers :DDDD

ps: i love you <3 /plat

I fulfilled my dream of Youtube Channel At 18

I am learning to cook

I have kept some of my childhood whimsy

My face hasnt changed all that much from when i was little (beard notwithstanding)

Even though i am fat, i unironically look good with mah belleh (moobs permitting)

@vivizn @satelite-kun-main @strixludica @the-adhd-sorcerer

[madrivervalleyicelandics]

Saw this awesome graphic floating around Facebook. This is a major reason and motivation for the very slow, careful approach we now take to training young horses. It is not because we somehow aren’t good enough to finish the horses more quickly. Back in Iceland, I was very much training on a faster track, working in a program where we started the horses at 3, having the more talented ones ready for breeding shows by 4 and ready for sport competition by 5. The horses can absolutely be ready mentally, but physically it is IMPOSSIBLE, even just on a skeletal level. They simply aren’t developed no matter how hard they will try for you, and having this knowledge, I do feel it is wrong to ignore it and push them through to take more than their bodies are ready to give. The longer I train, the slower I want to take things. When I was younger I felt so much pressure to move quickly, and that is something that has really changed for me in the past 5 years especially.

My 4-year-old, Bogi, began his training after his 4th birthday in June, was backed for the first time in October, and now is ridden for 10-15 minutes a couple of times per week, primarily at a walk, if we are working in the arena, or ridden strictly at a walk for perhaps half an hour if we are going out for a hack on some hills. He’s worked with an open poll and an unrestricted head and neck. There will be so much time for more later on when he is more developed.

This past spring and summer, I had the pleasure of starting a 12 year old pony under saddle for the first time in his life. Although he had never been backed and was fully untrained, his body was of course fully developed. We started him in I think April, backed him a month later and by July he attended a dressage clinic working walk trot canter and competed in an 8 mile hunter pace including small jumps, and competed in (and won) two intro level dressage tests by September. When they’re fully grown, its possible to train very quickly, especially using clicker training the way we do. But for the babies, we have to slow ourselves down and take the time to allow them to grow and develop.

[fridge-reviews]

The Best of MMXIX

Welcome to the my personal list of games I enjoyed this year. That’s right it’s my list, feel free to disagree with me but it won��t change anything. Anyway here are the rules;

1. These are games that I’ve played and reviewed this year. 2. There isn’t an order to this list, its not a top 10, these all feature because of how good they are. 3. The games don’t have to have been released this year.

Now lets get on with it!

Steamworld Heist

Turn based tactical combat with steam powered bots... IN SPACE! This game had me coming back for seconds and thirds. My only gripe is that there isn’t more of it.

DOOM (2016)

CLICK, CLICK BOOM! BOOM! Ah, this game was a real breath of fresh air for the Doom franchise and it was rather nice to be afforded the simple joy of mushing a demons face into the ground.

Spaceplan

A clicker game that actually has a story and an actual end game? What madness is this? Well this is Spaceplan a clicker game about Space, Time and Potatoes.

Mages of Mystralia

A hack and slash action RPG but with no hacking or slashing. But what makes this game truly interesting is the spell editing though. I never thought I’d be able to create a fireball that froze my enemy in place and then electrocuted them.

Prey (2017)

This game that made me nostalgic for System Shock 2. Except I think this game might actually be a bit better. I actually just bought the Mooncrash DLC and I can’t wait to give that a go!

The Stanley Parable

Calling this a walking simulator feels disingenuous, true you walk around in is but there is so much more to this than that. This is also one of the funniest games I’ve played, not just this year but ever.

Hand of Fate 2

A game so good that I ended up backing the Kickstarter for the board game (which is also great). I keep going back and playing this trying to tidy up my runs and slowly playing through the various DLC.

Axiom Verge

This game made me catch the metroidvania bug, I’ve bought so many because of my time playing through this. It’s actually great in its own right and extremely challenging (or I’m terrible one of the two).

Nier: Automata

God damn... this game. No game should be this good, smooth combat, amazing soundtrack, overly convoluted storyline that even now I’m not 100% sure I understand fully. Play this game, then do it again and again and again. You’ll get something new every time.

The Hex

From the creator of Pony Island, that alone should tell you something. This game spans multiple genres and yet keeps the same control scheme. All the while telling a pointed story about games design and development (among other things).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This year... has been strange, and not just in the world of video games, although that too has had its fair share of oddities. Loot boxes have FINALLY caught the attention of the mainstream and calling for the industry to get its shit together (especially after EA’s pitiful performance to the UK parliament).  Anyway lets not focus on that, the important this to see here is that lots of new and interesting games have appeared and the indie scene is more active than ever! 

[freechoiceequestrian-blog]

Day One

So I’m not really expecting anyone to read this. This blog is just somewhere to put down my thoughts, and track my progress on this whole horse training journey thing. I don’t even know if what I’m doing can be called “training” yet, to be honest. Then again, every interaction with a horse teaches them something. I’d like to think that today, I taught Steve and Frodo that humans can be fun, and that not every interaction with a human involves them having to do something, or having something done to them. I guess I’d better sum up what I actually did.

So Hannah (my sister) and I went down to the paddock where Steve and Frodo, two small ponies, live. I took my clicker and a treat bag, but we didn’t have any halters for the ponies or other equipment.

I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to be doing, as it was my first time meeting these ponies. I had been thinking a lot about two different training concepts: clicker training, and freedom-based training. I had only recently learned about freedom-based training from Elsa Sinclair at an Equidays demo. I had practiced basic clicker training before, and thought I would probably just be sticking with what I knew today. However, Steve and Frodo quickly made me realise that wasn’t going to be possible. As soon as Hannah and I entered their paddock, all they wanted to do was canter around, so I couldn’t even get close enough to attempt clicker training. 

We did make a mistake here that I didn’t realise until later; We were trying to encourage the ponies to come down to the bottom of the hill (the paddock was in a sort of valley), but I had forgotten that horses tend to feel safer when they are higher up, and don’t like to go down into valleys like that if they can avoid it because it makes it harder to see predators coming. That was a valuable lesson, as I realise now that I was trying to convince Steve and Frodo to behave in a way that was convenient to me as a human (to come down to where the ground was flatter and it was easier for me to stand), without taking into account how they, as horses, viewed the situation.

From the bottom of the valley, I tried to match their movements as Elsa Sinclair had demonstrated in her Equidays clinic. They wanted to run around, so I ran around too. It felt pointless at first, but after a while, I started to see the ponies taking an interest in me. A pattern started to appear in their behaviour. They would run from one side of the paddock to another, then stop and stare at me for a while, before running back across the paddock again. When they did this, I stopped and stared back at them, trying to show them through my body language that I was interested, but not threatening.

When they took their eyes off me and looked at something behind me (such as a car going past on the highway that they could see from the top of the hill), I would turn around and look at whatever it was they were interested in. Nearly every time, when I looked back, they would be looking at me again.

After repeating this process several times (and wearing myself out by running around on the side of a hill), I began slowly making my way towards Steve and Frodo while they were standing still and watching me. I watched their body language closely for any signs that they were uncomfortable with how close I was getting, as I didn’t want to frighten them and break the connection. 

They let me approach them, and we greeted each other in a way that was friendly, but not pushy. I breathed into their nostrils, and they matched that. Steve wanted to get to know me by nibbling at my face, which I let him do, but set boundaries by moving suddenly (tensing or doing a small jump on the spot) if he got a little too pushy or used his teeth. Frodo was more difficult to connect with. He showed less interest in me than Steve, and I needed to use stronger signals with him that he was pushing my boundaries a little too much.

Once we had greeted each other and spent some time simply sharing space, Hannah came up the hill to join the herd. This was one of the most interesting parts of the session for me. At first, Steve and Frodo didn’t show much interest in Hannah. She had been sitting at the bottom of the hill while I was running around and mirroring the ponies’ behaviour, so they hadn’t connected with her yet. When I approached Hannah and stood close to her, making it clear that we were friends, the ponies became less skeptical. I moved around behind Hannah so she was between myself and the ponies, so she was a part of our space rather than being outside of it.

Steve and Frodo were happy to engage with Hannah once I had convinced them to accept her. However, I feel like I had established myself as a leader more than she had, as they were more willing to follow me than Hannah. Although, Hannah seemed to connect far more with Frodo than with Steve, while I connected more with Steve than with Frodo. I’m not quite sure why this is, but I think it may have to do with Frodo being the more dominant of the two horses, and Hannah being the less dominant of the two humans.

Overall, the whole session went a lot better than I thought it would. When the ponies were running around at the top of the hill, I thought my first attempt at freedom-based training was just going to be running around until I got too tired, and then going home. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to convince Steve and Frodo to accept me into their herd, simply by listening to their language and understanding how I should behave in order to connect with them. I feel like I gained a better understanding of equine behaviour from that one hour of running around on a hill than I did from about a decade of traditional riding lessons.

[elentiyaflame]

Hey can you do when ellie and dina first meet?

First encounters don’t always go as planned

//

Things in the safe haven had been rather boring and meticulous the past few months, no new arrivals to interview and either subsequently allow in, or banish due to some rule violation or another. Now, Ellie knew the seriousness of allowing an infected in, however, she remained skeptical to the fact that there could be another immune out there somewhere. She can’t possibly be the only one in existence, the probability of that in and of itself already hurt her brain. Shaking her head, she focused herself on her mission in the birds nest - keep an eye out for clickers or runners, and any and all survivors they came across.

Having been alone in the birds nest for three hours - only half of her shift - she had had a lot of time to think. Should they come across anyone who has been bitten, but them in mandatory quarantine until either one of two possibilities happens. The most likely one - they die and become a horrible flesh eating monster, or the other, much rarer option - they survive and are now the second known immune. Either way, it was fucked up and she didn’t like it. If she could let everyone in, she would. She had seen too many a people get turned away - watched the color drain from their faces as she delivered the news. The excuses always the same - not enough room in the dormitories, not enough rations, it’s always that something is not enough.

Over the past couple years, Ellie had pressed Joel to build more, expand the fence so that we could add more buildings and gardens. She had even begun the plans for a barn. Joel, at first, had been apprehensive, but overtime had begun to agree with Ellie’s desires as more and more people began to rally behind her. Thus, construction began four years ago. It started with expanding the fence, the haven had originally encompassed three square miles of land, holding an upwards of two thousand people, but had since been increased to five square miles. It didn’t happen fast, the expansion was slow and meticulous, but had finally been completed two years after it had begun. The last two years had been dedicated to building gardens and dormitories. Thanks to the great effort of the able bodied people in the haven, they had erected three new two-story dormitories that could fit 500 people. Supply runs during that time honestly sucked, but it was worth it being able to help more people.

Ellie shivered herself out of her thoughts, the brisk morning air chilling her to the bone. The sniper rifle in her hands didn’t help, the metal freezing her fingers to the point where the tips were blue. Bringing the scope to her eye, the bite of the metal against her face made her wince, and she absentmindedly pulled her jacket tighter around herself. Looking through the scope, she surveyed the forest around the northern edge of the haven. All seemed well for the most part, the occasional clicker or runner moved past. Each one stealthily dealt with, thanks to Howie perched in the other birds nest, their aim impeccable as always. The silencers muffled the sound of the gunshot, which Ellie was thankful for. The last thing the safe haven needed was a crescendo of gunshots to draw in every fucking clicker in a ten mile radius.

Adjusting her grip on the rifle, she moved the scope to a further patch of the forest, maybe two or three hundred feet from the sealed door of the haven, she almost missed the slight flash of purple between the branches. Focusing her attention there, she saw eight shapes slinking through the bushes, three moving far too human like to be clickers, though she couldn’t say the same for the five shapes slinking behind them. Ellie could swear she heard the ungodly sounds from here, and for a moment she was back in that mall, dancing on a display. Shaking away the memory, she trained her sights on the five shapes behind the triad of people. They were approaching the clearing in front of the gate fast, and as soon as they cleared it she could make out two girls and a guy, followed by five clickers.

Ellie and howie released a barrage of shots, dispatching the clickers well before the small group reached the gates. Frantically they began to pound on the door, and Ellie hissed. “Stop that! You’re only gonna alert more of those bastards to come!” She snapped, and immediately they stopped and took a defensive position with their backs to the door. Pulling her radio to her face, Ellie began giving orders, “I’m going to go down and Hurd them in, howie, you watch the deeper forest. Jesse, you get out on foot and defend them.” After her tirade of orders, she was met with two voices saying “got it.”

Ellie descended from the birds nest as fast as she could, hands burning from shooting down the ladder. Her feet hit the ground with a resounding thud, and she discarded her rifle for a pair of hand guns, both loaded and reassuring weights in her hands. She could hear the dull roar of the blood in her ears as she sprinted towards the door of the haven, hitting it and opening it enough to slip herself through. She slammed it behind her, knowing three times before a resounding click could be heard - the lock sliding into place. Throwing herself in front of the three startled people, she gave Jesse one look before returning her stone cold gaze to the forest before her.

She held her hand up, gun pointed skyward. All fell silent, the sounds of the forest became deafening, and they waited. Waited for five minutes, ten, twenty, and finally when Ellie was sure they weren’t in danger any longer, she turned to the three people. “You’re going to be quiet and file in orde—“ she was cut off by the girl in the front, a pretty brunette who looked to be around 17-18, her hair pulled back into a disheveled bun that had begun to fall into a loose pony tail - presumably from the run through the woods. She let loose a scream as a clicker burst through the woods to Ellie’s right, catching them all off guard. ‘Shit shit shit shit shit’ Ellie through to herself, pulling the guns up and aiming at the clicker.

The gunshot that rang wasn’t hers, and she turned to see Jesse breathing heavily, gun held in a shaking hand. Ellie nodded to him before more rustling could be heard, five more clickers burst from the woods, a faint foom foom sound was heard as howie downed two, but the final three pulled just out of range. Ellie grit her teeth and braced for the impact of a mangled body against hers. She pushed back, keeping the clicker from scratching at her. Twisting her wrist, she just got the right angle of the barrel beneath the things deformed chin and BOOM the gunshot disorients her, but the clicker falls to the ground in what she can only imagine is a sickening thud. She turns to see Jesse struggling with one of the clickers, but let’s him handle it. She would never hear the end of it if she stole his kill.

Twisting herself fully to the trio of people behind her, she started at the sight of her last clicker on top of the girl who had screamed, her eyes filled with terror as she held it away from her neck. The other two were hugging, holding the other so tight that the whites of their knuckles showed. Neither made an effort to help their friend. Ellie snarled and launched herself at the thing, wrapping her arm around the clickers neck and pulling back, peeling it off the girl. It didn’t come reluctantly, but Ellie strained herself to rip the thing to its feet and violently twisted, adrenaline allowing her to snap the things neck quickly, and it slumped to the ground silently. Quickly Ellie grabbed the pistol off the ground and fired a round into the zombies head, making damn well sure that it wouldn’t come back

Breathing heavily, Ellie turned back to the girl and held out her hand, a little dazed. The girl, however, stared at it, her face white and filled with an expression she could only identify as horror. “Your - your hand. .” She said slowly, and Ellie looked down, her eyes meeting the gnarled flesh of her right hand where the clicker must have sunk its teeth in. She hadn’t felt a thing thanks to adrenaline, but now that she actually saw it, the pain hit her. She blanked, squeezed her fingers shut, opened, closed, opened. Shaking her head to clear the daze, she reached her other hand out to the girl once more. Hesitantly, she took it, and Ellie pulled her off the ground. For a moment the girl swayed, placing a hand on Ellie’s shoulder to help stand still.

“You saved my life, but now yours is over,” A choked sob ripped itself from her throat, “I’m so sorry.” The girl said quietly, pulling Ellie in a hug. Ellie froze for a moment, blinked twice, didn’t return the hug. When the girl pulled back, a tear fell down her cheek slowly, and Ellie found herself mesmerized by it. “Are, are you ok?” The girl asks, concern in her eyes, but then she freezes, takes a step back. “Oh, fuck, she’s turning, you,” she points to Jesse, panting, the dead body of a clicker at his feet, “she’s been bitten, you have to kill her.” The words seem to snap Ellie out of her daze. She puts her hands up, her face white but blazing with emotions. “Woah, woah, woah there, he doesn’t have to kill me. Slow your roll there.”

“What do you mean he doesn’t have to kill you? You’re infected, it’s my fault you’re infected!” She countered, her voice desperate and expression confused. She was overwhelmed. They all were. “I’m immune.” Ellie stated bluntly, but slowly lifted the right sleeve of her coat, careful to avoid the open wound on her hand, exposing the fern tattoo beneath that partially concealed the raised pockmarked scars from the first bite. “You see? I can’t be turned, I’m ok. It’s ok, we’re all ok.” Ellie said slowly, trying to alleviate some of the panic from the girls face, shooting worried glances at the two behind her. The girl was speechless, but nodded, trying to control her breathing. Ellie motioned to Jesse to open the door and file them inside.

Ellie moved aside to allow the three of them to go in before her. The two that had been white knuckled gripping each other before filed in first, happy to be out of the forest and in some semblance of safety. The girl hung behind, following them and staying in front of Ellie but not walking as a unified group with the others she had arrived with. The girl looked at Ellie for a moment, Ellie returned the gaze. They looked away, letting the sound of their steps be the only conversation that filled the air before them. Ellie focused on her breathing, on ignoring the pain and not letting it show on her face. She held her hand behind her back, out of the girls view, and covered it with her other sleeve to try to stench the blood flow. She looked back to realize she was leaving a trail of blood behind her, small red droplets bright against the early morning snow.

A sharp release of breath made her turn her attention back to the girl, now dry eyed, but her eyes were darker with an emotion Ellie couldn’t pinpoint. “I’m so sorry,” she started, her voice quiet, but Ellie cut her off, “don’t apologize, ‘s my job to keep folks like you safe from those bastards.” The girl seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, her eyes trailing between Ellie’s face, the ground before her, and the small trail of blood behind them. She wrang her hands and nodded slightly. “Thank you. The names Dina.” She said ever so slightly, holding out her left hand so Ellie could shake it. Briefly releasing the hold on her bad hand, she took Dina’s in her own and squeezed it ever so slightly, a small smile forming on her face. “‘S my pleasure, Dina. Names Ellie.” She replied softly, and let out a breath of relief as Dina grinned back.

They let go slowly, fingertips trailing together for just a brief second before Ellie dropped her left hand to cradle her right. Dina grimaced, looking it over, “that looks bad, if you want, I could help patch it up. I’ve been learning to be a healer, and since I sort of owe you one I wouldn’t mind.” She said quickly, her face taking on the appearance of a child talking enthusiastically about something they were passionate about. For a moment, Ellie was dumbfounded, but slowly nodded and smiled. “While I would love you to, we have a healer here. You’ve got to go through assignments and lectures and all that from Joel. You’ll be busy for the next few days as you are assorted into life here, and I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble for helping me out.” Ellie explained quickly, and she could physically see Dina’s face fall slightly. However, she nodded, giving her a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“Alright, Ellie, but once you get patched up and I’m free from interrogation, you’re taking me for a ‘night on the town’” she said, her eyes brightening when she genuinely smiled, and Ellie let out a small laugh. “Sounds perfect. See you around, Dina.” Ellie replied, eyes crinkling slightly as she smiled down at the shorter girl. Dina smirked in reply, “see you ‘round, Ellie.” She said before turning around and running to catch up with Jesse and the others. Ellie couldn’t help but watch as she ran off, and smiled despite of the pain. This place could use someone like her, she realized, she’ll fit right in. Ellie smiled a secret little smile to herself, and then turned and began the long trek to the healer.

[fanfictionlive]

FFnet Reviews Weirdness

Not the content of reviews but the reviews and the site itself.

So on Aug 15th I posted the 18th chapter in my long WIP. I'm proud of the finished product, my betas liked it, and I have a good handful of followers for the story now so I was expected 2-5 reviews on it. Four days later the clicker hasn't increased at all.

The story is niche so getting no comments is a possibility but still odd. It's also August, many of my readers could be going back to school/college and have less free time. But then I remember, I'm using Fanfiction.netand if it isn't broke yet it will be soon.

So I check my traffic stats and I got decent number of views on the 15th and 16th. I start playing with things and figured out FFnet accepts and remembers reviews under my Google account but they don't show up.

Today, I had an acquaintance leave a test review. That one did show up and the clicker increased. I tried with my Google account and it worked but still none of my test from last night have shown up.

TL;DR I think FFnet ate my reviews for my most recent chapter but everything appears to working now.

Do I write a complaint, hope reviews will show up later, or just accept everything is gone? I know this is a losing battle but I worked hard on that chapter, darn it.

Anyone else experience something similar?

submitted by /u/Foxler13 [link] [comments] from FanFiction: Where Magical Ponies battle Imperial Titans https://ift.tt/2w1B8i8

[sanddancingwithanxiety]

Update on pony lunging yesterday bc i have nothing to do on my lunch break -actually friendly!! He was grumpy the last time i saw him and mum thought he was grumpy when she went out for the trimmer while i was on holiday, so i was expecting more grumps. Maybe he just wants time alone lol. Either way i'm going to put him on an ulcer prevention course bc it's still quite likely. He really only put his ears back when i actually led him back to his paddock and stopped him from grazing. But no ears on the lunge or getting him. -It's funny with the clicker training bc when I'm brushing him and stuff, i can see him start to get agitated and put his ears back but then he like thinks better of it and offers a behaviour he knows i'll click and is much happier. I'm just wary that he gets confused when I don't have treats and that that will turn into stress and frustration. I really need to start being good and putting that on cue!!! -Muscle wastage central, ulgh. I need to suddenly bulk him up before the saddle comes or it will probs need to be adjusted behind the shoulder. Ulgh. -despite muscle wastage tho, lunged so well. Stretchy pony with lots of hock flexion (to be fair the arena was wet tho). And first time putting two cavalettis out to canter over. They were on the lowest setting but he still handled it super well. Tho i think they were a bit too far apart. Also weird, right canter over them was fine but left he struggled? It's normally the opposite, like changes over the cavaletti on the right and rushes and blah blah. So that's interesting. -he is starting to be a little bit sneaky tho. When walking he keeps going to stop and turns in to face me so i can't just shoo him on again. That's new as of yesterday so hopefully he just learns that it's not appropriate and forgets about it. But he also gives me the cutest look and my heart melts so i am probably not being strict enough, oops. But at least he's chillin with a kind eye now tho. I'm hoping Mr Happy is here to stay. -that's about it. Basically just need to muscle him up bc in like a week or two i should be riding. On the lunge. I have no idea how we'll go. If it all goes well then i'm eyeing off some comps in may but we may get the same issues and be stuck there for months. Life's pretty up in the air at this point *shoulder shrug guy*

[josephkitchen0]

Country Conversation and Feedback — March/April 2019

Countryside is simply the best for me, with realistic and practical home solutions to a number of pertinent challenges we meet in our daily living. — Norbert R. Cgabata

___________________________________________________

The Man Who Caught the Big Cat

I grew up in the hills of West Virginia. I was about 11 years old before I could go fishing much, and about 13 before I could go any distance from home. I never knew anyone to catch much in the way of eatin’ fish and I was told that fishermen had a way of “stretchin” things, so I naturally thought that anyone was lying when they said they caught fish. I never caught anything but a few small bluegills and “red” bream, much like a red belly except red all over. I also caught a few “chubs” — a fish sort of like a rainbow trout. I had caught a few nice fish but I had never caught a real BIG fish. I had been fishing for years and still had dreams of catching a big fish.

I bought a piece of land in Florida in 1969. It was small and near the Ocala National Forest. Now there is fishing for you! The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers built a dam on the Oklawaha River above Salt Springs, known as the Rodman Dam. I went fishing there in July, 1969. I hooked a big channel cat that I guessed at 30 pounds, but he got off. I probably over-guessed him but he was a nice one. All I could talk about afterward was going back. I finally made it back in October of that year and tried for a big one. I landed a catfish after maybe 15 minutes of hard fighting and he weighed 20-3/4 pounds. This didn’t get it out of my system — it aggravated the condition. I couldn’t wait to go back.

I went back at the first chance, I won’t say opportunity, it was the first chance. I had three days off for Thanksgiving in 1969 and I headed for Florida as soon as I got off work. I went to Rodman Dam about 10 o’clock the next morning but couldn’t get to my favorite spot because men were working on the grounds around the landing. I crossed over the dam and went downstream to where a small creek led down through the swamp.

I threw out toward the middle of the river. I had a piece of shiner for bait, about the size of my fist, and I had a saltwater outfit with a 46 lb. test line. I put the reel in free spool and set the “clicker” on and told the woman fishing next to me if she heard the reel singing to let me know. I was goofing off and watching other people catch fish. After about 10 minutes, I heard the reel go buz-z-z-z. The woman said, “You got a bite.” I said, “Yeah, I think I heard it. ” The line had gone slack then, I reached down and picked up the rod and took up all the slack and then the line sort of started off slow and steady. I yanked back as hard as I could and nothing happened. The woman asked, “Did you get him?” I said, “I don’t know. I think I’m hung up.” About that time I felt a powerful surge, as the fish moved off. I yelled, “I got him!”

What followed was hard to believe, it was like having a young calf on the line. The fish began moving to my right and I set the star drag a little loose to keep from breaking the line. The rod was arched into a rainbow shape and I was leaning back. A crowd began to gather but I was too busy fighting to look around. Someone wanted to grab the line, but I knew better as I stepped into the water and then someone wanted to grab me.

A man ran for his movie camera, all the while I was fighting the fish. I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder, I had sprained a muscle. More people came up. The line was singing but I began to gain. I finally got him up to where I could net him. A man stepped up and asked if he could help, I told him “Yes, hand me the net.” I got the net but the fish saw me, and with 8 feet of rod plus 8 feet of line he simply took off and he was out of reach, 16 feet away. It began all over again. I brought him back and the man said “Can I help?” I said, “Yes, try to net him when I get him back around.”  The water turned white and flew everywhere. I asked, “What happened?” and with disbelief in his almost whisper he said, “He won’t go in the net.”

I hadn’t seen much except the belly of the fish so far and I realized what I might have ahold of. My net was 16 inches across the rim! Back out he went again to deep water. I brought him back and the man said, “Now whatcha want me to do?” I said, “I’ll bring him back around and you try to net him.”

Someone said I had an eel, another said a turtle. By this time, I saw it was a big black lookin’ catfish. I told the man, “Try to slip the net over his tail. I am afraid we’re going to loose him.”

The man slipped the net over the fish’s tail and about half way up his body. I laid the rod down and grabbed the fish’s gills, and together we slid the huge cat up on the sand bar. People just kind of faded back and some of them screamed. I looked around and it looked like a baptizing service — there were people everywhere. I tried to rest and stop shaking. Some began to guess the weight of the big fish. One said 22 pounds, I said 30, and someone else said 35. A young man used my camera and took a picture as I held the fish up. The other man had gotten back with his movie camera by then, and he got the picture-taking scene on film, plus a picture of me and the fish. Another young man brought a piece of ski rope to use as a stringer as mine wasn’t big enough. I tied the big fish up, baited my hook again, threw out, and walked over to look at my catch. I, as well as others, couldn’t believe it. Different people came by to look at the fish and have their picture taken with it.

I have seen days at the Rodman that I couldn’t catch fish. Absolutely nothing. That gives you an idea of luck. I went on with my fishing and that evening when I picked up to leave, I went back to get my fish. The group of people fishing there now did not know of my earlier catch and the ones talking about me catching nothing could hardly believe what they saw. “Look what a fish that man’s got!”, they said. People began stopping me to take pictures. An official of the Corps of Engineers from Palatka, FL took a picture.

I took my fish to Johntry’s Store in Salt Springs to have it weighed. Carson Johntry found a pair of cotton scales and we finally weighed the fish. He weighed 50 pounds and measured 42 inches long. I didn’t give Carson my name — he knew my face, not my name. I wanted to freeze the fish as I had a few more people to show him to. I should have asked Carson to register the fish but instead went to Ocala and had the fish frozen. I got a write up in two newspapers and pictures were displayed in many stores.

I didn’t go back to Florida for another five months and when I walked into Johntry’s Store, the first thing Carson said was, “I guess you know you ate a $3,000.00 catfish!”

I didn’t know what to say! First prize for all tackle records in 1969 was $1,000.00 cash plus $1,900.00 worth of prizes. I had lost it all by not registering the fish. Some people remembered me from before and asked “Aren’t you the man that caught the big cat?” and I told them, “Yes.”

I never caught a bragging size fish before, but I was king for a day, the day I caught the big cat. I have been back since then but only succeeded in getting a few good bites. It takes a mighty big fish to excite me much now. There has been other big cat caught at Rodman, but mine was the biggest so far. In and around the Ocala National Forest, I am still referred to as “The Man Who Caught the Big Catfish.”

– Porky Parkins, West Virginia

___________________________________________________

Missing the Country Life

I grew up in South West Missouri on a rural piece of property where I ran barefoot with my dog(s) for nearly every moment of my childhood. We kept mostly chickens but dabbled in goats, rabbits, pigs, and cows. I married a traveling bagpiper when I was 19, and we have seen most of the country, with our dogs and horses in tow! We have enjoyed a very unconventional and old-fashioned life for years and spent much time teaching and driving our horses, camping, working with our hands (I am a zealous seamstress, crafter, and artist; my husband does leatherwork, gunsmithing, and really everything else!), and seeing everywhere from Alaska to Maine.

About four years ago, we moved to Maryland to care for my husband’s aging parents. We are doing what we think is right, but are truly NOT well-suited to living in a “normal,” somewhat suburban setting. We had to part with our beloved horses, most of our goats, and are down to one collie dog. I have managed to smuggle in six or so chickens and a couple goats (though the number has ranged as high as six, which happens fast with triplets!) that I use for milking and fiber, and am liable to try a pony or rabbits! I also keep an awful jungle that I shamefully confess is referred to as a garden! We still own our 40 acres with an off-grid, truck box-cabin in Missouri, but we spend most of our time here, where there are too many people and rules!

We DO have three dear children (6, 5, and 7 months) to keep us busy, as we are homeschooling! They are enjoying all the benefits of living in a community (like neighbors you can see from your porch), while still collecting eggs barefooted and making forts out of hay bales, as well as learning how to canoe and crab (as we are fortunate enough to live on the water!). Our family definitely sticks out like a sore thumb here, but we have many lovely friends and enjoy throwing casual potlucks, and having people stare open-mouthed at us when we take a goat trick-or-treating!

I have drawn comics and cartoons for many years, but mostly just for friends and family. As a rural gal with a quirky sense of humor and plenty of manure on my own Sloggers, my cartoons are typically farmy, outdoorsy, and full of critters!

– Emma McDonald Taylor

  ___________________________________________________

Old Blue

This old truck has been in our family since 1964. My Aunt Elsa immigrated from Germany as a young lady and was sponsored by a relative who owned a farm in Nebraska. She has resided in Cozad, Nebraska ever since. The F-100 was used weekly to check on the farm and meet friends at the local garage for BBQ (a special thank you to the garage guys for keeping Old Blue running like a champ).

“Tante” Elsa decided to give this special truck to our family under one condition; a photo in the pasture of its new home. So the F-100 made its way from Cozad, Nebraska to Myakka City, Florida. We raise Piedmontese beef cattle so I thought it would be nice to take a photo of Old Blue with our full blood Piedmontese bull “Arno.”

Pick up trucks are a great part of farming history in America. I am honored that Aunt Elsa has given us this truck for our farm! And no Old Blue is not for sale. We consider this piece of history our most precious family heirloom!

God Bless America, Farmers, and our heritage!

Thank you for your wonderful magazine.

Acorn Hollow Farms, Andrea and Jeff Parson, Myakka City, Florida

___________________________________________________

Coloring Pages

By Milan Chupp, 10 years old, Michigan.

By Robert Fiscus, 55 years old, North Carolina.

By Jenna A. Nelson, 10 years old, West Virginia.

By Shirley Wall, Tennessee.

By John Paul Hill, 9 years old.

By Walter Miller, 6 years old, Arkansas.

Colored with markers by Adam, 14 years old.

  By Sadee Wilson, 12 years old.

By Tilly Ott, 13 years old, Ohio.

By Kaden Shapley.

By Sedona Orsi, 10 years old, Pennsylvania.

By Slade Lipka grandson of Ray and Norma McClellan.

By Eli Carroll, 10 years old, Georgia.

By John Michael Maple.

By Loren Kuhns.

By Daniel Kinsinger.

By Cheryl Veger, 59 years old, Indiana.

By Anna McDonough, 7 years old.

Country Conversation and Feedback — March/April 2019 was originally posted by All About Chickens

[conflictpredicted]

Ch 2

“The state is happy to announce that the number of emergencies this week were indeed false alarms. Officials are advising citizens to keep a close eye on their close ones and report any health abnormalities anyone may be experiencing. In other news Gallan-

Tobas turned off the radio at that point and sigh “I mean I’m glad no one got hurt, but how long are these false alarms going to go on for, at this point it’s a war full of empty threats”

“I know.” Jackal said, his eyes fixated on the piece of paper in front of him, Tobas looked over “What’s that?” gesturing to the papers

Jackal rubbed the back of his neck, he did this whenever he was stressed. From tobas’ 5 second glance he could tell they were papers from the hospital

“How is Anjie?”

Jackal responded, “she’s well, these are just consent forms for a new medication” then got up with the papers “I’m going to take them there now, see you later”

In the mean time,, Sina was outside at the shooting range wearing her training uniform, which was a plain white t-shirt and cargo pants. Her eyes were narrowed, and her position exhibited full concentration, as she shot each bullet her eyes narrowed even more. One bullet hit bullseyes the other was a fail and hit the edge. She sigh and looked down at the gun in her left hand and then at the gun in her right hand. A girl who was a few targets down walked over to her

“whats wrong with your left pistol?” she asked

Sina shook her head and then placed the pistol on the ground next to her bag “Not sure…”

The other girl hummed “you’ll need to get a new one then, although who knows when you’ll be needing it next with all of these fake threats and propaganda- actually did you hear that rumour about Dr. Valor being spotted in the capital a few days ago, Liastein is a mess right now!”

Sina positioned herself again and shot another bullseye, she didn’t believe most of the news and chose to filter out a lot of the time, besides the report was drawn by someone who wasn’t even at the scene. WHats worse is that her eyebags were multiple times darker than usual because she had been experiencing a recurring nightmare almost every night. Sina always had disrupted sleep due to the nightmares and had permanent black circles around her eyes. The dreams made her incredibly uneasy because they often made her question reality. she even began confusing her dream with news reports or actual events and mumbling about them to whomever he saw. 

“How’s your squad going, Sanya?”

As Sanya walked back to her target to pick up her belongings she shrugged “same as usual, but what I should be asking is how is being in a group full of guys?” she chuckled and nudged her when she came back “Do you like anyone? I wish I was in your group, so I could get close to Jackal”

She brushed her long brown hair over her shoulder it was in a high pony tale. She was actually a very pretty girl with mocha skin, dark brown eyes and wavy long hair. Much taller than Sina too.

Sina groaned “all they do is argue”

“Oh yeah, well I suppose with Tobas the popular well-known son of a government official, and the son from one of the most hated families” Sanya giggled more “I would love to see them in a full-on fight with each other.”

Although Sina shoved her “now you are a sadist”

She knew Sanya had a habit of initiating arguments for fun. But Sina hated drama. With two of them being quite different from each other, Sanya was her only female friend, and they didn’t see each other often. She was in squad 14 and their team had a pretty good dynamic going for them, and that made Sina a bit envious.

When she was walking back to the base where they lived, she saw Sen getting out of a jeep nearby. She hesitated to approach him at first but gulped and went up anyway.

Sen turned his head in her direction, he was about to head into the building too

“Um” Sina tripped over her own words

“I-“ before speaking anymore she decided to just dig through her bag and take out the pistol “this isn’t functioning right…”

Sen took the gun from her and examined it, he started taping the top of it and then shaking it a bit. He held it up towards the light “the clicker is stuck, I can take it back to the tool shed and fix it now if you’d like?”

Sina was now alone in a jeep with him, her palms grew sweaty and she kept her head facing the window, she was fine if it wasn’t one on one. It was dead silent and Sen could tell she was nervous and attempted to ‘act natural’ and attempted conversation “how was training?” but it came out dead and emotionless because he was nervous too. Sina’s anxiety made her neck feel almost impossible to turn “Uh-h Yeah. It was good, except for the gun problem.”

“Of course.” he murmured as he took a sharp turn to the wheel and pulled off the gravel road onto a grassy patch. Finally, the painful ride was over, and they pulled up at a giant industrial looking shed made of steel. He was quite handy and usually fixed everything on his own even though there was a whole fleet dedicated to repairing weaponry.  It was after hours and dinner was soon approaching so no one was around the tool shed, sen sat down on a stool and started screwing into the pistol, strands of his medium in length and pitch-black hair fell into his eyes and brushed his cheeks while facing the workshop counter. Meanwhile, sina explored the place with her hands behind her back glancing back as if she was watching him from the corner of her eye. There were walls of hundreds of little cupboards and tiny screws everywhere as if someone knocked over a box of them and didn’t bother cleaning them up. It was very quiet since the two of them weren’t big talkers. As if things couldn’t get worse for her, he called her over to try out the gun.

He placed the gun in her hands and instructed her to shoot at an old newspaper clipping on the wall, they weren’t supposed to be shooting in there of course but where else were they going to. Sina took another heavy gulp and pressed the trigger, although it felt stuck and worse than before. Her eyes shifted towards him, and he stood up to place her finger over the small metal clipping, he noticed how cold her hands were and accidentally left his hand on hers a second too long for comfort. He quickly drew his hand back and wondered why he had done that, but she yawned and didn’t seem to think anything of it so he proceeded to direct her “Use this piece” indicating to the one he had just installed

She squinted at the small piece he put in “wait this small piece?” she was confused and wondered if it was going to be her new trigger.

“Yes, just press it, it should work” he said with a slight sound of encouragement in his voice

She was doubtful but proceeded to press down on it anyway. He was right though, her gun shot with more power than before. He asked for it back and turned around in his stool to continue working on it again. This time placing a trigger piece on the tail end. Sina didn’t show it but she was delighted to have her pistol fixed so quickly, and surprised at Sen’s ability. Strangely enough, she didn’t feel as nervous as before, she closed her eyes and released some of the nerves, although she still felt a little torn on whether to trust him yet.