Lucy

One of the most beloved First Ladies in the White House was the vibrant and wonderful woman named Lucy Hayes.  The wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes she was loved by her community, her church, the troops under her husband’s command in the Civil War (they called her mother Hayes and she nursed the sick and wounded soldiers during the war staying in the camp and getting her hands bloody and helping even with the most gruesome wounds!) and by her country when she was the First Lady.

Lucy Hayes and Rutherford came to the White with the resolve of setting a moral and life example for the nation and they not only banned alcohol from the White House, but had nightly sing alongs, hosted some of the most beautiful and fun parties even without John Barleycorn being present.  They also brought with them lots of animals…. Mrs. Hayes and Rutherford loved animals and Lucy (who instituted the Easter Egg Hunt at the White House for she loved children also) spent her life caring for all kinds of animals throughout their lives.

-Painting of Lucy Hayes nursing a wounded soldier.  She knew personally about wounded soldiers since Rutherford B. Hayes was a General and the perfect gentleman became a animal on the battlefield with no fear. He was wounded four times and Lucy went to his side each time. One wound almost cost him his arm.

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-Her is a picture after their years in the White House with Lucy Hayes and one of their dogs, Spot. Rutherford is standing next to her.  Hayes was not only a General, but a Lawyer, Governor of Ohio for three terms, A congressman, President and then a founder of Ohio State University and a leading prison reformer.

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-One of the Hayes children with a dog named Old Major.  Look at that face.. is he a collie?

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-Here is Lucy with her Pigeons who lived in a specially built steps at their beautiful home Spiegel Grove.  Lucy Hayes loved all animals, but especially birds. By the way, she also loved cats and the first Siamese Cat in the USA was a gift to her from the Consul in Siam.

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-This is the picture of Lucy alive. Shortly after this she suffered a stroke and died at the age of 58 in 1889 in their home.

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-Lucy Hayes was a Methodist who was very active in the Temperance movement and many charities.  She loved all humanity, especially children and she worked hard in their behalf.  She was the first First Lady to have a college Degree and she was very loved by her country. When she died the flag was ordered lowered half mast for a week to honor her….  It is said no one ever had a bad word to say about her and I have never found anything negative about her.  A loving woman with a big heart she loved everyone and especially animals, in a age when animals weren’t treated all that well.  So, we honor Lucy Hayes a woman who was also a wonderful lover of animals.

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-One of our favorite family trips is to their home in Fremont, Ohio.  You can see Rutherford’s war horse graves and todays wildlife abounds in this beautiful place…….

 

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Hug Them Before They Are Gone

Those close to us know that here at the meadow we love animals and that there are different types here.  One of the more dynamic character is a bird named Elvis.  He does the wolf whistle, does the Andy Griffith song perfectly and talks under his breath. He loves to do the bounce up and down game and he has a sense of humor and a twisted side where he likes to draw you in close and thengive you a quick little nibble… you can see the glee in his eye.

Well, Elvis is old now and today he is in his death throes.  As I write this he is declining fast and heading to be with his best friend Ziggy who died a few years ago.  I liked Elvis.  Not like I do my collies but he is a character and we got along good.

 

But, Elvis is one of God’s creation and I am always sad when anything or anyone dies. Even though I know they are with God I still feel bad.. I guess that is what we humans do… at least many of us.

 

It seems like yesterday when we took our daughter to go get Ziggy and then Elvis.  She was a little girl then.  Now, she is a woman and a college girl and well…. another connection to our past is going away.

Yeah, perhaps its just not Elvis dying but a part of our past… that is dying too.  Whatever it is… it sure makes the urgency of enjoying those you have with you even more.. RIGHT NOW.  In the blink of a eye they can be called to the great beyond. So, do yourself a favor, hug the ones you love…..

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We hope you get better Elvis, but dad says probably not.. but we have hope….

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He Was Ahead Of His Time…..

For all his faults and greatness one thing that Henry Ford was years ahead of his time in was animal care and energy.

His home Fair Lane completed in 1916 was a wonder.  It had over 500 bird baths that were heated in the winter for the birds.  He loved birds  all his life and not only built over 500 bird houses on his land but also threw his support behind the migratory bird protection laws of the early 1910’s.   He installed bat homes to control mosquitoes and when he would build at a new site he tried to make sure the local wild animals were captured and relocated safely.  Sort of interesting isnt it? His  water supply came from a well and rain water and to dry your hands or hair there were built in electric blow dryers….. in 1916!!!

But, Henry Ford was not only a animal lover he was one of the earliest alternative energy people. You see he built at Fair Lane a Hyrdo-power damn electric plant that not only ran Fair Lane but was the main energy source for Dearborn, MI for many years.  Henry Ford in 1941 developed a car that today would be innovative.  You see he felt that a car should be grown from the ground, used and then recycled back into the earth when through.  So, using Soybean oil, hemp, flax, wheat he developed a plastic car built of these things and for the fuel used hemp ethanol to run the Ford V-8.  The plastic was 10 times stronger than metal and weighed a lot less than metal.  His ford car even had the back trunk lid build of this material and there is a film of him and the film below of someone else  hitting it with a sledge hammer with no cracks, scratches, dents or any damage even though it is in the middle of winter…..

He also had a suit built from soy beans and it is not well known but in the 1930’s Ford started painting their cars with soy oil based paints and used the oil in the shocks for fluid.  Henry Ford was also into recycling. When the Model T was being built the wood chips from the manufacturing were sold to a new enterprise run by his cousin named King.  There in a joint venture it was made into Charcoal…. the name is Kingsford!

Henry Ford also when he had parts shipped from other companies requested they be sent in crates with holes in certain places on each side of a crate a certain size. When the crate arrived the the crate was disassembled and the crate sides used for floorboards for the Model T and the pedals fit through the pre-made holes……

Below are a couple of  You Tube Films about the Plastic Car… now the Hemp supporters claim it was made of hemp but it was mostly soy and hemp was used also but more so in the ethanol according to one of his associates who worked on the car…..
remember this was in 1941…. what killed it?  WWII……

 

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Henry Ford… we collies like him!

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More About Those At Sunnybank

There were many other animals at Sunnybank and they were called “The
Little People” a name given to them by Terhune’s daughter.

Lets start with the horses. In his Omnibus Terhune talks about the
horses, especially Fritz and Belle. Fritz used to follow Terhune
around Sunnybank, even trying to enter the house! Fritz was known for
darting at passing women and men taking their hats as he went by!
There was also The Don, Terhune’s saddle horse.

Then there was Jack the Frog. He lived in the Goldfish pond for
twenty years. They knew him by a scar over his eye. Mrs Terhune used
to scratch his back and feed him flies. In his twentieth year the
Terhunes went on vacation and came back to find his car flattened
body on the road. Terhune figured since the frog never left the pool
some visitors to the kennels took him out and dropped him off
deciding they didn’t want him anymore and he was run over.

They also had three peacocks. Simon Peter Rhadames died after only a
year. So, they brought in Caruso and Melba. They would follow the
Terhunes around the yard. Melba had five chicks. One day Caruso came
up to Mrs. Terhune and fell down dead shot by a neighbor kid. Melba
mourned for him and died ten days later, followed by the chicks one
by one. They had cows one who they loved died from eating a nail,
the other hit by lightning went crazy with anger.

At Sunnybank there were 70 pigeons, all snow-white except one. He used to feed the
squirrels and many of them became like pets coming to him when called. I read that he

captured them in New England.

They had many cats in the barn, but several cats became house cats
and close friends. Eyolf, who was a barn cat used to join Terhune
and the collies in their daily romps in the snow and ice. Juliet who
would swim into the lake hunting trout and would bring Terhune gifts
of dead chipmunks. Peter Grimm who slept on Terhune’s bed and used
to join Terhune and the collies in their romps and was run over by a
car going to one of these walks. Tippy, Mrs. Terhune’s persian lived
to be more than 15.

Terhune writes about the birds they fed, made friends with and
enjoyed. If you get a chance, read The Terhune Omnibus to learn more
about Sunnybank’s Little People.

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The Little Ones At Sunnybank

There were many other animals at Sunnybank and they were called “The
Little People” a name given to them by Terhune’s daughter.

Lets start with the horses. In his Omnibus Terhune talks about the
horses, especially Fritz and Belle. Fritz used to follow Terhune
around Sunnybank, even trying to enter the house! Fritz was known for
darting at passing women and men taking their hats as he went by!
There was also The Don, Terhune’s saddle horse.

Then there was Jack the Frog. He lived in the Goldfish pond for
twenty years. They knew him by a scar over his eye. Mrs Terhune used
to scratch his back and feed him flies. In his twentieth year the
Terhunes went on vacation and came back to find his car flattened
body on the road. Terhune figured since the frog never left the pool
some visitors to the kennels took him out and dropped him off
deciding they didn’t want him anymore and he was run over.

They also had three peacocks. Simon Peter Rhadames died after only a
year. So, they brought in Caruso and Melba. They would follow the
Terhunes around the yard. Melba had five chicks. One day Caruso came
up to Mrs. Terhune and fell down dead shot by a neighbor kid. Melba
mourned for him and died ten days later, followed by the chicks one
by one. They had cows one who they loved died from eating a nail,
the other hit by lightning went crazy with anger.

At Sunnybank there were 70 pigeons, all snow-white except one. He used to feed the
squirrels and many of them became like pets coming to him when called. I read that he

captured them in New England.

They had many cats in the barn, but several cats became house cats
and close friends. Eyolf, who was a barn cat used to join Terhune
and the collies in their daily romps in the snow and ice. Juliet who
would swim into the lake hunting trout and would bring Terhune gifts
of dead chipmunks. Peter Grimm who slept on Terhune’s bed and used
to join Terhune and the collies in their romps and was run over by a
car going to one of these walks. Tippy, Mrs. Terhune’s persian lived
to be more than 15.

Terhune writes about the birds they fed, made friends with and
enjoyed. If you get a chance, read The Terhune Omnibus to learn more
about Sunnybank’s Little People.

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Boids!!!!

On of our real pleasures here at the meadow has been seeing the whole time we have lived her the generations of Cardinals who have lived around us.  We have a bush in the collie yard that is right next to the house and several times the cardinals have tried to put a nest there but were scared off by the collies playing under the bush.

Well, this year they put their nest there and all went well and we watched in amazement as we would peek in on their eggs, then their lil babies and watched as they grew feathers and started to make sounds.

Today, after a exhausting battle in the heat with Ginger for the Hammock I see the collies run over to the bush.  I quickly ran over and moved them into the house as a little baby flew onto the ground.  The collies didnt want to hurt it they were just curious.  But, it dont take much to hurt a bird so we got them out of the yard . The parents were hovering by and trying to get me to chase them but I walked away and they flew over to the baby as I looked into the nest. All 3 were out of the nest and one was standing on a branch next to the nest and so I went inside.

A few hours later I came out and looked around and no baby birds so out came the collies.  Then,. 15 minutes later off go the collies to a tree by the back fence.  A baby cardinal was there and it flew onto the ground  and I ushered the collies in once again. I went back out to the tree and the baby was gone. So, I spy the parents on a branch on the other side of the fence and watch and I see in a bush one baby fluttering around and then two fluttering on the ground.  The parents were bouncing around the tree overhead watching them and I smiled for they were safe and the parents were not afraid to see me nearby.   In fact the father fluttered onto a branch nearby and looked at me as the mother flew above me and landed watching me.  They didnt act alarmed and I just watched the babies having fun for a while and then went back into the house.

For years those cardinal generations have eaten food put out in the winter and they have seen me around and while not scared they were a bit hesitant to come by me.  I dont think they are too scared of me now. They would never get as close as they did today and they saw me help keep their babies safe.

So, I am hoping they will have started a new tradition of having their baby cardinals in our collie yard.  After 21 years they finally seem to trust us…. and I know we welcome them….

Listen Old Guy I hope they come back too for I am dying for some southern fried boid!!!!

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Hats Off To Henry Ford for his love of animals and more

For all his faults and greatness one thing that Henry Ford was years ahead of his time in was animal care and energy.

His home Fair Lane completed in 1916 was a wonder.  It had over 500 bird baths that were heated in the winter for the birds.  He loved birds  all his life and not only built over 500 bird houses on his land but also threw his support behind the migratory bird protection laws of the early 1910’s.   He installed bat homes to control mosquitoes and when he would build at a new site he tried to make sure the local wild animals were captured and relocated safely.  Sort of interesting isnt it? His  water supply came from a well and rain water and to dry your hands or hair there were built in electric blow dryers….. in 1916!!!

But, Henry Ford was not only a animal lover he was one of the earliest alternative energy people. You see he built at Fair Lane a Hyrdo-power damn electric plant that not only ran Fair Lane but was the main energy source for Dearborn, MI for many years.  Henry Ford in 1941 developed a car that today would be innovative.  You see he felt that a car should be grown from the ground, used and then recycled back into the earth when through.  So, using Soybean oil, hemp, flax, wheat he developed a plastic car built of these things and for the fuel used hemp ethanol to run the Ford V-8.  The plastic was 10 times stronger than metal and weighed a lot less than metal.  His ford car even had the back trunk lid build of this material and there is a film of him and the film below of someone else  hitting it with a sledge hammer with no cracks, scratches, dents or any damage even though it is in the middle of winter…..

He also had a suit built from soy beans and it is not well known but in the 1930’s Ford started painting their cars with soy oil based paints and used the oil in the shocks for fluid.  Henry Ford was also into recycling. When the Model T was being built the wood chips from the manufacturing were sold to a new enterprise run by his cousin named King.  There in a joint venture it was made into Charcoal…. the name is Kingsford!

Henry Ford also when he had parts shipped from other companies requested they be sent in crates with holes in certain places on each side of a crate a certain size. When the crate arrived the the crate was disassembled and the crate sides used for floorboards for the Model T and the pedals fit through the pre-made holes……

Below are a couple of  You Tube Films about the Plastic Car… now the Hemp supporters claim it was made of hemp but it was mostly soy and hemp was used also but more so in the ethanol according to one of his associates who worked on the car…..
remember this was in 1941…. what killed it?  WWII……

Read Full Post »