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In Praise of Salamander Water: Part 1: The Dry Tap

“There’s no water in the kitchen sink,” my wife Julia told me recently and I knew it was one of two things. Our water comes from a spring behind our cabin. Either a salamander or a crayfish had gotten stuck in the plumbing or the cistern that gathered the spring water was empty.

A crayfish we found walking up the driveway one recent frosty morning. They sometimes get stuck in our water supply.
Julia in the kitchen the day we… Continue reading

Happy New Year 2022

Happy 2022. Here are a few photos from ’21 that made me smile. I wish you all the best in the New Year.

Bernie

Mule Polly checking out the new bed I built for my brother Christian when he came to visit. It’s built of red cedar and two-by-fours. In case you haven’t seen it already, Polly was the mule that pulled my wagon 14 months across America for the Lost Sea Expedition documentary which you can stream here on… Continue reading

Snake Bites Mule

Snake bites mule: Brick tangles with a non-poisonous black snake.

A while back, Julia and I rode spent six weeks traveling with two saddle and one pack mule from our farm in western North Carolina to Virginia and back. We posted a lot of stories on this trip but here’s one I never got around to sharing with you.

Julia was riding a mule named Dusty we’d borrowed from our friend Ronald Hudson. I was riding my mule Brick. As… Continue reading

Casper the Super-friendly Cat up for Adoption

AUGUST 26: CASPER UPDATE Great big thanks to our neighbor Brandon Lane Darrin who recognized Casper, the mucho-cool cat who showed up at our barn this week. It turns out Casper is “Kit Kit”, our neighbor’s cat. He disappeared in late March and has been reunited with his family, a mom and dad and three kids. A great ending to the story. Our barn’s a little quiet now since he left….

Casper is a trusting cat. This photo was taken… Continue reading

How do you Pony Your Pony?

Let’s say you’re out riding your mule or horse and leading another next to you. What do you do with the end of the lead rope attached to the animal you’re leading? Do you Bunny Ear it, Under the Leg it or do the Loose Around the Horn thing? Or maybe something else?

Ride one, lead one: here I’m riding my wife Julia’s Haflinger Pickle and ponying my mule Polly. Polly’s carrying a tractor tire. I had a flat on… Continue reading

Hill Top Sunday Morning

Pony Pie on a hill (Caldwell County, NC / western NC)

Sunday greetings from high above the Shoe Box Canyon. Yesterday, my wife Julia and I rode to the top of the mountain behind our cabin. I thought you’d enjoy some photos of the ride.

Julia rode her pony Pie. I rode my mule Cracker. From the clearing high above the cabin, we just looked out over the Brushy Mountains to our South. We listened to the “chimp pang” call… Continue reading

Wagon Riding in the Sandhills of North Carolina

How many different ways can you combine horses, mules, donkeys, wagons and carts? Last weekend, I attended the wedding of my friends Kenny and Myla Tyndal in the Sandhills of North Carolina. Talk about a whole lotta pine trees, crazy knots and ways to fix a wagon with a beer can.

The wedding wagon train. Those are Kenny’s mules Thelma (L) and Louise (R). Somehow I ended up driving his wagon while he and his new wife Myla and the… Continue reading

Weekend Plans

Want to attend a Dog Hair Cutting Festival with my wife Julia and me this weekend? How about a Mule Ride. You might get a good one. You may not. Fun like Russian roulette!

Hey, how about a ride on a humpbacked mule. Nice! (Skye Pincock Evans photo)

You can tell Julia and I have a little too much time on our hands this weekend. She wrote an invitation to our neighbor P to join us for any or none… Continue reading

Buck and Smile

Buck. And. Smile! (Leatherwood / Ferguson, NC) (photo by Skye Pincock Evans)

Sometimes, life throws a little buck your way. The best reaction is to stay balanced and grin. The photo above is of Brick sneaking in a little heels-up action at last week’s Ty Evan’s clinic at Leatherwood in Ferguson, NC. She did great and we learned a lot. I guess she’s recovered from her 2,300 mile walk from our farm in western North Carolina to Idaho.

Great big… Continue reading

Queen Valley Mule Ranch Saddle Review

This is a review of how my Queen Valley Mule Ranch (QVM) Trail Lite saddle performed after I rode it 7 months and 2,300 miles from North Carolina to Idaho.

My Queen Valley Mule Ranch saddle on Cracker after traveling 1,400 miles from Lenoir, North Carolina to Hyannis, Nebraska. It would travel another 900 miles to Idaho for a total of 2,300 miles on the road.
Trek of the QVM (Lenoir, North Carolina to Hailey, Idaho)

I may be calling… Continue reading

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