Comments on: Fred and Jack

By: coozledad

coozledad — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:09:38 +0000

I had an uncle Fred, too. He’s another one of those Faulknerian characters that show up in my family history. He and my mother caught a hell of abuse from their crazy father. His personal history is largely closed to me, though, as it comes through unreliable narrators. What little I saw is consistent with someone who’s been raised by a bullying, violent drunk.
My grandfather’s disciplinary weapon of choice was a frying pan to the head, apparently. I’m surprised there were no sanctions against bastards like that back in the day, and that the moral weakling didn’t kill anybody.

By: littleaugury

littleaugury — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:05:53 +0000

I had an uncle named Fred- and his nickname was Mustard. A nice alternative.

By: coozledad

coozledad — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:10:15 +0000

Imaginista: We just adopt the names they come with, but “Fred” does seem a little outside for a mule name. You usually want something with one sharp syllable.
On the other hand, we also have Andy and Barney, so we’ve got a sort of Venn diagram of sixties television programs going. If I live long enough to name a mule myself, it’s going to be Larry (Hagman) or Tallulah (Bankhead).

By: ImaginistaΔ

ImaginistaΔ — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:41:23 +0000

I get the name Jack, but Fred? Fred Ass does not have the same ring to it.

By: coozledad

coozledad — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:03:18 +0000

You could. They’re extremely gentle and patient. I’m preparing to hitch them up briefly today to help me transport some scaffolding and 2×4’s just across the road. That’ll be enough, we’re expecting sickeningly hot weather.

By: The Subtle Rudder

The Subtle Rudder — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:50:58 +0000

Emerging from my DIY spend-money-so-as-to=not-lose-as-much-money home improvement hell to say: Aww, lookit that adorable pair of mules. What fine fellows. Which I could stroke their noses and feed them carrots and sugar lumps.

By: coozledad

coozledad — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:34:38 +0000

Nance: So far, the only problems have been Andy’s overgrown toes(which he finally let the farrier trim), and our adjustment to the relatively scant dietary requirements of equines. They put on weight like I do. God help them if the ever discover how well blue cheese goes with a salad.
My biggest concern is that if any of them expire, and we’re called upon to dispose of the body per our usual method (cremation), will we be hauled to court for violating some provision of The Clean Air Act?

By: Nance

Nance — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:19:25 +0000

You have a higher tolerance for vet bills than I do. On the other hand, my guess is utilitarian mules have little need of the sort of pampering your average show horse requires.

By: coozledad

coozledad — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:30:53 +0000

Certainly. We’ll bring some more eggs the next time we get to town. I hope the greens weren’t too laced by the flea beetles. They’ve finally figured out that arugula is tasty. Pretty soon we should have tomatoes and peppers-probably about a week from now.

By: littleaugury

littleaugury — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:12:55 +0000

I can not believed I missed this!!!!!!! What charmers. May I use them for my Gemini the twins postings? please pretty please. pgt
(agree- the rains- the plague,locusts, Mosquitoes with lances!)