WEG Day 13

OOO- Day 13. Don't even like to type that number.

Was yesterday's blog too INFORMATIONAL for you? Yeah, I thought so. If you had wanted INFORMATIONAL you'd go read a newspaper. Truth is, that was the one day I never left the KHC office, so was not even at WEG. Life outside of WEG is on hold, but not dead....

I decided that the hardest part for me about writing a daily blog is that you actually have to REMEMBER what happens all day. Something happens in the morning, and 10pm at night you have to think back 12 hours and remember it. Sometimes I sit down and think, "Now, what DID I do this morning?" And of course draw a complete blank for a few minutes. The good news is that eventually it comes back to me, which proves I am not yet totally senile.

This morning, KHC hosted the French BIDNESSES (that IS a Kentucky word, right?). Although many of you (especially those who listen to Glen Beck) think that France is socialist, they actually are pretty sharp in bidness. A whole flotilla of French equine bidnesses came to Kentucky to make connections with our equine bidnesses. (Wow, it is hard to keep mis-spelling a word. Seems like it would come natural, but it's a real effort)

So we had in our conference room Frenchies who consulted in equine sport surfaces (ie Polytrack and all the other synthetic arena surfaces), others who built horse vans, provided farm software, equine equipment, jump systems, etc. They proposed a SPEED DATING event with our American bidnesses.

If you haven't heard of speed dating, it's the American invention which started by making it quicker for young singles to meet lots of other young singles. There's a whole room of single people, and two people spend 5 minutes talking to each other and then BUZZ, the bell rings and you move on to the next person. Isn't it just like the U.S. to take a social tradition like dating (picking someone up for a date, going to a movie and/or dinner, drinks afterward) and speed it all up into 5 minutes. Wouldn't want to lose a second with that silly "getting to know people" stuff, would we?

Back to bidness speed dating -- so a number of our American counterparts came, including Hallway Feed, McCauley Bros., Kentucky Horse Supply, Fennell's.... I talked to Roxanne from Kentucky Horse Supply and she thought it was really valuable to make the connections. She also told me that she LOVES the KHC website and enews, that it's the best place to get information on just about anything horsey in Kentucky. (OK, I'm doing some shameless compliment bragging)

And now another food story... we have a deli in the building, and each day they have one hot item (like stew or chicken) and also will make you a sandwich or salad. SO I told the Normandy business folks about the deli in case they wanted some lunch. Later around lunchtime, I went down myself to get something.. and guess what their hot item was? CHILI DOGS AND BEANS! I thought to myself, "Oh boy, the French are going to LOVE more 'junk food'!" I can hear them now, after they get back to France: "Yeah, we were in the U.S. and all those people eat is hotdogs, hamburgers and burritos. No wonder they are unhealthy. (Note that unhealthy means fat)"

As I suck in my stomach.... Thank god for stretch jeans.

Went over to WEG at noon with Dennis and Pat Blackburn, who are KHC volunteers extraordinaire. Dennis, a trail rider and chair of the Trail Committee (and former firefighter), is on the KHC board and will show up for just about anything we ask him to, if he is not teaching a firefighting school or backpacking with the Boy Scouts. Pat, his wife, is there with him whenever she can. Dennis DID happen to mention the other day that he'd like to ride his horse someday soon. (WHAT??? RIDE YOUR HORSE INSTEAD OF GOING TO TRAIL MEETINGS, MANNING THE WEG BOOTH, ATTENDING NORMANDY RECEPTIONS, VISITING TRAILS WITH PROBLEMS.... HEY, IF I DON'T HAVE TIME TO RIDE MY HORSE, YOU AIN'T GONNA EITHER. WE WILL ALL SUFFER TOGETHER.)

Back at the WEG booth, Chuck Weber continues to paint continuously - he is now working on his last WEG work: Vaulting. If you haven't stopped to see his work, do so today. He will be leaving after today, and his work will be gone (except for pictures....) We do have prints to sell of his work, so stop by our booth in the Equine Village (at the edge of the "track" between the Visitor's Center and the Museum)

On a closing note, I have a confession to make of an error that NO HORSEMEN should make.... I confused Pat Parelli with John Lyons the other day. (Go ahead, give me 20 lashes with wet baling twine!) It was PAT PARELLI who was feeding the troops at WEG, not JOHN LYONS. He did it again last night in style: grilled chicken (Pat was doing the grilling. Notice my use of his first name, he and I are like good buds.... HA HA), grilled asparagus, green salad and macaroni salad and beer. AND a three piece band. (However, the three piece band was NOT playing bluegrass, so Pat did not score 100% on this test)

Au Revoir until tomorrow.