MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-03-16 |
| FROM | dspira@att.net (Dave_att)
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [hangout] Fw: [Politics] Third-grader commutes to school by mule
|
Sure it does!
Yesterday evening -at- 5:30pm Im heading to Court st.
on the Q train. Train is going painfully slow as we
approach 7th avenue station. Garbled announcment
comes on the overhead speakers, "Bnjkrt shenfl smoke condition kjhy at flumph station!
Train will be re routed. a few seconds pass and another voice says "Which way are we going?"
This is New york!
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Michael L. Richardson"
>
> It beats the train.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ron Trenka
> To: talk-at-politicslists.com
> Subject: [Politics] Third-grader commutes to school by mule
> Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 11:36:29 -0500
>
> http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/03/16/mule.commute.ap/index.html
>
> Third-grader commutes to school by mule
>
> Wednesday, March 16, 2005 Posted: 10:26 AM EST (1526 GMT)
>
> BISMARCK, North Dakota (AP) -- Saje Beard's half-hour commute to class
> is the envy of her four classmates at a one-room schoolhouse just south
> of here.
>
> Most mornings, the third-grader makes the trek on Ruth the mule.
>
> "She's called many things, but Ruth is what we call her in public," Saje
> said of the 4-year-old gray mule. "Actually, that's my dad's joke. She's
> really nice and gentle. And she sure is smart."
>
> Saje, 9, is an old hand at maneuvering mules. She's been doing it since
> she was in first grade.
>
> "I feel more safe with her riding a mule than having her ride in a car
> or on a bus," said her father, Marty Beard.
>
> At the Manning School, about 15 miles south of the North Dakota capital,
> Saje "parks" Ruth by tying her with a bowline to a tree near swing sets
> and monkey bars. Ruth then gets some leather hobbles attached to her
> front legs, a routine Saje began after her other mule, Shirley, got
> loose and ran home from school last year.
>
> Saje's classmates, who are in kindergarten through fourth grade, help
> take off Ruth's saddle and tack. It's stored in the school's cloakroom,
> next to basketballs and other playground equipment.
>
> The five children then run to the school's flagpole to recite the Pledge
> of Allegiance and sing the national anthem. The mule, named Ruth,
> prances and kicks up dirt as the children sing.
>
> "It's cool," Lucas Irving, 10, said of his classmate and her mode of
> transportation. "She's cool."
>
> Saje would ride Ruth every morning, but her dad won't let her if the
> temperature is below zero -- "even if she insists."
>
> Saje proved just how much she's willing to endure on a recent trek to
> school in below-freezing temperatures and strong winds.
>
> "My cheeks are burning," she said, "but that's OK."
>
> Saje gets up at sunup to prepare for school. She brushes Ruth and feeds
> her grain, then hoists an old saddle that weighs nearly as much as she
> does over the chubby mule.
>
> "Come on Ruthie, come on mule," she says as she leads her mount to the
> front yard.
>
> Saje raises her foot above her head to reach a stirrup, pulls herself up
> and swings the other leg over. She pulls down the coonskin hat her
> father made and gives Ruth a gentle nudge in the ribs.
>
> "Let's go girl," she says.
>
> Saje has corn and sweet peas stuffed in saddlebags for Ruth's lunch, and
> for treats during the school's three recesses. Her homework and a tuna
> fish sandwich are in her backpack, tied to the mule.
>
> Saje and Ruth follow a gravel road and pass dozens of horses from other
> farms during the two-mile trip. Ruth is fitted with special
> carbide-studded shoes to make the already sure-footed animal even more
> so, especially on ice.
>
> Mules are known for protecting themselves and their riders. Marty Beard
> said the mule would likely attack anyone who hassled Saje along the
> route.
>
> "She would probably implant those special shoes on their forehead," he
> said.
>
> The trip home always is a little faster: Ruth knows she'll have some
> grain waiting, so she picks up the pace without prodding, Saje said.
>
> Kris Beard, Saje's mother, said even some of their rural neighbors find
> her daughter's mule commute unusual.
>
> "It's not strange for us, but for other people it is quite different,"
> she said. "We're very fortunate to live here."
>
>
> ----
> "You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to
> skydive twice."
> -- www.DarwinAwards.com
>
> Ron Trenka
> Zowie Digital Media
> ron-at-zowiedigital.com
> 212.244.4992 x22
>
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