Horse trials

I had a great time Saturday at the Plantation Field Horse Trials helping some friends fence-judge on the cross-country course. We got to see beautiful horses and some amazingly graceful and athletic riders who made it all look so easy.
Because you're right there on the course, you can hear the riders talking to their horses while competing, urging them over the fences and lavishing praise on them when they get it right.
I felt like I was auditing a master class in the sport of eventing when a former competitior hung out with us for a while and described what separated the good riders from the great riders -- things like their focus and control, how they moved, how they held the reins.
At one point between riders, we watched one trainer walking her student through the course. She advised her to keep her eyes focused straight ahead, on the far-off woods, rather than looking down toward the ditch she'd be crossing.
The sky was overcast and there was a cool breeze for most of the day, except for about 45 minutes when it was uncomfortably hot. But the contest organizers kept bringing us cold water, which was very nice.
As a bonus, in the afternoon we got a great view of the Stealth Bomber as it made three passes over the field as part of the New Garden Air Show. When it was banking to the south it looked like a giant angle-iron in the sky.
Towards the end of the day, we heard the hounds next door at the Cheshire kennels, baying for their dinner. And I for one was pretty darn hungry myself after a long day outside.

Good riddance for now

Where have all the stink bugs gone?
For the past few weeks I haven't seen any in the house, and a neighbor down the road whose house was heavily infested reports the same thing.
Perhaps it's too hot for them? Perhaps they're outside makin' whoopie?
As one of my readers commented, "It's the eerie calm before the storm."

Shoes

I was in Famous Footwear buying a new (much-needed) pair of tennis shoes when a pair of sandals caught my eye, and even though they're unlike my usual style I tried them on. Despite their high wedge heels, I discovered that they're very walkable and I'm unlikely to embarrass myself by tripping and spraining my ankle.
So I was looking down at them, trying to figure out if/when/where I would wear them, when another customer, a mother buying shoes with her daughter, chimed in.
"They look adorable on you, and that style is what the hip kids are wearing!"
"Well, thank you," I replied, "but that would apply to me how?"
She laughed. "We have to try."
I bought them.

Nanny goat

I was on my way to the Y the other day when I saw a very pretty nanny goat alongside the road, on the wrong side of its fence. I pulled over and tried to shoo the creature back into its pen, but with no luck. I went up to the farmhouse and called hello throught the screen door.
"Hello?" was the surprised reply.
"You have a loose goat," I said. (Why waste words?)
The occupant came to the door immediately and asked what color the escapee was.
"White," I said.
"Huh!" he said. "Usually it's the other one that gets out."
We went outside and spotted Bonnie (that was the goat's name) grazing peacefully on the roadside. He escorted her back inside, all the while thanking me profusely.
I was a little abashed. I mean, really: what are you going to do, NOT stop when you see a loose animal?

The color purple

This afternoon I spotted a purple sort of box kite hanging from some trees in front of a neighbor's farm on Route 926. Was it some kind of a discreet directional marker, like M. Night Shyamalan's "TH" road signs a few years back? An escaped wind sock or recycling bin? I filed it under "odd things."
And then, within the hour, I saw another one along Route 82, near the Kennels, and knew that I had to investigate.
It turns out they are "prism panel traps" for emerald ash borers (Agrilus planipennis), a beetle that kills ash trees and is attracted to the color purple. The beetle's first North American appearance was in Michigan in 1992, and it has moved east from there, appearing in Butler County in Pennsylvania in June 2007.
According to the commonwealth's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, it's now in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Indiana, Lawrence, Mercer, Westmoreland, and Washington Counties in the western part of Pennsylvania and Mifflin and Juniata Counties in the central part.
The traps are being used to monitor the green beetle's movement in the state. They contain a lure and are coated with a sticky substance to capture the beetles, if any show up.
All hardwood firewoods from the western two thirds of Pennsylvania have been quarantined since August 2010 to help slow the spread of the beetle.

(Thanks to "Kennett Paper" editor Fran Maye, who pointed me in the right direction on this one! And also to two Tilda readers for spotting traps along Route 1, near the West Grove exit; and along Route 322, outside of West Chester.)

Taller than the tallest tree is

Back on May 23, I saw a giant long flatbed hauling a pile of timber, headed west on Upland Road at Newark Road. Usually when there's an oversized delivery truck on our narrow roads these days, it's a safe bet that its destination is Richard Hayne's massive Doe Run Farm project on Thouron Road. (A huge crane for planting full-sized trees stopped in at a neighbor's house early one morning looking for Mr. Hayne's place.) But no: they were just utility poles, and crews were installing them along Upland Road, just past Thouron Road, June 6, 7 and 8. They were probably a third taller than the old ones.

Skills

Funny sign spotted outside a West Grove restaurant: "Customers Wanted. No Experience Needed."
And one at an Exton auto-body shop: "Hit a Deer? Save Some Doe."
And speaking of signs, Strasburg Road is temporarily shut down on the east side of Marshallton (yes, again), but you can still get to the Four Dogs from Unionville via Route 162 and Strasburg Road -- as I found out this afternoon when I had a delightful lunch on the patio.

Facilities

An anonymous reader asked on my blog: "Are there any public toilets in Unionville?"
I don't think there are, but I'm willing to be corrected. Perhaps the new Unionville park plan calls for some.

Like a good tycoon

The latest news out of Richard Hayne's Doe Run Farm: he's converting a old building into a "yoga house." West Marlborough Township building inspector Eddie Caudill announced this as part of his report at the June 7 township meeting. This led to a brief discussion by the township supervisors in which, once again, they said how extremely helpful it would be for Mr. Hayne to appear and state definitively what his plans are for the sprawling project in Springdell.
In other township business, the road crew will be spreading soybean oil to keep the dust down on Ryan and Tapeworm Roads, two of the township's gravel roads, and the township received $11,367.70 from the state as reimbursement for snow-removal expenses.

The Blob

This week's column really is a mixture of good news, bad news and strange news. And here's the latter: Fuligo septica, a slime mold, has appeared in two places on the east side of the house, one on the ground on some pine needles and the other smack on top of a newly planted creeping thyme. To put it politely, it looks like hardened gobs of yellow whipped cream. I'm told it does no harm, and you really can't get rid of it. I scraped it off the thyme, but a gray sort of netting remains.

Here it is, underneath some volunteer four o'clocks.