Manitou on TV?

I don't think I've ever posted about my "day job". I am the marketing specialist for Manitou North America, we manufacture rough terrain forklifts. These are the big forklifts and boom trucks that are used in construction.

One of our largest models was used to build a home for this week's family on Extreme Makeover. The show will be aired on ABC this Sunday, Nov 11 at 7 PM.

The J.S. Hovnanian & Sons construction company used a MANITOU MRT from T.E.S., our dealer in New Jersey. The Marrero family's new 2,800 square foot home was to be built in 106 hours. Due to the level of support and teamwork, (and the MRT, of course!) the home was actually finished 10 hours early!

It is possible that you might get a glimpse of the MRT in action (or not) on the 1-hour show. It's a big red boom truck that rotates. I sure hope it appears, that's good, free advertisement!

Happy Birthday, Dear Sister!

Time to Get in the Christmas Spirit!

I just love Christmas! But it always sneaks up on me. This year I am going to make a bigger effort to do things each day to put me in the giving spirit. I'll try to post ideas on the blog as well so maybe others can share in the glorious celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus.


I'll start with one I received in an email:

A Great Idea!!!
When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please include the following:

A Recovering American soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

Follow-up:
Snopes.com claims that this is no longer true. Instead they suggest:
"We're proud that this holiday season, communities across America are invited to mail holiday greeting cards along with personal messages of support to wounded service members at military hospitals around the country through a unique partnership between the American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes Inc. This solution will benefit service members at Walter Reed and will also benefit those recovering at other military hospitals. With the help of the U.S. Department of Defense, Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Pitney Bowes, between now and December 27, members of the public can mail their holiday cards to:
We Support You During Your Recovery!
c/o American Red Cross
P.O. Box 419
Savage, MD 20763-0419
Red Cross volunteers will sort the cards for appropriate content and repackage them for shipping. Our partner, Pitney Bowes, will ship the cards to Red Cross stations at the military hospitals."

Fall is in the air!

Color is creeping into the trees and shrubs at the gate. The cooler temps are nice but I sure don't like this time change! The sun goes down so early there is no time to play with the animals in the evening.

Did ya know? Daylight-saving time was started during World War I to save oil and other energy resources needed for the war. It was used again in WWII, then became a law in 1966. Only a few states and regions don't follow it.

With an extra hour of daylight after dinner in the summer, people don't need to use their lights as long, so they waste less electricity and that saves energy. Seems we would make up for it in the winter...

Wooly Bear Weather Man?

I don't know if this is a wooly bear cater-pillar, or not? But I've always heard they can forecast weather.


According to Roy Krege, the coordinator of the annual Woolly Worm Festival held in Banner Elk, North Carolina, a woolly worm can tell the winter with 87 percent accuracy.

"As a rule, the blacker the caterpillar, the harsher the winter," said Krege. The woolly worm's prediction for this winter comes out on October 20 when one worm is selected and its colouring judged at the festival, which also features a race of 1,500 of the little crawlies.

I'd say ours is kind of half and half, so maybe the winter will be the same.

Another link to info on the wooly bear weather bugs:
http://archive.capecodonline.com/oncape/stories/woolly15.htm

Unicorner's New Gentle Giant

This is Xena, our newest horse... she is 18 hands tall, weighs about 2200 lbs. and is a Shire-Percheron cross. Xena is the fulfillment of Bob's dream to own a draft horse.

Below: Lady in Red, our smallest miniature meets Mac and Xena.

Xena is a such a good girl, here she is taking Kade, Kenzie and Koby for a ride.

Spooktacular Horse Show

Each year one of the miniature horse clubs we belong to has a fun Halloween show on the last weekend of October. We love the costume classes and have competed in them in the past. Here are some of this year's entries:

Youth Classes

Mixed groups and adult classes

You can click on the photos to enlarge them for better viewing.