The dandelion is there by the sidewalk, smiling its wondrous smile, singing the song of eternity. Lo! You have ears capable of hearing it. Bow your head. Listen to her.

The Whole Poem

The Good News
The good news
they do not print.
The good news
we do print.
We have a special edition every moment
that we need you to read.
The good news is that you are alive
and the linden tree is still there
standing firm in the harsh winter.
The good news is that you have wonderful eyes
to touch the blue sky.
The good news is that
your child is there before you,
and your arms are available.
Hugging is possible.
They print only what is wrong.
Look at each of our special editions.
We always offer the things that are not wrong.
We want you to benefit from them
and help protect them.
The dandelion is there by the sidewalk,
smiling its wondrous smile,
singing the song of eternity.
Lo! You have ears capable of hearing it.
Bow your head.
Listen to her.
Leave behind your world of sorrow
and preoccupation
and get free.
The latest good news
is that you can do it.
Thich  Nhat Hanh
Copyright by author - used for educational purposes
Thich Nhat Hanh was a very famous Buddhist monk. Famed as an author, teacher, calligrapher and poet. Very accessible.

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/26/1075754717/remembering-thich-nhat-hanh-peace-activist-and-vietnamese-buddhist-monk

I'm going to give away the end of this story first - Amos is fine ! Doing great as a matter of fact. I realized as I was writing this that I was starting from the point where, for the reader, his health or safety was in doubt.

Don’t worry! He’s fine.

Juice is ready to move to his new home - He's retiring to become a pasture buddy to another old horse belonging to friends of ours. It's been a challenge getting their pasture fenced - it was supposed to be done in April. In the meantime he's hanging out in a super premium riding facility. Watching the world go by. A week or so ago, He was rolling around in his stall and he scraped his hip. He's done this before. Since there's no real way to bandage a hip bone on a horse it takes a while to heal. I've been going out everyday and washing it and covering it with a clay poultice. It's been hot AF so I hose him down real good. He appreciates it!

So I've been out there everyday for the last five or six days. It's a hundred mile round trip.

Barncat is good !

Penny and Jenny are fine -

I didn't see Amos. The first day I didn't think anything of it but by the 3rd or 4th day I was getting kind of worried. He is as old as anything- someone once told me he was 30 heading to 40. That's old for a horse or a mule.! He was wearing it well- truly majestic -

I ran into one of the horse trainers yesterday . The day before I had walked all over the facility looking for Amos. No sign of him anywhere . I didn't want to hear any bad news but I had to ask.

“ Hey John- is Amos all right? “ He could see my concern I think, so it was real surprising when he started laughing! “ He’s fine ! Probably never been better!”

A lady at the barn was aging out of the sport. Health problems. She had a relatively young paint mare she was going to breed so she could keep hanging out with the horses. Rather than pay for a stall adjacent the arena she was never going to use, her horse is hanging out in the pasture on the hill. They threw Amos in there to keep her company. He is evidently living his best life! He’s fixed, I imagine he's been that way all his life. He’s always shown an interest in the ladies though. He immediately loses 10 years of his age around a filly. He has a real spring in his step. It’s funny! Anyway, I was worried, preparing myself for the worst. Turns out, things were better for everyone than I could have imagined. Now that I know he's there I go get some pictures of the happy couple. I wonder what the mare thinks.

I saw a bug yesterday. Some kind of beetle. Very green!

I took some pictures up at the local Catholic Church. The flowers were just okay. It’s just been too hot. I came around the corner near the entrance of the rectory and there I saw a very nice Bathtub Mary!

In southeastern Ohio, The Appalachian Foothills part- Bathtub Jesuses( Jesuii?) are very common- you take your old claw foot bathtub, bury it halfway standing up with the drain side down. You get yourself a cement Jesus and place it in a little sanctuary you’ve created. Better than using it for a watering trough down in the barn! Not a really Catholic crowd. Mary statues I imagine are rare. I think all I ever saw was Jesus . You find someone that can paint and you give Jesus a fresh coat every couple of years. . There you are - a Bathtub Jesus of your very own. Praise the Lord! Looks like the church had a custom made sanctuary. There’s probably a catalog that gets mailed to all the priests that sells them. I like the bathtubs better.

That's all I got for now- Thanks for dropping by! You should go read about the Buddhist monk- certainly read the poem. There's a good strong message of hope. Everybody needs that!