Monday, April 12, 2010

About that Horse Leg in the Backyard...

Email exchange between me and the previous tenant of my Gracious Home in Rhinebeck, a British equine surgeon.

Me: While tidying up the yard, I picked up a rectangular white plastic bin that was sitting upside down between the stone wall & back fence, to the right of the shed. Underneath it I was surprised to find a horse's hoof and foreleg protruding from a pile of leaves (now buried under more leaves, capped by a rock). I was wondering whether you know anything about this.

Horse doc: Oh I am so very sorry about the leg in the yard. I put them out to weather and they have been there a very long time. I completely forgot. Very sorry. They could prob go in normal trash now.

They??? I am so not digging any deeper. Nor will I be putting any horse legs, weathered or not, out for the Monday trash pick-up.

8 comments:

Sandra Cormier said...

Wow, that would totally freak out the trash collectors!

You could make one into a lamp. :)

David said...

To weather?

The anecdote sounds like the beginning of a Dick Francis novel.

Bella Stander said...

Yeah Sandra, I don't want to start off on the wrong foot (heh heh) with Waste Mgmt. The leg is too hairy & smelly to make into a lamp. Plus my new dog (when I get one) would chew it all up.

David, I also was struck by "to weather." The leg's (legs'?) location is particularly eerie: just beyond the fence is a rusting 4-stall starting gate and a little track. Now I'm afraid of turning up other losers in the perennial border along the stone wall. The new growth is quite lush--perhaps from lots of fresh nitrogen.

Bossy Betty said...

He was so very polite about it!

David said...

Bossy Betty:

Very British! Terribly sorry about the horse leg in the yard. Meant to take care of that. Forgot. Do forgive me. Hate to cause a bother or embarrassment. Just chuck the silly thing away, and we won't speak of it again.

Bella Stander said...

Dr. Emma is very polite, and very British. David, you've got her down to a T.

I sent her a link to this post & she responded:
"Thank you, my first foray into a blog has me cringeing deeply now!
I am mightily relieved you can see the funny side to my error."

David said...

It's due to my own sort-of British upbringing. I'm still like that, inside. I've been impersonating an American for more than 50 years, but I still don't have it right.

Bella Stander said...

Well done! Now I must break for tea. (Seriously, the pot of Earl Grey is done steeping.)