The Golden Carrot Newsletter's Archive

 

The Golden Carrot

November 2008 Newsletter

 

Hi everyone, and I don’t think it’s too soon to say, happy holidays!

 

www.iGive.com/GoldenCarrot

 

This is the link you’d use to go directly to iGive to be sure your online shopping will benefit TGC. It’s going to be on my website as well. You can also download a toolbar that will allow you to go directly to sites you like, and hook you up if that’s an iGive site. Please don’t forget to use these sites! However, if you go to JeffersEquine or JeffersPet as I’ve recommended in the past, although you’re going through the mall, Jeffers doesn’t have the automatic donation tracking. There’s a few extra steps you’ll need to go through once you’ve made your order. It’s easy - I did it in about 1 minute the first time. I’m pretty pissed tho, as I order a LOT of stuff for the horses through Jeffers, and only just saw (when a little window popped up congratulating me for going through the iGive window) in teeny tiny print, a notation that donations won’t be credited without that extra transaction-noting step. So for this year, and who knows how long, my purchases at Jeffers have NOT helped the horses, as I’d hoped. If you have made any purchases at Jeffers in the last 30 days, you can still do a transaction-missing procedure to get the credit for it.... I’ll be watching those pesky windows in the future!

 

Sponsorship Status

 

Let’s remember, please, that now Shine, Star, Shawnee and Buck are available for sponsorship again! They had a golden Month of October, but are looking for that special someone to be "their" sponsor. In addition, Navigator is now looking for a sponsor. His sponsor has had some difficulty keeping up for the last year or two, after several years of being there for him. Her sponsorship for the last year at least has only been a ½ sponsorship, and still difficult for her to sustain. And then she was happy to say she got her own horse! So, the old guy is hoping to find someone to help him in these last years of his life. As a really huge TB with "hard keeping" ways, Navigator is $150 a month sponsorship fee. Don’t let that number scare you away. If three folks could offer $50 a month, he’d be fully sponsored. Or if not Navigator, please check the first page of the website, www.thegoldencarrot.org, to see who else is hoping for a sponsor to be thankful for!

 

Volunteer

 

June has been volunteering now for a couple of weeks. Mostly, all she can do is fill the water barrels, but she’s done that diligently for me every other day. She did want contact with the horses, but has found her size and frailty makes that problematical. So instead she’s worked with my dogs who are more her size, and give her ‘dog time’ that she’s missed since the passing of her own dachshund. I did finally get her up on Falcon for a short ride, and pictures are on the website under "photos". C’mon folks, this lady is 76 years old! Maybe she can’t do a lot, but she’s energetic and willing. This leads me up to my repeat request:

 

Can anyone help with a WORK DAY here?

 

I’ve tried and tried to get local help to repair stalls and fences, with almost no success. My neighbor owns a tractor, but refuses to use it to bring in dirt for the stalls, which have horse-dug holes in them so large I could probably bury the horses in them! I try to fill them in every day, but I can’t move enough dirt without extreme effort. For instance, to fill in the holes in Dion’s stall would require at least 5-6 wheelbarrow loads. I have to take the shovel and wheelbarrow at least 1000 feet away, down hill, shovel up the dirt, and push that loaded wheelbarrow back uphill to his stall. A tractor bucket load would do it in one try! After moving 6 wheelbarrows of manure, I don’t have enough left in me! I am hoping against hope that someone will want to volunteer that knows how to run a tractor, and that I can rent one for a reasonable rate. I do have one potential volunteer, Larry Friley, who is a contractor by trade; unfortunately, Larry labors with a bad knee injury, so I need to get some able bodies to haul materials for him, etc. He’s offered his own nail gun and compressor, so if I could get some helpers to move ladders, and haul panels, and other materials to hand him, I know we could get a lot of repairs made. I’m waiting to hear when Larry is available, but am hoping for the weekends of November 15-16, 22-23, or even the 29-30 (Thanksgiving weekend) if anyone would be willing.

 

I will be working the Tierra Del Norte Arabian Horse Association’s community horse show on November 9, and am happy to report that this terrific organization has gathered older blankets, as well as some lumber/building material for me to pick up that day as well. With that, and other material’s I’ve purchased, a lot of improvement could be made to winterize my sad stall line for another season or two. Please? I’ll provide Subway sandwiches, chips and soft drinks. If you can help, email me with a date, and I’ll publish that right away; then others can schedule around that. I and the horses would truly appreciate it.

 

MySpace! www.myspace.com/cocarrot

 

At the advice of one patron of TGC, DeeAnn Bradley (former sponsor of PC), I’ve prepared a myspace page for myself, and am shamelessly promoting TGC on there. I hope it will generate interest from other people for the horses. I know I’m wearing you out with my constant pleas .... but truly, your money goes to the horses only - and just for the basics of food and farrier and vet care. No luxuries here; no pay for me; just the basics .... and don’t we all want that for these wonderful creatures? So if you would join my page as a friend, I’d be thrilled to have you! And tell YOUR friends in that easy way.... And for any that can’t tell, yes, that picture is Star!

 

Tax Prep

 

In my last newsletter, I asked for help finding a tax person, and that plea was answered by Sharla Sanders. Sharla referred me to a lady who is right now looking at my tax materials, to prepare a tax return for TGC for 2007, the first year my donations exceeded the $25,000 limit. Whoohoo! Thanks Sharla, for the reference!

 

I hope to hear from some of you soon. If you can’t help with a work day, can you donate? Every penny you give goes DIRECTLY to the horses. And we really need it - feed costs continue to rise. I just purchased more grass hay, and the cost had gone up $2.50 PER BALE in only 30 DAYS! The bagged feed has gone up $.25 per bag as well, and I purchase almost 90 bags a week.

 

If you can’t donate, can you tell people about our need? Check with your employer, sometimes they will match your donations, or at least a percentage of them; put up a jar on your desk; do as Sue Friley does and purchase candies at Costco, and sell them for a little markup at the office (I think Sue has sent over $100 in just a few months time doing that!); post flyers at your local feed store or ask them to allow a donation jar. We can all put our own change in a jar whenever we think of it, and once a month take it to Coinstar - and some of that from each of you could add up to a lot. Sarah Bancroft sent me $177 the other day from her and her boyfriend Scott’s pockets! And as I began, don’t forget to do your online shopping through iGive.com whenever you can. It doesn’t cost you a penny, and could add up to a lot for us.

 

There are many ways to help. Thank you for anything you can do!