The book is ready!    Fires went through the area of the site of the original Mandy and Me, burning many of the buildings built over it's era.    There was about a week in August 2023,  that  the Mandy and Me horses remaining with me in the Okanagan, left the home they  we have had the  past 6 years, to be on the safe side.  Our horse trailer was not used because it is in need of a lot of work.  the motivation to have it fixed is more than ever, whether to helps someone else, or ourselves.   Pretty  helpless feeling to rely on others  when so many horses were in need of moving.  Some former friends and neighbors lost their home and business.   Before officially starting Mandy and Me, i had the pleasure of working with a couple of these neighbors, doing grape picking in the lower mission.   Her husband's tree planting business equipment all burned as well as the house... glad to see they have a go fund me and it is helping them get organized for next year.   I was going to share it, but then i realized no, they have a family, community and business contacts that will support them.   I thought I did too.. and this is what hurts the most.   

 I would never wish losing a home and business to a fire or anything to anyone.. they were kind and were one of the folk that  left a card and some funds for me when i lost my home.. thanks Lise and good luck!  I would never have wished my experience of losing my stable home and business of over 30 year  on anyone... just as I would never aim to have someone fall of a horse.  We aimed too provide maximum fun and safety for folk.. or at least some peaceful memories!   We would swap songs and stories.. hard for me to charge.

Hope you enjoy the stories and it inspires the telling and making of your own!    Aiming to recruit and inspire people to want to be a  Justice KnightMARE...    What is this about?  Helping people step up and have fun singing and telling stories as well as to respect other people, and animals.... with boundaries.    I talk about it a bit in the Justice Standing Strong and Free page,  under the song/ story of that name.    If you would like to be a silent or public sponsor, feel free emailing me at silverado.socrates@gmail.com  Good news.. i was able to get the www.mandyandme.com website back.   Will be planning to put some pics of pet stickers..... stay tuned. 

After getting the books, or before, feel free to  read along  from here or with the book while listening  to some of them on the youtube channel.  They aren't in order, but can get an idea how they go:     (384) Silverado Socrates - YouTube     Love is Contagious  has Mandy and Me theme song;  Alberta Rose;  LIfe's a Dance (word changes but not in this book);   It's about Twine;    An addiction is an addiction;  Cowboys don't Cry  (on Justice standing Strong and Free page

Thank you Thursday has  Nanny as a Roommate;   Fire Within;   Drunk on a Dream;  

guess i need to record some more so at least all of Peace in the Valley are on youtube

I have a person helping me with editing the book.  She has suggested that i do a proper intro.. i thought the dedication could act as one, but i do see her point.   so .. here goes!

         I had meant the next entry to be in the first edition, but misplaced the paper.  A friend helped me think of doing other people's stories, when he gave me this poem that was written by his late wife.  When i realized i needed to could have a few more printed pages for the same price... but,a lot was going on (learned father was in hospice)

for next edition.. and this website.

             Old Age by Joy Parker    Thanks Gil... my Packinghouse friend

Just a line to say I'm living

 that I'm not among the dead

Tho I'm getting more forgetful

and more mixed up in the head.

and sometimes I can't remember

 When I stand at the foot of the stairs

 If I must go up for something

 or just came down from there!

And before the fridge, so often

my poor mind is filled with doubt

have i just put food away

 or have I  come to take some out.

An there are times when it's dark outside

with my hair net on my head

 I don't know if I'm retiring

 or just  getting out of bed!

So if it's my turn to write you 

 There's no need of getting sore.

I may think i've already written

 and don't want to be a bore

 So just remember I miss you

 and wish that you were here

 now it's nearly mail time

 so I must say bye bye dear

 There I stood beside the Mailbox

With my face so very red

Instead of mailing you my letter

I opened it instead!

Introduction by Silverado

I will be honest, I am not comfortable doing this. On the other hand, I feel that I need to speak for myself.  I am very socially challenged, but better than I was when I was young.  I liked talking with friends but not strangers and my situation at home was not normal. My parents were amazing in many ways and I am grateful to have had them raise me.  Having said that, I realize now that they talked a lot when people came to visit, but little to none when it was just the three of us.  This left me with communication challenges that were my normal growing up.

I remember going down to Brigham Young University in Utah for their attempt to interest me in attending their track and cross country teams. The coach or someone said that he thought I wasn't shy. I seem to remember being slightly annoyed that he figured it out. Around strangers, I mostly chose to stay quiet and listen.  I remember often wishing I had said something else when talking with people or the press, and being pretty annoyed with myself.   One constant question was what I wanted to do for a career.   I would tell people that I planned to take pre-veterinary courses while attending university. I mainly attended university so that I would be able to train with great coaches as the Olympics was my goal. I do like sciences and math so I was not lying because many of the prerequisites involved those courses.  One example of my being annoyed at what the papers wrote was after a high school meet.  In the paper it said something like how I had said one solitary cuss word.   Pretty sure that was my final high school provincial race and that I wanted to get the national high school record.  I broke the provincial but could have been easier on myself because I'd had a stress fracture after running my first world cross country championship in Portugal that spring. The press had caught me at a time that I was not happy, but other times they would catch the opposite.  Either way, I would not always be happy with what i said and sometimes think that I was misunderstood.     In that case, the disappointment was turned into extra training and would result in a couple of silvers in the Canada Games that year, both which broke the game’s records. Both races would be won by an athlete who was in their last university competition and both races would have less than a two second difference between first and second.  On the opposite side of things, there was a provincial cross country championship that I am pretty sure that I ended up glad that I didn't finish first.  Frederick Schmidt (I’m pretty sure that was her name, but not sure the spelling) won and sent me flowers for not appearing.  The Canadian cross country championships was the same weekend so I was to race back east.  I think that it would turn out I wouldn’t go due to fog at the airport.  I am not saying these things to boast but to share my reality at the time.  Racing and pets were my life. 

I would eventually decide to stay in Canada and attend the University of Victoria, also called UVic, largely because of its strong running program. I went to UVic with the financial aid of the premier’s athletic award of about $2500, athletic funding for being on the sports teams, and a few other local bursaries. I also had the financial aid of federal funding at $500 a month as an Olympic hopeful.  I also had jobs while going to University from working at a plant  nursery to working at a fish hatchery.    I was pretty frugal at university and after three years had some funds to buy my father’s horses when I decided to make a business out of a high school hobby.  My father had continued it while I was at university.  I would find out years later that he had been thinking of selling the acreage, which had been my only stable home growing up.  Although the running was going well, when it came down to my dreams of horses or going to the Olympics, the horses won.   It was hard the first few years. I wanted to get to studies in the fall but I also saw or heard of friends that competed at levels I had hoped to. Of course, now, I am glad to have known the athletes and to have felt the greatest feeling of being part of a winning team on home turf. 

  I am like a lot of honest folks and tend to believe people when they tell me their stories. I can live with having lost a lot to deception by strangers, but it is hard to have lost things and horses to people I thought of as friends. I am not happy with cards that have been dealt with dishonest hands. 

It is so ironic that in 2008, money-wise,  I could have recorded all the songs for this book with no problem.  Having said that, I didn't do it mostly because I wanted the people helping me with the songs to be as serious about the bigger picture as I am. My house and acreage had been paid off in full and I had an unused line of credit for it as well as a fair bit of savings.  I also had a few thousand in RRSP.   It had not been easy to get to this point.    

I had worked hard for many years building the business of Mandy and Me Trailriding, had invested some money wisely, and had rented up to two rooms, and my basement at different times, to get to that point.  Of course, there had been occasional lean years but I had learned to tighten up the belt and in future years throw money against the mortgage to get the interest amounts down.                                                                                                            

We all can say, "If I could turn back time, I would...!", but we can't. We can only try to learn from it.  I used the line of credit to buy three houses which became a very expensive education on many levels.  I had planned to have reduced to no rent to some people while letting guests, primarily people I met through the stables, be able to stay at the houses while on vacation.  As things progressed, the subsidized renters would have been able to gain income as well as having fun entertaining the guests.  It was a great plan, in many ways.  A car accident in 2009, and some major differences in ethics with the person I partnered with, made for some disaster dominoes.  I thought that a book based around songs could be a great catharsis for me and help me remember better times of my life.  I hoped it could potentially help inspire others to be involved in tourism as well as to not be shy about sharing thoughts of their own. I hoped, and still hope, that this can become a bit of a way to meet others and share stories of pets with the idea of bringing some joy and peace but also sharing some of the sadder times with the hopes of helping others avoid unnecessary loss. An example of this is the song "Let's Sing Together". It is a fun song about a rooster but it is also an anti-bullying song. The irony is that I let myself be bullied. I used to bully myself and continually push myself to new goals. I had so much faith that the good guys win and did not believe that I could ever lose my stables to foreclosure. It is hilariously ironic on many levels, and sometimes I laugh, sometimes.   

Being blind to other people's lack of vision or belief is key to running and winning races and succeeding at many things. But you do need someone in your corner who can see the vision if it is a big one and involves a better community that you are part of. It comes down to communication problems. I should have asked people at the bank that credit be given to me for adding a new roof and paying property tax early. Once in front of the judge for the final day, the bank ended up taking a huge loss on the value of the house that I would have gladly paid a mortgage for more than the actual value of it.  My business had finally started to get in the black after letting it go for a few years. Furthermore, my motivation and belief in others had finally started getting back on track too.  Why did I say ironic?  Hint, my motivation and belief in others are lacking again but I have not given up entirely.  

       I have had many incredibly great tenants and guests who have either rented or helped out with the stables in exchange for staying or a combination of both. Also on the good side, I realize that I have not had it nearly as bad as many and that everyone has a story that we can learn from. I have made many mistakes and like to look back and figure out what I could have done differently.   The fact is that sometimes it is systems that need changing and people need to not be so judgemental.   Having said that, the best thing about this book is you can't judge me on my singing! 

      One last point, crazy idea and semi crazy truth.  I basically stopped my university funded/assisted running at the end of my third year at UVic.   I’d finished 22nd at my 3rd world cross country championship at the age of 20 and had broken the Canadian university record in a time slightly faster than what a former UVic runner  (Deb Scott) I sometimes trained with, once won the world indoor championships in.  Her race was probably tactical, while mine was solo, but still.. .the idea of world pace to world peace is my new dream.  I/we need a team.. hoping for recruits of coaches and participants!

      This book is dedicated to the pets that have enriched my life. There are so many, but I will limit the names to three. First there is Teffy, my first dog. Then there is Candy, my first larger dog. And lastly there is Theatre who is the first and only dog I had to have puppies. Each of them were loved greatly but passed so suddenly; treasure your time while you have it!

 I also wish to dedicate the book to my Mom, big brother Brian and father.   Each of them has helped inspire me to share my own stories through actions, songs and/or stories of pets.   I should almost thank my bad memory.  I prefer to make my own stories because I don't trust my remembering details from other people's stories but I do love to hear them!

I would also like to give credit to all the folk that have helped feed/ take care of them over the years, be they clients of the trail riding; business or people who worked / volunteered at the stables; vets, farriers, healers with hands that massaged - so many modes of help;  can't forget the many suppliers too... so many great people and places; special nods to Diamond H Tack and Grower's Supply,  David Daku for past hay, (there were many times in the fields trying to get hay off them before the rain, before he had machine to pick them up) and   Norm Duncan now;  people who sold or gave the pets or later took care of them... thanks;  an exponential special credit goes to Roy Rogers and Dale Evans for their songs and tales both real life and on TV- RIP you VIP! 

How can i start to add friends without not including hundreds more...but i will limit it to 5-   Kelly Craig, for her endless support since meeting her through HOPE OUTREACH; Glenn Olien, a former neighbor who started off as someone who picked me up as i walked to the bus, then over the years became an uncle/ mentor/ friend;   My first real running coach Mike Vantighem who guided me, never pushing and helped me not be too hard on myself in many ways;  Keri Bradner, who was a partner in rides when i first started riding regularly and shared her love of singing and jokes to help recover from the falls;   Last but not least, Aima Reeves for the incredible help when a student at UBCO and now taking care of a couple of my 4-legged family while i work on this new income trail.  

I asked Glenn to do an intro for the book.  He went overboard and i doubt that I cannot sure i can live up to what he has said, but did edit some parts about the running achievements to bring truth to that matter.  For the second edition, it will be more of a forward.  I italicized and put the edited part in brackets.  

                                                            Silverado 

         The author, Silverado Brooks Socrates was born in Cold Lake,    Alberta as the daughter of Jean Eldora and  Captain Jim Shackleton in the Canadian Air Force.    She, her parents, their four horses and dog Pepi moved to the Okanagan in 1981.   She went to  the University of Victoria and later changed her name in large part because Roy Rogers, her child hood hero  had also changed his name.   She jokes that she was born again in the Okanagan.    She always loved stories of living on a farm and could not wait to move to one so was glad to have had the opportunity to assume the mortgages and buy the farm that her parents and her moved to as a young teen.                                               All the songs in this book were inspired from years living at that acreage.  .                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

2023  printed at Kelowna Instaprint in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

Printed on recycled paper.

Silverado Socrates Way of Peace Achieving    by Glenn Olien

Silverado's way is all about combining peace, human determination, and dreaming to achieve the Impossible.

The key to understanding Silverado Socrates "Peace projects" is revealed in this picture of her running, peacefully, dreaming, (while (leading the University of Victoria ladies’ cross country to a Canadian inter university cross country points record.  In 1987 the UVic had a national win with 18 points.  A perfect score is 15, with the top 5 runners points counting.  Silverado won the race but the UVic ladies also had the 2nd, 5th, 6th and 7th spots.  It will be a hard team score to beat and it was her third gold medal win with this being by 19 seconds.  She was inducted as an individual in 2013 and as of the end of the 2023 season, still holds an indoor 3000m CIS record.  She was the second fastest of a 4x800 m CIAU /CIS relay gold medal win that would hold a record for about 25 years.   Her  UVic cross-country team was inducted in 2018 in the UVic sports hall of fame and she was honored to be one of the 100 athletes put in the inaugural Canada West Sports Hall of fame of 2019, celebrating the centennial year anniversary of the first university sports championship in Canada West.)

If you look again at the picture you will see, in the background, people wondering what just happened and wondering where the other runners are.   They have just witnessed peace, human determination and a dream merging to achieve something special.  

   This "Peace" run was such a profound transformational moment in Silverado's life that she has ever since applied it to the rest of her life.  (In her words, she has "had goals of having others feel as if on a pedestal and feel as special as she was made to feel while running the fastest she had ever run as she came into an Olympic year.   If things continued as they were, she had an outside chance of getting her Olympic dream yet there it was, winning in front of a home crowd.  How could it get better?  By helping others to that feeling!")

 This peace run was such a profound transformational moment in Silverado's life that she has ever since applied it to the rest of her life. 

The second picture is an artistic image of her at peace while using all her human determination to live a life according to her uncompromising peace-based values.  She could, but will not, seek out a life of sedentary luxury.   She would rather live a life which constantly puts to test her understanding of the outcomes of the combination of peace, human determination and a dream.  

She is determined to increase the peace in the world.  Can Silverado Socrates support others to achieve what they have never been able to achieve before?  Clearly declaring metaphorical or real war, in the name of achievement has never launched an individual or the world, into the state of constant increasing peace-based achievement.  What can her Peace Park or a Peace Run achieve?  Can merging peace and human determination bring other individual's dreams into the state of ever-increasing possibility and thus increasing world peace?  Do you want to get involved?  Silverado is inviting you to witness or even participate in her way of deploying peace, human determination and a dream to enter into a state of peaceful overcoming for the individual or the whole world. 

For over 40 years I have witnessed and participated in her life.  I am like a sports caster simply adding color commentary about the spectacle of what is happening when peace, human determination and a dream are combined to achieve what is thought to be unachievable.  I have benefited greatly from having the privilege of this long-time experience as a spectator and participant in Silverado's Peace Projects. 

 Glenn Olien 2023

(3) Facebook   Lady Jane and Darby were Cool Mommas...   see them live in this video (this writing will not be in the book)

My family moved to the Bear Creek Rd/ Petterson/ Rose Valley area of Mount Swite in 1981 from Saskatchewan.  I remember that i was not too keen on some of the narrow trails that were alongside steep embankments. at first.  Coming from the prairies, it didn't take much for me to consider a hill steep or a trail narrow.   I have come to realize that riders often think that trails are more narrow than then actually are too.   In any case, the reality is that the area that "Ralph" first appeared was not conducive to trailriding.   The horse that first noticed the rattlesnake was one that was originally wild from a herd in the Southern Okanagan, an area known for rattlesnakes.    Hi Tess was smart.. she would not move, once she realized that there was a rattlesnake in front of her.    I had already passed the spot while leading another rider on a different horse.     I don't know if we hadn't noticed the snake or if it managed to crawl out after we had passed, but despite the boy's mom suggesting he get his horse going, i said no, and we would get back to them.      We did manage to go down the embankment a bit and around the area that the Ralph's Rock's were, but we went a different trail after.     This became a pattern for a few rides.      The guide, usually me, would notice the snake, and we would go a different way.  Problem is, the trail the snake blocked was a really nice trail that went to a beautiful spot we came to call "Mandy's Ridge" that overlooked the Okanagan Lake.    I remembered a story that Mrs Petterson had told me about how she and a friend that had lived on the other side of Bear Creek, used to walk from their perspective homes and go to a school near where Bear Creek met Okanagan Lake.  One day, while her friend was going home, she heard a sp%^#^$^3  all around her.    She stopped and then saw many rattlesnakes surrounding her and crawling away in all directions.   She realized that they must have just come out of their hibernation (actually brumation which is a dormancy similar to hibernation).   She knew that if she waited long enough, they would all go away and she would be safe to walk home.     I figured that if we waited long enough, the rattlesnake would crawl away and we would be safe to continue along the trail.     We waited, and sure enough, the snake would go away and we could carry on.        Interestingly, it seemed to be months if not another year after moving "Ralph" before Hi Tess would not be extra cautious about that spot, not necessarily trusting the lead guides judgement!   She would never freak out or anything, just refuse to move into what she felt was a dangerous area.    I thought she was pretty cool Okanagan mare.    A friend named Darren Bradbury moved the snake for me.   We had another fella that would help with trailrides one year that seemed to see  more than his share of rattlesnakes.    I would hear later about how he would move them off the trail too.    I am not sure if these guys were cool or crazy!   At least they lived to tell the tale.       Rattlesnakes are generally pretty timid of people and would rather move away, but rattle so people will not come close to possibly hurt them.    I have heard many over the years.  Sometimes, it has been too late to stop and have already passed them before hearing them rattle. .. and am ok with that.    

Pretty sure that Sambucca was once bit by a rattlesnake.    I had purchased a little over 3 acres of land and had it divided into two sections.   Friends and I had cleared much of it so it was safe for horses to roam around it .   There was not a lot of grazing, because it was so dry, but horses in it would look and forage what they could in between feedings.    Sambucca was in one of these pens the first year i had gotten him from an auction.    We had a group that regularly rode with us each year and i was excited for them to meet him.      It was not the greeting i hoped because when i went to catch him i saw that  the area around his nostrils and one side of his head was really swollen!   At first, I thought he must have punctured it badly and the swelling was some kind of result of that, but could only find 3 small punctures.   My memory is normally pretty poor, but i remember 3 because it seemed so strange but we figured it must have been ratllesnake related.     Horses are used to make snake antivenom and bites are not normally lethal to them but areas of the head or neck can be deadly due to breathing being compromised.   With this in mind, we put ice packs on his nose and were able to get a couple of doses of adrenalin from a friend to flush it through his system quicker.    I gave him the one shot before a ride with my out of town friends, and then one after.    The funny thing is he was not afraid of rattlesnakes but in the immediate years after, he would sometimes get nervous of certain sudden movements.  I think that it had been behind a rock or fallen log and he got bit unexpectedly with the snake not having gotten a chance to rattle.   I will never know for sure, but did get a hard lesson on not surprising him once.    I had been doing an exercise for him of scratching his belly to try to help him straighten out his back.   I hadn't done it for awhile but had decided to do it in the middle of a ride, during a time we let the horses graze.    He reacted by bringing up one of his legs very quickly and smoking my knee.  I can't remember now  which leg or if it was the inside or outside, but i know it hurt like the dickens!   He did not mean to hurt me,  i am sure he was remembering the rattlesnake that had hurt him.   I had trouble walking for a few months after that but recognize it was totally my fault, well,  not it was not Sambucca's anyway.    I will also say that i used to be ridiculously afraid of rattlensakes, quite possibly because of movies which showed them causing troubles for horses.    Ralph did wonders for my fear!     Thanks Ralph...

Something else to note about the area.   It was an orchard on one side and Bear Creek on the other.   I came to know a descendent of the Swite family from which the mountain I had lived on was named.    Gary Swite told me how his family and some neighbors/ friends would work in the orchard when he was a boy.    Sometimes he would take some time off to play and was caught by his father playing with baby rattlers!  He didn't know and was pretty lucky to have not been bit because the babies don't have the self-control of the more mature rattlers so sometimes could pack more bang for the fang, so to speak.   I am sure glad Gary lived to tell the tale because he has been a good friend over the years.   He performs in a local band for elders and friends too!    He also told me of how his grandfather was a trapper and died on the mountain one year, after checking his trap lines.  His dog came back without him and later led people to where his body lay.   I think he was in his 80's or 90's when this happened!   Gary has lots of interesting stories of pioneer farming days in the Okanagan. 

but, if you see a snake...                                                                                                                       ( this side if you want to pretend to be the snake. )

hey man, have no fear,                                                                                                                   hey man, have no fear,   

   if you don't wriggle jiggle, he'll no longer be  near.                                                 if you don't wriggle jiggle, I'll no longer be  near.

He's going to writher and slither and move right away                                              I'm going to writher and slither and move right aw

 if you don't threaten him,  ((RATTLE))  he wont want to stay!                                  if you don't threaten me,  ((RATTLE))   I wont want to sssttttaaay       ###                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

                                                                              Indian Cree Philosopy... with an Okanagan Twist

ok... working on the second edition here, but probably won't put the back story text that i am about to write.  It is July 19th of 2023 now and i am seeing some memories of this crazy time of my life.     I am going to post some comments that appeared as a memory

fire memories

Silverado Socrates

July 19, 2009 at 6:13 AM ·

thank you to everyone who helped move the hosses and Harley... Jamie, Sully, Brad, Kassandra and all the truck and trailers drivers whose name i don't even know that came after Corrine called in a request for help. y'all are wonderful to come in the wee

Comments

Brad Heinzman when push comes to shove, shit needed to happen.. get r done is wut we have done, np
Kyla Krisa Glad you got everyone out. Thoughts and prayers are with you
Cori Dee Glad they are all safe I wish my truck was here

Carrie Moir i was thinking of you and the horses wondering how you all made out... glad to hear it's all ok! YAY kind strangers!

Robert Williams Stay safe Sliverado.We love you

Azaria Cavasin I was worrying that you'd have to evacuate, good thing you guys did. I hope you and the horses stay safe!
Nancy A. Eldridge Silverado you were in my thoughts as well. Where did you move the horses to? And how about yourself ~ where are you staying?

Silverado Socrates horses are in east kelowna.. hope the new fire gets out quickly (hall rd area). i have 2 homes in the lower mission...maybe i will get some help fixing them up so that i can help with evacuees. i mortgaged the ranch to the hilt to get them...one turned out to be a drug house and the other illegally rented so this fire is just part of the big pile i am working in. great fertilizer though! got an extra $100,000? the mortaged former crack house wants to foreclose even though i made the 10%payments and the back amount owing of $30 000 +
the missed revenue for no horses at the stables is relative to all that has not happenned from not having a trained regular staff. the girl i had trained for 6 weeks got mono right b4 the summer. on the good side, a lady helping me yesterday has the training, motivation and the time.. there is a silver lining to all
would love to show you my songs i am working on and have you play the piano at the fort socs music + meeting post: delta grand

Nancy A. Eldridge Glad to hear you and all your critters are okay. Mom sends her regards. Gib says he has contacted the SPCA but pasture for horses as needed. Wish I could help you out with the trail rides - I've been exercising 2 Belgian draft horses at a local petting farm. Patrick and I and the kids will be in Kelowna sometime in August and will have to make time for a visit. Be well!! N.

Silverado Socrates thinking of going to abbottesford for an audition. any chance you could play guitar for my chicken song? it is on the second page of fun stuff on spiritofacanadianloonie.ca
kinda crazy, but i am!

Silverado Socrates no idea.. nor if she will ever pay back the 7rl thousand $ i lent her... could really use it now!~
{Ja} grrrr. Bridgette the con. Grrrrrrrrrr. I have an "opinions" for people like her. Grrrrrr some more. I'd stand up in court on behalf of Silverado on that one!
Amanda Jane If you need help on the ranch call me. Still interested to live and run the ranch for you like we once talked about. Hope you, the horses, and harley are safe.
Cassandra Heinzman we even got a few laughs in...never thought I'd be hauling a pig in my mini van!!

Silverado Socrates

• 'Ja" for the record.. i was the one that messed with Brigette...i did not set boundaries or rules on how she she should pay back the money i lent. I should never have offered more than an ear without knowing more and having a better handle on my own life. You were so amazing with everything.. i am very sorry for my mistaken judgement. Hindsight right? too stubborn .. good and bad trait;still working on it.

the last comment was made 6 years after the others that were made in 2009.   It is 2023 now and so much has happenned in between, it is nearly unbelievable.  Literally 20 20 vision for the past but looking back, i really wish i had said no to the 'midnight' move others had decided on my behalf.   I do appreciate that people that people wanted to help and were willing to put their own time, energy and resources to do so..   I do know that i had had a bad car accident earlier that year that totalled my car and damaged my rotator cuff badly.  Only this year am I properly doing exercises to deal with it due to the old injury being badly aggravated .  I feel the books and writing now are revisiting and helping me heal earlier times that were not properly handled by myself or others too.   Learning to think and speak for oneself and others is a live/learn experiience that can be easier with experience.  On the good side, i did experience much i would not normally due to being to busy 'working'.  We have time when we don't have the money, we have little money when we have the time is such an infinite loop.   Seeing the bigger picture can hopefully break the cycles that bind us and help us live a more peaceful life.    I can dream...and write a song.    This song 'Fire Within" was going to be the title of the cd that is now a book.   I made it when in an office space i had rented at the Delta in downtown Kelowna with the intention of booking rides and bringing people to the stables.  It was so ironic that i could not take rides due to the evacuation of the horses.   It was an incredibly frustrating time for me while at the "Fort Socs Music and Meeting Post"  so what did i do?  I made the song 'Fire Within'.   The seond verse was made years later, but the core of the song was made that fire filled year of 2009. 

Seems that my first edition of his book would have a couple of blank pages if I printed it as I first wrote it.  I am adding “Riding Serandipity” and a story told to me by one of my newest friends.   I do love hearing and sharing stories.   I may add to the next edition too, could the source be you?

Riding Serandipity

Riding Serandipity, all day long, Riding Serandipity

If I could be, doing anything, I’d be

Riding Serandipity, all day long, Riding Serandipity

This was such an amazing serendipitous event. Serandipity took a fella to his grad (we had maybe one day notice.. the fella came riding and then suggested hiring us).  I had no idea ‘til we got there that this person would be there.  Her daughter graduated the same day and Serandipity had been born at her place. Though he and his mom were mine, she took great care of them, as well as Faith and Sheba who were born the same spring.

                                            Dreams Come Together a story Jon Sloan told to Silverado

I met Jon at the hospice in Kelowna in May of 2023.   He was wearing a cowboy hat, while waiting for his family to come and bring him somewhere.  I chatted with him for a few minutes before going in to visit my father.   Over the next few days, I would look to say hi to him, because he was staying in the room next to my dad’s.   He was there the fifth day in row that I had come to visit, but my father had left the building, never to return in physical form again.  On one of the visits, I asked if I could share my song “Cowboy’s Don’t Cry” with him.   He agreed and gave the best compliment by asking me to leave him a copy of it one day. 

From day one, I wanted to learn more of his life and hear a few stories of horses he knew. On one of my visits, he gave me the name Nugget, but was not up to talking about him. The next week, when I came to see him for a few minutes, I was a bit shocked and sad to see his room was clear of his things!   I waited a few minute before deciding to ask a nurse when he left.   When I got close to the nursing station, I saw him in his wheelchair with a big smile on his face. He was with his brother Leroy, who had come from Alberta to visit him for a few days!  We returned to his new room and I was happy to see that he still had the copy of my song.   At some point I asked about Nugget.  His brother told me part of the story and Jon added some more.   I was so lucky to have met his brother because his brother would get out one of the guitars that was in Jon’s room and play a few songs.  Jon sang along with him on a couple tunes too.  It was beautiful to hear them together!  I learned that Jon taught Leroy how to play guitar and that some of the first songs Leroy played were from the Beatles.  I also learned that Jon had been a teacher but played music on the side.   The next visit, I would learn about the horses Farmer and Shane.  I am so grateful to have met Jon and some of his family.  He is a wonderful person. .

Nugget was the horse of Jon’s sister. They were from an area between Livelong and Maymont, Saskatchewan.  Nugget was a six year old wild mustang buckskin stallion when she first got him.  Nugget did get gelded but even though he was under a thousand pounds, he was still a lot of horse!  She had a few good falls.   Jon worked with him to get him rideable but the family figured that it be better to sell Nugget and find a more trustworthy mount for her.  His sister would literally go to bed dreaming of getting a perfect pony.  One day, she found a horse wandering near their farm.  She used a piece of baler twine to catch and guide the pony home.    Turned out this black pony was for sale and she got him for about the same amount that Nugget would sell for!  They called the horse ‘Farmer’.   Farmer and Ruth would travel the area from morning ‘til night many weekends during the school year and over the next few summers with her friend Ester and her friend’s horse Peanut.  They would often pack a lunch but sometimes be invited in by neighbors to have a bite to eat   Later, she would get a bigger  horse that was part draft and one that she trained from scratch.   She would call this bay mare Shane but she kept her dream pony Farmer too.

Isn’t this a great story?   Jon has so many!   He has written a book that I look forward to reading one day and to hearing more of his stories.

 Second edition start of some new stories!

Prairie Echo Riding Stable   as told by a Winfield gem 

        I had lived in West Kelowna for most of my life before moving to Kelowna. While visiting a long time

Westbank resident at a potluck gathering, I met a very interesting lady named Petra who shared some very fun stories

of horses she has known.   My favorite story is how  Petra and some friends would ride and then swim with

their horses, after jumping into the lake from a rise about four feet above it!   I learned that her family

had operated a riding stables in Lake Country and that she still loved horses.   We kept in touch and a

couple months later, I asked Petra if I could add a bit of her life story to my next edition.  At first, she said no

because she had so many things on the go, including wanting to put many of her life’s stories together in

some kind of memoire.   She later agreed to meet with me.   I think that this is due largely to my suggestion that it could help

generate interest and help in getting some of her story into circulation.   I hope one day to have some

kind of talk show where people can call in and ask the guests questions.   I strongly suspect that having this story of hers,  is one that could get a lot of Winfield/ Vernon memories in motion.

        Petra and her family moved from Saskatchewan to Winfield. They started Prairie Echo Riding

Stables in about 1966, renting 12 acres from Alex Beasely.  Petra thought of the name Prairie Echo. They had

horses, but over a dozen registered Shetland ponies were the main mounts for the business.  They mostly did rides for children

but would often go in parades and fairs as a way to both have fun and advertise the business.   Black, turquoise and silver were their riding stable colors.   Interestingly, Silver was the name of the pony stallion.   She  remembers that all the ponies’ saddles and many of those the horses wore, were hand made in Lumby 

by a man named Earle.  Petra is a Gemini and she remembers that her horse Rachel was also a Gemini

that was mostly a very good horse but she had a tendency to sometimes make a sharp left and dump

her while running full speed!   " But remember, when you take a green broke horse that you get for $75, that's what you get."   Rachel was  a  red morgan mare with a large white blaze down the middle of her face.   She had bought her from a fella in Argenta after she left her Winfield home.  She would go back to help some summers, and he parents would trade by helping with her kids.   Rachel had had little to nothing done with her when she first got her as a two year old.   She also remembers that though Rachel was the horse used to jump into the lake and swim,  Rachel would avoid puddles like the plaque.  

There was a Winfield boy named Pete who had a big white horse and would teach her and some others how to ride standing up. She says that it was actually quite easy to run on the horse that way.  Chester Smith taught her to make a bull whip and use it to.

There was a time that Chester and her were in a truck pulling a trailer pulling horses that lost its brakes while she was driving. It had

been a challenge at first, but she remembers how he was able to coach her to gear down and they made

it to their destination fine.  Chester was a man in his 80's who was from Vernon,  but would occasionally hang out and help with information about horses.   For example, there had been a horse that had accidently been overheated and overwatered by an overeager boy.   Chester calmly took the horse to a mud hole, stood it up in him and soaking the feet helped prevent him from being foundered.    Her brother was a horse rider too... and even rode a horse into a bar on Salt Spring's Island.  Her brother would be the one to settle the spring friskiness the horses and ponies would gather after a couple of seasons being free to play.  

 I suspect much of what she did was easy for her, but she had fear of few challenges be they a thing or person and seems to live that way still!   I really am not doing justice to her stories of horses or life in general.    I  look forward to getting to know more about Petra, her four and two legged family and friends!

Fiona Griffiths  ;   An Okanagan Endurance rider champion and English Equestrian legend.  

I think that i first met Fiona in the 1990's when she and another lady were mapping horse riding trails in the Okanagan.   I remember little of that afternoon, but would later hear that she had been the instructor of a few people i knew, and they all shared great respect for Fiona.   When i started on this book, her name would come up again and I got thinking that I should ask Fiona about doing an interview.   The day I called, she was in between same day visits to a veterinarian in Lake Country.  She had dropped her tortoise Percie off earlier for her annual check up.    Percie was originally   named Percy Bysshe  after the poet  Percy Bysshe Shelley, but Fiona learned she was a girl so changed the name to Percie.  Fiona was asked to leave and come back later for Percie, after the nails and other basic tortoise vet maintenance check was done.     I learned a lot that few minutes including that although  Fiona is in her mid 80's, she is a busy person!  She has taught 1000's of people varying degrees of English riding over the years.   She has a few people boarding horses with her now,  gives some lessons still and takes care of about 7 other species of animal on her beautiful farm too.   She does have some people that know the routines so she can take leave, but loves doing the routines herself still too.   I am grateful that she has made the time to meet me and let me hear some of her stories.    We made an arrangement to meet the next Wednesday for lunch but we would need to reschedule it for another week due to her plans unexpectedly changing and her needing to do a trip to Vancouver.  I would also be intrigued to learn that she had joined a group called the 'Century Club', which had a basic requirement of the ages of the horse and rider needing to be at least 100 years.  I couldn't wait to learn more of this group as i plan to be riding horses at 100 years old.   This group could be a fun group to train with and eventually be a part of!    The next phone call, i would learn that it wasn't a simple photo or walk around an arena that was required of the horse and rider duo, but the completing of a sanctioned 25 mile endurance course and it needed to be done in under four and a half hours!   The course she qualified on was a hilly one that, I suspect, would have been a challenge for many a younger horse and rider duos.   

 The horse she rode in the endurance race was one named Zephyr and he was 17, which is interesting because until 2023, Fiona had not ridden in 17 years!  She rode Doc with her boyfriend one day on a bit of a need to basis, but then seems to have caught the bug again.  I suspect word of the centurian club got to her and she realized she would need to train for it.    I also suspect she will be riding for a few more years but will be learning to enjoy being able to take a more leisurely pace.   Her boyfriend was 80 the year of the race, and Doc was 20 so they made it into the centurian club too!   

Earlier in her life, she regularly competed in and won races of 100 miles.  We did not talk much about her competitive days over my official lunch interview.   I look forward to potentially hearing anecdotes of them in the future and in her book.    She usually does an evening dinner with friends at least once a month and invited me to one.   I took her up on it and happened to bring a large jar of PC spicy clamato juice and offered some to people at the table.   Fiona accepted the offer and at one point mentioned how it reminded her of a time that she was in a race that had a weight requirement. She was one pound too light.   She ended up drinking a pound of PC clamato juice to gain it!  What are the chances i would pick that drink to bring to the dinner?  I say  it is the Magic of the Okanagan... or serendipity.  Take your pick, but I think it was a winner, as is she.   

One of the first things i learned during our luncheon, was that Fiona wrote a book titled "the Hills Around Me"  that was published in 2021.     At least one copy exists at the Okanagan regional library.  I learned that sales of it have been good in at least two  countries outside of Canada, one of which is New Zealand!     From my time with Fiona, I think that a book and a movie or series should be made of her life.  So many interesting stories.    I will focus the rest of my short story about her to be about her and her horse Kismet.   Kismet went from "an unsuitable Arabian" in the eyes of her husband to a champion endurance horse.   It had started as a battle of wills with a strong headed 3 year old gelding and Fiona who would have been in her 40's at the time they met.    Scooter or Scoots, would become her most loyal and loved horse.    He was a champion winner from 1986  to 1991,  Three years of bonding through many hours of riding and ground training the two would do.    He only lived to be 17 but for his last years, he had 50 acres to wander as he pleased.     It sounds like he was quite the character.  He could open and shut his stall gate,  and would do this to put himself in his stall at nights, regularly at 5pm!   Fiona or some other person at her farm, would be sure to shut it properly later, so there would be no midnight strolls.    There came to be an audience who would watch him do this occasionally and I suspect he liked to please them with the trick he learned.     Fiona could call him from the far fields and he would come at a gallop and then prance around her after.  He did this the day the painter came to see him the first time.   Tonny had told Fiona a year earlier, that if Fiona saved up a certain amount of money (a really good deal at the time), Tonny would look at Kismet and later paint him "if the spirit moves me".   His coming at a gallop and prancing around did inspire her to create and she came a few times over the next year.   She did a great job of catching a glimpse of how special he was. 

I had been going to title my second book "Cowboys Don't Cry"  and let this book be the introduction. I am now thinking of calling the second book "Justice Standing Strong and Free". I think the stories and songs in it are mainly on the more serious side.  I literally had these "Peace in the Valley" outline of these songs and stories made out to be the cd/dvd cover “Fire Within” in 2009.  By 2023, I had only recorded a couple of the songs. I felt it would be less expensive to make them into a book.  I am pretty sure that the Justice book will come out much more quickly!  

On page 18,  Riding Serandipity,  I wrote that the next edition of this book might have your story.. well,   could be in the next book too!  Would love you to think/ enter a story of a pet that could go in the next edition of Peace in the Valley, but if you have a farm or other peace community pioneer from your neck of the woods that you might like in a book, this could happen too, possibly in “Justice, Standing Strong and Free”.  Roots start with us..  The story of Justice is a true story of people coming together.  Meanwhile, hoping that Fort Socs and this ‘Peace in the Valley’ herd of stories can come to your neck of the woods and we can swap some songs and stories. 

 Peace and wishing you happy trails and tales until then,

Silverado and Fort Socs feathered, and fur-legged pals, (past present and future)