Tuesday, May 14
May. 15th, 2024 01:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Very warm weather.
A good phone conversation with Sister E, and a shorter one with Trainwreck.
I got the things I want to give away packed into vacuum bags.
I made piles of hay for my husband so that he doesn't have to guess about portions for feeding.
I let everyone out into their larger pastures for a while.
My Sweetie got home and we changed the tires on his car to summer tires.
Then I went to see River, and my Sweetie biked there too.
River was SO DIRTY today. He's a remarkable horse. He is grey (white), and absolutely loves to roll in mud and filth. To the point where he is crusted over with mud and other stuff stuck to him. Even his face.
I actually washed around his eyes today to get the mud off of his eyelids.
I'm glad he gets to do this, if it makes him happy. Not every horse these days gets to be out in a big pasture to be a normal horse.
He did well with our work today, reasonably willing and relaxed. We worked out in the outdoor arena and it was really beautiful weather for it, and it was nice to hear all the spring frogs calling.
We went home and watched some more "Boardwalk Empire".
The country of Niger is landlocked, though it does have the Niger River flowing through it.
It is mostly Sahara Desert, and thus most of the (25 million, mainly Muslim) population lives in the Southern part, where is is a bit more wet. Relatively speaking.
Pre-colonial people were Tuaregs (Berbers), mainly, with some other African tribes in the South.
"Following the spread of Islam to the region, Niger was on the fringes of some states, including the Kanem–Bornu Empire and the Mali Empire before more significant parts of its territory became included in states such as the Sultanate of Agadez and the Songhai Empire. It was colonized by France during the Scramble for Africa as part of French West Africa, becoming a distinct colony in 1922. Since obtaining independence in 1960, Niger has experienced five coups d'état and four periods of military rule. Niger's seventh and most recent constitution was enacted in 2010, establishing a multiparty, unitary semi-presidential system. Following the most recent coup in 2023, the country is once again under a military junta."
According to the United Nations Index, Niger is one of the the poorest countries in the world.
"The economy is concentrated around subsistence agriculture, with some export agriculture in the less arid south, and the export of raw materials, including uranium ore. It faces challenges to development due to its landlocked position, desert terrain, low literacy rate, jihadist insurgencies, and the world's highest fertility rates due to birth control not being used and the resulting rapid population growth.[17]"
The economy relies heavily on foreign aid either directly from other countries or through groups like the World Bank and Unicef.
There are Elephants and many types of grazing creatures like antelopes and giraffes, but the need for farmland and the dams on the Niger River that affect the amount of water available below those dams affects wildlife greatly.
Clean drinking water is one of the biggest concerns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger
https://youtu.be/AHeq99pojLo
Very warm weather.
A good phone conversation with Sister E, and a shorter one with Trainwreck.
I got the things I want to give away packed into vacuum bags.
I made piles of hay for my husband so that he doesn't have to guess about portions for feeding.
I let everyone out into their larger pastures for a while.
My Sweetie got home and we changed the tires on his car to summer tires.
Then I went to see River, and my Sweetie biked there too.
River was SO DIRTY today. He's a remarkable horse. He is grey (white), and absolutely loves to roll in mud and filth. To the point where he is crusted over with mud and other stuff stuck to him. Even his face.
I actually washed around his eyes today to get the mud off of his eyelids.
I'm glad he gets to do this, if it makes him happy. Not every horse these days gets to be out in a big pasture to be a normal horse.
He did well with our work today, reasonably willing and relaxed. We worked out in the outdoor arena and it was really beautiful weather for it, and it was nice to hear all the spring frogs calling.
We went home and watched some more "Boardwalk Empire".
The country of Niger is landlocked, though it does have the Niger River flowing through it.
It is mostly Sahara Desert, and thus most of the (25 million, mainly Muslim) population lives in the Southern part, where is is a bit more wet. Relatively speaking.
Pre-colonial people were Tuaregs (Berbers), mainly, with some other African tribes in the South.
"Following the spread of Islam to the region, Niger was on the fringes of some states, including the Kanem–Bornu Empire and the Mali Empire before more significant parts of its territory became included in states such as the Sultanate of Agadez and the Songhai Empire. It was colonized by France during the Scramble for Africa as part of French West Africa, becoming a distinct colony in 1922. Since obtaining independence in 1960, Niger has experienced five coups d'état and four periods of military rule. Niger's seventh and most recent constitution was enacted in 2010, establishing a multiparty, unitary semi-presidential system. Following the most recent coup in 2023, the country is once again under a military junta."
According to the United Nations Index, Niger is one of the the poorest countries in the world.
"The economy is concentrated around subsistence agriculture, with some export agriculture in the less arid south, and the export of raw materials, including uranium ore. It faces challenges to development due to its landlocked position, desert terrain, low literacy rate, jihadist insurgencies, and the world's highest fertility rates due to birth control not being used and the resulting rapid population growth.[17]"
The economy relies heavily on foreign aid either directly from other countries or through groups like the World Bank and Unicef.
There are Elephants and many types of grazing creatures like antelopes and giraffes, but the need for farmland and the dams on the Niger River that affect the amount of water available below those dams affects wildlife greatly.
Clean drinking water is one of the biggest concerns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger
https://youtu.be/AHeq99pojLo
