About Mules

And I'm not talking about shoes/clogs, which happen to be my favorite type of footwear. 

No, this blog is about the mammal mule, the hybrid, the Equus Mule, the breeding of a male donkey and a female horse. If a female donkey and male horse are mated, the result is a hinny. I was curious, so I looked it up. Now I have a head full of little-known mule facts:

• A female donkey is called a jennet
• A male donkey is called a jack
• Mules are sterile because of an uneven chromosome count
• A mule's temperament depends on the breed of mare and jack used.
• Mule predators: fox, wolf, lion

Seriously. While I can grasp a wolf or lion being a mule predator, it's difficult for me to imagine a fox taking down a mule.

So, why do I feel compelled to discuss mules?

Last week, in a small town south of Nashville, it was Mule Day. The name of the event is a bit deceiving because Mule Day lasts for an entire week. I've lived in Nashville for nearly 25 years now and this was my first time experiencing Mule Day in Columbia, TN, and folks, it was eye-opening!

This celebration has been going on for about 170 years now and attracts 200,000 people from all over the country. Besides the standard mule-themed events, there's a parade and even a Mule Day Queen. (Yes, I saw her strutting around the festival with her entourage, resplendent in sash, tiara...and cowboy boots.)

We started the day at S&G Custom Cycles to see our favorite high-energy band, Phoenix Rising, play at 10am.

Brian (guitar), Amy (lead singer), David (drums, you can barely see him behind Bob), Bob (bass)

The shop is full of crap stuff.

Crutches as art and a plastic nativity scene (lit!)

Table full of free crap (I didn't take any)

Motorized coffin with skeleton

Sign explaining coffin

Lots of cycles

Lots of parts of cycles

Um

More cycles and a wood stove

The place is like the Eye Spy of crap. Yes, that's a spinning wheel.

I knew I'd see one if I looked hard enough! Actually, there were two.

 

More free crap that I didn't take

 

If you're going to leave out a letter, I guess D is a good choice

Outside

More outside

 

Then we had lunch. Yes, we had BOTH pizza AND grits, separately.

 

 



From there, it was off to the celebration. Some of the photos are a bit blurry because I was trying to be "cool" with the camera. We're talking THOUSANDS of people.  

People to the left

People to the right

People in the middle

Just one of the rings

Mules just hanging out

More mules

Mules about to pull a crap-load of cinder blocks

More mule pulling

I'm oddly pleased by this.

Really?

 

Now that we've gotten the lay of the land, we'll be going back next year...and I'm bringing extra camera batteries!