Continuing from yesterday’s post about driving on the right side of the road vs the left side…

In the feudal times, knights would ride their horses on the left side of the road.  They usually kept their sword and scabbard on their left side, so the easiest way for them to climb onto the horse, without their sword getting in the way, was from the left.  Driving on the right side of the road came about in the 1700s, when horse-drawn wagons were used to transport farm products.  The wagon driver would ride on the back left horse, so he could use the whip with his right hand and hold the reigns in his left.  He wanted to make sure he wouldn’t rub wheels with oncoming wagon traffic, so he moved to the right side of the road in order to keep an eye on the side of the wagon that would be nearest to the other passing wagons.  It basically boils down to the fact that most people are right handed. 

Whenever I am driving a wagon down the street, I feel so lucky to be driving on the right side of the road.  Otherwise, I could hit my wagon wheels on an oncoming semi-truck, and absolutely destroy myself, my horses, and my farm products.

10-91H is the police code for “Stray Horse.”  I will make sure I watch for this when I am listening to the police scanner.  I would hate to get in the middle of this.  I bet the LAPD would give a whole new meaning to beating a dead horse.

I had to check out the competition, just to see how I’m doing.  I felt a lot better after I stumbled upon this gem of a ’fact’:  “Ostriches are often not taken seriously. They can run faster than horses, and the males can roar like lions.”       …Ostriches are often not taken seriously….  that’s a fact?  Did someone conduct a poll that asked, “Do you take ostriches seriously? Yes or No.”  I can imagine some guy thinking:  Gee, I take a lot of animals seriously.  I respect them, value their opinions, and base their worth off of how fast they can run and how loud they can roar.  But I don’t think an ostrich scores high in those departments.  So I don’t take them seriously.   Why does this guy’s fact website try to bring horses and lions down to the level of the ostrich.  

P.S. The American Quarter Horse can reach speeds of 50 mph.  The ostrich did not take the time trial seriously, and was disqualified.