Hello faithful readers of all things Gimli. Welcome to another installment of life here at Mercy Spring Ranch (MSR).
I will start with a question from a regular reader of this Gazette. He asks, “Why is the height of a horse measured by human hands? That does not seem to be very accurate.”
This is a very good question. The history of measuring horses goes way back before the invention of yardsticks or measuring tape. Bible readers may remember the Old Testament use of cubits to measure objects. This was the distance between the elbow and the tip of the middle finger. Human body parts were used in olden times to determine length.
For horses, the length of the average human hand was used to measure how tall horses were. One used the breadth of the human palm, including a closed thumb. As people got larger throughout history, the designated length of a hand grew as well (it’s now about four inches). If you were to measure me today by this method, I would be 14.1 hands tall.
It would appear that people are noticing more than just my height. My weight is now a topic of online discussion. A recent commenter on the MSR Facebook page was feeling my pain over the oppressive diet that I am currently on. After offering sympathy for my plight (#FeedGimli), she commented that I am looking much more svelte lately. I appreciated the compliment, but what I would really appreciate more is the restoration of my full hay rations!
In my last posting, I mentioned that I am hard at work putting together my new CD of 3am Feeder percussion (Paddock Punk). When the CD drops, I will of course have tables of merch for sale at my concerts (as well as lots of Gimli Garb like T-Shirts and Hafling Hoodies).
It seems, however, that some unscrupulous black market merchants are peddling knock-off merchandise upon unsuspecting fans and groupies before my release party. The picture below is of a Gimli pillow which I have not authorized. If you see items like this for sale that do not have the official MSR label on them, do not purchase them. I fear that they are already for sale on the Dark Web.
Well, that’s all for now. The new sessions with the children are going great. Look for lots of pictures being posted of yours truly on the MSR website.
Happy Trails,
Gimli June 7, 2022
