Traveling Vanners

The excitement of my evening is TV tonight.  That's it and pretty much has been for the last six weeks.  So when I find a new program outside of Netflix, it makes me happy.  Thus, we have, "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding".  Talk about a whole subculture that I knew nothing about.  Well, almost.  It's a joke around our household about being given away to the Gypsies.  We tell that to Gus when he occasionally misbehaves.  Doesn't seem to have the impact on him that we hope it does.

My mom was scared spitless as a little girl of the "Gypsies"  that traveled the area around the farm she grew up on in Germany.  The Gypsies would put curses on people, curdle milk, steal valuable items and more frightening, they would steal children, particularly misbehaving children.  Somehow they knew and wanted the most disobedient child they could find.  Gypsies evidently needed a challenge.  What they would do with these vile horrible tykes was never discussed.  It was enough that you could be stolen.

Anyway, I vividly remember being threatened with the Gypsies.  Mind you, I'd never seen any horses and carts lurking around our neighborhood in Bremerton, but somehow, I knew they were just waiting.  Many nightmares about the Gypsies, oh yes.  Thanks for that, Mom.

Anyway, the best part of this program is the Gypsy Vanners.  Magnificent horses with great feathery fetlocks, an absolute nightmare in the great Northwest.  Can you say scratches?  Yuck-  this is what happens when mud is constantly stuck on legs for about 9 months.  The mystery to me is that the Gypsies (now referred to as Travelers) don't use these horses to pull their carts.  Rather, they have large travel trailers and motor homes.  Granted, this is the first episode I've seen, but where do the horses fit in?  How do you have a horse when you constantly travel?  Stay tuned, I aim to find out.