Pony News, Views
and Attitudes Vol. 1 Number 41 April 28- May 4, 2008
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Newest
Pony Pal
"Hi my name is
Erica and I am seven and I love horses my ponyÕs name is Gypsy and she loves
me. One day I would like to make my own horsey club. Erica from Australia" |
Threat to Trails? Pony Pals Need Help -- New Law May Close
Trails Town Clerk Milton Shapiro's
office announced this week that Wiggins needs help to survey old roads around
the Town area.
"We need to map every old road that ever existed within Wiggins.
Like Ridley Farm, some places where people used to live are empty now. There
were roads that lead to those houses. Unless we map them and turn in our map
to the State, those roads may be gated and closed," Shapiro said
"The Pony Pals came to the Wiggins clerk's office this week to
talk about next Saturday's Town Council meeting. When they learned about our roads, they said they would
get their Club to help with this effort," Mr. Shapiro continued.
"Connecticut passed a law in 2006 and this law has a time limit in it.
Connecticut cities and towns have until 2009 to locate their old roads.
That way, towns, villages and cities can add the rights of way to their town
map and have them stay public. Any unclaimed roads can be taken back by
whoever owns the property under or next to where the road was and those
trails could be gated or closed." Town Historian Janet
McGee said "Wiggins Historical Society offices have had a lot of
visitors lately. People are coming in to research road entitlements,
easements, and rights of way around Wiggins."
Pony Pal Pam Crandal asked, "If readers could draw a map showing
where the Pony Pals have ridden ride in the Pony Pals books, we can put all
the maps together into one big map that has every old road and trail on
it."
"Anna, Lulu and I started to do that already," Pam said.
"But it's too big a job for just the three of us. Our Pony Pal Plan is
to get everyone who reads our books to help. There is a map of Wiggins in the
front of every Pony Pals book that Club Pony Pals members can look at to help
draw their map." Email all maps to contests@clubponypals.com or
mail them to Club Pony
Pals, 16654 Soledad Canyon
Road #382, Canyon Country,
CA 91387
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THIS WEEK'S SURVEY What do you like
best about the Wiggins
Weekly? á Letters from other Club Pony Pals members á
How to Speak Horse á
Reading news from
Wiggins á
Letters to and
from Pam, Anna & Lulu á
Pony Pal Art Gallery á Photos of other Club Pony Pals members Vote at http://www.clubponypals.com
_________________________________________________________ LAST
WEEK'S SURVEY RESULTS What's
your favorite kind of adventure? 256 Help other people 257
Solve problems 272 Help animals 255
Ride pony to see someone 260
Ride pony to go somewhere |
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Pony News, Views
and Attitudes Vol. Number 41 April 28- May 4, 2008
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Readers' Letters á
I was wondering,
when would the Pony Pal Virtual Game be ready? In a week? Next month? Next
year? I can't wait tell the game is ready! Summer Dear Summer, We are working with
a new game designer who is helping us to build the game. Keep reading this
e-newsletter for new developments. Look at the Club Pony Pals site soon for
some changes that will be the first steps towards this game. ________________________________________________________________________ á
Where is
Wiggins, CT located?
Nicholas á We went on
clubponypals.com and looked for Wiggins. Where is Wiggins located? We're going to talk about imaginary places and compare
them to real places. Your
friend, Brandy Dear Nicholas &
Brandy, When I began
writing this e-newsletter, I wondered how I should write about Wiggins, the
town where the Pony Pals live. The books' author Jeanne Betancourt used to
live in Sharon, CT when she wrote the Pony Pals series. So she based Wiggins
on a mix of that place and a different small New England town where she grew
up. The forests
around Wiggins are beautiful and like the rest of New England it has four
seasons. Even with a small downtown shopping district and a good restaurant,
Wiggins still is uncrowded enough so little girls can ride ponies along roads
and through backyards. Pretty much everyone is friends with everyone else,
except of course for Mike Lacey and Tommy Rand, who have issues. ;-) Almost every place is a little like Wiggins. You cannot find Wiggins on a map. But when I think of Wiggins, I know that I want to live there. By reading Pony Pals books and going go ClubPonyPals.com we can all visit Wiggins whenever we want to. Editor |
á
Thank you for sending
me the newsletter I love your website donna Dear Pony Pal Donna, Thanks for your
letter. It's always wonderful to hear that people enjoy ClubPonyPals.com and
the Weekly. Editor _____________________ Dear Wiggins Weekly, Today when we read the Wiggins Weekly we thought that it
was fantastic! We loved how one
of our PP friends described horse business as "pony plops." That really made us laugh. Perhaps that would be a subject for a
survey: What different names do
people have for horse business?
For example, we call it "road apples" but Nicholas says his
mother calls it "horse puckies." Mer-mer's mother calls it "horse muffins." (Nick says call "Mer-mer"
by her real name "Meredith" so you don't think we have a new
student.) When we saw the results of last week's
survey, we put the data into a spreadsheet and created a graph. Our teacher loves to connect all of
our subjects, especially using technology tools. By looking at the chart, it was very easy to see that the votes
were very close.
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Pony News, Views
and Attitudes Vol. 1 Number 41 April 28- May 4, 2008
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More Letters NB
Elementary letter continued from page 2 We have a
very short class time in Reading and Thinking Lab but we filled it today with
reading this week's WW issue, creating the graph, studying geography based on
Pony Pal letters (New Zealand, Seattle, North Carolina, and Australia) and
starting to vote on this week's topic.
This whole
connection has us totally wired and inspired! No doubt that our reading, writing, and thinking skills
will be sharpened as a result of our communication with the Club Pony Pals. Mrs. S. N. B. Elementary Dear Pony Pals Mrs. S and
NB Elementary students,
Thanks for your letters and the amazing graph. You are really
something! I think your use of the Weekly as part of classroom work is great.
We look forward to more from NB Elementary
Maybe other Pony Pals would want to have their teachers use this newsletter
in their schools. Please ask your teachers and have them write to us, we'd be
glad to help. Editor, Wiggins
Weekly ___________________________________ Hi
my name is Mary, Thank you for making the books they are so cool. I love
horses and ponies. Jojo is our horse and he is a really good horse. I take
lessons at the S. stables in Minnesota.
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Pony Pal Letters to Anna Anna Acorn, I think is the cutest of the
ponies. He was a real jewel, even when you almost lost him in Pony for
Keeps. I think you should have
told your parents why you were getting Fs, otherwise you would have lost him
more quickly. You, Acorn, and the rest of your friends
were brave to save Rosalie Lacey in the forest during your camping trip on
some new trails in Pony to the Rescue. I'm sure you felt bad for her, because she is the little sister of
Mike Lacey. When Lulu said; "Pied Piper of ponies," That just
cracked me up! In Good-Bye Pony, it broke all your hearts of thinking of Winston
dying. I know my heart did. He was one of those cute ponies. Anyway, you guys are cool. I hope Jeanne
Betancourt makes more Pony Pals books.
I love the Pony Pals.
When I read the books, It makes me feel, I'm in the stories. How's Acorn? When kind of tricks can you
do? I know you can jump. In Pony for Keeps, when you were riding Snow White, it seems like
you have a talent for jumping. Thank you. Tell him and Ms. Wiggins I said
hi.
Summer
Wow, you read a lot of
books about us! When I almost
lost Acorn in Pony for Keeps,
I did not know about my dyslexia. Now I know that when I am tired or if I
don't try really hard I can mix up letters and numbers. Before I thought I
was just stupid. To me these
letters and numbers
all look
kind of the same. So when I write sometimes I mix them up like this
When I
look at that those words I can tell they are not right but don't always know
which way the letters should be. That is why computers are so great because
when I get a letter wrong sometimes the computer fixes it for me. Anna's letters are continued on page 4 |
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Pony News, Views
and Attitudes Vol. 1 Number 41 April
28- May 4, 2008
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Pony Pal Letters to Anna Continued from page 5 When
Rosalie got lost it was Acorn's sense of smell that helped us find her. Did
you know that ponies have as good a sense of smell as dogs? I know that
because when I have a piece of carrot or apple in my pocket Acorn will keep
nudging me until I give it to him. When a pony
dies it is very sad. We live longer than ponies, though it is very hard to
see them get old before we do it is part of loving them to be able to care
for them until the very end. In response they are loving and honest. Acorn does lots of
tricks. He can count, he can nod 'yes' and shake his head 'no' and I am
working on a new trick that I will tell you about when he does it right. Until then I want to keep it a
surprise. Now you are one of the Pony Pals. That's
why we are glad that this Club is
here, |
so
everyone who wants to be a Pony Pal will have the chance. Thanks for writing.
_____________ Dear Anna, Dear
Pony Pal Nicholas Can you send a picture of
you and your two horses? I'm
sure other Pony Pals would love to see them. Draw or take a photo and send it
to the Weekly. I will share it with Club Pony Pals. Pony
Pals,
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New This Week In The Pony Pal Art Gallery
Pony Pals
by Summer, age 10 |
Send in your drawings or letters to
the Wiggins Weekly 1665 Soledad Canyon Rd. #382 Canyon Country, CA 91387 email WebMaster@clubponypals.com |
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Pony Pals Thought for
the Day - -
You can't tell how
far a frog will jump or a pony will run
by the color of
its hide.
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Pony News, Views
and Attitudes Vol. 1 Number 41 April
28- May 4, 2008
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Pony Pal Letters to Lulu Hi Lulu. Wow, you have been all over the world! I bet
you seen a lot of animals! When did you come home? If Snow White gets caught in
wire again, I know you and the Pony Pals will save her like last time in, I
Want a Pony. I'm sure you're happy
to have her. Tell Snow White I said hi. In Runaway Pony, I bet you were scared, about Snow White running
away in a blizzard, while sick! But, I think you should not worry about
strangles when Snow White was out of the hole. I think the Baxters should
use, more stronger fence wood. In The Girl Who Hated Ponies, I think you could tell her that cleaning boxes is
dirty, but it is worth it. But it is gross, even when you step on a pile,
EWWWWW! Oh Lulu, do me a favor, please tell the ponies I said, Hi! Thank you.
xxx Summer age, 10 Dear Summer
Yes, I have been in England and in Africa with my Dad. I got back from
Africa last summer. My Dad says maybe I can go with him to Canada camping
this year. The paddock where we keep
Snow White doesn't have wire, so I hope she won't ever get caught in wire
again. I will give her a pat for
you; she is too good to buck anyone off a saddle. |
Snow White was almost well when she ran away. The Baxters were very
nice to let me keep her in their empty barn. They fixed the broken part right
after Snow White ran away. About cleaning stalls, it is
dirty work but fun, too. The ponies are always happy to see you and they like
having clean stalls so much. Thanks for writing. Lulu Mary and Jojo in Minnesota |
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Pony News, Views
and Attitudes Vol. 1 Number 41 April
28- May 4, 2008
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Pony Pal Letters to Pam DEAR
PAM: You
sure are the most; Pony-Crazy! You have a lot of animals and ponies and
horses in your place! Gladly you still have time for trail riding. In Too
Many Ponies, I bet Daisy and
Splash were so out of hand, I think they were brother and sister! Even if
Daisy is a Palomino, and Splash is a Appaloosa. I bet Lightning was so upset without
you, I think she babysitted Fat Cat's kittens to get her mind off her
troubles. Lightning is
another of those, pretty ponies. In Too Many Ponies, I would scold Lightning lightly, for be having
so, bad. But, she did it for a
good reason. In The
Wild Pony, I would hit Mr. Baxter
for not understanding the full story. And for not being nice. It only made
the problem to save Beauty harder. Luckily, you and your pals, pulled
through. In the Pony and the
Missing Dog, I think Woolie went
because of you yelling at him. I was glad he was okay. Thank you! Tell them I
said hi.
Summer Dear Summer You should have
seen Lightning this week when you say she is "one of those pretty
ponies." When I turned her
out in a grass paddock she ran over to a mud puddle, got down and rolled and
rolled. When she stood up she looked like a melting fudgesicle! It took me a long time to scrape all
the mud off and get her clean.
Even her upside down heart was muddy!
Woolie is fine, he's been busy chasing ducks away from Badd Brook all
week, they want to nest and he's not letting them.
Mr. Baxter is OK, he just doesn't know much about ponies. Great to
hear from you, write back again!
Pam |
Dear Pam Dear Kayla in NZ Lighting is
getting over not being the favorite color pretty quickly now that we're
getting letters. I read them to her and she listens politely. I think she's
wondering where her oats are, though.
I am going to look up Whangarei and find out where that is on a map! I
hope you get to lease a pony while you are there. Friends, Pam ____________________ Dear Pam, I love your books. I like how Lightening sounds when
she's upset about not getting to go on the trail ride with Snow White and
Acorn. Would you tell Lightening
"hey" for me? Do you like acting for children? Sometimes I'm in plays.
Your friend, Brandy Dear Brandy
I read your letter to Lightning and she nickered, I think she likes
you.
Acting is fun, I was not too scared when I talked to the Town Council
about the Mt. Morris Ski Monument because I'd practiced a lot, just like
rehearsing when you are acting.
Write back with story about it and a picture of you in the play
– that sounds like a great adventure! Pam |