|
Ok Hills Email Us Mandy & Me KelownaTwine Contest Fun Stuff (Silverado's Songs)
Fort Socs Guiness Post
 In the photo above you will se a young girl, Guiness the bunny, and part of Harley our pot belly pig. Fort Socs Guinness Post, located on Mayer Rd off of Benvoulin rd in Kelowna, is as much a concept as a place. Most people have heard of Fort Knox, where gold was kept. Fort Socs is about developing and preserving the gold within. The innocence of childhood.. the innocence of our animals in the crazy world we have created could be considered that gold. How can we preserve the innocence while allowing them/us the freedom to really develop to our true potential?
My name is Silverado Socrates. I welcome you to my Magestically real world of Mandy and Me and my attempts to help folk help themselves to fun fitness and self fulfillment. The Fort Socs Trading Posts are the home/hope of Mandy and Me because our trails are threatened by gravel pits and golf courses. Do you believe in good over bad? do you believe in being happy over sad? Consider enter ing our forts and joining our "me " patrol...hopefully we can help eachother in our quests for gold within.
Cheers!  I grew up in the Bear Creek / Rose Valley areaand this is where I spent my teenage era.Instead of cosmetics and guys,on long walks and runs would go Iwith my horses and dogs among the living logs.Some people think that I am peculiarbut really I feel I am quite secular,you see…..Been Around The WorldI have been around the World and seen a thing or twoI’ve come to a certain state of mindIn my reality I love every second of every daythere is no room for negativityI’m a part of your world, you are a part of mineCome on let ‘s learn to work togetherand start to walk in timeWelcome to my crazy site. Not sure who will read it, but hopefully it makes sense. I had a very good childhood and grew up dreaming of going to the olympics and having a horse. In grade 7 i got my first horse and in grade 9 i got my chance to be in an environment to foster my running dreams. My high school ( Mount Boucherie) and coaches from Kelowna Track and Field were incredibly encouraging. In university, i was a carded athlete on scholorships that allowed for me to run, and provide for my food/shelter while going to school. I was very fortunate, but made my supporters proud with some national and ciau cross country titles as well as a ciau record in the indoor 3000m track and field. The last national race in 1988, my coach told me later had won it by so far that the girl who was second thought she was first! He had to tell her twice because she thought he was joking. I was a machine that season. I ran the world cross country championship in New Zealand and placed 22nd with a stress fracture by the end of the race.. very frustrating considering it was the year of the olympics. I was also frustrated with school. I loved learning, but didn't really know what i wanted to do or more importantly, how i could make a living with the subjects i liked: animal behavior; conservation and psychology. Furthermore, my father was wanting me to sell some of my horses and it wasn't fair for him to look after them. All these things bothered me and though my running dream was near reality, i wasn't sure i really wanted it any more. I started to shelve that dream and form another of helping people help themselves to fun fitness and self fulfillment with the horses the fulcrum about which it would all evolve. I had done trailrides as a hobby in highschool and in between university years, but now it would be a business. It started with Mandy and Me Trailriding and Babysitting but the babysitting term was dropped within a season or two as i didn't charge for it and the kids that came ended up helping.
I developed the Mandy and Me Mandate of:
"providing an enjoyable social experience for people of all ages by uniting people and horses in teh trailriding environment and
To increase the level of reasoning and understanding between horse and rider so that both parties have a fun, fulfiling experience.
It was a few years b4 making any profit, but by 20 years of doing it, i had had added 3 acres and was able to take it a little easier in the winters. I loved the pleasure folk would get riding and seeing the horses and other 4 legged friends in their natural envirionment. Some routines developed to allow for entertaining of folk b4 and after the rides. Magic with his wacky smile prompted the logo "Smiles Every Mile", and it is a mantra i try to live by.
In the past couple years i had some very serious injuries that made me realize i could die and no one would know why i lived. I also began to realize that it would be difficult to tell people what the experience was about, but that people that came riding or did the tour did feel it on some level. .
What does it mean when someone can still be doing what they did in high school, over 25 years after graduating and still enjoying it? I was starting to be able to be less tight with the purse strings for myself and had 3 acres added and the land and house paid for. I must have been doing something right, yet felt i was running in circles and there was some major changes needing to be made. the area around is under threat of development on 3 sides. Where would we ride? More importantly, who would remember the natural history of the area and the herstory of Mandy and Me. Did you know that there were once wild horses running in the valley where Mandy and Me resides? There had been 2 other trailriding business before us also. Many people come up to me and say what great times they have had, but the joy at reading the comments at the end of the day make any long day of work worth the effort.
Over 10 years ago i had told a lady from Disney that spoke at a chamber luncheon that i believed the characters of Mandy and Me, could be as popular as Disney. I was taken aback when she replied that she was scared of horses. That really demonstrated to me the need for city folk to get into the country and the country to get back into the city
What do you see in the emblem above?
To me, Silver Shackle Enterprises is about helping people help themselves to fun fitness and self fulfillment via natural ways. Mandy and Me may be about the horses, but my greater contribution to nature and society is via Silver Shackle Enterprises. The olympic dream to me was never about the medal, but the pursuit and satisfaction of knowing you have run faster than you ever thought you could. The pursuit of a dream was what i did with my running, but i got scared when it was chasing me back. It was a selfish thing that i did and i didn't think it was worth the praise and recognition i got. Kaisen "constant improvement" is not just a word, but a state of mind that i believe can be caught and taught in the right environment. I believe i can and have been setting up that environment. Both riding horse, and running, give lots of time to think. In between rides and runs in the okanagan hills, i have read as well as tried many things and tested many theories. Currently, I have bet the ranch to helping people gain a sense of kaisen in themselves: in recycling people and things while providing a revenue that all can enjoy. Many times i have fallen on the trails and in the trials i have made mistakes.
The goal remains true.
Fort Socs : Developing the Gold Within
My name is Silverado Socrates. My former last name was Shackleton. Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922), was the invincible Antarctic explorer whose fame came from his expeditions -- none of them successful -- to reach the South Pole.
The text of the ad typically reads: "MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES, BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS, CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL. HONOR AND RECOGNITION IN CASE OF SUCCESS." ( the lineup for people willing to go was many more than could possibly join!) I may or may not be related to him, but I changed my name to Socrates because i believe that the mind can take you so much further than the land. Do you believe that people can be recycled and saved? Do you believe that peace throughout our world could be attained in10 years or less? I do, and would like to start developing soldiers of peace in a civilian 'willitary' via the Fort Socs Trading/training posts, funded thru Silver Shackle Enterprises. I have invested my lifetime of thoughts, energy and spirit, my mind body and soul and will continue to do so. I am planning to will my land and businesses to my school and hope they will start some tourism and altruism courses.
Our MBSS grad class had 2 themes. one was
"go for the gold"..
i have always taken that to heart.
I didn't reach or get a metal in the '88 seoul olympics
but am working on my Golden Soul
A Master in the art of living
draws no sharp distinction
between his work and his play
his labor and his leisure
his mind and his body
his education and his recreation
He hardly knows which is which
he simply pursues his vision
of excellence thru whatever
he is doing and leaves others
to determine whether he is working or playing
To himself he always seems to be doing both
Francois Rene Augeste (1768 1848)
I am one Canadian, but one that knows how to live up to my dreams... would love it if some others would be willing to also invest some time, energy and/or money, into the framework i have researched, developed and lived. It could start as a ride or even a tour of one of our Fort Socs. Warning: there are no free rides at this fort, but we often teach for free.
About 20 years ago, I was told that the area i am trying to now save, made me sick.. and i was told i couldn't stay there. I ran away and didn't come back 'til i was told that i could walk and ride in my own country without fear of reprimand or incarcination. Ironically, i am staying in town now in order to save my country life. We will be doing tours out of 2 hostels, at one of which i now live. They will be run in a willatary ( that is right.. willatary) fashion of subsidized housing for people who want to make a difference in the world starting with their home and themselves. I am hoping to host a hooked on horses program to help some get off their streets or city habits.. but again there will be no free rides and they will earn their riding training. I am thinking that the same people that rent our hostels, will be investing and staying in the cabins that will be eventually built on the land around Mandy and Me that we will eventually buy. Not so crazy an idea is it now?
There is a principle which is proof against all information
that is proof against all arguments
which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance.
That principle is contempt prior to investigation.
Herbert Spencer
Fort Socs Trading/Training Posts = Schools of Thought and Consious Action
right is might ... we don't need to fight Roy Rogers was a hero of mine growing up... we need more heros like him that are willing to decide to do the right thing. To do good things for the sake of good. When they see something wrong, are willing to right it... bite the bullet even if it might explode in your face, but imagine ways to work it so that everything is okay. The good can triumph....if we believe and are willing to work for our beliefs in a sensible fashion.
I believe Roy's music and spirit fought the "bad" better than his guns,
I believe Canada can show the world how to survive and thrive in this new age economy.
In 2010 we can showcase Canada and Canadians in the Olympics
Please check out some of my songs in fun stuff. You can also check out the Mandy and Me webpage, and some other of my side bunny and twine saving progects.
Happy Trails, and feel free to right!
I'm not asking for charity.. just a chance. How about it?
 |
|
|
Home
Subpages (1):
[Untitled]
|