Visiting the North Pole

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Between weather that will freeze your fingers off and the decor I see around town, it's a good indicator that it's that time of year again. I can't believe how quickly the end of the year is moving along. Soon the big fat man in the red suit will be here and then the calendar flips into a new year. Although we should not body shame anyone, it sure is an indication the year is flying by. 

Tonight it is 33 degrees. Yeah, that's just cold. I'm hoping it doesn't snow or I won't be able to work. At least not driving to the top of hills where I can see the entire city. Once you choose an order, you're stuck with it until delivery unless it's an emergency or it will mess with your stats. That's why I choose not to take one at all if I can avoid it when I'm unsure about certain weather issues. 

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Terry and I have spent our weekend evenings watching an older show called Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction that is streaming on Peacock. Wow! Amazing show. I guess it was first aired in 1997. The show was on and off for years. The anthology series is created by Lynn Lehmann and is a Dick Clark Production. 

Each episode gives the audience five stories that seem to be a science fiction tale but it is up to the viewer to determine what is fact and what is fiction. It's almost like playing a game while watching a show. Awesome concept and the tales, both the ones based on true stories and the ones completely made up by the writers, are interesting enough to keep your attention. 

Terry and me have guessed wrong on many and of course, we do have times where we are right on. It's a difficult choice on many of the stories presented. Some tales seem so out of the realm of possibility, yet they often will turn out to be based on the real events of people's lives. Six seasons of stories and all of them cover the five tales to keep you guessing which are fact and which are fiction. Love this show!

This is a full episode you can watch of the Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. The show is available on Peacock with a paid subscription, Amazon Prime, Pluto TV on Demand for free, the CW for free, Plex and Plex Channel, both free. Interesting and fun. 

One of the stories we watched was of a horse that helped a mother find her son. He disappeared from the yard and she had no idea where he could be. A reporter was in the mix of reporters doing a story on the missing boy. This particular reporter recalled a story he had done a few years before about an old horse who seemed to be psychic or at least could predict things. 

Of course, when this story came up, both Terry and I thought it was fiction. At the end of the show, it turned out the story was based on fact. I had to look this up as it was just far too amazing of a tale to be real, right? 

Lady Wonder, taken by Francis Wickware, appearing in Life Magazine's article, Dr. Rhine and ESP, April 15, 1940

Well, meet Lady Wonder, the horse that had predicted several things, included performing mathematical equations and completion of spelling tasks, and with the help of letters provided by her owner, Claudia E. Fonda, she could also give predictions. 

Lady Wonder predicted who would win boxing fights and who would win elections. The special mare was also consulted by police and helped solve crimes, including the disappearance of a missing boy. The boy had fallen into a well at a setting called Old Camp. Sure enough, the horse spelled it out and the reporter and police found the young child at the bottom of the well at Old Camp. 

Lady Wonder was born in 1924 and lived to be 33 years old, dying of a heart attack in 1957. The horse provided answers to three questions each for visitors who paid $1 per reading. She predicted the sex of unborn babies and other questions about marriage and personal life queries. 

The tale of Lady Wonder is an amazing one. For those who believe they're "just animals," this is probably a completely unbelievable tale, but I believe animals are far more capable than what we give them credit for. Even if you do not believe the claim of her being psychic, she was trained as a young foal to use wooden blocks until she outgrew them. Once she passed the age of the blocks to communicate, Fonda taught her on an old typewriter that she modified to fit a horse. This is the tool the horse used to answer questions after visitors paid their dollar to get an answer about their marriage and other topics. That, my friends takes some talent and is quite remarkable in its own right. 

The story was so unbelievable to me, which is why I researched it. Amazing horse. Wonderful story. If the police department was using the animal to locate missing people and to help solve crimes, there must be something true in the tale. 

However, a magician did some research and watched the horse and her owner closely. He claims the horse was trained in moving its head back and forth across the letter board and only answered questions that Fonda knew the answer to. 

While this seems probable, does it cover how the horse knew to look in the well? Does it answer questions such as what sex a baby would be? Does it solve the mystery as to how the horse helped the police out in so many cases? As anyone psychic today and in the past has dealt with, there are always skeptics as well as believers. 

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We had eaten far too much on Thanksgiving. I wanted something good and solid for dinner as it was a cold day, but I didn't want turkey. Walking through the store, I spotted a package of three beautiful steaks. Along with the steak, I grabbed mashed potatoes and some green beans. Add a can of cream of mushroom soup and I was ready to go. 

After cooking the steak, I mixed some heavy cream in with the can of mushroom soup and poured it over the meat. It was making my mouth water. I put a slab of butter on the green beans along with a couple of sprinkles of pepper. Of course the mashed potatoes needed some of the soup mixture on top to complete the meal. Dinner was good. 

Once we sat down, we turned on Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction and enjoyed our evening. It was perfect. Good meal, great show, and wonderful company. We also had Togo looking on with the hopes and dreams we drop a bit of steak. Poor starving animal. 😏😉

See how skinny his ears are getting? It's all floof and not fat. He'll tell you. Poor baby. He's shrinking and melting into nothing. Look at those pathetic eyes. Can't you see he's starving here? His bowl of food topped with beef or chicken stock simply isn't enough. 

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We hope all of you are having an excellent weekend, but it's back to work tomorrow! Luckily though the weather isn't supposed to get worse, only better. No snow. No more cold by the end of the week. Enjoy your week! 

Thank you all for joining us on A Psychic and a Poet. We truly want to thank you all for reading the blog. We appreciate each and every one of you! Take care until next time ... be sure to shine your light! The world needs that right now!