Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Life @ Forty Acre Farm


The rooster died this morning.
That would be Mr. Incredible.
We ran him ragged yesterday evening in temperatures that were well above 100. No, we were'nt trying to run some pounds off of him but catch him to put him in the chicken tractor that Tim had built. Tim also wanted to show him at our county fair at the end of August...won't happen now. And yes one of my more recent posts had detailed his demise. Well, the evening before the "killin'" we wisely surmised the pot was too small. That was when Tim decided to keep him and show him at the county fair...won't happen now.

In early June, I put my mother in a nursing home. She's closer in proximity now. We visit her often.
She's not happy with me.
I'm dealin' with it.
Life is like that.
You've just gotta deal with it and not shirk your responsibilities. One odd thing though, when visiting her, I find myself observing the other residents. There are some that nearly seem unconcious,  they're strapped in wheelchairs or strapped in mobil beds. They're silent, usually looking downward and seemingly oblivious to what's going on around them. Some are in wheelchairs, propelling themselves forward through the halls and nodding their heads at us or giving us sweet smiles when we walk by them. Many times what they say is unintelligible, I smile, pat them, and say, "I'm so glad to see you today!" (meaning every word).
And then there are many using walkers like my mom, that seem a bit confused like my mom, but are delightful to talk to and so so sweet, like my mom (she's just unhappy with me part of the time).
So here's where I'm goin' with this....I'm wondering what I will be like when I hit this stage of life???
Will I be like some I've seen that repeat the same phrases over and over and over. We've seen one woman that does this. She's either yelling, "Help me, help me, help me!" or muttering, "I hate, I hate, I hate."
When I am old and no longer in control of my faculties, will all the fears and grotesqueness of my life bubble forth upon the ears of my loved ones and strangers? And am I foolish to even wonder upon such things? Not a pleasant subject, huh?

And changing the subject, but I just wanted to let some of you know that Google doesn't like me. Yes, before it was Facebook. But now it's Google. I've tried to comment at some of your sites and it won't let me. This is very frustrating as bloggers like Homeschool on the Croft are so wonderful about leaving comments here but I can't comment back and I have tried. It's just so frustrating because just recently at HOTC site she had a post about a vegetable I had never even heard of nor seen before! I think this whole problem has to do with cookies of which the computer kind and I'm completely ignorant of, (sigh). And before I have one of my witty friends comment concerning the "cookies" term, let me just cut him off by saying, "No, I did not lose my cookies!"
But I also lost my "followers" gadget. Strange because when I first noticed it gone, I thought no one liked me anymore but then quickly decided it just couldn't be me. I mean what's not to like?! And by the way, that last statement is an inside joke between my husband and I. Believe me, you'd understand if you knew the full story...again (sigh, really really big SIGH).

There's a lot more "life" going on here. The whole chicken drama has been a bit much and I'll tell more another time and then there's the searching for a new church home which has been a journey in and of itself! But that's a subject I will probably have to tiptoe through. God is so faithful, generous, and loving and He provides what we need when we need it! He definitely won't leave us where we're at (spiritually speaking of course) if we're willing to move forward in Him.

Be a blessing! Julie


  

Monday, July 25, 2011

High Drama on the Farm

Yesterday morning we woke up.
It's been hot, really hot, consistently hot for far too long.
And dry, really dry, consistently dry for far too long.
We're in a drought.
So wisely we try and get all the animals taken care of early before it's unbearably hot.
Walking back from feeding the calves at the barn, I gazed out at the pasture.
It was one of those "what's wrong with this picture" type of gazes.
I looked hard trying to make out why the two full-size horses looked larger than usual and why they were head-to-head?!

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Why...that wasn't Bella and Rabbit out there, but two very large and very full-size bulls!
I quickly assessed that the red bull was from the pasture to the south of us and the black one from the pasture to the north of us.

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I guess they had gotten a bit bored and decided to meet in the middle and have their own version of UFC Championships. And these guys would definitely fit into the heavyweight class!
And NO, I have never watched UFC fighting (we don't get cable). Everything I know about it I've heard from my sister and her family.

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I added the butterfly (borrowed the idea from The Pioneer Woman) to alleviate the cringe- factor in my more
citified friends.

Back to the bulls, the red one seem to have more attitude and strength going for it and ultimately won the championship round and herded the black bull back over to the fence from where he had come from.

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A couple of little upstarts (probably the black bulls progeny) ran over to the fence to check things out.

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Words were probably said that shouldn't have been said and the red bull sent them packin'.

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So what have we learned from all this?
1. Build better fences
2. But then even really great fences will not always keep trouble out.
3. And sometimes livin' on a farm isn't all it's cracked up to be.
You take the good with the bull....er I mean bad.

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Speaking of bull and lots of it. And please excuse the cowboy vernacular, but we've sorta seen more than our fair share of "bull" this past year. Too much really. But we know that for whatever reason we've been allowed to travel this wearisome road as of late, it will work towards the Glory of the Lord and bring us closer to the heart of our dear Saviour. The choice was mediocrity, the world's offerings, or move forward with the Lord. Moving forward meant taking a stand and becoming unpopular. Interestingly that seems to be the path we're on, the race we're running if you will. Anyone that has ever run a marathon knows it can be grueling, but the prize is so worth it!
Character building takes fire.
It's good to be back,
Julie

    Homestead Revivals Barn Hop!
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