Thursday, May 26, 2005

So, how are things in the country?

Well, if the sun coming up over Cliff's mowed hayfield is any indication, it's going to be a great day.  It cooled off enough last night to make for great sleeping.

I'm enjoying my leisurely life:  Yesterday I saddled up Crook and Blue, and rode with 14-year-old Tyler, one of the twins who is, lately, taking quite an interest in riding (while his brother, Travis, looks on and hurls insults that have to do with some doubts about his brother's masculinity).  Yesterday was the last day of school in my little community, so children will be very much in evidence around here.  Cliff's shop is a kid-magnet.  After all, he has all the tools they might need to work on bikes, mowers, and so forth.  And an air compressor that makes for some easy tire-inflating.

Mandy and her doggie friend, Buddy, have taken up a new hobby... chicken-killing.  Buddy's owners (Marvin's family) have an assortment of chickens and ducks that are supposed to be contained in a pen, but are always finding some way out.  In a way, it's justice.  Because Marvin's various dogs, over the years, have killed many of MY chickens, not to mention my barn cats that fell prey to their Lab.  That's the reason I had such a nice, tightly built pen for my poultry, when I had them.  However, it's sad for the deceased chickens, and for the children who love them.

Now that I am a lady of leisure, I've picked up a book I'd forgotten I owned, and am engrossed in reading.  It's an old one by Sandra Brown, "Exclusive".  This woman is GOOD!  I can hardly lay the book down.

Cliff has been busy laying the water line to our in-ground cattle waterers.  He dug the 3-foot-deep trench mostly by hand last week, so it's been no easy task.  Today he'll check for leaks, and if there are none, he'll fill in the trench and we'll have waterers for the cows and horses that don't freeze in winter.  I imagine when the dew is off later this morning, he''ll rake and bale the hay he has laying down.  It'll be small square bales, because he hasn't had the time to work on the new big baler we bought.  In summer, he always has a mile-long list of things that need to be done:  things he loves doing, but the list can become overwhelming if he allows it to.  He's learning (with my reminders) that none of these things are life-or-death.  If it rains on the hay, it won't be the end of the world.

This is the day (finally) that our daughter and her husband close on the house they are buying.  The whole process has been fraught with problems for them, but my experience tells me that good things often come out of difficult times.  And it's all a learning experience. 

 

 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ohhhhhhhh what a beeeeeeeeutifullllllll morrrrrrrrrrning......

Can you hear me singing?

OK,  I'll shut up.  :o)

What a beautiful sky.  Thanks for the pic.

Chiquita Banana

Anonymous said...

You are really getting some good shots out of that little camera. I'd like to upgrade my Canon, but then I see the shots your getting with that one and figure I might just need to practice more!

Anonymous said...

I have collected a few Sandra Brown books.  Have not read them though.  Now I'll have to squeeze one in and see for myself.  I'm reading Peter Mayle now.  He's an overseas writer, I think - France.  He's pretty good and funny, so I've collected almost all of his books from yard sales.  As you know I journal so much that it's hard to find time.  

I just love reading your journal and hearing about your life in the country.  It's refreshing.  I feel I have in friend in you too, although long distance.  Just wanted you to know that.
Sonya