I've Gone Country A blog about a city girl learning a whole new world

Yesterday I went and visited with my friend at an assisted living facility.  It was the BEST visit so far.  Funny how I go to visit and cheer her up….yet I walk away with a huge smile on my face.

While I was visiting, one of the other ladies came past me, headed to the piano.  She whispered to me….I going to play Sentimental Journey…I’m gonna set my heart at ease.  She smiled as she set down and began to play.

I was fortunate enough to be sitting right beside her.  I watched as she tickled those ivories.  She played with no hesitation.  Then she began to sing.  She didn’t sing all the words…she did play all the song though. You could see that she really enjoyed playing.  She smiled and her eyes twinkled the whole time she played.

The nurses said she plays that song every afternoon after she eats.  I thought that was priceless.

There is another lady I met the last time I went.  Her name is Martha.  I took Layla my granddaughter on Valentines Day.  She handed out balloons to the residents, which meant that day we saw everyone.  That is when we met Mrs. Martha.  Mrs. Martha’s daughter was here from California and greeted Layla at the door, her eyes brightened.  She said I am so glad you brought this little one….this will be the best thing for my Mom.  She used to teach children music and she loves them so much.  I told her daughter that I would check in on her Mother when I came to visit my friend.

I had not planned to take Layla….it was just one of those days when things fell into place and she went with me.  I am soooo glad.  Some times you don’t know why things happen the way they do, but they are for a reason.

Mrs. Martha was sitting in a chair, yesterday after lunch.  I asked her if she played the piano,I was pretty sure she did.  She got up, walked right to the piano and started playing Amazing Grace.  Then she began to sing….of course by now….I was a teary mess.

She played and sang several verses.   She also played very well.  The amazing thing to me is…they all have memory problems, that is why they are there.  But they could still enjoy and let others enjoy their music.

On top of that, several said they liked my granddaughter and thought she had a pretty dress on that day (which she did).  I was surprised that 3 weeks later, they remembered her visit.  I am so glad she brought a smile to their faces.

I can’t tell you how much I was blessed.  I was the one who had been ministered to.

So I left there like I said earlier, with a huge smile on my face.

When I arrived home we went to my brother- in-laws house for dinner.  It was his birthday.  He has a little dachshund that is his pride and joy.  Her name is Trixie.  She goes everywhere with him.  Since that is the case she gets to go over to my father and mother- in-laws house a good bit.

Trixie adores them, and they adore Trixie.

Last night they gave us one of their duets.  This is a regular song they perform for us at most every get together.

It seemed there was music all around me yesterday.

It was all very different, but it all made me smile.  It was all PRICELESS!

Make a Joyful Noise……

My Mother worked in a Cotton Mill when she was young.  The machines were loud and she said you could not hear well.

So if someone needed you they would WOOO….and one could hear that above the noise of the machines.

When we were growing up my mother would use that call.  If we were upstairs and she was downstairs she would wooo and we would know to come and see what she wanted.

If we were outside riding our bikes or playing at a neighbors house…she would just wooo….and we would come.

About two years before we moved to our land we put in a little goldfish pond.  A sweet lady at church gave me some of her goldfish.  I also bought some little ones straight out of the Wal-Mart fish tanks.  They grew and began to multiply.  I got so excited.  I would go to the pond every day and check on them.

When I began feeding them I did what came natural….I called them with the Wooo.  They learned that when I would call….they would get fed.

It didn’t take long for them to respond real well to that method.

Funny how some things carry over from one generation to another, without even thinking about it.  All of moms kids…use the wooo with their own kids.  Now I see our kids using it with their kids.

My grandchildren were young when we started the goldfish pond, and they love to watch as we fed the fish.

We feed them until the weather gets cold and then we don’t feed them again until the weather warms.  The following Spring our youngest granddaughter wanted to feed the fish.   She reached her little 2 year old hand into the fish food, raised her arm and threw the food into the pond with a great big WOOO.

It took me by surprise.  I had no idea she would remember that, it had been about 5 months since she had feed them with me.

I couldn’t help but get a kick out of it.  Mother would have been so proud!

The other day it had been warm for a couple of days in a row, the fish were up at the surface enjoying the sun.  Layla, now 4, and her father (Garrett) had come over and she asked if she could feed the fish.

So we did.  There again, she remembered.

In this video, it is the first feeding of the season….It takes a feeding or two before the fish respond fully.  Here only a few came, but they are the ones who benefited from answering the call….they got the food!

I learned a lot from my mother including listening and being obedient when she called. Sometimes it meant I had to stop playing and come in the house.  Sometimes it meant she had something good waiting for me, or we were going to go somewhere fun!

I knew my mother….meaning I really knew her.  I knew she had a reason to call me and I trusted her, which made my love for her grow all the more.

I know Mom would be glad we still use the Wooo.  That it has been handed down from generation to generation.  But I think most importantly, she would want the lesson of listening to the voice of Christ, heeding HIS Words passed from one generation to the other.

She taught me to trust Christ and to listen to his call.  Often though, I am like those fish at the first feeding,  I just don’t listen.  If I read HIS Word, preferably daily, then I feel fed and nourished.  I seem to then find an excitement when I hear His call and I can’t wait to see what HE has to say.

I get to really know HIM, and my love for HIM grows.

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live.  Teach them to your children and to their children after them.      Deuteronomy 4:9

Our friends that have the chickens have some other farm animals too.

They have these…pardon the fuzziness…I really didn’t want to get tooooo close.

They are really big….

I heard five of them run across the pasture last year…you’ve heard the expression…sounds like a herd of elephants…..well…it did.

I was amazed at how fast they can run, being so big I didn’t expect it.  You can see all four legs come off the ground.  Now that is making some tracks….

The meat of a buffalo is very good, I was pleasantly surprised, I am not a real adventurous eater.

They have some horses. You can hardly see the one in the middle at the tree line….amazing how an animal that big can actually look camouflaged like that.

This one decided to come up and pose for me.

And this one just wanted to eat….and I was near the food!

It’s very peaceful there….and picturesque.  Of course I like the look of barns…..

and tractors….the smell of the grass and well you get a little of the other with it…just enough to smell like a farm.

Often you can hear the birds chirp, the horses ..Neeeeigh…the buffalo snort, chickens cackle, ducks quack and the neighbors rooster crow every now and then.

It is nice.

Sometimes it can be nice to just not hear a bunch of noise.

Here is some video.  The most noise you hear on this day…. is my camera focusing.

Sometimes when I am out like that, I think about what it must have been like for Adam..when it was just him and the animals.

Hmmmmm…..I wonder.

I don’t know if I am just relating to the chickens this week or what.  When I was younger I remember that if you were up early…people would say….”you got up with the chickens”.

Well 4:00 a. m.  rolled around this morning, as I looked at my watch, I thought ohhh…nooo… this is way too early.  I think 6:00 or 6:30 is a good time to rise.

By 4:30 I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep, so I might as well get up.

It is a great time of day.  There is no noise …anywhere…inside or out.  But I fixed that by pushing the coffee pot button.  Funny how something like a coffee pot can sound so loud at that time of the morning.  I enjoyed my coffee and read my morning Bible reading.  Billy got up…..”WHAT in the world are YOU doing up”?…I said I know….crazy huh?

We turned on the television to get the weather for today.  It is supposed to be one of those unstable days.  Around here a tornado can form very easy this time of year.  They had been forecasting today to be one of those days where you should be ready to take shelter.

I decided I had better go on and check the chickens, why not, I certainly was already up.

First stop on the way out was to check  in on our own pasture.  Everyone was up and moving.

I headed to our friends pasture.

When I arrived at the chicken coop…I only had 1 egg.  I was most disappointed.  As I gathered it, I felt that it was very warm….obviously someone had just laid it.  I wished that I could have seen that.

I know I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I figured it out,  I was earlier today…and I just might get a chance to witness one.

Of course this would be the one day that I did not take my camera.

Remember I told you that one chicken tends to lay one in the feeder.  Well I looked there when I gathered the first egg this morning….it was empty. Bummer.

So, I decided to wait  patiently outside the pen, surely they just hadn’t done their job this morning yet.  This thought occured to me…maybe those chickens don’t get up all that early either.  It’s possible they like to get up about 6:00 too.

I took this picture the other day…I hoped I had a picture I could show that had this particular hen in it. And I did!  She has the smallest comb and the reddest head and neck.   The Hen in the very back, next to the fence, is the one who lays her egg in the feed bin.  I watched her fly up to the top, then she just went right in the thing…I was shocked.  Oh my, I REALLY wished I had the camera.  She stayed in there for about 20 minutes….she would ease her little head up….then ease it down….then up it would come ….and down it would go…

I should have known whoever it was that was laying that egg in such an unusual place, would be the one with such a great personality!  She was a real cutie!

Meanwhile, another one of those strawberry blonde girls got busy and had one.

She had this one…I had to take the egg pics when I got home and rounded up the camera. This egg has a slight Pink /brown color …I don’t know how to describe it.

And the speckled dark Hen in that same picture had this egg.

I wondered who was laying those little light colored eggs…..now I know.

When Miss Priss decided to get out of the feed bin….I anxiously looked and yep, she had done it.

This is her egg.  It is much more golden brown than the other two.  The first egg I found this morning looked just like this one.

And while all that was taking place….I was trying my best to keep an eye on Plain Jane the duck.  I noticed she had not had her egg yet.

But of course in the midst of all the egg-citement I missed her laying hers…but there it was….all pretty and white.

I am exhausted….I don’t think it has anything to do with getting up early.  I think it has everything to do with the fact that I labored with those little hens this morning.

Next time you sit down to a plate of eggs.  Just remember that while you may have worked hard in the kitchen…there was another girl (hen) that worked hard to get it to you.

Maybe seeing an egg appear like that…isn’t that interesting to you.  I know we all have certain things that crank our tractor, but WOW….that is just a little miracle.

Pretty much an egg a day….amazing.  That little creature is so small itself, to have that happen everyday…..just amazing.

Here they are all cleaned up…including the white duck egg.  BY the way my little pamphlet said that bakers liked to use duck eggs.  They make your recipes light…WHO KNEW?!?

I combined them with some that we gathered earlier this week.  See all those colors.

Just Beautiful!

I went and checked on our friends Hens.  They are neat.

I took a short video.  At first I thought about putting some music to it….but then I thought the soft little noise they make was soothing.

I decided to just let you hear them….hear nature all around them.  Including the way the ducks chime in with there quacking….maybe they were talking to each other.

They were probably saying…hey, who’s this new “chick” with the camera?

Anyway, they aren’t doing anything special, they are just hanging out.

My friend told me that there is one of her hens that tends to lay an egg in the feeder.

Sure enough….there was one waiting for me…..

The girls are pretty.  But they are hard to get a good picture of….they move with those little jerky motions all the time.

That really messes with an automatic focus camera…ha.  I was able to get a few good shots.

It was kinda funny…I said.. hey…you girls are going to have to be still…I need a good pic here…this one turned and looked straight at me like…well…here you go…but hurry up!  And I did.

According to my little chicken book….this comb is what is called a single comb, a Plymouth Rock.

I like the color of this one. If she was a human I would say she is a strawberry blonde….that is the cosmetologist still coming out in me.

Yesterday I retrieved 4 eggs.

I just love all the variations of size and color.

In the video you can see that they also have two ducks that live next door to the chickens.  They were really cute too.

Pretty colors……

Then there is what we tend to think of as plain jane ….however, she is still very attractive…. she is just going for the “natural look”.

I really enjoyed checking on the Hens…and I am about to head that way to do it all over again.  I am kind of excited to see how many eggs there might be today!

I guess you can guess what Billy ate for lunch yesterday…..

Yep, egg salad sandwiches!

Billy and I went to the beach for a week for our Anniversary.  I am always sad to leave the beach and excited to get home….crazy huh!?  I love both places.

We got home after dark so I didn’t get to check on everyone up close and personal until today.

When I peeked out the window this morning I couldn’t believe how beautiful the plum trees were…that is the light pink flowering tree to the left.

And look at the Willow tree in the background.  The leaves were just starting to show their bud on the branches when we left.

Violet and Jethro were fine.  Look at how much his little horns have grown!

Jed, Jethro, Violet and Pearl…..just enjoying the pasture.

I was actually surprised to see Lee(on the left) and Chuck( on the right) grazing together.  Lee wasn’t right under her mother today.   Lee is noticeably bigger than Chuck.

Chuck is about 3 weeks older than Lee.  If you remember he was a twin and his mother is a small cow…so he may stay on the small side.

Everyone seemed fine.

I didn’t break the news to them….somehow I think they already know…but it is supposed to rain this afternoon…a lot.

However, that is what makes really nice green pasture land for them this spring.

Hang on girls…..Spring is around the corner.

Oh, and guess what?

Our friends are on vacation and asked if we would get their eggs for them!

Last night we went straight there as soon as we got into town.  We gathered 11 eggs!

So, I will get to have a practice run this week with the whole chicken and egg thing.

We stopped by tractor supply on our way home from the beach and they are almost ready for Chick day.  They had the little displays all set up.  I pulled some pamphlets and I read them out loud to Billy on the way home.

You know you are getting old when you turn the radio off and read chicken information….Oh well, we learned a lot.

Did you know you can freeze eggs….?!?!?!?!

That’s all for now…I gotta go check that coop before it rains….I guess if there aren’t any…I will have to go back…in the RAIN…hmmm…might want to really think long and hard about this chicken thing.

I have noticed a lot of signs lately….

Some signs make you look twice….

Some make you scratch your head….

Some signs are so worn out…you wonder if what they say… still applies……

Some signs get ignored

Some signs are just for certain people….

Some tell you where sporting events take place.

Some welcome you…

Some tell you something by only using pictures….

Some are quotes from famous people….

Some are just for decoration…

There are a bunch of signs I have seen in the country lately….I don’t see them in the city.  It seems in the city the signs are telling about upcoming events, names of speakers and times to attend.

Yet the ones I pass by in the country are witty…

Some make you think….

They can apply to each of us….if we let them

and there are messages like this one that is never outdated.

I like them…..

Thinking country…you can’t help but think cowboys.  We went to Arizona a few years ago and had a great time visiting Tombstone.

It was then that Billy became my cowboy….

And I was his cowgirl!

Uh… oh….maybe I shouldn’t have said Billy’s name out loud…

I got into trouble for helping a fugitive…..

And ….well…poor Billy…..

So I looked everywhere for a new cowboy….

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But none of them were as good looking as “my” cowboy.

Somehow Billy had gotten away and I found him…hanging out with his friends.

He introduced me to some more buddies…

We visited with them for a while….

Then the time came when we had to say our goodbyes.

With the way the day had started, I thought the whole day had gone to pot….

Billy did too…

This cowboy was nice enough to show us the way to Old Tuscon

So we loaded up on a train and

we went to the High Chaparral….

But even there….my cowboy got into trouble!  I can’t take him anywhere…..

So, later when Billy reads this post…he will look at me and say…oh…that’s bad….and I will say…yeah…I know…it really is.

But the whole thing is…I’m just corny…and he loves me anyway.

I remember being single…I had a lot of good times…but I really enjoy my life with Billy.

I found this sign about a year ago and I couldn’t help but buy it.  It says a lot.

Sometimes those days come…and I think…argh…married life….

You know though, we have learned along the way…some things that help us.  Billy and I say to each other…you know that last nerve….. well you’re on it….

then we smile and move out of the other persons space for a little while.

But, you never want to take the other person for granted…..life is precious and the people in your life our priceless.

I thank God for my husband…my cowboy.

AWWWW….isn’t that sweet!  This was us…16 years ago.  Today is our Anniversary.   I laughed as I told Billy Happy Anniversary because I thought we had already been married 16 years…oh well …thats just part of getting old.

We had a home wedding.  Just immediate family.  We were both older and already had kids so we chose to do that.  It was a beautiful wedding.  My groom looked so handsome….don’t you think.  Here we were taking a bite of the cake.  Billy being so serious…however, notice the michevious look in his eyes.  Oh…YES…. HE DID…he smeared that cake all over my lips.  He didn’t make a huge mess…but it wasn’t what I was expecting from him.

Our marriage brought together three children, Billy’s two daughters and my son.

As with any marriage we have been through a lot.  Marriage is not easy.   I would encourage everyone to put Christ first..he will guide you through your life together.

We have welcomed new members to our family through marriage and birth and have sadly lost some through death.  However we all went through these things together.  These are the things that build a family.

I was humbled when our daughter Lindsay gave me this little gift.

Now…. I had the glass slipper, I already felt like Cinderella and it was wonderful to not be classified as the mean ole stepmother either!

But, true to form with my husband and his surprises….It ended up being Cinderella/Green Acres story!

Who would have thought these city slickers would have moved to the country…..

If you are near our age you will fondly remember the words to the Television Show….

Green acres is the place to be.
Farm livin’ is the life for me.
Land spreadin’ out so far and wide.
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.
New York is where I’d rather stay.
I get allergic smelling hay.
I just adore a penthouse view.
Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue.
…The chores.
…The stores.
…Fresh air.
…Times Square
You are my wife.
Good bye, city life.
Green Acres we are there.

Uh… oh….Wonder what he is thinking….

Yesterday I showed you a picture of Chuck and Cupid and you could see just how much he had grown.

This is a picture of Brandy and her daughter Lee.  She was just about an hour old here…at the most.

She was born on September 4th.  It was the day that the tropical storm Lee was approaching, hence the name Lee.  Besides that Brandy really didn’t want us to get too close.  So we honored her wishes and assumed that Lee could be a girl or boy name…and we could check what sex it was later.

This is  them in early fall. Only a couple of months old.

And here they are just last week.  They are muddy.  This winter has been a cycle of  rain a day…dry a day…rain a day…dry a day.  Poor little guys, I know they are tired of the rain.

If you look closely you can see that Lee had milk on her nose.  I know,  I told her she is getting too big for all that!

Interesting though, if you see Brandy…you will see Lee.  They are still very attached.

Here Brandy and Lee are in the front of the pack.  Cupid is to the Right by herself… she is the mostly white cow.  And Chuck…well, he is somewhere back at the fence line.

He has become more independent.  Lee and Chuck are just 3 weeks apart in age…but Cupid and Chuck do separate a little more than Brandy and Lee.

I learn a lot watching the animals.  They have great personalities and they are similar in some things and very different in others….just like us.

They seem to enjoy each others company…and when they don’t they let each other know…funny to watch.

Here is one of my favorite pictures.  It was taken back last summer.  These are our neighbors cows, we had them all together in the pasture.

It was very HOT that day , I was so glad I had my camera with me

…………..so that I could catch these bathing beauties!

Yes, being out among the animals is always fun.  Most of the time there isn’t anything major happening….it’s just the little things.

Isn’t that just the way it is in life.

The day to day things we witness, and get to be a part of, are what makes life so much fun!