Sunshine,Warm Days,I am So Thankful

Life is good! The sun is shining in the sky, the temperature is where it should be and things are starting to dry up a little. I feel like a kid in the candy store, which way do I go where do I start so much to do and so much I want to do. I have been trying to keep the blinders on so I finish one job before I start the next,but it is so hard,need to have more hands, more energy, less visions.  Keep busy and remember Rome was not built in one day, and it took God 6 days to create the world and he rested on the seventh day if I remember correctly,so breathe work smart and by the end of summer the garden may look like someone does truly love it, and it will be ready for me to start all over next year the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise.
    Seriously things are slowly coming together,the Fuzzy finally got my lawnmower going after I was a good wife and went and helped take down a temporary fence,and I never complained once or asked how much longer,( and he did not see me mud bogging with the quad when he was elsewhere with the tractor) so much fun put her into 4x4 lift your feet and go for it through the mud and water as fast as you can, very very fun! Okay so I drifted of topic,part of being menopausal.
    The perennials are coming up nicely, not to much winter kill on the roses, and I have the loveliest yellow flowers coming up everywhere, you know the kind that you make a wish on and blow.The hedge needs trimming , and the veranda needs to be stained.
    I started washing down the exterior of the house, that got boring so I started to dig around the perennials and get rid of the quack grass, back got sore so picked up branches ,could hear the phone ring so got side tracked . Remembered needed baking for church so got that done and made lunch, went to church, got home and spent the rest of the afternoon blissfully cutting the lawns and dreaming up more projects and just enjoying my lawn mower( the sucker turns on a dime).Tomorrow I will be good, I will not deviate from the list of jobs I shall make and things will get done, as long as I don't misplaced the list or The Fuzzy does not make new plans for me away from the garden,nah he wouldn't do that not The Fuzzy.
       Tomorrow is a new day, and what will be will be, but please let there be sun and warmth.

Lets Remember To Thank Our Military Families

     Have you ever thought to say thank you to a military family for their sacrifice? You ask why should I, they chose that life,and knew what they were getting into. O.K. yes they may have thought they knew what they were in for, but thinking you know and living the life is quite different.Let us face it we all go into situations thinking we are prepared and know what is ahead of us,but sometimes learn we were not as prepared as we thought.
     Can you imagine having a quiet day at home with your spouse, enjoying each other and your children and the phone rings and that peaceful lovely day is finished with a blink of an eye.Thirty minutes later you are by yourself with your children and are not sure when you will be seeing your partner again, will they be there for the ball game, concert,martial arts demo that your child is participating in a week later, or will they be home for supper the next night. These people have to be strong ,but flexible spouses or they could not manage as well as they do.
    They have to be adaptable in most situations, how many of us would be prepared to move whenever someone else told us to, leave your friends, family,and everything familiar and start fresh in some strange place,different houses, new schools, doctors,stores, your whole world turned upside down,sound like fun, I don't think so.
      It is not just war time or when our country is in a state of emergency that life for a military family is turned upside down or is changed the men and women of or military are regularly sent on course, or maneuvers.The family changes pace sets new programing to suit them, then the soldier returns who has been living a different life, the two collide and it must take time for everyone to reajust,I myself would find this rather frustrating but is part of their lives. How would you deal with it?
   Can you imagine saying good bye to your spouse or parent and that might be the last time you see them,or having them come home but not being the person  you kissed goodbye and saw last?
    I have only stood on the outside and observed a little of their lives I don't pretend to understand or know all they go through, but lets try to make sure they know we appreciate their sacrifice.
    God Bless Our Military and Their Families!
    Take sometime and be thankful for our many blessings and lend a hand to those who could use one.
 Remember to say thanks and show that you care!

Water Mud Manure ,Got To Love It!

Enough already!
     O.K. I know that there are a lot of people dealing with a whole lot more and a whole lot worse,but I have had about all my pretty pink muck boots can handle.I am a person who likes to be outside working in my yard or helping with the cattle. By this time most years you would find me out playing (Fuzzy's description of gardening and landscaping) in my yard from sun up to sundown if I have my way and most times Fuzzy does not mess with me and my projects as he is afraid he may be called into the action, nothing makes him disappear faster than me and the garden tools. I have also been known to have borrowed the tractor I had the run in with so many years ago(mentioned in my last blog),I since have become quite fond of the old girl.and have learned how to compensate for the lack of leg.
       This year I look out my window across to the park area where my water garden is, the play area for the grandchildren and what do I see water,water,water.Every winter I gaze out the window doing dishes planning the next addition to this area or the changes to be made,these plans are put on hold, and maybe for the entire season as every little rain it gets worse, the grand kids cannot even get to the swing,the sand box looks like a beach, maybe I can forgo the play area and permanently make the pond area bigger with a beach,no that would not do, kids need somewhere to play.
    At the south side of the house I have been working on creating a dry river bed,well it has not been very dry this year, when I started this project people asked me where the water was and how I was going to move the water, what part of dry bed did they not get, they should stop by this year!
       Then there is trying to feed cattle, good lord I am scared I'm going to come out of the pens in my sock feet yet(have given up on white socks)as every step you take you are sucked in the mud almost like quicksand, those pretty pink boots are not so pretty anymore. The poor cattle we have moved their feeders to make it easier for them but it is worse for us. The cows and calves are the lucky ones as they are out on the hills. I pray for sun and a little wind and warm temps so things will dry up.
    We are some of the lucky ones, there are people who are in danger of losing everything they have due to the flooding, running out of feed and dry land for their animals, there are people who may not get a crop in this year. So I am feeling a little ashamed of myself for being upset for what we are dealing with, my mother has always said be thankful for what you have there are a lot who don't. So I will stick a smile on my face and thank the Lord for his blessings.

    Oh, by the way if you are wondering who the heck Fuzzy is, he is my husband in earlier posts referred to as the boss as he did not want to be known in this blog as the Fuzzy but has since changed his mind.And they talk about woman!

Fencing

This for my oldest, who suggested it. Fencing is part of life on a cattle operation, every year about this time all the fences must be checked and repaired before the cows,calves,and bulls are put out for the summer. During the summer they are regularly checked, or should be sometimes this overlooked which does not usually have good results. So now I will give you my fencing history which also goes along with my marital history,I'll try and keep it short as it is quite a long history.
          Thirty years ago as a young girlfriend of The Boss,I was visiting and was asked if I could help repair a bit of fence,no problem,wanted to prove how valuable I could be,first mistake,second was being down wind of a tobacco chewing cattleman who spit regularly. I think you get the picture. Coming from Gods country did not know what wood ticks are,what an introduction, part of fencing I have come to expect. You spend all day out walking fence lines and then come in tired dirty and covered in the little suckers,gross. The next process of the day is to spend the next 20 min. or more looking like primates picking wood ticks of each other.So very romantic!
     The next year I was a young bride, apparently not any more intelligent when fencing time rolled around, well maybe a little as I tried to stay up wind. This year we were putting in posts and it was decided that I should run the tractor,the boss won the award for the brains this time as I was not familiar with said tractor, my legs are short and tractor seats do not move ahead,get the picture. Beautiful spring day and off we go to work, with in 10 min. I am off the tractor and running home as fast as my legs would go. Darn near killed him with the post pounnder when my foot slipped of the clutch as he had just let the boom down, miss his head by inches. I was not ready to be a widow yet. Needless to say it was a long time before I tried that again.
      The next couple of years I was a baby machine so I had to miss out on the wonderful world of fencing. As our girls grew they have participated in this adventure,pretty much every year till they got smart enough to not be around as this is also a time to learn new interesting language that would make some people blush.
      The good part of fencing is that it is time together and the world is fresh and new with wild flowers, tadpoles,birds and butterflies, that most times you can even overlook the foul language,cuts,burs,wood tics and the occasional booter( bootful of water),sun burn because you were in a rush and forgot the sunsceen.
    Best of all, it means the cows are out of the yard and will be enjoying wonderful green grass,growing healthy happy babies and we get a reason for Sunday( romantic) drives.

Addition to Mother's Day

This was my first blog, and as always happens when I chose to start something everything seems to happen to distract me, so I must apologize to our early years educators. My mother and sister are among these wonderful people, my mother is retired now, but I remember her trying to come up with projects for her students to create for mother's day,she really did try very hard to make them interesting, as I am sure all our teachers have.So moms please also remember what your child's teacher is going through when these creations are being made, we are lucky to have these people in our lives and our children's lives. I also forgot to tell about my second child's wonderful mother's day gift made at school, I am not sure if it was the first but I still have it,it was a laminated day calender. Hopefully this will come easier, thought it was such an interesting thing to do, now I am not sure I have much that is that interesting to say, but I am having fun learning something new.

Mother's Day

Well here we are it is Mother's day once again. This my twenty ninth one as a mom, and my forty ninth as a daughter,as I look back it amazes me how much things change and yet stay the same. School age children still come home very proud of the art projects they have created with the assistance of a teacher or a teachers aid for their moms. Sometimes moms are a little horrified,sometimes truly amazed by the talent the child has shown,but always only show the love and acceptance that a mother can. The first mother's day project I can remember making was a card with a pink tissue paper carnation on it, remember folding tissue flowers, well if you don't it was quite a long drawn out affair that I think the teacher decided on so we were kept busy for a long time. The first I received as a mom was a poem much easier to store for posterity, now I watch my oldest receiving these wonderful treasures and chuckle to myself as she is wondering what to do with these gifts made with love from her children, I did not suggest file thirteen kept that one to myself, she will figure it out in about ten years if not before. With this train of thought then I got to my mom and wondered what became of that card, or the macaroni covered jar painted with gold spray paint., that one of the elementary teachers became  quite famous for or should I say infamous for, each class she had, made them and I forgot to mention the wonderful plastic flowers that went with them, poor woman did not have a clue but she tried. As mothers and grannies we must always remember that as tacky,poorly done, or truly amazing homemade gifts we are given it is done with love,and the special memories they bring later are so very special it is all worth it. Who but your mom can make the world seem a whole lot better with just one hug and even better yet with a kiss.To all  the moms out there we love you and honour you today. I love you mom.