Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesdays

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day

...to all of the Dad's out there, especially my Dad! 

You have been an inspiration to me.  You have always encouraged me to follow my dreams and helped pick me up with I fell. 

Thank you!



Doing what he loves best, sailing.



Happiness

Someone loves rolling in the grass

...and cow poop

....and dead animals.

Lucky for me, today she only rolled in the grass.

I'm Ready for the Weekend

It's the weekend!  And I feel exactly how Copelan is acting...ready to shed my work clothes have some fun.  Sporting shorts and t-shirts, not heels and slacks.  I get to work in the garden and play with the animals, (I'm conviently forgetting the chores I need to do...shhh).  It's great way to relax and prepare for another week at work. Ahhhhh.....

Tonight calls for good friends, good food and possibly a nice bottle of wine.

Get that itch!

Have a great weekend!!

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This blog is linked to Farmgirl Friday at Deborah Jean's Dandelion House. Check out the other great farming blogs!

Comin' In

Each evening the cows come down from the front pasture to the back pasture.  This journey takes them through a nice shady lane.

Normally, I head up the lane with Jackson following closely behind me to call the girls in.  This particular evening they were already heading in.  It was a nice little surprise.

Jackson is watching the girls come down the lane, missing his evening herding opportunity.

So nice of the girls to head in by themselves.

Mama Cow is always first.

Then comes her 2 yr old calf, the Future Leader.

Sweet Rose trying to avoid the paparazzi after a hard day.

"Are you really going to take my picture?" Julie isn't too keen on photographs today.

And BeBe making sure everyone made it in.

If only every evening was this easy.  No worries, I am sure I will be walking up the lane looking out for snakes tomorrow.  The girls like to keep me on my toes.  At least Jackson will be happy.  He loves being the herd dog of the operation.

Wordless Wednesdays

~ Daylillies ~

I Like to Think I am Loved

I would like to think that the chickens genuinely like me and are running to see me.

But I know better...they think I have food.

This is what I see every evening on my walks, even when I am not carrying a bag of veggies.

A few herald my appearance.

Then the rest start to follow.

They come from all directions.

Waiting expectantly for some tasty morsel.

Mister Rooster is always front and center...though he rarely gets the first bite.  He's a gentleman like that.

They just keep coming!

Piggy, my shoulder riding chicken, is in the middle of the pack hoping that I have saved her the best bite.

Wow, we have a lot of chickens!

Yeah, I would like to think that they just wanted to be in my company but the truth is I had food.  It helps the ego to see so many running to be near you. :)

Mulberries

I made a discovery this past week...I have a Mulberry tree behind my house!

At first I didn't know what it was. The berries look like blackberries but the birds weren't eating them. Because of that I thought they might be poisonous.

Turns out they weren't ripe yet. As soon as they turned I was competing with the birds for the tastiest berries. I was outnumbered...so I didn't get as many as I would have liked. But no worries, I am now hovering over the unripe ones and I'm ready to pounce when they ripen. The birds won't get too many more.

Once I have enough I'm making a cobbler. Yum!

I better go back out and see if any have ripen since last night. Yep, I'm getting obsessive...but I will get those berries.

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Chicken = Parrot

Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip

~ Will Rogers

I Just Want to Sleep In

Having animals, both pets and livestock, means I don't get to sleep in until I *want* to wake up.  I seem to always be on their schedule. Whether it is the donkey wanting to be fed (which is all hours of the day) or the dogs wanting to go out.

My cat, George, is my partner for sleeping in; my ally, my co-patriot, my gato simpatico... She is the one that has to be pushed out of bed so she can eat her breakfast before the others get it. 

But lately she is getting up at the crack of dawn.  And she EXPECTS things from me when she is awake, she is the epitome of a diva.

"Where is my breakfast?"

"I want to go out!" 

"How come you aren't up?"  "Because it is only 6:30, my alarm is set for 7."

At 6:30 she is by my bed *talking* to me.  I'm barely coherent at 7, so 6:30 makes me a zombie with a not happy attitude. She doesn't care...actually I think she enjoys poking me.

If her *talking* can't get my attention right away she climbs up, gets in my face and starts over.

"Where is my breakfast?"

"I want to go out!"

"How come you aren't up?"

She will be heard...and yes, I do cave.

Diva to the max

I used to think I had an ally for sleeping in, apparently that has now changed.

I Dream that One Day...

My dream is to one day be back at the family farm in Oklahoma.  This is one of the farms I spent summers on with my Great Aunt Lula; we picked tomatoes, shelled peas, collected eggs, fished, and everything that regular farm kids do.  Mostly get into trouble...

I remember catching fireflies by the Mason jarful.  I remember hot afternoons in front of the black and white T.V. watching soaps and trying to learn how to embroider.  I still have the sampler that I spent all summer on. You can see the progression; and I have to credit Aunt Lula for her patience. It wasn't easy, and I am surprised she decided to teach me at 8 years old.  But glad she did.

Another memory, though not fond, was the midnight runs to the outhouse.  Yes, you heard me right...the outhouse!  The farmhouse didn't have running water.  So each day we hauled water to the house.  With the outhouse you didn't always know who would be accompanying you. 

One time a hen was setting on her eggs in there. That was a little odd, to have a chicken stare at you while you did what you needed to do.  She did hatch her chicks and soon moved them back to the coop. Thank goodness, because the outhouse wasn't big enough for all of us.

The farm has since been sold and the house, though standing, has been taken over by the elements but the barn is still standing resolutely against the Oklahoma wind waiting for animals to return home for the evening.

One day I want to go back and rebuild the farm, and build a bunch of new memories.  One day....

A Night with the Classics

Last week I didn't want to do the dishes.  So I left them in the sink soaking and headed out to the historic Kentucky Theater in downtown Lexington. I picked up my friend Carrie, both of us needed a respite from the activity of our lives. 

If you know Carrie, you know she likes to be at the movies well in advance so that we can get through concessions and find a good seat.  If you know me, you know that I tend to be skidding into the parking lot, running to the ticket counter and hoping Carrie saved me a seat. 

Carrie has been a good influence, I now have time to go through the concession line, then race to my seat in the dark.

But I was good last week.  I didn't know how bad traffic would be downtown, and I was coming from a new direction, so I gave us plenty of time.  Thank goodness...

There was a long line at the ticket counter.

Then there was a really long line for concessions.

Then we couldn't find seats because the place was packed.

We found our seats and got to know our neighbors as we listened to the movie organ music that was playing, creating an atmosphere that took movie goers back to a time when going to the movies was an occasion to be relished.  The theater manager came out and gave us a brief history of the movie we were going to see, The African Queen with Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart.

The movie started and everyone was enthralled.  You didn't have the teenagers in the back texting or the couple in the corner canoodling...everyone was actually watching the movie.  We laughed and gasped together and in the end we all clapped. 

This was what made movies the experience that people relished.  There wasn't a lot of high tech special effects, but yet it kept everyone engrossed.  Mr. Bogart did a great job as a gin-swilling riverboat captain, Charlie Allnut. And Katharine Hepburn...wow...she always does a great job and her character of missionary Rose Sayer was no different.  It reminds us that love comes in the strangest places, at the strangest times and with the strangest people.  Who would have thought the African River with man-eating crocodiles and huge mosquito's would bring about love.  Oh, and they blew up a German warship...

I am glad the Kentucky Theater brings us the classics each summer.  In two weeks I will be leaving my house super early so that I can avoid the long lines and get a great seat.  They are playing Breakfast at Tiffany's...I can't wait to see Holly Golightly on the big screen.

The End of the Day

On the weekends this is what the end of day looks like; five cows heading home.

This particular evening the flys were pretty bad, and the girls were high-tailing it to the wooded area when it was time to come in, which is in the opposite direction of the gate.

If they made it to the woods I probably would have never gotten them out. With that possibility on my mind I moved quickly...& by quickly, I mean I actually ran across the field to head them off. Its amazing what you can do when your adrenaline is pumping.

Goodness gracious...it hurt to breath...

After a few deep breaths to keep oxygen flowing, I blocked their path by yelling and waving a stick.

(They're huge, I had to do something to make the turn.)

They wanted to run from the crazy person. With these efforts I got them turned around and headed in.

So, luckily, the end of day looked like this.

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Raise your Head Up

~ This is what happiness looks like ~

An Evening Walk to the Tree of Life

Is he outside?

Evening walks through the pastures with the dogs are part of my routine. They sniff out all the animals that went through the previous night and day. This makes them happy, and therefore, me happy.

Each night partway through our walk I will turn around and find Jackson, my cat, behind us. He loves to go exploring. Since he was a kitten when I got him in Illinois he would go on walks with me and the dogs.



He needs more attention!



When it is just in the pasture I don't worry too much, except when he decides to climb down the groundhog's hole...that is a whole another story. In IL, we lived in a little historic village (I really have a thing for historic homes it seems...hmmmm) he thought walking in the street was better than the broken and disappearing sidewalk. Luckily, the residents knew us, and gave Jackson a wide berth. Silly cat.

Come here groundhog

On one walk this evening I took my camera along to get photos of one of the interesting trees. Before I knew it was I more interested photographing the animals...again. Willow was trying her darnedest to get the groundhog that lived under the tree (different groundhog, sadly); Kody kept looking over at the neighbor's hoping they were outside so that he could get a treat; and Jackson just wanted attention.

The subject that I had intended to spend the rest of the daylight hours photographing only got a few shots before the sun went behind the trees. A favorite of my Mother's; I call it the Tree of Life, not only because it looks like it was here when God created the earth but the twists and turns of the branches represent the paths life takes each of us on. I enjoy just looking up sometimes and trying to navigate the turns of my life.

It is a great place to put out a blanket and read...after the cows are put up. They are nosy critters and always want to read over my shoulder.

P.S. I have tweaked the name of this blog. I wasn't 100% happy with the title but then Kim from Life in a Little Red Farmhouse commented about me being an Okie girl. A light when off! I am an Okie in the Bluegrass. I identify with two wonderful states. My roots are in Oklahoma but I am enjoying my time in the Bluegrass state of Kentucky. So the title changed. Thanks Kim!