A Thrift Store Saturday and a "Why Me?" Monday

For reasons having to do with my work, I was a little vexed this morning, so after I brought in the horses, I put on a sundress, ate some rocky road ice cream for breakfast, fixed myself a glass of iced sweet tea, and took some photos of my junque acquired this weekend. I used to be a full time, professional riding instructor with my own program and barn; I made my own schedule and I told people how it was going to be, not the other way around; so now that I am taking a sabbatical from instructing, and have a "job" job where I answer to someone else, I have to find ways to deal with my irritations, and sundresses and ice cream seem to help. I am thankful that I get to work from home, though. ANYWAY, Saturday Kevin had to work, so I took myself off to town and made my visits to my favorite thrift stores and here is some of what I scored!!! The top photo shows vintage linens..........I love linens, and grab them up whether I need them or not. I got a white embroidered pillowcase in the softest cotton; a embroidered mystery thingy with tatted lace; a hand-worked hanky in pale blue cutwork, very old; and a linen infant collar with lace all around. I intend to embroider on it. I paid about .50 for each piece. And, THESE:

These appear to be from the late 50's or early 60's, and they are GOLD, all right! I picked them up, put them in my cart, took them out, changed my mind, and picked them up again. They were $4. They are too narrow for my feet, but it is so hard to find vintage shoes, I figured I might as well get them and give them a place in my vast collection.

Then I discovered this adorable pair of Homer Laughlin goodies; a creamer and sugar bowl. I now collect Homer Laughlin China, and these are a great addition to that collection as well as my huge, non-Homer Laughlin floral china stash. Too cute! I got them for $4.

And these are curtain panels I actually bought at our horse feed and tack store. They also sell high-end gifts and home furnishings; and I got these for $8, originally $30. The pattern is called "cabbage rose"....... I love them.
Not pictured is a vintage gravy boat, a pair of miniature vases hand painted in Japan (for .25), three 1950's children's horse books, including a 1st edition copy of "My Friend Flicka"; a "skort" for myself, and a brand-new western style shirt for hubby in red, navy and white for when we go out visitin' on Independence Day. (I also bought horse feed, and flea stuff for the pets, in case you were wondering....... :) ) All together, at two thrift stores, I spent under $30.00. So, you could say I scored.

I got an award..........

........... for my other blog, All the Pretty Little Horses. Go over there to check it out!!! And, look at my beloved horses while you're there. Thanks for the award again, Juliette!!

Our Splat Cat

My husband asked me this morning if I had posted any photos of our cat, Splat, on the blog. I realised that I had not; except for one of her and my cat Brutus in a story about our flea problems we had. Now, my husband is not a blogger at all. He doesn't get it; he doesn't understand why people want to put their personal life out on the Internet for everyone to see; he thought I was a little goofy when I started this a few months ago. But I think it is starting to grow on him, and from time to time, he likes to look at what I have posted on my blogs, and even some cool "non-personal" stuff from other's blogs. Especially about animals, and farms, and things like that. So I have been posting some photos of our horses on my horse blog, "All the Pretty Little Horses," and we were looking at horse blogs last night; when our cat-child, Splat, was doing something utterly cute and I scrambled to take a photo. Then this morning, he gave me the idea to introduce you all to a very huge, important part of our life, our cat-children; most especially, Splat.
We have had this cat for just about exactly one year. One evening, as we were watching a DVD, we heard a commotion outside the house on the highway. (We live right off the highway :( ) slamming doors, screeching tires; voices. A little while later, we heard a little cat voice in the yard. Odd, we thought. We even went out onto the front porch to try to see the cat making the noise, and couldn't. We went to bed. Later that night, there was a interruption in our electricity, cutting off the a/c and making everything utterly silent in the house, and waking me up. That's when I heard it again..... tiny meows. This time, I jumped up, grabbed a flashlight, and ran outside. That is when I first saw her - a little black and white kitten, terrified. She ran away from me and hid under our small log barn. I went in an got a small dish of food, setting it out for her, hoping she would decide to stay. (I adore cats, and love them too.)
Now, you must understand, I was taking a huge risk. Kevin is NOT a cat-lover, and I was lucky to have been able to move my two cats Brutus and Cosette with me when I moved in after we got married. He set rules: no cats in the bed, (my cats slept with me) no cats on his pillow, no cats inside at night; things like that.
So the kitten stayed under our barn, and it wouldn't come out to us. For 2 weeks, we fed it, and tried to get it to come to us. Finally, one day, I took a can of cat food and sat out by the barn and she came out to eat it and let me stroke her a little bit. I promised Kevin, if I got her, she would live outside, be a barn cat, and never bother him at all.
I needn't have worried. It was Kevin, in the end, who tamed the poor thing, and one day he came in the house with her. That was the end. He was in love with the cat. I was, too. Obviously, someone had dumped it on the highway and left it. We named it "Splat", as we thought surely it would end up that way on the highway. It was several months before we figured out it was a girl cat, though.
We put it outside at night, and it would find it's way under the house and come in through holes in the floor, as, at the time, the kitchen was gutted for remodeling. We stuck to the "no cats in the bed" rule, and every morning, there she would be, sleeping on the floor right outside our door, waiting for us. Finally, when cool weather set in, we started letting her in our room at night, and she weaseled her way into the bed. We have now created a little princess! This is the most spoiled, most pampered cat ever. Even more so than my own Brutus.
She sleeps in the bed, under the covers. (When it is cool out.) In addition to this, she has her own little pet bed under the window.
She has a small dish of water on Kevin's bedside table for drinks during the night.
She eats dinner with us every evening, and her favorites are: (I kid you not) Chicken breast; steak, cooked medium-well, never re-heated, in bite-size pieces; gravy; cheddar cheese; canned mushrooms; ice cream; pasta with Alfredo or other creamy sauce; and a few others. We actually fix her a small plate of food at dinner time, cooled, and in bite-size pieces.
She has her favorite "fuzzy" blanket on the sofa, and cuddles with it when the weather is cool.
Every morning, we open a window and pull up a small chair for her to come and go out of the window all day as she pleases.
She hardly ever spends nights outdoors. We always make her come in and sleep in the bedroom, whether she wants to or not.
She loves to play with chapsticks, and had about three tubes that she would roll all over the hardwood floors, chasing wildly. She had kind of outgrown that now, though, as she is a year old. If we are outside, she begs to come out, too. She takes walks with us to our pond, a mile and a half long. When she got spayed, she was very sick from the drugs given to her, and couldn't get upstairs to the bedroom, and cried if we tried to lift her; so we slept on the sofa bed with her until she recovered. She provides up with hours and hours of entertainment, and we literally refer to her as our cat-daughter. We have not gotten a third cat, as much as I would like, because we don't think she would like it, and we don't want her to run away or get mopey. As you can see from the photos, she loves to get inside things; baskets, boxes, things like that; and she likes climbing, and figured out how to climb Kevin's ladder when it is in the kitchen we're remodeling.
Kevin adores this cat; I have never seen a guy with a "thing" for a cat before; and he has it bad for this little bugger. I mean, she has him entwined around her paw.
Ok. I think I have babbled enough about our cat, Splat.

Daisy Chain Dress

I have been inspired recently, through some links discovered through my friend Elisa, over at her blog, Herb of Grace. (I hope she doesn't mind my exposing her like this on my blog.....) Visit her by clicking on her link in my blog list. Anyway, I am all into "re-fashion" now. Re-fashion is when you re-make an article of clothing, using a cast-off piece(s) of clothing, creating a totally new, hip, one-of-a-kind piece. I have always been an embroiderer, but I don't own a sewing machine. And, I have always collected vintage clothes, and have a huge collection. So, inspired by some blogs such as "Grosgrain Fabulous" and "Re-Fashion", I have been inspired to combine my feeble sewing skills, my embroidery skills, and my love of vintage clothing. ABOVE is a vintage (probably 1950's) toddler dress I bought at the Salvation Army Thrift store this weekend for a mere 89 cents. It is pale yellow dotted Swiss with a gauzy white cotton attached pinafore.

Above is the dress when I got done with it! It's yellow and white combination reminded me of a daisy - so I embroidered a daisy chain with a green vine all around the neckline, adding some yellow french knots to recall the white dots of the yellow dotted Swiss. I used mostly the "lazy daisy" stitch, which I figured was appropriate, in this case. I added a piece of tiny lace around the neckline as well, and a white satin sash. Keep in mind that I am still experimenting with my camera to see who to best photograph thing like this for online purposes. I have discovered that I will simply have to upgrade cameras before long.

My camera stinks at taking detailed shots of things like embroidery, but you can sort of see it around the neckline here. I also had to repair a tiny seam that had come apart in the side. Someone else had repaired a tiny seam in the waistband, but it is not noticeable. All together, I have spent maybe one afternoon working on it; without a sewing machine. I will be selling things like this in an Etsy shop by summer's end, I hope. Right now, I am working on my inventory for my shop. So this dress is, or will be, I guess, for sale. It looks like it would fit a 2-year old child. Maybe, I will do one of those cool blog giveaways to launch my Etsy store! Hummm. So, would you buy something like this for your child? I will also be selling adult ladies things in the Etsy store. Let me know what you think. I guess you could call this a "market survey" - but most of all, I just think re-fashion is a swell idea, and this dress was just perfect for re fashioning, and I had to share.

Summertime Random

This past week, I have neglected posting here, as I have been excessively preoccupied with my ailing horse, Gunny. If you are interested, read all about it on my other blog, "All the Pretty Little Horses." (Click on it in my blog list in the sidebar if you want to go there.) I have been spending a lot of time pampering and nursing him, and worrying and fretting about him, and writing posts about him and his problem. You all with kids might know how that is..... Kevin and I haven't had any children yet, so I fuss over, and "mother hen" my horses and my pets. I know, it's perverse, but true. But when I have not been fussing over the horses at the barn, I have been enjoying my hydrangeas a great deal (see above) and immersed in two books in particular: "Twilight" and "The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War." My sister Noelle got me into the "Twilight" books; I know, I know, they're supposed to be silly teenage novels about vampires and ware wolves; but I am "sucked" in. ( *snickering*.....no pun intended :)) And as for the PIG to The Civil War; well. I just will not go there; except to say it is a really eye opening read, and there are things not even me, a true southerner and confederate sympathiser, knew. I have also been enjoying the first veggies from the garden:

Potatoes, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, and lettuce. My niece, Abigail, Kevin, and I enjoyed an all-organic, home grown salad with our dinner the other night when Abi was here. We also had a "post graduation" party for Noelle, at the pool, with a bunch of friends. I was told a funny story about Noelle and our friend, Carter Graydon: Noelle rides with Carter to their community college classes often. After class one day recently, they stopped by a drive-thru to get some food. Noelle couldn't make up her mind what she wanted, and Crater was waiting for her to decide so he could order. Finally, he turned his car around and went through the drive-thru backward, so Noelle, in the passenger seat, could order for herself. The customer behind them was ticked off, and called the police. The police showed up, and said they didn't know exactly why the guy had called; but just don't do it anymore. That's one for the memory books.

I went to a wedding on the weekend with Mom; the bride was a former riding student of mine. Another former riding student was there, and she was married and expecting! That was really odd........... to see my grown-up students getting married and having kids. Then Mom and I did our favorite things and went to thrift stores, and scored a few goodies. I got a great wok, anyway. This is how summertime goes for us...... busy with get togethers and parties almost every weekend somewhere; events, gardening, getting up hay, walks in the evening, kids off from school spending time doing country things; swimming, good books, good food, good fun.... what I just call summertime random:
"Whatcha doin'?"
"I dunno. What'ryou doin'?"
"Nuthin'."
"Wanna come over and hang out?"
"Sure! Why not?"
"I've got hot dogs....."
"I'll bring potato salad........"
"I'm headed that direction, a'ight?"
"See ya in a little while!"

Graduation Day

Here is my "baby" sister, Noelle, with our Dad after her graduation ceremony this past Saturday.
We are very, very proud of Noelle's achievements. Here is a portion of her "bio" that appeared in the programs:

" ..... she attended Veritas Homeschool Enrichment Center, took part in the Cultural Commission Worldview Missionaries Speech Tutorial, Lincoln - Douglas Debate Club and two summer sessions in the Christian Worldview Institute for Students as a Representative and a Senator in mock legislative sessions at the NC Capitol in Raleigh. She has attended several Conservative Leadership Conferences, and is a Generation Joshua Club President. At 16 she joined the USAF Civil Air Patrol with her Dad where they served on staff at Encampment at Fort Pickett for two summers, and were promoted to Senior Commander and Cadet Commander of the Danville, VA Squadron In April 2008. Noelle has been dual enrolled at PCC, maintaining a 4.0 average and was accepted at Liberty University where she will enroll in the Helms School of Government and pursue a degree in Political Science with a concentration in international relations focusing on strategic intelligence....."

I remember when Noelle was born, and caring for her as she grew. She is the "baby" of the family, and extremely unique from the rest of us. She was blessed with a brilliant mind and a natural leadership ability. I believe that she is called to the Nations - in a diplomatic way.
In some ways, I feel like I dragged Noelle along behind me as I got involved in political things. I was involved in local politics, was Secretary of the GOP in our county, ran for office, went to Conservative Leadership Conferences with the likes of Rudy Giuliani, Elizabeth Dole, Fred Barnes, Michael Reagan, and many others. Noelle was right there with me. When she got older and was in high school, she went with me when I was a counselor at the Christian Worldview Institute for Students, and things took off from there; ending now with her acceptance to Liberty University's Helms School of Government. In no way do I believe I am responsible for Noelle's achievement; instead, I thank God that I was able to experience these things with her and encourage her in this direction. I know she will do great things, and I pray that she will always bring God the Glory as her influence extends to the Nations; and that no matter what happens, she will always allow God to guide her in life; whether it fits her plans or not.

On a bit of a lighter note, here is a silly photo of my sister Naomi and I with Noelle's dress uniform shirt and tie with all of her awards, etc. from CAP. (It was displayed at her memory table during the reception following the ceremony.) The dress form is on of mine that I named "Hilda" and "Helga". I can't remember which is which, though. Maybe this one is "Hilda." Also, I am wearing the linen skirt that was part of Noelle's bridesmaid's outfit she wore at my wedding :) . (P.S. Mom made Noelle's dress and sash.)

Our "Love Story"

I thought maybe it was about time I posted a photo of myself, and my beloved, my best friend, my soul mate my better half, my significant other, and my husband, Kevin Gene - whom I love with all my heart. This is actually a terrible photo of us, but it's all I had at the moment. One of these days I will post some incredible shots from our vintage wedding! At the time this was taken, Kevin was growing out his wintertime facial hair and looked rather scruffy. Now he is clean shaven and got a haircut yesterday! I look awful in the photo as well, and red is not my color. We have a rather unusual love story many years in the making. We met, oddly enough, at a local horse feed and western wear store. There had been a seminar on horse health care given by our mutual vet, and the store had stayed open after hours for seminar goers to shop. I remember being introduced to him through a mutual friend, and something inside told me I'd see more of him, though not in a romantic way, only in a friends kind of way. He was older than me, and not exactly what I was "looking for". We did become good friends, and talked now and then when our paths crossed. In the meantime, he was seeing someone else. Our friendship went on for about five years, centered around horses mostly. Kevin says that he was "interested" early on, but figured I was too young, and he "too old" to be compatible, so he didn't persue a romantic attachment.
About two years ago, in the early spring, after I had gone through a tough time in my life that caused me to "grow up" emmotionally (funny, as I thought I was "grown-up" emmotionally but hadn't really...) and suddenly, I was seeing my "buddy" and "pal" Kevin in a totally new light, and I was a little freaked out by that. I tried to deny it, and avoided him; but the more I avoided him, the more our circumstances threw us together. Finally, one day when we were thrown together fixing a horse fence emergency for a friend, he just brought it right up out in the open, and inquired if I was willing to persue an "attachment" with an "old guy". (Kevin is 13 years older than me.) I guess I could have played shocked, offended, and "hard -to-get", but at the momemt, seemed so wrong, immature, and downright dishonest. So I confessed that I had been struggling with my own feelings, and thus our relationship went from buddies and pals to a romantic attachment in one sudden move! So that was in the Spring, but we kept our attachment secret for a few months while we tried to decide what we were going to do, and while he was finishing up an out-of the area job. Then that summer we became "official" when Kevin told my parents that he had every intention of marrying me. That Christmas we became engaged and started talking about weddings and choosing a date. In January we decided to forget a long engagement, and marry in the Spring, exactly one year from the time we "got together." That was a hard choice for me to make, as I had always wanted to get married at Christmastime. Waiting a whole year for Christmas to come around again was just absurd..... we were both old enough (he, 40, me, 27) and wanted to get on with our life and not goof around for a year just for a wedding at Christmas. So we got married April 12, 2008, and have been married ever since; "Happily Ever After".................................

Confederate Tea Party

I was asked by a dear friend this week if I would like to go with her to a Tea given by her chapter of the UDC - that is, The United Daughters of the Confederacy. Naturally, I jumped at the chance: first of all because I am Southern, and, I confess, I am a Confederate sympathiser. If I had been living during the War Between the States, I am convinced I would have been a Confederate. (NOT based on the issue of slavery; based on the issue of State's Rights.) My second reason is simply because I love Teas!
The tea was held at the Sutherlin Mansion, which, if you are a student of War-Between-The-States history, you know that the Sutherin Mansion, and Danville, VA, are known as the Last Capitol of the Confederacy, as it is where CSA (Confederate States of America) President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet were residing at the time of General Lee's surrender to Grant at nearby Appamattox Courthouse.
I spent a couple of hours dolling myself up, as at these Southern goings-on, you are somewhat scrutinised. I tried on several different dresses and outfits before I settled on a raspberry colored, linen, vintage-styled pencil dress I wore to my bridal shower last year. I curled my hair, slapped on some of my new Mary Kay makeup, (I LOVE) and got myself to my friend's house to ride with her to town.
The room the tea was held in was set with multiple tables of silver, china, and white linens, and as the greeter told us, was in honor of Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis' wife. The members of the UDC presented a fashion show, and they highlighted the "Language of the Fan", which was the extent of flirting in those days.
I, however, was completely transfixed by two excuisite late 1860's Crazy Quilts which were intricately put together and lavishly embroidered. After the tea was over I got my nose right up on them and took in all the different stitches and appliques the embroiderer used to create them. I will have to go back with a notebook to take notes on the unusual stitches.
It was extremely emjoyable, and I was invited to attend a UDC meeting; but I don't know if I had a relative who fought on the side of the Confederacy; so I doubt I would be accepted into the chapter as a member.
I think that a "Daughters of the Greatest Generation" group should started, for those whose relatives participated in liberating Europe in WWII. Then there could be tea held, where all the ladies could wear fashions from the 40's; which are some of my favorite. Or, a group for the WWI soldier's decendants; and all the ladies could wear turn-of the century outfits, whcih are my all-time favorite.
As much as I esteem the Confederate Ladies, I do not like hoop skirts; and think they are despicable. My own hoop skirt is stashed back at my parent's house; I didn't even bring it when I moved away. Sorry, Scarlett.

Pool Party!

We had a pool party to celebrate my Niece, Alexis' birthday this past week.
We use the pool at the equine facilities Kevin and I have leased - a definate blessing.
Here, my nephew, Brendan, licks his cupcake.

Alana stacked up the floaties around herself......

Mom and the birthday girl, Alexis!

You know, I think this is the first photo of myself I have posted. Brendan and I together as the party winds down......

My cats and our fleas

Here is a picture of two of my beloved, spoiled rotten kitty cats; "Splat" (black and white) and "Brutus", (the fat grey one.) Not shown is my black, silky long-haired "Cosette". Brutus and Splat are shown on one of my fantastic, puke-green chairs that await slipcovering. I can't bring myself to throw this set away, as I love the shape of them....... so I am slipcovering instead of replacing. Anyway - this is a post about pets, not chairs.
So, to get to the point - as I mentioned in my last post, over the weekend, we discovered that our cats brought fleas into the house. I don't know why we didn't prevent this by just doing Frontline earlier in the spring, but it simply did not occur to me until we already had the flea problem. So we went to town on a Sunday, and the only flea treatment we could find at the only place open - Tractor Supply Co. - were generic versions of Frontline.... so we chose the more expensive version, and treated them all with it.
It has taken care of most of their fleas, but my problem is that now I have to treat the house.
I always thought fleas only lived in carpets; but they're on our hardwood floors also. I went to Wal-Mart and bought a bottle of flea killing spray, which worked; and I know I will have to vacuum every day for several weeks until all the life cycle periods are over.... My dilemma is this: Every product I have treated our pets with, and doused the house with, are pure poison! I hate that! I've just stuck goop on my babies that instructs you do "wrap in a paper towel and dispose of immediately" after use; "Keep pets from grooming each other for 24 hrs," "Do not put down any outdoor or indoor drain", you're not supposed to touch it, and if you have any leftover, you have to call your local poison control or something to figure out how to dispose of it. The stuff burned a patch of fur off Splat where I applied it, which makes me feel bad. At the store, there were all kinds of flea killing chemicals, and one I looked at was for treating your yard and bushes as well. It is bad enough that all my floors, carpets, and rugs are doused with chemicals, but Kevin insisted on doing the bed also; so we're sleeping with toxins. We even had to treat the sofa, and chairs. So we sit with the toxin.
So, what is a good pet owner to do? It seems like, if I want to keep my "cuddle fuzzies", (my nickname for the cats) I have to surround my home with chemicals, inside, outside, and on the cats themselves. Great.
Has anyone ever heard of a natural way to kill fleas, and keep them away? I heard one time about using Listerine to repel mosquitoes, but I do not know if it works for these nasty fleas. I am most seriously disturbed about this. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Some Days Are Like That........

Oh boy. What a weekend. To begin with, I had to work for the third weekend in a row.........I had to do a "overnight" stint for my job, which meant leaving my poor husband to feed, amuse, and entertain himself starting on Friday evening. Saturday I came home and discovered that "amusing" himself included rearranging the living room furniture. It was actually really nice! Then he told me the reason he did it was because he discovered FLEAS had invaded and made themselves at home in the carpet - thanks to our three cats. Great.
Off to town to get Frontline for them. We came home to discover that the three week old chickens had discovered that they could now fly out of their box and play in the kitchen. They've started to stink a little bit, also.
Sunday morning we took my sister's horse to a trainer and I felt guilty about leaving him, even though he was fine.
That afternoon, my little sister came over and we were "hanging out". I decided to clean out the small log building we are turning into the chicken house, which was full of glass jars. We took a bunch to the dumpster (no rescued chairs this time) an put them in the recycling box. There were a lot of gallon-sized jars left, so we boxed them and put them in the truck to move to a storage barn on the property. Tractor implements were parked all around the barn, and I pulled up to the door anyway. Then I decided to try to get closer (LAZYNESS) and turned the truck around to get a better angle. Suddenly, Noelle yelled "STOP"! Too late. I heard the door scrape against some machinery. Oh boy. So I threw the truck in reverse and started to back up. That's when Noelle said,"..............ok, I think you need to .....STOP!!!!!" Too late. There was a huge explosion. At first I thought I had destroyed one of the tractor implements. I jumped out and looked, and saw that I had backed over blades from the huge 8-bottom plow in the tall grass I hadn't seen. They were stuck into the tire wall; this in addition to the scratched door..........
I shut it off and headed to the house where Kevin had been on the phone. He, standing in the driveway, had seen the whole thing.
I was frantic. I just knew how mad he was going to be.
"It's just a tire, it's ok," he said, smiling. (Oh, yeah. It's "OK"?) His smile dissapeared when I showed him it was one of the new back tires. If it had been one of the half-bald front tires we were going to replace this week anyway, it wouldn't have been so bad. This was baaaad. Tires for our heavy-duty farm trucks cost about $200 each. This was not a good day. The truck was wedged against a part of the plow that stuck into the door paint. Noelle and I grabbed it and pulled it away from the door while Kevin carefully maneuvered the truck out of the hole I had put it in and back down the driveway to the house.
Luckily he had a spare - bald - but it would do for a few days until we got new tires. As he was putting it on, his expensive impact gun died. Then he was a little mad; understandably. The door, however, was not dented, only the paint was scratched. "I can buff that out and touch it up and you'll never know it happened," Kevin assured me. I still felt stupid.

Food fixes everything, so I went immediately to the kitchen and started to cook. I had a London Broil to grill, green beans simmered with butter, and a rare thing for me - curly french fries. I don't eat french fries anymore, but this seemed like a good day for some. I also whipped up some creamy lemon bars.
We were standing in the kitchen, and Kevin was saying "I'm not mad; it was just a tire; We were going to have to get two new ones anyway; It's ok." A hug and a kiss couldn't even make me feel less stupid.
Then he got a phone call: a friend with a restaurant called to say the back deck was falling off her store; could Kevin come fix it? As he was getting off the phone, I got a call: the donkeys I look after were loose and running around the neighbor's yard; could I come down and fetch them back to their pen?
When I went to "fetch" the donkeys back, I had to lead them through a pasture full of cows. They looked like black hippos in a sea of green grass so tall it was up to my shoulder in some spots, and the cows seemed to just float along on top of it. As I set off, Kevin warned me: "If you get cornered by a bull, drop your bucket, flap your arms, back away, and try to find a spot in the fence to jump out!" (Thanks, my love! Soooooo comforting............) but I got through the field, and the bull only stared at me over the tops of the grasses as I tried to sneak through with the donkeys. Then we had a 3/4 mile walk down a dirt road to the donkey's home.
In spite of it all, I was filled with peace, as I wandered down the road, with the donkeys in tow, as the sun was setting over the valley before me. The birds were singing all around, and the wildflowers were blooming on the sides of the road. The grass smelled sweet, and I was walking off the french fries I had just eaten, so life was good.
I have to buy four new truck tires for a small fortune on Wednesday, but life is still good, and I learned another farm lesson: I will never, ever put the truck anywhere near a piece of farm machinery again.