Stick Horse Cowgirls

I am so blessed to have great neighbors, great friends! Here I am on the farm, now single, with all this equipment that has been the sole province of my husband for the past forty years. I am playing catch up in knowing how to use and care for it all and, I must say, I am loving it! (See the post from last year, “Power Woman Update” for a look at the beginning of this equipment odyssey). My male neighbors have been such a help to me in learning about tractors and mowers and weed-eaters and such. This week’s lesson included a marvelous product called “fix a flat,” which is aerosol and you just pump it right into your flat lawn mower tire and Voila ! the leak in your tire seals right up! Amazing…all women need to know about these things… This long Memorial Day weekend was built around rain, which very much impeded my outside ambitions, but I managed to get some work done. I have developed an actual love of riding the lawn mower over our acreage. It is really satisfying work to se...

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a soft touch for animals. In fact, I am animal-poor: two horses, two dogs and one cat, down recently from three dogs, seven horses and innumerable cats, the loss of all of whom was sadness to me. I have two dogs: Chili and Scout, both of whom I have told you about in other posts. This is Chili (Belgian Malinois), guarding our front door: Our cats have short lives out here in the country. They live mostly outside and are fine when they are purring on my wide back porch, which is a perfect feline haven. But, as cats do, they invariably venture forth to the beckoning forest where the “real” game is, no longer content with the bugs and occasional rodent they can hunt in the back yard. Unfortunately, big game country also means bigger predators, and my cats must face roaming dogs, coyotes, and owls, all of whom love to come upon a cat. Sasha is the remainder of a litter of five kittens, all of whom just one-by-one disappeared. It is a fine life fo...

"The wind of heaven is that which blows between a horse's ears." ~Arabian Proverb Do you like horses? Wish you had one? Perhaps you are like me in that you have always wanted a horse, but never actually owned one? As a child I used to cry and beg my parents for a horse. Hey, it worked for a puppy! I suppose it never occured to me that it would never fit in our suburban backyard. C was lucky in that she got her first horse as a child and it did actually stay in her backyard for a few days before they moved it to a farm. I actually awakened in the early morning and looked out my window to her backyard and there was a horse there!! In the city! Well, it was not that urban, but definitely not horse country! So, I never got the horse my grandfather promised me, but I did get to vicariously enjoy the horse-owner life through my teenage daughter who saved her money and bought a horse when she was in high school. Now she is all grown up and lives on a farm with horses and cows ...

I never considered myself particularly vain, but I must say that in recent years, I've become almost obsessed about being photographed. Well, I guess what I really mean is that I absolutely do NOT want to be photographed at all, especially since it seems to have become my dear husband's mission in life to catch me in the most unflattering poses possible! He lays in wait to catch me in mid-chew, or grimacing or yawning! I WILL retaliate, I warn him. I will hide with camera in hand to catch him unaware! So, until then, to prove that I am not totally vain and I am willing to bear some humiliation, I will publish this "deer in the headlights" pose that he captured as I enjoyed Easter breakfast sitting between my two grandsons! Enjoy your weekend!