I am a mirror twin. She & I have an older set of identical twins as well (and our Mom was also an identical twin!).
I used to always hear my twin say how tired she was of our three mothers, and how happy she would be to not have them. How put out with me she would get for not understanding what she meant.
It took a while, but I finally ‘got it’—Accountability.
We were accountable to our older sisters as well as our Mom. There was, to be sure, a real power thing the ‘Big’ twins had over we ‘Little’ twins. But mostly it was because of love and concern for us and our success as a family and individual.
They taught us responsibility towards those to whom we are accountable. We twins are all very close now. Mom and her twin have both passed away.
Think I should have kept track of the number of times I heard that little question this week. It was usually followed by:
May I have a peppermint?
Is it tablet time?
When will breakfast be ready?
Let’s go play with the squirt guns!
Is it dessert time yet?
Can HoneyPie go outside to play with us?
So many questions from our grandchildren that were here with us on the farm this past week. They went home today. Pop-pop and I think they would have stayed longer! There is a lot of freedom out here on the farm. Running all around without much concern for cars. We neighbors all know one another here on our private drive ‘hidden valley lane’. It is a comfort and a huge blessing.
The next-door neighbor children are happy to come over and play in the late afternoons. They run, giggle, play ball and climb trees. They have a great time outside with one another. How is it they all get thirsty, hungry, and have to use the restroom all at the same time!?
The Frederick County Fair was in full swing while the grands were here. We made a long, full night of it there. To be sure there where were no bedtime complaints upon getting home that evening. Everyone, young and old, was whipped, and full of sugar!
Gentle reader, you will never guess what the big “wow!” was—the feet and nail brushes that are in each bathroom in our home. Those giggles will resound in my memory for a happy long time! Those grands raced to the bathroom to scrub their feet with those brushes. Hey, one cannot go to bed with dirty farm feet!
All those questions had a big ‘YES’ to them during this week. Oh the fun of it all. Until next time…..
Chucking corn for supper, with the help of HoneyPie!Clean up time, with the help of HoneyPie!Can HoneyPie come out to play with us?!Our community service morning.The ‘WOW’ feet and nail brushes! 😂
Lesson for me: Never be on the phone when husband is out on the farm running equipment.
I did not hear my husband yell. Thank The Lord our neighbor did. He came over to check out why Bill had yelled with the urgency he had. He was bush-hogging around the pond. He got too close to the edge. The bush-hog and back tire of the tractor slipped into the pond.
Thank The Lord for our other good neighbor who has a tractor. Together all three men were able to safely get the equipment out. No injuries, except, perhaps, a bit of pride!
I shall let the photos tell the story:
Our good neighbor making sure it is safe for other tractor go and to pull from.Other neighbor and rescue tractor in position.Hooking up chains.Coming out nicely. Bush-hog was unhitched. Tractor is out.Bush-hog rescued! All is well that ends well. Thank you, thank you to our good neighbors, James & Jeff. Time for a cold drink!
“A place for everything and everything in it’s place.”
Rosie, the robot, always said that on the cartoon The Jetsons, as she would methodically go around the house putting everything in order.
It makes me laugh when I say it too as I clean my house. But order makes me happy and keeps me sane. Though I do not consider myself a ‘clean freak’, things must be kept in order.
It is amazing to me how well our animals here on the farm even respond to the order of the day. They know how the day is to begin and end, and are quick to remind me if I am late.
It seems our good God of order has placed that sense in all of His Creation as well. Glory!!
I grew up working in the tourist industry. Endless Caverns in New Market, VA was my childhood home and our family business.
Summer was the busiest time of year, full of traveling folks from all across America. We had campgrounds, a livery, a 5.5 acre lake for campers and local folks, walking nature trails all over our 1,300 acre farm, and of course the caverns. I took my first tour, as a tour guide, through the caverns at 16 years old.
Summer, to this day, is a special season for me. I always hate to see it go, even though I throughly enjoy all the seasons here in Virginia. We never vacationed—we were the vacation! We met many wonderful people from all parts of America. From sea to shining sea!
I wonder just how many tours I took over all those summers!
“Is it too quiet here for you?” my mother asked me once while sitting outside at her farm in rural Clifton Forge, Va.
“Golly, no!” was my immediate reply.
We could hear so much. The birds singing, the summer locusts, horses walking and grazing in the field, the whistle of the train passing through off in the distance. It was lovely and peaceful.
Our farm is the same. Mom never saw it because she passed away before we bought it. But it too is peaceful and quiet. And when sitting on our east porch, I can feel Mom there with me enjoying the quiet. It is a wonderful blessing.
This has to be a fast blog! It has been a while since I have written a blog and I do have good reason. Her name is HoneyPie! Our new puppy! I spend every one of her waking hours with her, and have to do many chores while she naps. It has been happily busy around here over the past five weeks we have had her.
She is a Tri-colored Pembroke Corgi with her tail! We ordered her tail before she was born. Our breeder said we were the first folks to ever request the tail from him. He was so happy, he would send photos saying, “Look at that cute little tail!” He also told us Corgis cannot be shown anymore in Great Britain unless they have their tails. Docking them is not allowed anymore there either. It is considered cruel and unusual punishment. We are not there yet here in our country, but I have noticed many more folks wanting their Corgis to have tails.
So please allow me to introduce to you our HoneyPie:
HoneyPie, 8 weeks old.Being a puppy is such hard work!Our future chicken herding dog.Time to catch a nap!See that cute little tail?Life is busy and happy with her!She also loves getting wet. She needs a larger pool!Running in tall grass? Oh boy!!But it does not beat the pond…Such a happy face after a swim in the pond.Good, smart puppy—Come!
The Camels Hump, a poem by Rudyard Kipling, first published in The Jungle Book came to mind when I read the word for today. Though in the poem it says,”The cure for this ill…” remedy would fit perfectly. So, I shall let Rudyard Kipling sound my thoughts for today.
There is more truth in this little poem than one may be willing to admit.
It seems this word, permission, puts a bad taste in peoples’ mouths these days.
We were recently told of some folks that had trespassers on their property. These folks did not ask permission to be on that property. A post on social media about them being there (the owners did not know who it was) brought such as onslaught of negative remarks to the landowners, the post was removed.
“They have a right to be there.”
“People can go where they want.”
“You have no business owning so much land.”
The property is used for hunting so the owners were concerned for the safety of those trespassers. Is it because asking permission puts one in a humble position?
There are so many good photographers of birds on the internet. The photos are remarkable, and some do not even seem possible to me to capture. Such patience and great timing. I admire all of them.
For me, it is more of a ‘catch as catch can’ with photographing birds. It was so thrilling to see this special little bird at our feeder last week. I have fed birds for forty years, and still have some I am waiting to see, i.e. an Evening Grosbeak and/or a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. Oh the joy of seeing one of them at our feeders.
I hardly believed my eyes early the other morning when looking out at the feeder. Transfixed at the window, I did not dare to move, but needed field glasses for a positive identification. To my intense joy, my eyes proved correct.
There foraging all around the ground was an adorable Rufous-Sided Towhee! Happily eating the sunflower seed off the ground (they are ground feeders). I have admired Towhees for many years, and enjoy beyond measure their sweet, Spring song, “Drink your Teeeaaa!”. But I have never had one at the feeder.
There was no photo taken because I was having such joy just watching it. It flew away just as I was thinking I could get a photo. That sweet little bird gave me a second chance. It was at the feeder the following morning. I did not dare to open a window or door, so the photos were taken through windows with screens.
These photos are surely not the best, but by golly, I have one, and that is so fun. Just look and see how cute and happy this bird is! It is sure to put a smile on your face. I love what Calvin used to say in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, “There is treasure everywhere!”
one_local_gal 