Ugh, Snow?

Mother nature put out last night. We had a late spring snow and from what the weatherman says we may have more today. The trees have small leaves and the snow is a wet heavy snow that is making the straining branches sag very low.

Some areas just north of here are having even more problems. They have more snow, trees breaking and falling because of the extreme weight and people who have already forgotten how to drive in the snow.

Oh well, we have had snow as late as early May and at least this time of year it never stays around long.

Besides that we need the added moisture.

What I don't understand though is how fast people forget how to drive when it snows. They forget to slow down and drive with some caution. They forget just how slippery the roads get when there is snow on them. They can not seem to remember to leave home earlier to get where they have to go.

Yup, humans are sometimes the dumbest critters on the face of the earth.

They prove it to me all to often...

Men who forget to give a bit of theirselves every day to the women they say they love and want to spend the rest of their lives with. Women who take for granted their children and do not seem to realize they are raising the future of the planet.

Kids who think they never have to work towards earning the things they want. Me who forgets how last time I tried something it turned out so badly...

Yes, we humans can forget almost anything of value. Yet we have such a hard time leaving a hurtful person behind. We'll pine away for months and even years over some nasty abusive excuse for a human that treated us bad then left us.

We'll gripe and complain about a mean boss or job we don't like, but we are to afraid to step out and get another job.

We'll complain we don't have enough money, yet we'll spend money on things we don't really need.

I'll be in this house with enough food to last for a month or longer and still when I go to the kitchen I can never find a thing to eat...

Me when number two son treats me to lunch at a pizza buffet. Who gets into a pizza eating contest with said son. Yup. I won. My prize? An entire afternoon and evening with heartburn...

People like to say dumb animals. I have in all my years not seen a cow that overate!

Yup, humans are the most interesting critters on the earth and darned if they and myself don't constantly make me smile.

Problems

Is it time to put a period at the end of the sentence and start a new chapter.

Everyone has problems of some kind. Some problems can be worked through but some cannot.

If you can work through problems then do. If you have tried and it isn't getting any better or if they can just not be worked through then it's time to drop them and start something new.

The only way to start something new is to walk away from the old.

Let the spirit of the child within awaken. Hungry to learn new things and do new things.

Be brave in the face of the ugly goliath of grief. Only the small butterflies of joy can scare the goliath of grief into it's cave of despair.

Learn from mistakes and grow...

Life is a lot like a garden.

Weed seeds will blow in and weeds will grow. If they are not pulled and removed they will flourish.

You can plant all the beautiful plants in your garden you want.

You can plant nutritious plants.

You can plant your garden in rows or you can scatter your plants and let them grow wildly. But when lined up in rows they are easier to deal with.

There are times it's best to let your garden go fallow so it can rest and rejuvenate.

Times too when our gardens need nourished so they can once again nourish us.

And there is always someone trying to steal from our gardens. Jealous people who are to lazy to take care of their own garden.

Yet when our garden is doing well there is always such a good feeling when we share our beautiful bounty...

Help And Smiles

Work is caught up and actually ahead of schedule. Some planting is done already and all the fields are ready to plant. If the weather stays as decent as it's been, I will have about three weeks to spend fishing instead of only one before it's hay making season. That fact makes me the happiest little boy you can imagine.

It was a little rainy over the weekend so my son and I built and installed three new windows in the chicken coop. I didn't have time to put them in last year when I built it and just boarded them shut over winter.

We also made and installed two gates in the dogs three quarter acre yard. They sure seem to enjoy being able to have room to run and stretch their legs without being tied to chains or being yelled at for running to far or to get out of things they shouldn't be into.

The way their fences run they can follow us almost everywhere they were allowed to before. And we still have plenty of lawn left for ourselves. Way to much when it comes time to mow... That alone is a full day chore here!

But with the weather so nice and so much going on, my planning capabilities have been shot to heck. While building the windows Saturday there were things we still had to make a second trip back to the building supply store for. Then on Sunday when we built the gates I forgot to pick up latches to keep the gates shut. So there was one more wasted trip.

That wouldn't be so bad, but it's a twenty eight mile round trip and with the price of gas being as ridiculous as it is right now it sure cuts into the pocket.

But those two nagging chores are finished and I'm still on my way to having those three weeks of rest and relaxation!

It's been wake up and put in four hours by nine AM, then a two to three hour break waiting for the morning dampness to dry off and then back to work in the fields until dark or later. I am tired and looking forward to a break.

Saturday when we went for some groceries in the morning and picked up the lumber and most of the hardware for the windows, there was an older gentleman in front of us at the grocery check out. Guess he is down on his luck because he was using one of those food cards to buy his groceries.

He was watching the price run up on the monitor and stopped the check out lady just before she had all his groceries rang up. Seems he was short and couldn't quite get them all.

I quickly did a mental scan of what he had left and just as the checkout lady was about to move them aside, I stopped her and told her to add them to what I was getting and let him take them along.

You could have knocked her over with a little breath of wind. But the smile on the guys face was priceless! He couldn't seem to thank me enough and I was getting a little embarrassed because he was loud enough to let almost everyone hear.

So for about $28.00 I managed to put a warm caring feeling in the hearts of quite a few people.

But isn't that one of the greatest things we can do with our lives? Helping others who need and putting warmth into the lives and hearts of others.

Putting smiles on the faces of anyone we run into and can!

Makes Me Wonder

How the people who complain they can get nothing done during their days are the ones who don't get out of bed before noon.

How the people who complain they can't get anything accomplished are the people who sit and play video games or watch TV all day.

How people who have health issues that keep them from doing things wish they could and yet the healthy people wish they didn't have to.

How those people with health issues will try to find ways to do things and do them, but the healthy will try to find ways not to do and will spend all day making excuses.

How people will spend an entire day coming up with a decent excuse for not doing their work when it would have only taken them a few minutes to do it.

How someone can sit around and say they're bored and the instant you suggest something they can do, they're busy.

How someone can say they're bored and when I suggest work they say, but I don't wanna do that. That sounds boring.

How some can sit for hours and complain about what's on the TV. Yet they will not get up and get the remote. Instead they will wait until someone else comes in the room and ask them to hand it to them.

How one guy I know will call for his wife who is in an entirely different room and ask her to get the remote for him.

And she does it...

Thoreau once said, Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder...

Things That Bug Me

Yesterday morning, below freezing. This morning somewhat warm. Ahh yes, finally back to a normal spring.

I was getting worried after two weeks of very warm weather after our sorry excuse for a winter that this summer would be a very buggy summer. It still might be if we don't get a few more good really warm days followed by well below freezing nights.

I've noticed in the past when we get well above freezing and it stays that way, that we have more bugs during the summer. But when it gets real warm and then we get overnight freezes, the bugs hatch and then are frozen. That seems to get the population of the pesky little biting, buzzing, drive me crazy swatting at them creatures that think my food is their perch, down to smaller more tolerable levels.

Just a few days ago there were flies hanging out on the south side of my house so heavy that the wall looked like it was crawling. As you would walk by it sounded like a bees nest! That freeze yesterday morning seems to have gotten rid of them.

I just know those pests were just waiting for me to open a window so they could infiltrate my house...

Another pest I have are starlings. While I appreciate birds hanging out and singing me their sweet tunes, I do NOT like starlings. I walked out a few morning ago to find a robins egg laying on my porch broken. I looked up to a nest some robins had built a few days or so before and saw it was ripped to shreds.

In the past I have actually wasted the time to observe what some starlings were doing near a bird house I had built a long time ago. The starlings pecked at the small hole until they got it big enough to get their heads through. They then ripped the nesting material out and tossed the eggs to the ground.

It infuriated me!

The tiny wrens that had built those nests did nothing to the starlings. All they wanted was to eat bugs and sing me their songs while they raised their young. But the big bad nasty starlings want to be nasty dictators and run everyone else off.

Back in the early 80's there was a small crack in the soffit under the eave on the south side of the house. Starlings ripped and tore at that crack until they enlarged it big enough to get in and they started building their nest. They were none to happy when I repaired the hole and threw them out.

Just like in our species, there are good and there are bad. It's a constant struggle to keep fighting against the bad so we can have a peaceful life that we can enjoy.

So before I go entirely buggy I'll say so long for today and get out and about on my chores before the rain the weather guy says is coming gets here.

Have a great day and keep wearing that smile!

Blues and Clues

My sweet little girl Beagle Aggie passed away over the weekend. We were out working and I had to make a run for some hardware. I brought her in the house and when I came home I found her in an eternal sleep.

For the years she was with me she was a joy to be around and always gave me smiles. She was born and raised a city girl but adapted to being a country girl without a hitch. She loved to run the fields and woods. I could hear her in the woods when she would pick up a scent and begin a chase. Though she was never a hunter she sure had the instinct.

Now she lies beside four other dogs who were hunters, loving pets and one who needed a home and gave me laughs and love in return for one. Someday when it's my time to go, my ashes will be spread on the same hilltop and they will all be there waiting on me. Once again we will be together laughing playing and hunting in the spirit form.

Friday I had to make a run to town for some parts. I came home with six cute chicks. (wonder how many guys can say that)

Ahh, but my chicks are baby chickens. They're in the brooder and Lakai the Pitt Bull is watching them and standing guard. He can spend an hour just standing and watching them...

Rowdy couldn't care less. He just bounces around wanting to run and play. He's wearing out my voice with saying NO BITE. He wants to chew everything except what I get him to chew on. But I WILL win this battle.

These two guys love to run. But because of their breed people are afraid of them and they are good at scaring horses that people ride up and down the road. I can yell and they somewhat listen, but not quick enough. So I'm fencing in almost the entire back yard. There they will have the room to run at will and yet not have the ability to chase after and frighten other critters and people.

They hopefully will protect my chickens from the coyote, raccoons and other wild critters that killed my chickens last fall. When I get some more young calves, the dogs will be able to see almost the entire small pasture I first turn the calves out in and will alert me to any of the coyote who come in after them.

It's really getting bad and the amount of young hunters seems to be dwindling. As the hunting dwindles the wild nasty critters are growing in numbers. As they grow in numbers, they become braver at coming around houses and even people. It's only a matter of time until once again I begin hearing of them facing down adults and chasing after kids.

Also as they grow in numbers, the diseases they get and carry will grow. Some of those diseases like rabies, make them lose their minds and attack people.

As the coyote population has grown over the past several years I've already noticed the fox population has all but disappeared. I'm not seeing the usual rabbit population either.

Only thing that is somewhat good is that the number of cats people drop off has dwindled too. People drop them off, they meet other cats and breed, their population grows. Many starve but many become meals for wild animals. Well the coyotes seem to like them and so their numbers are going down.

Maybe some who read this should consider that before dropping Tabby off in the countryside... Your tame cat may have inborn natural instinct, but that instinct without practice doesn't keep them alive.

Well enough of my whining and lecturing for today. I'm off to pick up a few hundred more feet of fence, listen to the local gossip err news and get on with my day.

Have a great one and remember to smile and share that smile!

Retire?

Was talking to an old friend the other day and retirement came up.

Though he's been self employed and has grown his business to huge proportions, he says he'll not retire. Says he can't afford to retire.

Now I'm sure if he sold his business or sold off all his equipment, he could easily retire. This guy gets up around four AM every day then works until late in the evening. Then has dinner and goes out and does some farming.

That is the kind of schedule you have to keep to run a really successful business though. Like I've said before, it's more of a life style.

Your vacations become mixed in with business. When you go out of town to a place you want to visit, you spend a few days or a week and visit. All the while business is running through your head.

But as we were talking we came to the conclusion, there is no point in retiring. What does a person do when they retire but wait to die...

Maybe for some having nothing to do and all day to do it seems good. For me, when I gave up the business, I turned my full time and attention to my hobby. Farming.

Will I ever truly retire in the sense most people look at retirement?

Probably not!

Waking up each and every day and having something that needs done gives life meaning.

I can take a few days off if I want after the busy seasons are over. When I manage to get ahead I can take a day or week to make a fishing trip. I can leave others take care of things while I'm away.

Somewhere over the years I learned that work is adult play. My work has always been my playground. I didn't feel like work was some dreaded thing I had to force myself to get out of bed for. I actually looked forward to the new challenges of each day.

The important thing is, you have to find what you enjoy doing and do that for your work. Yes, you may have to take a job your not crazy about at times. Yet there is nothing cementing you to that job forever.

If you learn to live within your means, you can always find time to start something new. It's the people who live deep in debt that are forced to stay in a job they despise. They owe so much they can't afford to take a chance. The have all the doodads, all the trinkets, all the bells and whistles. But they are trapped by what they owe money for.

I'm lucky that I learned that very early in this life. It hasn't been a problem I've had to face since my twenties. If I couldn't afford it, I didn't need it.

Yes, I carry a few credit cards. But they are for emergencies. I do my darnedest to pay them in full every month. I do use them to keep my credit rating up. Yet I also try not to pay interest.

So I am not a slave to owing someone. If you are, then maybe you need to quit buying stuff and pay off your debt. Then you too can work because you want to work and not because you have to.

That alone makes smiling every day a whole lot easier.