The Garden

Weeds are overtaking the garden already this year, but field work and other work have to come first. But we did spend some time weeding and watering finally. The tomato and pepper plants are looking great. Cucumbers and salad fixens are coming along well. With the current dry weather though we have had to start watering.

The flower gardens are coming along too and I sure hope they will be giving us their beauty real soon. The flowers near the house get watered but the two foot by one hundred fifty foot garden along the road is on it's own to fight against whatever nature throws it's way or doesn't...

One of the really young apple trees I thought would die because the hungry rabbits chewed off so much bark this past winter has survived. Crazy thing about that is, it looks healthier now than it did last summer. The rest of the older apple trees had plenty of blossoms this spring but if the weather stays dry they probably won't have a whole lot of apples.

The cherry trees are doing great and should soon start to ripen and give up their fruit. I can't wait! When they are ready I seldom eat much for breakfast, I just go to the trees and gorge on fresh ripe cherries. Then when the apples get ripe I do the same with them.

Between the two there is the garden. I'm known for eating right at the garden and never cooking what I pick. I'll even take some bread with mayo on and sit by the garden eating fresh tomato sandwiches for lunch on hot days. Followed up by a cucumber for desert.

But we plant plenty of tomatoes for making our own sauce to last until the following year. I'm no fan of any store bought sauce and would rather season and can my own. Then also we just can some tomatoes for stewed tomatoes or for making a different type of sauce with them.

Don't know why but I can't wait until the hot banana peppers are ready this year. I'm really hungry for them stuffed with cheese and some with meats. I also like to have some stuffed with sauerkraut. I like to make a whole bunch at a time and the freeze them in smaller bags for a treat during the cold days of winter.

Years back when I was living in a small town I had a garden in the back yard and did the same there. It's really not all that hard but is more time consuming. But an evening a week taking care of the weeds and a little time every two or three days watering is well worth the effort.

Besides when living in towns and cities what else is there to do anyway. A garden attracts birds and even the occasional bunny. They are both fun to watch and talk to. One of my favorite things every year is talking to the birds who come to the garden until they get so used to me that they stay and chirp instead of flying away. The bunnies though have to be chased off. They'll eat up all your work before you get a chance to enjoy anything.

Then there are kids. Gardens magically draw kids. Then you have the chance to explain to them what gardening is about and you really get a great smile from them when you feed them some fresh ripe veggie's from your garden.

Some even come back and offer to help. Help eat more that is!

So consider smiling as you teach a kid something new. Like the old saying says. Give a kid something to eat and he eats for a day. Teach him how to grow food and he eats forever.

Live And Learn

The super wet spring weather broke and we've been very busy here. So for the past few weeks we've been going at it on a kind of regular basis. Sleep, wake, work, shower, sleep. We are working about sixteen hour days just trying to play catch up and get things planted.

This year we have had so much rain that the hay grew fast and very well. So while we're still planting we also have hay making to do. Then there are the inevitable break downs and repairs on the equipment. Those lead to unplanned trips for parts. We can try and stock normal parts that wear out, but in the strange way life has of working, we never have the part we need.

So this year is even bringing work straight through the weekend. Yes, even on Sunday. But yesterday we started early and got finished what needed to be done, ran for some materials and parts and came in the house at about two in the afternoon.

I went to the bathroom and cleaned up then went to my room to get some fresh clean clothes on. I sat on my bed and decided to lay back and straighten my aching back out. Ha ha, I woke up at exactly five. Just in time to be late to go to my dear daughters for dinner.

So we rushed off to her place and had a nice cooked dinner. I think that was actually the first dinner we've had in about five days. Now we're not starving, we have been eating lunch pretty regular when we ran for parts or supplies we needed during the past five days. But by the time evening or even night gets here we are to tired to eat, let alone make something healthy to eat.

If everything goes well for the next week though we will be caught up to where we should be this time of year. Maybe even a little ahead since the hay was early. But I'm getting to old for this kind of stuff. I really want a nice shade tree and some time to play catch up on sleep.

But with all the rain we had straight through the spring I just knew this is what would be happening this year. So yes, life is a struggle. But as I have heard and thoroughly believe, when the going gets tough the tough get going. And that going isn't running away and hiding.

No, when things start to get you down, I've found it best to vent by complaining, but then just get with it and do what ever it is that needs to be done. Even though at times things seem overwhelming, there is an end to those times and then life gets back to normal. At least for a short bit!

Life it self is doing great. I've seen many very young fawns this year and bunnies to many to count. Saw a fox the other day and yelled at him to leave my chickens alone. Sure hope he listens... The birds all have little ones and many nests with eggs in them. We did have one robins nest in the yard that wasn't built to well and the wind blew it from a tree one night. All the eggs were broken...

So even some wild animals have to learn from mistakes and become better at being theirselves. Same as we humans. We live, make mistakes and hopefully learn from them how to better ourselves. That's something they can't teach in schools and no one can do for us. We just have to decide to do it for ourselves.

Well, it's off to another busy day and smiles by the hundreds. So join in and smile as you go about your own day of learning and loving all this world has to offer!

Time For You

Ever wonder why some people just keep getting hurt over and over again. Then they sit around feeling blue and miserable. Longing for someone to talk to that will ease their pain. Wishing they had someone to take them in their arms and make them feel wanted or loved.

Most broken hearted, lonely people I know or have met are the most caring people you could meet. Could that be the reason they were hurt so deeply by someones hurtful words or ways...

So lonely and craving love you'll accept anyone who even smiles and talks to you. You are so happy that finally you've met someone that can understand and care, you give yourself, only to be hurt again. Blinded and unable to see they were just users out to get their itch scratched...

Being alone after a break up or even after a death is hard. Your entire plan for life is now changed and you don't know which way to turn. The comfort of being with someone you knew has disappeared. The person you relied on to always be there for you to talk to is gone.

Then being alone comes in. You don't feel comfortable being with people you knew as a couple. You don't want to be the fifth wheel. You feel your imposing on their good time and will only bring them to sadness.

But this well may be the time to reevaluate your life and all your choices. Maybe the time to search yourself and decide on a new path for your life. Maybe the time to discover just what kind of person you want in your life instead of the same type that always brings you sorrow.

Then when you do meet someone, maybe this is the time to slow down and really get to know them before letting them get to close. A few weeks or even a few months is not long enough to really know someone.

I've fallen for women and even a few months later heard them say things that contradicted what they said before. That's also something I've heard from women about guys they were with.

Given enough time people that lie trip theirselves up. It's just to hard to remember every lie and to hard to keep covering up the real feelings. The truth always comes out but it takes time.

When you allow yourself to fall for someone to fast you don't have the time to really learn everything you should know. Then your hurt again by someone you call a selfish idiot.

Your heart and feelings belong to you. It's your responsibility to protect them from all the selfish people out there. It's your duty to you to take the time you really need to get to know someone before letting them get close enough that they can hurt you.

So next time you find yourself interested in someone, smile and be friendly but take that time that's needed to learn who it is your becoming interested in.

Tired

There are some years like this year that the weather doesn't cooperate in the early spring and times for doing all the field work overlap. We're still not done with the planting and darned if it isn't time to make hay.

So here I am at nine thirty Wednesday evening and I'm almost to tired to even type up something for the blog. I started today at about five AM then came in for coffee at about seven. Got the blog posted while I had my coffee and then went back out and got to work.

The weatherman was saying we might get some rain this morning but then it's supposed to be nice for about a five day stretch. This morning while my son was out doing some work I worked in the barn trying to get it cleaned up. Gee, if I could only figure a way to teach the cows to clean up after their selves. But heck, I can't even do that with a twenty one year old son...

After finishing the cleanup I started checking and greasing the mowditioner and adjusting the rollers so we could begin cutting the hay. Around lunch time we headed to town to get a few more parts for the tractors leaky hydraulics and had some lunch at a great bar. Then made two more stops and headed back here.

We hurriedly finished fixing the tractor and finished checking all the usual things, oil, radiator water etc... Then I went and started mowing the field. I didn't get finished until nine. Then it was back to the house and time for a hot shower.

If it wasn't for wanting to write something for the blog I would have fallen in my bed after that shower and would be asleep. No dinner tonight, I'm to tired and I don't even have energy enough to even make a sandwich.

So you lucky guys out there that complain about your wonderful woman and say they aren't good enough... Guys! Quit your complaining! Treat her like the wonderful person she is. You too could be working for thirteen hours and not be getting a decent dinner... 

Well, I know it's short but I'm tired and I'm going to bed. Have another day ahead for tomorrow that won't be much different time wise than today. It's that time of year and like I said we didn't get much cooperation from the weather this spring.

I am still smiling though and I sure hope you are too!

Getting Along

Having a personal opinion on anything isn't hard. Having your own beliefs isn't hard.

What is hard is accepting that others have their own too and theirs matters as much as yours...

If everyone in the world thought the same and believed in all the same things just how boring would life be? We wouldn't have different inventions because we would have been satisfied with whatever was first used. But some different thinking person had an idea and made something different and better. If nor for them we would still be riding horses or walking everywhere.

Differing views on politics keeps politics fresh and as fair as possible. If not for differing views we would all be stuck living with a dictatorship or maybe with complete lawlessness. Differing views keeps things centered by allowing people to chose different people with different views to be elected.

Many times while discussing politics, I can see the point others make and while we discuss that we come to an agreement that a third possibility exists that would work better and be acceptable for both of us.

When something is bothering a neighbor and we have a discussion instead of claiming we are right, we can come to a mutual agreement that satisfies us both. That sure beats the inevitable feud that does nothing but destroy the peace of both of us.

By learning to get along and care about each other we have learned to watch out for each other and our properties. When we see something that doesn't look right or when we see people who don't seem to belong here, we check with each other and have helped keep each other safe and our properties safe.

It's not always necessary to come to a total agreement. Many times just understanding why someone feels the way they do can make their feeling and beliefs understandable. Then we can learn to respect each others difference and still get along as friends.

Sometimes even you can learn by listening to others. They may have a way of doing things that seems strange to you and you really don't like it. But when you take the time and learn about their ways you learn that it really may help you if you adapt it for yourself.

Religion is one of the things we will never all agree on. But when we take the time and learn of each others religion and the hows and whys, we can see their point of view. We can even think about how they fit into our own religious beliefs. That is if you really have your own and are not relying on what some preacher, priest or whatever tells you.

By learning about other peoples religion or lack of, we can learn to accept that they have different views and how we can mutually not step on each others toes by pressing our beliefs.

Learning about other cultures is always a great thing to me. I feel we here in the US have become stale and have become to dependent on stores and manufacturers. Many other cultures understand how to be more self sufficient. That is something we here have forgotten and have left die with our ancestors. So learning about someone else's culture can be very beneficial.

We really are one people, but we all have different likes, ways and views. Learning from anyone can be so much fun and can be so beneficial in understanding our own way and views even better. It's what makes us change for the better each and every day.

Now my only problem is that I keep learning of different food and they all smell and taste so great! But as I enjoy them and the company of those that are teaching them to me I have even more reason to smile. And with a smile begins love.

So today why not learn from others and share that smile!

Some Days

Some days turn in to some weekends.

The chicks are grown big enough and have enough feathers now that we moved them into the chicken coop. I asked the son to take the brooder and wash it out and put it away.

Now the apple don't fall far from the tree, so when he went to move it and got the dolly to carry it he never asked for help. As he was moving it down the steps he lost it and it fell and rolled out on the sidewalk. It wasn't damaged or nothing, but if he would have asked for help it wouldn't have needed set back up and loaded on the dolly again.

I've tried to warn him time and again that is why my back is in such bad shape. He really needs to learn to ask for help when it's available. It is completely another thing when you are alone and something just needs done. Than is when you do things by yourself.

Well, he finally got it cleaned up and put away until it's needed again. It's kind of a tough thing. I built that brooder from an old ice machine that I saw was being thrown away. It's insulated and is easy to heat with a very low wattage light bulb. The doors make it easy to access to feed and water the little chicks.

To me, learning how to do things yourself just makes sense. There isn't always someone around to help and hiring help for just a few hours makes no sense. It would take longer to find help than to just do some jobs alone.

It also make sense to learn to trust yourself and see your ideas be built into something useful from something someone else sees as junk. That usually helps because you get exactly what you need and the price is great. Not like the high priced things you buy and then find are not designed to be of much real use.

Heck, I even end up redesigning some of the stuff I buy to make it right for the job. Manufacturers seem only interested in the money and not really what their products are used for. If they would only get some practical experience or ask people what they really need, they may make a great product.

Well, back to the story. The very next day one of his friends called to say their truck died along the road. He went and got it running for them and they came straight here to fix it right.

He traced the problem to the alternator and then went and got another one to replace it. When he was about done, he caught his hand on the fan blade. The darned thing was not running, but was sharp enough to cut his thumb to the bone. He wrapped it up and finished the job. Yup, another thing he learned from the old man...

Well, after he came in the house he took off his bandage and was showing it to me. Told him he should probably get stitches. But he wouldn't hear of it. So he went to take a shower and get cleaned up. While in the shower, it spread open and started gushing blood again. So at nine thirty in the evening he went to the hospital to get it sewn up. I did offer to sew it up for him but he didn't seem to think that was such a great idea. : )

Now we'll see if he thinks the idea of a huge bill from the hospital is a good idea...

He's still not working full time anywhere and has no medical insurance. So once again I'll probably have to help him with the bill. He'll pay me back, but still, he'll be relying on me. But then again, what's a parent or family for?

Hmm, maybe I should hand him a bill with interest added and see if that makes him realize that medical insurance is a good idea and more important than running around and having fun...

I doubt that I will, but it sure would be a great smile!!!

Memorial Day

From one veteran to all the great veterans of the past, thank you and I salute you and your bravery.

It is all the veterans that have served this country since we fought for our initial freedom who have made this great country and our freedom possible. We are all in debt to them for what we have.

It is the veterans who have tried with their lives to help other people in other countries to live with freedom and not in fear or tyranny.

So get out there today and thank a veteran and give him a big warm smile of appreciation!

Don't forget those that are no longer with us. It is them and their families who gave the most!

They deserve our undying respect, gratitude and remembrance.

From one veteran to all the others, thank you for all you do and have done.