Alright Alright Alright
Now that I'm spending 49 hours a day at home, I have rediscovered the goldmine in my backyard. I see nature differently these days. I notice the abundance of flowers in the pasture, I can almost see the blades of grass growing, and the smells all around me are more aromatic than any one person could possibly smell in a lifetime. We've stopped home schooling the house dogs and they are glad summer is here. As the world begins opening back up, just like the burrs in the grass, it's a secret sting waiting in quiet. Currently, the burrs are mushy while the ground is wet, but as the grass and ground begins to dry, the burrs sharpen and the thorns stick into my skin like an unwelcome surprise. Many of us are cautious in our step, not ready for these sharp burrs. Unsure of shopping again, because we may still be uncomfortable just at the grocery store. We want the world open, but we don't. We want to walk through the soft green grass, but unsure of the sharp and thorny burrs that await us. The opening of the world is a mushy place where the burrs grow. Let us go forth with each other in mind, so that we are careful of the unwelcome surprises that await us. We are all well versed now in our new normal of Home Sweet Home. I thought I would share a of few of my Top 10 things going on around the farm, in our house, cupboards and life.
1) Amiright
Shopping on the inter-webs has awakened me to many new things. Here's a few of my recent favorite finds:
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| New window treatments from Esty artisans is a current favorite. |
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| Costco favorite. Great price, fabulous taste! |
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| Imperfect foods pick, and what a wonderful pick it was! |
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| Another Etsy find. Why shop anywhere else? |
2) When people need a good listening to
Books, books and more books. Yes, I listen to most of them. Audible is one of my best friends. What are my recent listens? Let's chat it out, and even include a quick review of my own:
Untamed, by Glennon Doyle
I loved this book, yet I was unsure of this book. I found so much value in this book, and I found many things I did not understand in this book. Once I finished the book, I turned around and listened to it again. Be careful, some parts of it you may not want to take too literally, in my opinion. It will require an open mind and warm heart to absorb her words wholeheartedly. One of my favorite things about her book is how she named her Chapters. I don't know why, it just set well with me for some reason. Another, is that I had SO many take-aways from this book, as many of her words are quotable. It was one continuous "I love that" thought after another. Yes, some of the chapters did not speak to me, per se, but I sure loved the ones that did. Brilliant book. It's not for everyone, but neither am I.
Favorite quote: "Your job, throughout your entire life, is to disappoint as many people as it takes to avoid disappointing yourself." - Glennon Doyle
The Path Made Clear, by Oprah Winfrey
This is one of my main stays in my Audible library. At only 2 hours and 55 minutes long, I listen to it anytime I need to hear some authenticity in my life. What can I say other than I'm a HUGE Oprah fan and I love her all her Podcasts, too (Oprah's Master Class and Oprah's Super Soul Series). It's a great quick read.
Favorite Quote: "No matter how far away from yourself you may have strayed, there is always a path back." - Oprah Winfrey
The New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle
At only 9 hours and 12 min, this book will seem like it's 39 hours and 12 min. This spiritual leader, Eckhart Tolle is teaching us the transformation of consciousness, a spiritual awakening that teaches us to transcend our ego-based state we live in. Yeah, that. The first time David and I tried to listen to this book, we hit the rewind button so many times that our fingers were bleeding, trying to figure out what he was saying. It's complicated. But WOW, if you are ready for this in your life, its crystal clear. Simply amazing. Here's what I would suggest: Try reading it, then try listening to it, then give up and listen to the Podcast that takes it chapter by chapter and explains it in detail in terms we can understand. It's so much easier to grasp the concepts and teachings in the Podcast. It's simply titled A New Earth with Oprah and Eckhart Tolle. Listen as they guide us through each chapter. It's a 10 part series, and as Eckhart reminds me, "If you're ready to awaken, then this information will speak to you". Otherwise, speaking from experience, I tried when I wasn't ready and it was like reading/listening to gibberish. Now, I'm beginning to grab ahold and realize my ego is out of control and plays many records in my head that are not good for me. I have so much work to do, but with this guide, it's do-able. About 50 more years and I'll have it down pat.
Favorite Quote: "Anything you resent or strongly react to in another, is also in you." -Eckhart Tolle
(ouch, truth bombs hurt)
Lastly, anything by Brene Brown. She's my first love, my first real book crush, and will hold a special place in my heart forever that I'm breathing. Everyone of her books are amazing. I cannot possibly pick a favorite. I keep all her books handy in my Audible library at all times. Her work with shame and vulnerability is priceless. Two things that people do not want to speak of. She talks it all. Thank you, Brene.
3) Chicken Parents vs Chicken Owners
If you thought chicken math was something new and different, I was recently informed I am a chicken parent and not a chicken owner. What? It's true though. I found out recently as I was participating in a webinar on chickens. Purnia.com along with a sponsor (this one was with D&L Feed Store in Celina) put on this particular informational webinar about chickens. Illnesses, food, nutrition, you name it. A whole hour was not nearly enough. Yes, Purnia is talking nutrition because it sells chicken food products, but the guy giving this webinar had a PhD in chicken-something and could talk chicken-talk all day long. All the participants said how many chickens they had, did we name them, etc, and after his talk, we all got to ask lots of questions. And he had answers. It was my first time to realize myself as a chicken parent and not owner. I also learned Purina.com has gobs of information on chicken education that I've been missing. They put so much research into what they do and I had no idea. Now I know, and I got a free bag of chicken food to boot. I'm a chicken parent because I don't eat my chickens, I name them, I hold them, and I talk about them as if they were my children. There's many other reasons, but my biggest take away? Don't kiss your chickens. They have salmonella. I love them anyway. Speaking of! I recently got 6 new 5 week old chicks. This time, I bought Turkens. They say you either love their look - or hate it. I love it.
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| Turken chick |
The turken is a chicken with a naked neck, whose neck seems to be a little longer than most chickens, so their nakedness is emphasized. No, they are not a cross between a turkey and chicken. They are all chicken, just with no feathers on their necks.
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| See, they don't look so bad |
I'm not really sure how big they will get, but time will tell.
Recently, my three little silkie chicks went to their new home, and are loving it there. And now once again, a couple of my silkie mamas are sitting on eggs. So there will likely be more silkie babies in the future.
4) Baa Baa Black Sheep, have you any lambs
It's almost time! I've been holding off blogging, hoping to find some lambs in the barn soon. Not yet though, but soon. I'll keep you posted.
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| From l to r: Belle, Licorice and Grace with resting guard dog in corner |
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| Grace whose about to pop. My prediction is triplets. |
Our 4 ewes are large, with udders filling. We are crossing our fingers for healthy babies. My heart cannot take it, otherwise. David has prepared their birthing stalls, and just today have placed the straw in them, as we await the arrival of lambs. There's nothing better than baby farm animals.
5) Moo'd next door
Guess who recently moved in next door? A bottle baby calf. My heart exploded when I saw it, and double that when the neighbor asked me to go check on it one day, and it walked right up to me. It wasn't long after that before this happened.....
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| Turns out her name is Norbert. We call her Brownie. |
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| Thank you, God for letting allowing me this opportunity. |
The great thing about having neighbors (both sides of our land) as cows, is watching the baby cows show up, grow up and saying hello to them without all the poop on our land. Mootiful.
6) It's not all unicorns and roses
Sometimes a simple trip to the vet turns into 2 hours later. Granted, we cannot go into the vet office at this time for safety reasons, and instead, they will come out to get your animal. On this day, we were taking a field trip to the vet with 6 barn cats for their shots and general check ups. There's many upsides to life out here, but as hard as we try, not everyone can be good all the time. We have a couple of sick animals right now, and one is Sweet Pea, an outdoor cat here on the farm. She had been losing weight, and we weren't sure why. The vet informed us that she's got an ulcer/wound in her mouth that could be from a couple of sources - none of them good. It could be an autoimmune thing that cats get, or another type of disease that I didn't catch the name of. After an antibiotic and a steroid shot, we were instructed to bring her back in a week to discuss further options for her. These may include teeth pulling or "other" discussions regarding her situation. Until further notice, she's to be inside, on soft cat food and given an ample dose of extra love and nurturing. We hope to move through this for her sake, as it sounds awful, and we feel terrible for her. Here's to Sweet Pea's recovery.
Then, it was recently that we begin hearing Dora cough. She's our mini horse whose mama to Diego. It was this same vet visit that we talked to the vet about her cough, and were given antibiotics for her.
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| Dora (on the left), Diego (right) |
Dora is a beautiful chocolate color with a blonde mane. Blind in the left eye (right eye when looking at her head on), and she generally just wants to be left alone. Before us, it's been inferred that she was breed often, and also rode by children on a fairly regular basis. She's ready for a break.
We heard the cough, and although new to mini's, we knew it wasn't right. According to the vet, she's had several horses in the area with coughs, and she's hoping Dora will respond to antibiotics. It's getting her to take the medicine that's the hard part. Diego much prefers it, than her. Geeezzz. Keeps things exciting. We are working hard to try and get some of our babies well around here.
7) Old MacGraves Had a Farm
As we work to find new and interesting things to provide content for the local library's Facebook page, we discovered a silly sing-along might be fun.
My next step is to work on adding graphics to videos. I've watched several YouTubes on it, and hope to give it a try soon.
8) Spill the tea
Now that the world has been informed of our daughter 's intention to have a child of her very own, we look forward to this next chapter of life. It's an announcement you want to sing from the top of the mountain.
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| I'll title this photo: "Before" Notice the smiling faces and rested souls. |
But really, there's nothing better than a baby. Nothing. We pour our hearts and souls into them, and they are life's greatest gift. Babies. Their smell, their touch, their cries, and their growth. It's all magical, and we are excited to watch their own magic happen.
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| I'm deciding on the next caption...... |
And that's the tea. And the best tea I could think of!
9) It's okay, I found someone cheap
I mean, who doesn't love free.99? I really do think most every household is doing this.
10) I burned that memo
Another 2020 take-away is some realizations. You know, the one that said "When women learn how to please, blah, blah, blah". Why? Because it was allowing me to forget who I was. Thank you, Glennon Doyle. There's many memos I've burned that have allowed me to find myself today, yesterday and continue learning about the journey God has intended for me - and you - in this life. And it's thanks to many podcasts, books, sermons and instagrams geared at showing us a different way in life than what we were previously exposed to. It's an accumulation of teachings from different religions, beliefs, ways of life and philosophies that have allowed me to bring together an ever growing ability for accepting the grace and favor bestowed upon me. It's been a big part of Year 2020 with progressions far greater than I have time to jot down in my blog or even imagined. I've learned the lyrics of 'Every little thing is going to be alright" to be 110% true. That Faith and Hope are what I carry with me every minute of every day. That God has written my story already, and all the struggles and strife, along with the joys and happy tears are what make me uniquely me - and yours, uniquely you. I have learned I can believe, not worry. It takes the same energy.
All the while, I take in bounties of great knowledge including being present in my day and nights, trying to wrangle my ego into check, and change some records in my head that need changing. I've learned I need to bully myself less. Thank you, Joel Olsteen. And if you haven't listened to his sermon, Shame Off You, it's one of my favorites. (How many times has someone said to you, Shame on you). I strive to be better.
As Joel says, Believe big and Pray bold. A recipe for 2020.
Be well,
Cyndi
