My fears realized...

All of my Unity buddies said they were skipping service this morning to go to the Psychic Fair instead...soooo....I ditched service too, and instead of the Fair, I decided to go for a meditative horseback ride on Shunami to the little town cemetery for some photo ops, and then maybe catch the Fair later.

The ride was peaceful, but Shunami seemed a little "on edge".

Then, I saw over the southwestern horizon, a big black storm was brewing up and coming our direction fast, with lightning in the lead and clearing out a path! Now, I have a deep seated lightning phobia, and being caught on the backroads on horseback in a lightning storm is one of my worst fears....and there it was, my worst fear...headed straight for us!! *enter dramatic music*

We were a mile from home, and I wanted to panic, but I had to get a hold of myself, because Shunami would pick up on it. Shunami stepped up into gait (she's a Missouri Foxtrotter) as the lightning crashed in the background. We made it home literally in the nick of time, and I no more pulled the saddle off of Shunami's back and turned her loose in the pasture when the storm WAS HERE! EEK!

I am wondering if our Creator was shaking his finger at me for ditching church this morning, hehehe!





Shunami waits patiently for me to take some photo's..


A darling little autumn cherub sits sweetly in the cemetery.

I won't be skipping church next Sunday *wink* ;)

Autumn blessings,
Rach

A peek of the church grounds...

These are photo's taken by my friend, Drayton Riley, of the grounds of Unity church that we are a part of. He can really capture the spirit of autumn! I love Unity, such a wonderful, open minded, and spiritual place! Ahhh...



A meditative walk among trees..

Kissing a child on the top of their head...

...where the soft spot would be, and where the crown chakra lies, transfers wisdom and strength from you to them, and from them to you.





Rach

A little oddity to share....

Today, while grooming a dog and falling into one of my usual meditations, I started thinking about my old employer Doc Henry today, whom I haven't seen or heard from in 2 years (I groomed at his vet clinic for 9 years), and wondered if he had ever retired, and thought "wouldn't it be cool to gather up all of his old employee's to throw him a retirement party".

Well, tonight the phone rings...it's from one of his employee's...inviting me to Doc Henry's retirement party next Thursday.

;)

Chicken Football:

Throw a single piece of stale bread to 25 chickens and watch them try to tackle each other for it. They'll run like this for several..several minutes.



Yeah, I don't get out much.

*giggle*

Autumn Leaves...

"Come, little leaves," said the wind one day-
"Come o'er the meadows with me, and play;"
Put on your dresses of red and gold:
Summer is gone, and the days grow cold"

Soon as the leaves heard the wind's loud call,
Down they came fluttering, one and all:
Over the brown fields they danced and flew,
Singing the soft little songs they knew:

"Cricket, good-by; we've been friends so long!
Little brook, sing us your farewell song-
Say you are sorry to see us go:
Ah, you will miss us, right well we know.

"Dear little lambs, in your fleecy fold,
Mother will keep you from harm and cold:
Fondly we've watched you in vale and glade;
Say, will you dream of our loving shade?"

Dancing and whirling, the little leaves went,
Winter had called them and they were content,
Soon fast asleep in their earthly beds,
The snow laid a coverlet over their heads.

~George Cooper~ circa 1800's

A cold and drear day..

..A fire crackles in the background. Darin and Wee-babe Sam are upstairs napping. Dear Isabelle is a-giggle in her prairie dress and apron while big sister Elyssa paints her toenails a delightful, shimmering shade of "fairytale blue". Dusty is snuggled up contently in my lap; together we softly browse through a Holiday gift catalog, dreaming of Christmas magic all too early. What a lovely autumn afternoon!

Blessings,
Rach

My Izzy...

Isabelle is being considered for the gifted education program. They are currently testing her and they said she actually qualifies, but they can only take in a certain number, so she still may not make it in. Either way, I am very, VERY proud! :)



Izzy loves learning, and she has a very warm, gentle and kind spirit that radiates from her.



She came home from school yesterday and took a deep sigh and said in an exasperated yet tender voice "Mom, every time I go out to recess, the little kindergarteners and first graders always follow me around everywhere. They just...follow me."

Little does she understand yet the magic she holds within...



My shining little Izzy.

Winifred Jones, Five pounds of Fearsome

Winnie...part beagle, part dauchsund. ALL Mighty.

Topping out at a beefy five pounds, she is not to be under-estimated. She is a sight AND scent hound. She can and has taken on a 25 pound raccoon, an 80 pound stray dog, several large black snakes, and she can track a mole for 10 feet and then unearth it with a flip of her snout, launching the mole in mid-air and catching it, then shake the dickens out of it until it is "deaded". She has a bay on her that would make any mountain hillbilly or European woodsman proud and send a prized purebred beagle under the table with its tail tucked, yet it grates up my spine to a spot right between my shoulder blades and I realize I'd rather be in a room full of nails-on-chalkboard. She is a snappy, stealthy, tireless and fierce hunter. And in an instant, with a single hand pat against my leg, she will positively melt into butter and slide her body towards me begging for a touch.

But..there are days when I want to take her for a nice drive to a cemetery, and come back..minus one.

Like yesterday for instance. I had Winnie and Truffle both on heightened security since there has been a duck egg thief on the loose. Something has been stealing the eggs, carrying them to higher places (found one ontop of the hay in the barn) and eating them, leaving behind only remnants of shell.

I don't take kindly to thieves on my farm.

It looked like the doin's of a masked bandit, but honestly, it baffled me as I couldn't imagine when or how a raccoon could slip past our four farm dogs to even step foot on this property. Zero and Polar, the two very large livestock dogs, patrol the henhouse and goat pen. When they start into their warning bark...the ducks, chickens, and goats know to be on alert. Truffle and Winnie are in charge of covering ground along the fenceline and all corners of the property. They will sit on high places and watch.

An intruder would have to be incredibly sneaky and ballsy to slide past such tight security, but something was obviously getting by.

Then.....in broad daylight....I caught the thief! I was walking in from the garden and saw Winnie doing a plucky, happy little trot towards the house...with a duck egg in her mouth!

"WINNIE!!!" I hollered, gathering up the hem of my skirt and taking off like lightning. "DROP IT"!!!

She startled and turned to face me, first shock then guilt, then panic...she saw me running at her full force and she lit out towards the porch! I was going to wring her little neck!! "DROP IT!!!"

She made a split second decision to drop the egg and save herself by darting underneath the porch through a hole in the trellis.

I caught up to the egg (Winnie was LONG gone) and let my skirt fall back down as I bent over to pick up the egg. It was in perfect unharmed condition other than dog drool..not even a hairline crack (duck egg shells are very thick, luckily for her).

So, Winnie is my duck egg thief, and I very much wanted to load her up for a long drive to a cemetery somewhere. Oooh that dog.

And then..there are days like today, when I realize what an asset to the farm Winnie is:

Something bad was hiding in the bean field this morning. The beans have not been harvested yet, so it is a perfect "blind" for any predators wanting to stalk my chickens. And something was out there.

Whatever it was attempted an attack on a hen and all four dogs sounded off. I came flying out of the house. Winnie and Truffle, screaming, charged out in the same direction towards the field. The rooster let out a squawk of "imminent danger" and the chickens and ducks scurried out from the garden, the farm fields, the pasture, the woods, and back to the safety of the henhouse under Zero's protective nose. The goats bunched up together in a tight bundle and layed low.

I don't know if whatever it was actually nabbed my hen succesfully, I didn't have time to stop and make a head count..but the dogs were on it, and Winnie was in a fury of attack mode. She became a ferocious wonder, hackles raised, baying and screaming, teeth bared and snappy. Truffle had her back, and I ran full speed to release Polar from her tether, then as she took out I shouted and hollered across the fields to the stalker "GET OUTTA HERE!!!!! HAAAAHH!!!! GET OUT!!!"

It was a crazy 3 minutes of shouting, hunting, baying, barking, confusion, which direction did it go? But among all, Winnie was intense in leading the hunt. Like my intolerance to an egg thief, she doesn't take well to anything stealing our hens or ducks, she just can't tolerate it. She takes it very personally.

Even an hour later, things are not quite settled down. The chickens are still a bit uneasy, using extreme caution to venture even a few feet from Zero and the henhouse. Winnie and Truffle are back at their command posts as is Polar, and they are keeping watch. I did take a head count and it 'seemed" all heads were accounted for, even my four banty hens.

So, as irritating as little five pound Winnie can be on some days, she has a job here, and she is worth every ounce of her kibble.

Truffle on the other hand...well...he'll be a whole 'nother blog someday. Oy.

Lots of clucking going on..

Dusty, softly gazing out the window at the autumn rain, suddenly exclaims in his 5 year old voice, "Heeyy!! The rooster jumped ontop of one of the chickens!! They're fighting!!"

;)

Reflection....

...of all of the growing things above, beside, and below me, and to bid them a fond farewell as the prairie and hills begin to nod off into an early autumn slumber.

Reflection...of all that is great and wonderous in this mystical universe. Of all of the things gifted to me in this life. Of all of the beautiful souls that I have been blessed to cross paths with, and those who have taken my hand and guided me with their wisdom, then sent me onward to study that wisdom within my own heart, thus allowing me to salt and pepper it into my own magic.

...Daydreaming of all of the beautiful mysteries and wonderment of this life yet to drift in my direction, and of all things destined to be accomplished by me, even if it only matters in the eyes of my darling wee babes...and that is worth every ounce of my being.



(reflecting in the garden...and no I am not peeing, although I have done so on many occasion...just sayin')



"I fairly sizzle with zeal and enthusiasm and spring forth with a mighty faith to do the things that ought to be done by me." Charles Fillmore

"I'll take the best offer..."

..the ad read about the Jersey milk cow being advertised. The ad said she was only about 2 years old, but may have a sight problem as she tends to "run into things".

Oh that's not a problem....I thought as I was reading it. I'm a bleeding heart for things not quite perfect. Really, it seems most anything must be slightly awry before the Universe sends it my way.

What got me was the ad was local, not the usual 25 to 50 mile distances that I have been seeing for these dairy cows.

I saw the ad come up online, but it was late into the evening, and even though there was a phone number listed, I didn't want to call someone that late. So.. I sent the e-mail and went to bed.

This morning there was a reply in my inbox from the seller with directions and two phone numbers! Her name was in her e-mail address...and for some reason, her name seemed so familiar to me. I was trying to place her name in my brain to see if she was perhaps a client of mine somewhere in years past. I couldn't quite place it.

Aside from the feelings of familiarity, I was a little hesitant on how to react to this e-mail, because deep down...I KNEW I really didn't have the extra money to spare on a dairy cow, especially with Christmas coming up..Halloween costumes to get...Thanksgiving groceries to buy...etc etc. As bad as I have been wanting one, the timing couldn't have been worse, and I felt myself regretting wasting this lady's time.

On the other hand...she DID say "best offer" in her ad, so I thought hhmmm... perhaps I could just go and look (which would temporarily satisfy my urge to be near a dairy cow and talk homesteading with someone)...then I could tell her to let me know what offers she gets in and then I could tell her "thank you but it's out of my price range". Yup, it was all planned out!

After a confirmation call with the lady, I was on my way down the road to see this cow. The entire way I was thinking to myself "Rachael, I know you....you are going love this cow and then you are going to come home and start thinking of ALL the things you can sell to buy this animal...yup...you're thinking it now....'What can I put on Ebay?'"

And ya know what? I wasn't lying! I WAS thinking of all the things I could scrape together to sell for some money. Ugh..I know myself too well, and I hadn't even set eyes on this cow yet (Isabelle has some baby clothes I could auction, and those candle molds I don't like, and maybe those back issues of Countryside magazines I have acquired over the years)..

10 minutes later I am pulling off the rural highway and going down a pot-holed driveway. I was met by the worlds friendliest but most obnoxious barker of a Bassett Hound that let the entire farm know...THERE WAS SOMEONE HERE.

I got out and the hound escorted me, barking the entire way, to the front door of the little white ranch style house. I knocked and moments later an older farm gal answered the door and stepped out. She had such a pleasant and humble aire about her, but I didn't KNOW her like I thought perhaps I did. No, I had never seen her before in my life...yet she still felt familar to me. Some sort of connection was happening and the hairs on my arm lifted slightly.

We greeted, and she led me down to the pasture where the heifer was at, while the obnoxious Bassett chased a tormented tuxedo mama cat under the branches of a cedar tree. "Your hound has ADHD." I joked and to which the lady heartily agreed.

We reached the pasture.

"Little cow!" she called out, and out of the tallgrass and weeds, all by her sweet lonesome, came the littlest Jersey girl up to the call of her name.



By first glance I could tell she was not quite 100% Jersey, but plenty enough to be called so and worthy of a family milk cow! She was just a darling thing, and the lady was right..she did sort of act like she couldn't see all that well. There was nothing superficial on either of the eyes, although one eye looked slightly sunk in compared to the other. Whatever it was...it did not affect her having an amazingly friendly personality, nor did I believe it would it affect her milk in the future.

"I bought her at an auction a year ago",the lady explained, "and she was like that then and has just always been that way."

The lady and I discussed not just the cow, but our families and her grandchildren, and "kids these days", and growing things, and cheese making, and canning, and herbs...and after awhile I was so consumed in conversation that I had nearly forgotten about the little cow!

My heart sank a bit..knowing I couldn't afford her anyway, and I felt rather guilty taking up so much of this wonderful lady's time. It was time to "get to it" and get back to the business at hand.

"Well," I stammered. "Have you gotten other e-mails on her?"

She dropped her arms and shoulders "I can't even tell you how many!" She laughed with an exasperation.

This was bittersweet news, since she did say she would take the best offer, and I didn't have much to offer anyway. Infact, I didn't offer anything. "Why don't you just let me know who gives you their best offer and I'll see after that if I can afford her.."

She stood in silence for a moment, looking at her dear little cow whom she had raised from a calf. She scratched her chin a bit, much like an Irish farmer would scratch his whsikers while contemplating a counter offer on the sale of a plow horse.

"You know...", she said. "I'd just be happy if you traded me in milk next year."

Huh??!! I couldn't process the words that came out of her mouth! Was I hearing this correctly?? No, not possible. Huh??!!

"I LOVE raw cows milk, nothin' better," she says. "You give me raw milk here and again from her...and you can have her."

It took several minutes for this to fully sink in, but when it did...I couldn't choke back the tears, they just fell on their own. I hugged her, and was speechless, but I was able to mutter a very grateful and teary "Yes!!"

After leaving the pasture, we continued to visit and walk her property. She showed me the blackberry bushes that were growing like crazy. "I'll get you started with some if you want them." she offered pleasantly.

We then went to her herb garden by her back deck and she ever so gently bent down and snipped off a lovely sprig of lavendar and handed it to me. "I love lavendar in so many things," she added as I sniffed the fresh sprig. The smell was so intoxicating that it recorded the entire memory of the day into the scent of lavendar.

It was then that I started to sense the likeness and presence of Tasha Tudor, and the hairs on my arms raised slightly, just as it had when I had first met her. She looked nothing like Tasha, and not ready for her crone days either. She was a younger grandmother.

By the end of the visit, she had invited me to make cheese with her in the spring, and I offered to provide the goat milk!

I cried all the way home, and have since returned while the lady was at work (she gave me permission) to take photo's of our new precious little cow (who we'll be bringing home Monday)...and to leave a jar of fresh raw honey on the lady's doorstep.

Our new baby! A name is forming in the Universe....you will have to wait a bit...




A great dairy cow build..




Love our girl..

A wild and windy day...

...put the horses in a frisky mood! They galloped and bucked, and the only picture I could get was when they came to the water trough to get a drink, and only then could I get Luna and Hannah Sue in the frame. Luna seems to be telling Hannah "I drink first, young'un!"



Afterwards they went trotting back through the woods to the top field for more frolick and fun!

It is so refreshing to see dear Luna able to run again. She overcame such a frightful injury, and I still thank my lucky stars for all who sent healing energy and prayers to her! She is a happy horse once again!

"When I was your age....

....we didn't watch tv or play video games. We played outside, in the woods, read things called 'books', and used our imaginations. Can you show me your imagination?" -Dusty, my son in 55 years, speaking to his grandchildren.

Dealing at Church, and a Family Reunion!

I walked into Unity Village Chapel on Sunday morning a tad bit late. I found my good friend Misty seated in a pew near the back. I slid in discreetly beside her as services had already begun. I no more than got settled in when Misty, peering suspiciously over her shoulders..once to the right, once to the left.. and without making eye contact leans in and whispers "You got the goods?".

Me, untucking a little paper bag from under my arm whispers back , "Yeah, I got the goods."

I slid the bag over to her, she quickly tucks it away in her purse and sets it under the pew. "OK, we're good."

We broke out into quiet giggles as we had just done our first mugwort deal, and in church. Misty had been having some dream fragments that she has been trying to piece together here lately, so I brought her some mugwort to put under her pillow at night.
Mugwort stirs about revelatory dreams (if put into a purple velvet satchel, so the witches and gypsies claim).

Never fear though...had we been "caught", Unity Village Chapel is probably one of the few churches that I know of who would not only encourage the use of mugwort and other natural herbs..they probably have a book on it somewhere in their metaphysical bookstore. One of the reasons I love Unity, for their openeness to metaphysical curiosities. Oh I do miss the good old Cowboy Church for the fellowship and nostalgia of an old chapel that sits off a backroad in Kansas.

Apparently, Misty ended up having "LOADS" of dreams Sunday night! Interesting!

Also Sunday, after service, the family loaded up into the truck and headed an hour into the Missouri hills to a family reunion on Darin's side. It was a joyous time and I was able to snap some lasting photo's of the day to share with you:








Dusty swings










Baby love


Doggie love




Buggy rides for all




Sam, the wee babe, trying his hand at badminton

Duck eggs, punkins, and strange vibes..

Last spring I had gladly accepted some ducklings in on trade for my dog grooming services, as I do love a good old fashioned barter. Those ducklings are now grown and plump (mouth watering plump, I must say), and have started laying me some lovely eggs which are delicious for baking with!! It's the simple things that excite me.
Don't worry, the part about being mouth watering plump...well....my girls are in the safe zone. No duck on the menu in the near future *wink*

The pumpkins have not done so great this season. The watermelons were amazing, but the pumpkins..meh....not so much. Temperamental things, pumpkins. However, out of the entire garden, we are getting about 3 nice big beauties coming up. I planted them a bit late, so two of the smaller ones are starting to speckle into orange, and one gigantic one is still a deep green with no hint of wanting to start changing over.

I do believe pumpkins are my favorite garden novelty! I just love watching them grow. It's rather sad that they are the last of the growing things. A few peppers are still clinging and thriving on the vines, but other than that...the garden is growing tired and has done its job for us this year. Time to bid it a fond farewell until next year.

Saturday, my husband went to a Football Hall Of Fame induction over at the local high school. His father, who passed away 10 months ago from lung cancer, was selected along with 2 others for induction! This was a huge honor for everyone in the family! I wanted so much to be able to attend, but I wasn't feeling so well that morning. I chose to stay home with baby Sam.

I had put Sam down for a nap and felt decent enough to sweep the oogy floor in the kitchen, and did so. Strangely, with no warning, I became very emotional and felt an overwhelming urge to cry...and did so. A heaviness of heartache and longing came over me, the tears were untsoppable. It went on for several minutes. I decided this was important enough (being the paranormal investigator that I am) to note the time..and I did so. The time was 12:45 pm. I knew deep down that I was experiencing somebody elses emotions, I just didn't know whose.

About 30 minutes later, Darin calls from his cell phone. Before he could barely get a word in I bombarded him with "Did you cry at the football induction, and if so what time was it?"

He was very puzzled and said "I didn't cry, and I have no idea what you mean."

I said "Did you get emotional?"

"Yes, when they were giving the speech about Dad I got choked up, and when they handed the plaque over. But I didn't cry."

"Well, what time was that?" I pressed.

"I have no idea, I'd have to look at the time on the camera...I took pictures."

I explained to him that I was quite confident I picked up his emotions, and it was important (to me) he find out the times.

When Darin got home, he had the times figured out: at 12:45 they began reading about his Dad, by 12:49 the plaque was presented.

Interesting indeed!

Saturday I also began sizing Licorice the pony to the new harness..but it is going to be too big. Darn. The wee babes were sure wanting a ride in their new cart! So, while I dug out the old harness (that fits) and started to clean it up with saddle soap, Darin gladly served as a stand in for the pony!

Note to Self...

....NEVER assume city kids know how to play on a farm! We totally wrecked those poor things!!

Darin had some good friends of his and their 3 children come out for a bar-b-que last night. They are what I call "sparkly" people, a little term I use for city folk whose tennies are as bright white as their teeth, lol (I mean no offense, dear readers. I adore my city friends...besides city folk have oodles of nicknames for country folk like me, lol!)

They are truly wonderful people, they brought us moose and elk meat from Colorado, and had us in stitches with conversations of eating too many hot peppers and the many different types of "poo" a person can take.

While us adults were wrapped up in good hearted chuckles, their children played with our children.....and blood was shed. Oooh no, not between each other....with a dirtbike. Even with a "How To Drive 101" tutorial...there was a wreck. Now first let me just say that the dirtbike is a mini little thing that is set to training wheels and locked in to only go up to 5 mph. Lo.....a playhouse and their 10 year old girl on said dirtbike met each other with a crash and much drama to follow. EEK!

Now as a mother, I know that seeing your child get hurt is a scary thing and you come a runnin' no matter what! I ran too (we all saw it happen), but after a quick inspection I could see she was and would be just fine, despite a scraped neck and arm. The poor thing was wild eyed and shaking, and she had every right to be! She crashed into a solid object, even at 5 mph...a solid object has no give to it. OUCH!

Dusty, my 5 year old, shakes his head and sighs, "I'll go get some ice.." and he turns to go into the house. I had to chuckle a bit while I followed in after him, as he even knew she was fine, despite the tears and heaving in terror. We got the dear girl some ice and in 15 minutes she was jumping on the trampoline with the others.

A bit later they all wanted to go out to the pasture to find the horses. My children led the way and slid either through the gate or climbed over it. The city kids....errr....well....they didn't know how to do either. The 10 year old didn't understand how to slide her body through the gaps in the gate. The 12 year old tried to climb over, but didn't have a clue how to swing her leg OVER the top of the gate to start climbing down the other side. We all tried shouting instructions to them from where we were sitting....but...well.....err.....

Their mother eventually went over and guided them on how to climb over a gate. Really, I can't giggle too much. My little Izzy, who was born into the country life, was quite the girly girl in the beginning. She used to be terrified of climbing over a gate and would shriek in horror if a chicken chased her. She was scared to pet a kitten for fear of getting clawed. Just here in the past few years she has gotten a grip and overcome her fears. She is quite the country girl now ;)

Other than the bloodshed and the 10 year old looking like our farm had chewed her up and spit her out, we all had a great visit and I am just hoping they aren't afraid to come back out. Hehe!

Happy Fall Equinox and Merry Mabon!!

Oh what a glorious day it be! Fall was official here at 4:18 pm!

Mmmm how I love the smell of wet earth and burning leaves, and the early morning sights of wispy fog from a pond's surface and steam rising off of mulch piles; how the red and gold mums and maple leaves look positively ablaze against a drizzly grey afternoon sky; Seeing plastic white skeletons and little homemade handkerchief ghosts dangling from oak trees; porch cats curled up and stacked ontop of each other on a doormat or rocking chair; and especially, piles and piles of autumn leaves that beckon for anyone with a childlike heart to dive into. Oh yes, I will be diving into them. ;)

I had a shop full of dogs come in for grooming today, and then more tomorrow morning, and an overwhelming day Thursday! I am happy for the load of course, and thankful for a steady clientel! Speaking of grooming, another gal has posted a sign up at the gas station offering her dog grooming services. Now, at first I had a rush of emotion and fear of competition. I easily could have ripped down her sign, wadded it up and threw it in the trash bin while whistling a guilty little tune.....but no....my feelings subsided quickly into emotions of "you go girl". It is a small town, yet PLENTY of dogs for the two of us. I may even find myself referring clients to her in the future, clients that may need something different than what I can offer (after all, all groomers are different in styles and experience and everyone needs to find their happy place with the right person, and it may not always be me). More power to her, we are all here to survive and make some money, I wish her the best!

I had a great visit with an old neighbor of mine tonight who brought his adorable border collie for me to do a nail trim on. I hadn't seen him in years, so it was nice to chit chat with him for awhile. He is the dad of a classmate of mine whom I rode the same bus as kids. I bought a pony from them once when I was about 13 or so...it was nice because once my father paid for the pony, I just rode it through their pasture and on home! I loved that pony, she was a big fat red and white paint named Patty, cuz she was born on St. Patrick's Day. They also raised pigs and cows and were involved in the local 4-H. Fond memories!

Also today I heard a strange sound out back.....and upon inspection, I had seen that Marzy the goat had gotten her head stuck underneath the fence, and every minute or so would let out a desperate garbled bleat. I "unstuck" her, and she was very thankful for the gesture! then I saw that Milkshake had escaped entirely!! I walked right up to her and herded her back inside the pen.

Well, that was my day, I need to hop off here and round up some supper for the hungry Wee Babes and husband!

Mabon Blessings!!

Score!!

I am SO excited!

After realizing our old pony cart was pretty pitiful and needed a LOT of work (but I was prepared to fix it up), I happened across an ad on our local KC craigslist last night for a pony cart AND harness, all for $200!! There was no picture in the ad, and no phone number, so I replied right away. I was nervous because a set like that for that price would be GONE with the new owner giggling all the way home!

When I e-mailed the seller I left my phone number...then waited...and prayed...

Now I am all for fixing things up, and love the motto "use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without"...BUT...it would have taken a hefty chunk of change to fix up the ol' cart to be road worthy, and for this price...well, it was an exception!

The phone rang!! It was the guy with the cart and harness! WOOOOHOOO!! He said I was the first e-mailer and said I could come the next morning. I dropped the kids off at school and took off up north to Smithville, MO. When I got there, I went to the barn and met an old duffer in overalls with a walking cane who smelled of fried bacon, a perfect feller to buy a cart from! We greeted and then he pointed me to the cart which was parked outside the barn..and WOW!! It was painted a beautiful red with heavy duty black spoked wheels! The seat was absolutely perfect, not a tear on the cushion! Not a spot of rust anywhere on this beauty! This cart was a cherry, and by itself worth $300 at least! Brand new they are nearly $500!

Then he had the harness set out.... Wow! Not new but not dying either, it was all leather and broken in to the utmost perfection, like a comfortable pair of boots. I could not believe he was throwing it all in for $200, that harness was worth $125-$150.

The man says "Now I know you can go and sell this and make some money off it..." to which I replied.."Well yes sir I guess I could, but then the children would still need a pony cart, then where would we be? We won't be reselling this little gem!"

I thanked the gentleman whole heartedly, but didn't leave until I heard many of his stories about his horse dealing days. He has had some wild run ins with some crazy horses! He even warned me "So if you see me at an auction...don't buy one of my horses".

I drove away with my new purchase, giggling all the way home!

I am beyond, BEYOND excited that the Wee Babes finally have a nice complete driving set up for Licorice the pony! I can't wait to show them! I almost want to wait until Christmas because it is such a nice set, and to let Santa bring it, or a gift from us for the family gift....but then we wouldn't get any use out of it for these beautiful fall days! And oh my is it ever gorgeous out! Today is rainy and rather cold so we won't be hooking it up but hopefully later this week because the temperatures have been amazing!

Ok well, I just had to share my happy day! I can't get any good pictures until the rain stops, but I will soon!

Oh and we went to the bluegrass festival over the weekend, and let me just say that we WILL be back! Darin and I both loved every second of it, and met so many totally awesome and down to earth people! Hippies and hillbilly's galore, totally my type of people! *sigh* We cannot wait for next year!!


Yes, these old washtubs DO still exist, and play a fine bass!



Me trotting down a really fun hill, lol!



I loved this couple SO much that I had to sneak a photo of them. We were all waiting for the fiddling to start on the stage and these two were seated on the hill next to us. He sits while she knits, how perfect it was!

Goats, windchimes, and other cheer...

I have been agiggle with the delightful merriment of goat antics this afternoon! The wind has been blowing quite a bit today, which I believe has sent the goats into a tizzy of playfulness. They leap, bound, buck in midair and land faithfully on all fours like cats. They have challenged each other to duels and chased each other around the goathouse playing catch-me-if-you-can. It has worn me out just watching them!

These strong breezes have really made the windchimes sing me pretty tunes all day today! I love windchimes, it lets the wind have its very own voice and personality.

Speaking of tunes..this Friday I am going to a huge bluegrass festival, there will be fiddlers and pickers galore! The turn out for this fest is usually 30 to 40 THOUSAND attendants! My husband and I have a good friend who attends every year, and I have been curious about it for the past 12 years or so, but have never had the opportunity to really go. So I am VERY excited to finally see what it's all about! It seems almost like a mini blugrass Woodstock; People camp, party, fiddle and drink til the wee hours of the morn, and it lasts for a week! Although we are going only for one night, it's hard to find a sitter and caretaker for the farm for more than that. Ah well, I shall wear my best skirt and stompin' boots and twirl the night away, and maybe I'll just come home with my very own banjo or fiddle!! :) I can't wait!

I will try to post pics if I can, but for now, here are a few random farm pics for your enjoyment:


The Quackers!



We had a bumper crop of melons this year, 20 at least, and they were delicious!



Dusty and Isabelle.



Sam and a VERY tolerant Truffle!

Prairie Blessings!