Falling in the Dark

(Sorry, this post is being added at a later date. I am attempting to get back on track, which will take me some time. So I hope you will bear with me in the process.)

Yesterday was spent mostly doing odd jobs and running to get feed for our critters. On the way home from the feed store we stopped off at a friend"s house to pick up the saddle he is letting me borrow until I can find one of my own. I was trilled as I would finally have the chance to ride Sassie. Seems like I have been waiting since for ever! I could just imagine the rides we could take together around this place and down the road. That was until disaster struck right after supper last night. . . .

Going out to dump somethings in the burn barrel after dinner. I heard what I thought to be field mice in some bird seed. Climbing up to get a better view of the activity I discovered the "cute" little field mice were in actually LARGE rats! Who proceeded to use me as a ladder for escape when I startled them. Who, in turn terrified me! I screamed and jumped back as 4 left their perch. Lon came out laughing at me, that was until 2 more jumped towards him. (Sounds funny now, but it wasn't then, at least not for me). Causing him to start swinging his arms to strike at them. Which caused me to step back quickly to get out of the way, falling backwards in such a way that I could not break my decent to the concrete floor. It literally felt like I had been picked up and thrown to the ground. Sickening pain shot up my spine and down my legs. Unable to move I laid in the dirt, fighting the nausea that swept over me. Lon was finally able to help me to my feet after I could start breathing again, but the pain was severe. I knew I was hurt bad, as walking was very difficult and I was unable to straighten up to a standing position. After getting me cleaned up and taking some pain medication I limped off to bed with his assistance. Tears flowing easily from the pain, plus the realization that I had just injured myself in a bad way. So badly that I may not be able to use the saddle which I had finally gotten only hours earlier, any time soon!

Today as Lon left for work after I assured him that he could despite last night's nightmare. I fell into a puddle of tears. Why is it we are called on as children to get up and be brave, when we have fallen down. It is such lessons that we learn and carry into our adult years, that can cause us even more discomfort most of the time. It was plain and simple why the tears fell. I wanted him home! Taking care of the farm will be near impossible today for me, but it all has to be done. The trade off for his being here, would be the lost of overtime, which we need. So what is a girl to do? I sent him to work despite how my heart felt. I followed my head which over ruled my back side. Resting in between chores was about all I could accomplish. The pain is the greatest when I try to sit, but standing, lying and anything in between brings discomfort. I fear this is going to be a long journey towards healing.

Looking for a soft place for my body and heart,

Deborah

Raining Again!

Today was a challenging day for me. It started off with a bad rain storm passing through in the early morning hours. Accompanied with heavy showers and lots of lightening. I felt bad that we do not have a dry place yet established for Sassie to get into at times like this. The weather was not a good combination for doing the morning chores. The pasture and barnyard are one muddy mess. I don't think the place can handle much more rain at this rate. For the past month it has been a weekly if not almost daily occurrence. I know the past few years we have been in a drought around here. But I believe we have more than made up for the water deficient. Everything is saturated to the point of TOTAL run off. The chicken coop even flooded again this morning, washing the shavings out from under the roosts and laying boxes. Yuk! The flow was so great it washed clean their "play yard" of any thing loose lying on it. The water flowed under the door of the future "barn" and soaked the carpeting the previous owners had in there. I don't think it had even dried out from the last flooding we had. The hole I found in front of the interior side of the door is getting larger, Discover it after I removed the broken tile there. I fear the whole floor will rot right out from under us. It is for sure the sub-flooring will have to be replaced before we can renovate it into a useful room in this make-shift barn. I

I tried making a trip to the next town over from us that has a public library that I have started frequenting. Tried, is the operative word. I needed to return some books that I had checked out and pick up a few that I had placed on hold. But found them closed when I arrived this afternoon. Checking out the sign posted by the door said that they close at lunch time on Wednesdays. I have never know a library to be closed a half day on Wednesdays AND Saturdays. I would have thought Saturdays would be a busy day for libraries. At least it was at the one where I used to live. Guess this is just another aspect of small town life. One that I will have to learn along with all the rest.

Adjusting to life,

Deborah

One Year Anniversary!

It is hard to imagine that I have been writing and posting on this blog for a year. Today is the one year anniversary of Heartland Farm. YEA! Even though I have missed a few days here and there with writing. I have shared a large portion of our lives with you. Not every day is a red-letter day, appropriate for sharing. Life is like that sometimes. But I must confess that there have been other times when I wished for a chance to post and was unable to. My ideal when starting this was to write on a semi-daily basis. As you can tell, it has not happened. Most days I am scrambling to just catch up my posts from notes quickly jotted down. One of the factors that I had not considered was how much of my time is spoken for in just taking care of the real Heartland Farm. Livestock needs, home needs, family needs and my needs all call for a large portion of my time.

In a time of celebration, one does not look back with regrets, but forward with anticipation. So I am celebrating all that has transpired this past year and looking towards the future. I am sure many more happenings are waiting for us on this journey of homesteading. Lots of up and downs to share with you. Ideas for writing are never very far from my mind. Thinking on all of it makes me want to write even more in the next year. Who knows I may even be able to stay up to date on my posts. Possibly, even writing daily, wouldn't that be a hoot!

Thanks for sharing the journey with us and putting up with my ramblings.

Deborah

7 hour Journey ~ South, then North Again

We left early this morning heading towards the hunting camp of many a good time. Since moving to the acerage that we now own. There is too much distance to make regular trips back to it. Plus we have hunting woods right out side the back door now. Having already seen several deer on the property on numerous occasions too. We had left our camper set up at the deer camp and was going back to clean out our personal things and get it ready to put up for sale. It was a hard decision to make, as we have had lots of memory trips in it over the years. We still love to camp and it is in good enough shape for a few more trips too. But the money it would produce from it's sale would go a long way towards meeting a few needs around here. It would be easier too to sell it to a hunter locally instead of hauling it all the way back here, just to sit in the yard.

Seeing it set up when we arrived almost changed my mind. So many fond memories of times spent there with family and friends. But we had little time to get the job done before turning around for another 3 1/2 hour drive back home. Milking had tobe done and feeding was needed before we could call it a day. We quickly packed up all of our things and posted a for sale sign on it before heading home. It is amazing how much you can put in such a small space. Lon's truck bed was loaded with items and boxes, besides all the breakables stowed behind the front seat. The big challenge to be conquered next was to decide where all of it was going to be stored, once home.

Hopefully it will sell this season and we can mark it off our list of things to do. Money in hand, we could see another pasture fenced in before the new year. And possibly a storage building for all the boxes we hauled home.

Waiting for a phone call,

Deborah