Pondering the End of 2009

This year is quickly coming to an end. It doesn't feel like the end of 2009 is upon us. Time seems to move at a different beat since we moved out onto the farm. It has been 6 months so far and I wonder if that is not the reason why the year doesn't feel over. We've only lived half a year here, there should be more before the calendar page turns to 2010. I suspect in part that it is due to the change not only of our location, but comes also from our change in lifestyle. I look around our home and see familiar things in a new setting. One that is changing more into "our place" as time passes. I feel more at home here, and as I ride the roads to various places. Taking Mom around the farm before she left to go back home, will hopefully place a "mental image" in her mind when I speak of an activity around here. Something she voiced that she needed to see. I enjoyed showing her the barn and all the livestock wandering around and in it. Now when I mention a part of the place she can mentally place herself there and live out the adventure with us. Helping to connect the distance between our homes. She turned 75 last month and Daddy will be 78 in just a few short days. Spending time with them is very precious to me. Talking long hours about family memories is a favorite thing for us to do when we gather. I hope my memory will not fail me in recalling them in the future. You never know when the last Christmas will be spent together as a family. Any one of us young or old could not be around to celebrate another one. No one is guaranteed another day of life. It is hard when you parents start talking about their days being numbered and their deaths to come. It is not something I allow myself to think about that often. I know that dieing is just as much a part of life as living is. I see death everyday and have experienced in through friends and family. But you are never ready for it. Life will move on, despite your absence. There will be a void in the lives of those that lived around you. You can't be apart of some one's life without creating it. I hope and pray that I will be able to stand in the grace of God, if faced with the lost of my parents or family, should I live to see it.

Burying another year,

Deborah

It's Almost Christmas, Are you ready?

We are fast approaching the eve of our Christmas celebrations, with only a few days left for preparations. There is much to be done just in preparing a place for Anna to give birth. Not knowing her exact due date has us trying to stay one if not several steps ahead of her. But I think is would be great to have Christmas babies in our home made manager of sorts. A need for some mulch hay will have to be seen about today in order to make it soft. Amongst the other assorted farm chores, a fact that seemingly never ends. Our firewood supply is nearly gone with all of the sub-freezing nites we have been having. Searching out some dry pieces has been moved to the top of the to-do list. My focus for today is outside the house. Leaving all the inside preps for later on next week. Mom, Dad and Jason will be here starting on Thursday. At some point it would be helpful to start some of the cooking for our family meal on Christmas day. I want to spend more time with my family than in the kitchen. I haven't really thought about how this Christmas would be. So I don't have any expectations about it to be fulfilled. Will just let it unfold instead as it occurs. But I have realized it feels different and is different. Is this mindset due to our moving to the farm , a reflection of the economy we are all facing or simply a sign of aging, of our priorities changing? Something I believe that needs to be pondered by more and embraced more fully. In order to grasp it's depth and be lived out to it's fullest.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas,

Deborah

Can You Teach a Chicken to Swim?

Buckets of rain greeted me this morning with more to come ~ 1-2 inches. Flooding conditions can be seen all over the farm. It's all one MUDDY mess. I do believe it may well be next year before we dry out. The dampness causes a bone chilling cold and makes the 37* feel like 27*. I wore 2 pairs of socks and rubber boots and my toes still feel frozen. The wind chill encountered while doing chores caused my fingers to burn when I returned to the house this morning.

Unfortunately the fire went out during the night and I haven't any more dry wood on the carport to use. Guess we will have to run the furnace over the next few nights. Which is not good considering that the lows will be hovering around freezing for the next projected 10 days to follow. I have decided what I need for Christmas this year ~ hip boots and the rain poncho seen being worn by cowboys in westerns. At this rate of rainfall we need "swimmies" for our chickens. They still do not know how to swim despite instructions, but are giving us about 2 dozen lovely eggs each day.

All of this cold will keep us inside and make us tackle some of our inside projects for a change. We have plans to go pick up a load of shavings for the chicken coops today. Using a tarp may help to keep it somewhat dry, for the coops need refreshing badly. The babies especially, as they are growing so fast! (And pooping a lot in the process). Counting it as a blessing for next year's garden and free to boot.

I am working on my blog posts that are dated back to October. Wow! did not realized I was that far behind. So glad I kept up my notes about what has been happening here. It is a slow process that requires lots of sitting, which increases my discomfort. From my fractures of the same time frame. I hope they will heal better than this or I will never be able to ride Sassie.

Trying to sit still and catch up,

Deborah

Busy Time of the Year

This has been a busy week and it is not over yet. Mom and Dad came down this past Sunday for a funeral. One that took Lon and Daddy to central east Georgia for. While I drove Mom back to Dville for a doctor's appointment and some Christmas shopping. It was a run, run, run kind of a day. I felt as fatigue from it just as surely as Lon did from driving his 7 hour round trip.


Then on Wednesday, he and I made a trip to Oxford, Alabama for our own Christmas shopping and dinner out at a favorite restaurant. Just one more item to get and we will be done! Money is tight for many folks right now and I was surprised at the number of people out shopping. We haven't any promise for overtime anytime soon ourselves so I am glad that I have already bought our items for our Christmas dinner. The pull to buy and spend is very much out there in the retail world. Lon and I picked out some movies for our Christmas, as we are not exchanging gifts between us this year. We have decided to save the money and use it instead to make some improvements on the farm. He even found an old Christmas gift card in his wallet from last year that paid for them. YEA!



Even though in the past we have chosen to for go gifts in place of a holiday trip somewhere. To make memories that would last longer than most things that can be purchased. I never could understand how people could go without exchanging gifts, but my way of thinking has slowly been changing. Do I like gifts? Yes! But I can celebrate Christmas without all the hoopla, now being pushed as part of the holiday. Special gifts received that have given me reason to rejoice have come by way of the ornament exchange. They hang beautifully on our tree and help to remind us of the reason we celebrate Christmas.



I must be getting really old! LOL. For my thoughts are changing into that seen of an older generation. Attempting to live a simple lifestyle will redirect your thinking. Having limited funds directs your focus onto what is really important. That being made up of being with family, praising the Lord through song, creating a festive spirit and being loving in all your actions.


Directing my heart towards a proper focus,

Deborah