ahhh.... horses

I threw some jeans on, grabbed a jacket, grudgingly stuffed my feet into boots (rather be barefoot), and ran back to throw the bridle onto yankee. My sister and I then headed up the hill behind the barn. I love being up there - especially on horseback. I rode my horse half the time, then hopped on Chester to do some jumping (last picture). My sister's new horse, Alvido, is present in one of the pictures. We let him loose to run around while we rode. It was a good day!

"Being rich of heart makes you wealthy beyond compare." - Rodney Williams

Simple things can give me such profound pleasure. Whether it is holding a clicky, inky pen and a piece of scratch notebook paper or walking through the dewy grass barefoot at 6:30 in the morning; I enjoy finding the hidden gifts each day in an ordinary life.... 


Making someone smile, waltzing with your pretended partner in an open field (hoping no one is watching), cooking in the kitchen with the inspiration of Julia Child (*note* this "inspiration" is not fool proof - you're still liable to burn your souffle), laughing off an embarrassing moment, re-arranging a cluttered space into an organized, accessible and aesthetically pleasing area, reading such an incredibly inspirational and profound Scripture passage that you want to share it with the whole world!, sitting at the piano composing a ballad which you'll soon forget, cleaning the house with vigor (*hint* for those of you who lack motivation, just pretend all your in-laws are coming over in 3 hrs - that should do it!), writing a letter, laying in the damp grass on a clear night and marveling at the LORD's beautiful stars (all of which are named and accounted for by Him) and the list goes on and on......

For me, home is the place where most of this takes place. It is the warm, inviting glow of the kitchen chandelier which is a bit too dim because only two of the light bulbs are currently employed; the rough, unfinished hardwood floors which turn my bare feet two shades too dark; the sunlight shining through the south windows onto my desk; our creaky steps (after skipping the third one to the bottom, take two at a time and you'll reach the top without waking the whole house), etc... 


A small house is actually a blessing. The five occupants of it are forced to get along and enjoy each other's company. After all, it would be foolish to be enemies with someone you run into every four minutes. But that's where the great outdoors come into the picture - I often escape to the barn loft or take a walk down "lover's lane" (My version of Anne's dubbed path). Perhaps it's my Father coming out in me. He'll say that the woods are calling him and then he's off, on what he calls, a "walk-about." I often get the same irresistible urge.

Some may think me a strange, sentimental fool for treasuring such things.... but then again, "If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom." ~Audra Foveo

morning ride

 I woke up early this morning and could hear mom, dad and my brother talking downstairs. I knew if I stayed in bed, it'd only be harder to get up, so I popped up, rather sloppily made my bed, grabbed my Bible (for my morning reading) and went down for some coffee. After they left, I planned on going back upstairs in my pajama's to do my Bible Study for today's lesson, but grabbed my jeans, boots and a jacket instead.....

Yankee and I had a great bareback ride in the alfalfa field (pictured here). I used the bridle instead of halter and lead rope, just in case he was "feelin' his oats..." and he was. The wonderful thing about bridles - I was able to get his head back up before he could buck several times. ;) Though, I'm sure the buck would've been fun...... 

Farm life - gotta love it

I now strongly dislike goats. My sister owns eight - three of them she uses for milking purposes. She's been gone since yesterday afternoon, so I milked last night, this morning and this evening... and will continue this endless cycle till Sunday evening.

I attempted to lead my horse back to the barn last night while holding onto the goat's horn and making sure the kid and the nanny followed. The horse was pulling ahead and the goat was being stubborn and refusing to move. I had my 7 yr old niece slap him on the rump when he stopped and had her chase the other two goats back. I was wearing a skirt and flip-flops, trying to protect my toes while the horse and goat were both walking on top of me. When it came time to cross the creek, the horse stumbled and splashed mud all over me and turned sideways, blocking my path to cross. Then after much pulling and yelling, the darn goat really jumped the creek... I was hot and sweaty, covered in mud, and had milk splashed on me by the time I got back to the house, then had to leave 20 min later.


This morning, I thought I'd only let about three goats out to graze, because if you let them all out, they form an overwhelming force that's impossible to conquer. But, they don't follow your plans - Brooklyn decided he was going to be out today, so he rammed me down and rushed out the fence dragging me a little ways as I groped to hold onto the hair on his back. The 80 or so degree weather didn't make things any better. : /
Milking tonight, the horseflies were out, so I was having difficulty having the nannies stand still. But, when they did stay in one spot, their legs didn't. They were stomping at flies, which tipped the milk pail, and I squirted myself holding onto the utter while the goat was running away. Stepped into a not so dry area with flip-flops on (I know.. my fault. Bad choice of footwear) and couldn't catch one of the goats to put him away. Twice, he fled into a dark back room in the barn, that I wasn't too excited to go into (especially in flip-flops). I finally coaxed him out with a bucket of mineral feed and drug him into the pen by his curly horns.

I can now sympathize with my sis and understand why she gets frustrated... Though I got angry, I laughed at how funny some of those situations would have looked like from someone else' viewpoint... ;)

kids

No, not the human kind -- I'm talking about goats here! This past spring, our does gave birth to two kids each. When they were about 6 weeks old, a friend called and asked if we would also consider taking his orphaned kid. His parents got loose, ate Roundup ready seed corn and died. We agreed to take the little fella and nurse him back to health. He is a Boer -- a meat goat. He has such a sweet personality! He was continually getting out of the small make-shift pin we made for him and he would go to the front porch steps and lay down, like a dog guarding his owners. We call him our "yard goat." He's the only one who never gets put up. He's even been in the *cough* house *cough* a few times and has done very well! The first time was when a storm was about to cut loose. We went tearing for the house and he ran right in with us...what could we do?... we didn't have the heart to put him out in the storm so we let him hang out with us until it subsided.

This is he - "Buddy"

some of the others....

This is "Opie." If he see's you sitting down, he will be up on your lab before you can stop him. He loves to snuggle! He also has a brother, "Brooklyn" who looks identical, except for the absence of a few small white markings that enable us to tell them apart. You can actually tell them apart just by watching their behavior - Brooklyn is a troublemaker who is always picking fights with the others.

They are the Alpine breed.

This is "Jimmy." He was about a week old in this picture. He's a BIG momma's boy! As well as calm and gentle, compared to the rest of the bunch. He also has a sister, "Peanut" who is a light, tawny brown colour. She was the only female born. We feel a little sorry for her at times, but she stands her ground well. Both of them are Nubian/Alpine breed.

We milk "Daisy" and "Milkyway" (the mothers) and use the milk (against my will) for cooking, cereal, drinking, making ice-cream, etc... I personally do not like the taste of goats milk! And whenever mom tries to disguise it in the food, I can always tell. However, I cowgirl up and eat the homemade ice-cream, made from that nasty milk, when necessary. I think that is the only way you can ruin ice-cream.... 

We've really enjoyed raising goats! They aren't the smartest mammals, but they are good companions. We plan on getting rid of Jimmy and Brooklyn before winter.... so if you know of anyone who wants a goat... *ahem.* They are wonderful ditch clearers! I was looking for them one day, so I bent down to their level and looked into the woods..... but it was like a house under there -- totally cleared out! All that remained were stalks of what were once weeds and small scrawny trees. Once they have eaten everything on the ground, then they rear and eat up higher. (the mothers are just as tall as me when rearing) 

So, If you want a companion, but don't like dogs and are allergic to cats, why not try a goat!?!

Memories...

Oh the joys of growing up with three older brothers! I remember John and I going around the lake barefoot when I was five years old (mom didn't know). He would make me stay on the muddy shore and catch tiny frogs, while he waded out in the water with shorts and no shirt catching minnows. When we got back to the house, after going completely around the lake, I would help him skin the fish, kill the frogs and then feed his turtles in the baby pool - one of them being a snapping turtle.

I remember running down towards the lake chasing the geese with Josh; building snowmen in the middle of the "frozen" lake with James; going on canoe rides and fishing with Dad; swimming in the cove and more... I remember when James made a big bike ramp and, after much practicing (and without mom's knowing), he persuaded John, Josh, Beth and I to lay down at the end of the ramp, so it was like an extension. Of course, the older ones filed in next to the large black ramp and Beth and I were strung out on the end! He did, thankfully, clear it!

I remember playing with John's pet snake; catching crawdads and water spiders with the neighbor boy in the creek; running barefoot across my favorite bridge - a big tree that fell over the ditch; all five of us kids grabbing John's mattress (as soon as mom got on the phone) and dragging it down the hall to the carpeted staircase, where we laid it down and all hopped on! (you just had to be careful not to hit your head on the stairwell). And when we didn't feel like dragging out the mattresses, a sleeping bag worked just as well!


I remember the police man, who lived in our neighborhood, used to have a big open house on the 4th and set fireworks off over the lake - we could just sit on our deck and watch them all night. That evening, Josh and I decided to sneak over there and grab some food! I think we went unnoticed for the most part, so we ducked under the tables, grabbed handfuls of food and ran home (it was only four houses from ours). We were so naughty...

I remember moving up to the farm and eating breakfast out in the Quonset hut, because there wasn't electricity in the house yet; using a towering stack of drywall as a couch, before we had any furniture moved in; seeing foot prints on the ceiling in the bathroom, because someone walked on the drywall before hand; untangling black snakes out of cherry tree nets; getting my first horse; spilling sap all over my legs and down my boots as I tried to navigate my way on the hillsides and freezing my wet feet in the process; the whole family venturing out into the woods with an axe to go find the perfect Christmas tree; playing with Deacon (our big, black, Rottweiler) at night with Dad and the boys and watching him tackle and chew on T-bone... aka: Josh. I remember squirrel hunting with Josh, playing monsters with John and hanging out with James.

The Edgar kid's secret place (which was revealed to good friends only) was "The Slide." It was basically a humongous, steep hill tucked back in the woods, near a creek bed. It used to be covered in moss, until we made it our "slide." It was a tough climb to the top and even if you were almost there, you often slipped and did somersaults back down again. I could climb it pretty well, thus making my nickname "mountain goat."

And last, but not least, I remember the fort that we kids made one summer in the corn field. You had to walk in about 20 rows before you came to the entrance. The entrance was a short hallway that opened up into a large living room with separate bedrooms. We had a lot of fun in the corn that summer, however when fall rolled around, the farmer inevitably saw "the fort." He and Dad weren't too happy! And these... are some of my favorite memories.....