It Must be Spring…

March 25, 2011

It Must be SpringIt must be spring in the Midwest.

One day we’re hanging laundry outside in short sleeves with the windows open.

The daffodils are poking out of the ground and the rhubarb is up.

The next day there’s that nasty white stuff in the forecast.

You know the stuff I mean – it starts with an s and rhymes with “at least we won’t have to mow!”

It’s the word that brings great excitement and celebration in the fall – but feels like a slap in the face at the end of March.

I really can’t complain though – our neighbors to the north have had it much, much worse. One friend in Minnesota said she has never been so excited to see dead grass because it meant the snow was finally gone.

She spoke to soon – they had another 7 inches overnight.

The only good thing about a spring snow is that it won’t last long.

The flowers know it – they’re blooming anyway.

The robins know it – they keep building their nests.

Even Wal-Mart knows it – they have their swimsuits and flip flops on display!

I guess we all know how very fickle March can be!

Today the furnace is running – but soon the windows will be open again.

We’ll be able to pack the winter coats and stocking caps away and the kids will be digging out their t-shirts and sunscreen!

Meanwhile, we’ll just brush the snow off the Easter Bunny and be thankful that April is only a week away!

Photo by Anne Burgess

By Country Gal | Posted in Spring, Weather | Tagged , , , | Comments (4)

A Country – Style Workout

March 11, 2011

fence I knew I was in for an interesting afternoon when my husband asked me if I could help him outside.

Oh yeah – some of you know exactly what that means!

It means that all the projects I had started or planned for the afternoon were now on hold and I would be getting dirty, tired, and most likely sore.

Yep. It was time for a country- style workout.

Our calf – who has now officially been named Shakespeare – needed a bigger pen. Which meant that Jan needed all hands on deck to cut up fallen branches, pull out the old fence line and put up a new one.

Even as I pulled on my coveralls I knew that there was no chance that I would get to run the chain saw- my husband learned very early in our marriage to keep me away from all power tools.

Nor would I get to drive the 4-wheeler – my sons shuddered at the very thought.

No – I would get to do the more manual labor – the grunt jobs.

So while Jan cut the trees and Pedro drove loads of brush off – the other kids and I hauled branches and raked up behind them.

This proved to be just the warm -up.

When the fence line was finally cleared it was time for fence posts – about 60 in all. Guess who got to help load them? Moi.

Pedro would grab them from the pile and hand them to me to throw in trailer. He started out giving me one or two at a time – but the next thing I knew I was tossing 3 or 4 at a time.

At one point I saw that Jan was watching – so I had Pedro give me five at a time – just to impress him.  ;)

We’ll call that weight-lifting.

Then it was time to move the cattle panels across the farmyard to the new pen. So while Pedro and Jan pounded fence posts, Matt and I started digging them out of the weeds.

Now for those of you unfamiliar with cattle panels let me clue you in – they are big, and awkward and heavy. And they have a tendency to get bent – and get stuck on things – like each other and rocks and sticks on the ground.

But that didn’t stop me. I dragged 16 of those bad boys across the farm yard, around the garden, and out into the pasture – by myself.

I’ll think I’ll call that the cardio part of my workout – or maybe resistance training?  I wonder just how many calories I burned?

But don’t worry – I quickly replaced them with the handfuls of chocolate peanut butter cookies I ate during break time. :)

The rest of the job went quickly – haul the cattle panels into position and hold them in place while Jan secured them.

Then all we needed to do was move Shakespeare to his new home.

He was a happy cow.

And I was a dirty, tired, and sore country gal.

It was time for a hot bath and another cookie – these country style workouts are tough!

By Country Gal | Posted in Rural Realities | Tagged , , , | Comments (8)

Fragrance

April 28, 2010

Have you ever noticed that when you step outside in the winter all you smell is cold?

Lilacs

That’s why I really love all the smells of spring.

Fresh cut grass.

The lilac bush in full bloom.

The apple trees bursting with blossom.

The lily of the valley hiding in the grass.

The hyacinth that perfumes the garden.

There’s a tantalizing fragrance in the air that excites us! It draws us outside, compels us to open the windows and breath deeply.

It’s a fragrance that we quickly recognize as spring – it smells alive.

I was reading in 2 Corinthians the other day when this verse caught my eye:

Apple Blossoms2 Corinthians 2:14-15  Amplified

But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph as trophies of Christ’s victory and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere,

For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ which exhales unto God, discernible alike among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing”

How incredible is that!

In Christ, we’re walking in a never-ending victory parade! And – everywhere we go we give off a sweet fragrance that is full of life!

Now that’s how I want to live.

I want a life that is open to Him and fragrant with His knowledge.

I want a life that is a beautiful aroma that will draw people to the Lord.

I want to be  an enticing perfume that compels people to open the windows of their hearts and drink deeply of the the sweetness of my Savior.

I want to be that sweet fragrance that people recognize as salvation – the exquisite scent of life.

By Country Gal | Posted in Deep Thoughts | Tagged , , , | Comments (8)

Garden Overboard

March 16, 2010

Can you see the little pretties coming up? Aren’t they cute?!

Don’t even try to count them – there are too many! And these are just the ones I started early.

You should see all the seed packets that are going directly in the garden – the huge pile of sweet corn, green beans, peas, pumpkins, and much more!

Let’s just say I went a little overboard.

I stood in the seed aisle at Menard’s and lost my sanity.

Maybe it was the result of a long hard winter, or the warm breeze blowing outside. Or maybe it was the bright colored pictures of the big beautiful vegetables. I don’t know what caused it – but something snapped.

I was a kid in a candy store. I bought 4 different watermelon varieties, 2 different muskmelon, a cantaloupe and a honey dew variety – never once remembering that last year we failed to have even one melon seed of any kind germinate.

I have 36 cabbage plants, 36 broccoli plants, and 36 cauliflower plants started – 4 times as many as I normally plant.

Then there’s the peppers – both green and jalapeno (I can just taste those poppers!) and tomatoes.

Did I mention the 6 kinds of herbs I started from seeds?

I guess hope is new every spring. This is the year that the rains will come at just the right time, we will keep ahead of the weeds, and the bugs, coons, and other varmints will not appear.

My gardening mistakes and failures in past years are forgotten in the wonder of springtime.

I’ll let you know when reality hits!

By Country Gal | Posted in Gardening, Spring | Tagged , , | Comments (4)

4 Legged Varmints

March 8, 2010

Spring! It looks like you are finally here!

The temperatures are warming up, there’s rain – not snow in the forecast, and the 4 legged varmints are back.

You know the ones – raccoons, ‘possums, skunks and the like.

Although none of these animals actually hibernates during the winter months, they sleep longer and don’t do as much stuff. Some call it a state of “tupor” – waking from time to time to search for food.

That sounds very familiar – much like my own winter pattern! :)

As the days get longer and the warmer, they venture out and become nuisances.

We counted 3 dead skunks on the way to church yesterday. (Bet those cars will remember that stretch of highway for a long time!)

One friend reported that a critter had gotten into their chicken coop and killed every chicken. The intruder didn’t eat them – just killed them.

Another friend had a similar occurrence – but they only lost half of their flock.

At lunch today – I  saw a big fat ‘possum walking across the farm yard as if he owned the place.  I was concerned that he might be diseased so I checked online.

The site I found was full of interesting information. I discovered that although opossums are nocturnal, to have them wandering around in daylight isn’t too unusual – just like cats.

They are also very immune to rabies, but you should still avoid getting a bite. (Now that’s good advise!)

I also found that possum tastes like chicken, but if you wish to eat them, you should first catch it and feed it table scraps and other good food for a while to work all the carrion out of its system.

Right… like I really want to look the critter in the face and ask when it ate it’s last meal of carrion?! I wonder how long it would take to remove the effects of a carrion diet anyway?

But this particular sight didn’t recommend the practice of eating opossums at all. It sited that “a small cadre of renegade opossums has been known to have sought out people who have eaten their compatriots and lay siege to their dwelling. Armed with crude but efficient crossbows, they may shoot arrows into the car tires or capture and hold hostage the pets of the offending citizens.“

Wow! And since it’s online – you know it has to be true! I guess we’ll cross ‘possum off the menu this week.

I sent the boys out to take care of the offending critter.

Let’s just say it won’t be eating any of our chickens or eggs; nor will we be eating it.

Things will settle down here in a few weeks when the rest of our corner of the world wakes up and shakes off the winter doldrums.

But in the meantime we’ll keep the critter gun ready – and a close eye on the flock!

By Country Gal | Posted in Critters, Rural Realities | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (2)