Winter Wonderland

Winter has arrived in Texas!

 

A cold rain pouring from leaden skies heralded the change...

 

We watched it from windows warm turn into icicles before our eyes!

 

 

 

And then drifting snow...

 

A winter wonderland here on the farm!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn bows to winter's frozen beauty with barely a whisper...

 

 

Ready to fire up the woodstove and start the chili to simmering!

 

May you and your loved ones find ways to snuggle close, share the warmth and be safe should you find yourself in the line of this bitter artic blast...

 

Love Always, Jane

The Half-Halt of Life...

He was a horse... named Risky. 

 

And he was a treasured part of our family for 12 years.

 

Cleaning our shed the other day brought back the memories...moving his saddle lifted a wave of his scent and even now I can almost touch his velvet soft muzzle and hear his nicker.

 

We were just moved into the farm, feeling our way around new chores and baby goats and raccoon bandits when he arrived.  A Gift for one deliriously happy 10-year old daughter.

 

And he was a Gift.  Bringing Beauty to our pastures and Delight to our days.  We found he was a wonderful Goat Guardian and he earned his keep many times over. 

 

Katie took to her job as Horse Keeper with the passion of a first love.  Feeding, brushing, watering, and mucking stalls... we signed her up for some basic Horse Riding Lessons and enjoyed watching the fun from the sidelines.

 

Her teacher was calm and hilariously inventive.  One night she had Katie riding bareback all over the arena carrying an egg in a spoon...teaching balance.  And success was finally achieved many dozens of eggs later... Another night she had Katie working the lunge line from the ground.  Our tiny 80lb baby girl and a 1,000lb horse circling her with only a soft line and her words...teaching control.

 

So much to learn... hoof care, conformation, saddling, bridling and finally riding...

 

And one of the lessons that has stuck with me these many years past is the simple half-halt.

 

Perhaps you've heard of it, perhaps not.  It is a technique used when riding to get your horse's attention.  As I listened to the instructor explain this particular manuever, I was struck by it's profound life applications (and she thought she was just teaching a riding lesson...)

 

To understand, let me share what the instructor said that night.

 

A half-halt is used to get a horse's attention, and to ask him to balance.  You use a half-halt when you are about to ask the horse to do something: to go from a trot to a canter, to make a turn, to speed up or slow down without changing gaits, etc.  To perform the half-halt you actually are giving 2 signals to the horse simultaneously... squeezing your seat to ask for a whoa and squeezing your calves to ask for continued movement forward.  But you stop the signals before he slows down or "halfway" to his halt.

 

The half-halt itself is not a request for a change of pace or direction.  The main purpose of the half-halt is to rebalance the horse...

 

Did you get it?  The main purpose of the half-halt is to rebalance...

 

It is asking the horse to carry its weight slightly more on his hindquarters, listening to you, anticipating and preparing for the change that you will be asking of him, for the change that is coming.

 

Seriously.  That is the half-halt.

 

How many times since then have I said to my soul... time for a half-halt.

 

Time for rebalance.  Time to anticipate and prepare for the changes that are coming.

 

Do you feel it too sometimes?  The Life-Giver isn't asking for a change of pace or direction at the moment... But for rebalance, to get our attention, to prepare us for the moments ahead.

 

Asking us to listen.  To be still my soul and simply listen...

 

Rebalancing our life's priorities, more focus on Him, less focus on the busy chaos around us.  Continuing the journey forward but with anticipation for the coming change.

 

Maybe you are in the midst of horrific cancer treatment, perhaps you have just had painful surgery, could be the love of your life has been pulled from your arms, might just be the new school year begun...

 

The Life we live, the Journey we are on is filled with these moments of hard hills and deep valleys.    And sometimes in the midst He asks of us a half-halt.  To Rebalance, To Listen Close, To Accept Strength for What Lies Ahead...

 

I am reminded anew of His promises in Isaiah 40:31, the Amplified Version...

 

"But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired."

 

Such Truth, Such Hope, Such Promise.

 

Trusting With Grace in the Middle of Half-Halt,

 

                                                Love Always, Jane

It's a Hillbilly-Cobbler Kind of Day

 

 

Peach Cobbler...so perfectly delicious this hot summer night!

 

But the day didn't start out that way.  It just kind of ended that way... in need of some sweet down-home goodness to make things all better.

 

The day actually started like most others.  Heading out to do chores with a shovel in one hand and Black Flag in the other.  That's kind of how I do chores now since the evil lurkers disturbed my peaceful existence...

 

But on this particular day, handsome Farmer Husband remembered that once upon a time (many moons ago), we had bought an electronic Pest Repelling device.  I believe it was after the Petie and Skunk incident (sad, sad face).  But no matter, we both remembered the device but couldn't actually remember where it was.

 

And there-in lay the dilemma.  Because if it was in the shed...(cue dramatic music), we will never find it.

 

Seriously.  I don't exaggerate.  Does everyone have a shed like ours? 

 

 

Our shed is a Black Hole for items which might serve a useful purpose or did at one time and might again, but who knows and let's just put it in here for a while and see if a need arises upon which one of us will say...remember when we bought a Pest Repelling device and do we still have it somewhere?

 

Yes... it may be in the Shed.  The crowded, packed, can't move around in here, it's hotter than blue blazes Shed...

 

And, of course, we spent the better part of the day "cleaning" the Shed while looking for the much needed Pest Repelling device.

 

We found many, many things...that were not the Pest Repelling device...like

 

Kayaking Paddles and Tennis Raquets and Volleyballs

(we like to work out... I hear snickering... What?!)...

 

 

and Potting Soil and Cute Crosses (I was wondering where these were)...

 

 

 

and a perfectly good saddle for the horse we no longer have (extra sad face)

but good memories all the same...

 

 

and a whole box of old-fashioned records! Really! We used to play these all the time... (Feeling old...)

  

and then there's our Knight in Shining Armor (everybody needs one of these)...

 

 

and a knee brace propped up on a very old Encyclopedia set (nobody needs those!)....

 

And finally...FINALLY... we hit pay dirt between the

electric ice cream maker and a tub of halloween costumes!

The PestChaser Pro!

 

Plugged in and working great!  The Sonic Blast is repelling all Pests as we speak!

 

And we should have stopped there.  Really.

We found what we were after.  All other relics in the Shed should be left alone... Really.

 

But no...our adrenaline high had us on a roll and we continued to clean the shed...

Until I stumbled upon this innocent Igloo Water Jug...

 

 

And I just wanted to move it over with the other motley collection of assorted coolers and such,

when, to my horror, the lid slid off and revealed a new Evil Lurker!

 

Ok.  I'm done for the day. 

 

And I don't care that Farmer Husband said that this little scorpion was deader than a doornail and roasted to a crispy crunch in the heat of our August Texas sun.

 

Nope.  Going in the house.  Where it's nice and cool and nary an Evil Lurker to be found.

 

And that's when I decided we needed some down-home sustenance... It doesn't get much better or much easier than our Hillbilly Peach Cobbler.

 

You need a CrockPot

 

 

Into the CrockPot you throw in 2 cans of your favorite Pie Filling,

cover it with a box of Yellow Cake Mix (dry, do not mix it up into a batter) and then pour a stick of melted butter over the dry cake mix.  Do not stir.

 

Set the CrockPot on Low for 3 hours.

 

And the house smells heavenly as the Cobbler bubbles away

removing all thoughts of scorpions and snakes and spiders from your frazzled mind...

 

 

We don't even need supper tonight.

I'm a thinking that warm Peach Cobbler and a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream will suffice.

 

 

 

And that's a Hillbilly Cobbler kind of day for you.

 

May your day be ending on just such a sweet note...

 

Love and Grace Always,

           Jane

  

The Babies of Summer...

Sweet Baby Faces!  They're everywhere!

First peachick of the spring, growing into his fluffy peeps!

 

 

And purring fuzzballs charming everyone...

 

 

 

And then there's the baby goat kids...

 

 

Impossible to hold still, leaping and bounding their joy.

 

 

Oops, wrong end... let's try that again.

 

 

And again...

 

 

Almost had it.

 

 

Too close...

 

 

Ahhh....just right!  Sweet little goat babies!

 

 

Mama Dove, what are you hiding under your downy fluff?

 

 

 

 

Precious, little ones...

 

And our most favorite baby face of all???

 

 

Sweet Aubree Claire, bathing beauty extraordinaire!

 

 

 

Sometimes the smallest are simply the sweetest!

 

May your summer days be gracing you with the most adorable of joys...

          Love and Hugs,

                              Jane

 

Super Moon Shenanigans

Have you seen her yet?

 

Lurking over the horizon, all hazy and otherwordly...

 

 

She defies the ordinary and casts a wicked gleam over the night realm.

 

 

Scientists have named her the Super Moon.  The phenomenon occurs about once a year when the moon rolls closest to earth in its eliptical orbit.  This results in a "Super" large viewing of the moon from earth... 

 

And she is a beauty.  Perhaps you've seen her dancing over the evening sky.  Beguiling beams of light streaking night with day.  And perhaps she is the one to blame for all the mayhem on the farm!  For something is amiss!

 

Yesterday morning while I was doing chores I noticed Miss Peacock playing hide-n-seek in the bed of the pick-up...

 

 

Up with her head, then ducked down, daring me to come see...

 

And this is what I found!

 

 

An egg!

 

Laid in the dirty, old bed of the pick-up!  In June!  Something very peculiar going on around the farm indeed.  Our peas generally nest in early spring, which is February or March around here.  So an egg in June is just down-right strange.  And then to drop it in the old pick-up... Maybe that Super Moon is messing with the order of things!

 

Then today when I got home from running errands, I noticed someone's goats out along the road...

 

 

And I thought... boy, they sure look a lot like our cashmeres.  And then I slammed on the brakes and realized... They Are Our Cashmeres!!!

 

And they knew they were in trouble... they actually beat me back to the pasture gate... which, of course they couldn't get thru because it was locked.

 

After they were safely tucked away in their "time-out" corners... I walked the fence line and found the tiniest of breaks near the creek.  Uh-huh.  They are nothing if not persistent.  So, fence fixed.  Goats in time-out.  I walked back to the house and noticed the apple tree.

 

 

Stripped to the bark...

 

By these little hoodlums

 

 

who don't appear to be feeling any remorse.

 

And then it gets worse.  The black raspberry bush...

 

 

Stripped clean!  Not even a leaf left, only the stake and tape holding it up.

 

But the final straw would be my beautiful rose bushes...

 

 

Nary a bloom survived the ravenous appetites of our goats on the rampage.  Dare I blame it on the Super Moon?  For this could not be normal behavior for our "sweet" herd of cashmere!

 

And the Super Moon is playing havoc with the garden as well... or perhaps I'm just a messy gardener, but the tomato plants are becoming a jungle!

 

 

 

What bounty!

 

 

Although Casey does not seem to be impressed...

 

 

Must be the work of a Super Moon!

 

May we always be blessed with the magic of Life Lived Large,

for even when ravaging pests strip us bare,

remind us that our roots run deep and our foundation is sure.

 

 

 

Soaking up the Moon Beams tonight,

     In Grace,

              Jane

 

p.s.  Thank you Stacy for the amazing Super Moon photos!  You captured it perfectly!