Glad You Like It...

The response regarding the pictures being on flickr has been overwhelming. I guess I should have figured out that flickr thing a long time ago. Hey, where were you... all my internet-savvy buddies who could have tipped me off from the beginning???? LOL

Thank you for all the nice things you've said about the new pictures and about them being easier to view now that they are all together. I have a bit of sadness to impart and then I'll get to the regular blog posting -

We lost Jimbo in the overnight hours of Tuesday evening. When the guys got there Wednesday morning he had already passed on to the big, lush, green, horse pasture in the sky. We took care of him as best we could in the short amount of time we had him. He led a good life.

Kurt brought pictures of Jimbo when he was in his prime. Beverly’s father had trained him to be a hunting horse and he was one of the best. Her father tells stories of Jimbo being out in the woods and walking softly so as not to scare off the deer. He could ride Jimbo to within range of a deer, shoot the gun and Jimbo never even flinched. I'm told it’s not easy to find a horse like that or train one for that matter.

He had a very unique personality. He was kind of like a cat. When he wanted you to pay attention to him, you had no choice. He would follow you around and even lay his head on your shoulder. He nudged me in the back when he wanted me to know the water was getting low in the bucket. If he wanted to be alone, you couldn’t sneak up on him. He would simply walk away. He was very good at turning on a dime which made it easy for him to elude us when he wanted. It didn’t happen often. He liked having his nose rubbed.

Beverly tells us about a time when she was very sad and Jimbo was the friend she relied on to listen to her woes. When she cried, she swears she saw tears in Jimbo’s eyes too. It could very well be true – Jimbo was that kind of horse.

He was a loner having never lived with other horses until he came to live with us. He was never intimidated by Smokey or Rebel. Even though he was much smaller than either of them, he didn’t act like he knew it. He ate his grass, drank of the water when he wanted to and minded his own business.

Jimbo never tried to upend the garbage cans or stick his nose into my bowl of pea pods (like some other red horse we know...). He never tried to get up on the porch or eat from my bird feeder (again, like some other red horse we know...). He loaded up into the trailer like he was on his way to Disney World (unlike either the black or red horse we know...).

He loved his bath so much that he fell asleep with his head on the hitching post while I was rubbing him down. He could certainly appreciate it when something felt that good.

We’ll surely miss Jimbo but we knew we would only have him for a short time. Sadness comes to the farm just like anywhere else.

Strangely enough, I was just talking to Marcia Monday afternoon and she asked about Jimbo. At that time, he seemed to be doing fine. We were riding the 4 wheelers Sunday and stopped to check on him. He was eating grass in the bottom pasture and watched us go by without missing a bite. I don't think Marcia has access to the blog so if one of you would please print out the part about Jimbo and show it to her, I would greatly appreciate it. She must have some sort of sixth sense about her...

It rained on and off for a couple days and as a result most of the leaves on the trees on our side of town have fallen to the ground. While I might still get some pretty pictures of them before the wind blows them away, I won't be able to get any more pictures of them in the trees. It literally happened overnight just like Wally said it would.

I loved every minute of every view of every leaf I saw.

Brentwood still has leaves on the trees but I'm either working or driving while in Brentwood and driving is not conducive to photo taking... unless you like pictures taken from the ditch on the side of the road... LOL

Thank goodness we took pictures last weekend!!

I was a busy little bee yesterday. I stopped and filled up my car - stupid $2.69 a gallon gas prices are just out of this world! I got home and saw that the storm had knocked over 2 of my pansies and the big milk jug in my decoration place. I had to re-pot the plants and get them situated back where they belong and then there I was with dirt all over my hands, in me work clothes and needing to get back in the car to make my way to the cabin. Well, of course I made it but it was challenging. I brushed off as much dirt as I could on the very bottom of my jeans where it wouldn't be too obvious should I need to wear them again before they get washed... ha ha ha

Then there I was trying to figure out how to get all my crap into the house with these dirty hands. I have my lovely canvas AT&T bag that I carry everything in every day (thank you Kathy!). I have my HUGE new satchel (you probably saw it when I was there...) and my gray jacket (can't go anywhere without my trusty jacket). My phone was in the cup holder and my sunglasses were on my face. You can just picture me trying to figure it out all the while holding my bladder which was about to win. It's funny now - not so much then :)

I left everything in the car and ran to the bathroom! ha ha ha  Once in the house, like everyone, I realized all the stuff I needed to get done. While in the bathroom, I went ahead and sprayed the sink and toilet with Clorox Clean-up and then tried to get back to my car before I forgot all that stuff out there. I got side-tracked by the sound of thunder realizing that my clothes would get soaked again if I didn't get them in quick. Forget the stuff in the car, hurry out to the line and pull those clothes in!

I got them in before it started raining but it was close. Back in the house I started putting away dishes and getting ready to wash up the few that were there from the day. Oh yeah, my dirty salad bowl and AT&T bag were still in the car. Out to the car in the drizzling rain... boooooooo got all my crap inside with only minor rain damage. It was nice and cool outside so I left the back door open while I got things done in the kitchen.

The roosters must not care that it was raining as they quickly followed me to the porch and were making their little noises in anticipation of me feeding them. Alas, I was in the middle of doing dishes so the roosters would have to wait. I got all the dishes put away and washed the few from my lunch and Wally's breakfast. No big deal. I started cleaning off the bar.

Everyone has a place in their house where things tend to pile up, right? Ours is the bar. It's big and it's right there when you walk in the back door. It's a perfectly beautiful catch-all that drives me NUTS!!! I probably clean that thing off a couple times a month and it is always cluttered up again in no time. Can you feel it?

So I cleared off the bar top and cleaned it with some glass cleaner. Oh it looked so nice without all that junk all over it. The problem is finding a place to put all the junk. And then there was the bleach in the bathroom... I had to get in there and finish cleaning the sink and toilet so I put everything from the bar on the bed in the spare bedroom. I'll get back to it. Yeah, right.

Bathroom - done. I lit a cinnamon scented candle, turned off the light and headed back to the spare bedroom and all that junk. On my way I noticed that the hallway floor was looking kind of dusty so I decided to sweep. After I finally found the broom - I don't know why it was outside by the grill???? I got the hallway and kitchen floors swept and the back porch steps too. Whew.... back inside, the first thing I see is that pile of junk on the spare bedroom bed...okay, I got a beer and dug in. Junk mail in the burn pile, necessary mail on the table in the dining room so I won't forget to look at it, sponges and soap for cleaning the saddles in the pantry until I can get to that chore, gloves in my AT&T bag (thank goodness I brought it in out of my car) and my hunting vest, permission slip and some weather stripping all in the styrofoam cooler that was over in the corner. It may not be the perfect storage option but it worked for me last night. I hung the binoculars (for sighting deer) on the coat hook on the back of the door and collected up all the little scraps of paper; phone numbers, doctor's appointments, receipts etc. and put them by the phone in a nice, neat, pile.

At least it's all out of the way :) I'll have to re-read this posting when I go to find all that stuff because we all know my memory isn't going to hold up when the time comes to locate it again ha ha ha ha ha Been there? Sure you have :)

While the porches were being stained the "tater" box had to be moved off and hadn't been put back yet so Wally brought that up for me and then he fed the roosters. I had those huge sweat potatoes from the CSA basked that needed to go in it and a bag of onions and regular potatoes too. Of course when I picked up the onions all those papery peels blew out of the mesh bag and onto my nice, clean, floor so out comes the broom again... lol

My kitchen counters were clean, the bar top was clean, the floors and bathroom were clean and the spare bedroom bed was cleared off. Now how about some dinner? Well, in my haste to get everything done, I forgot to take anything out... that's how it goes with me. Wally took me to the diner and we had ribeyes (just so, so nothing to brag about) black eyed peas, carrots and a roll. We had a couple beers while we ate, watched two and a half men (they have a big screen at the diner!) and then made our way back home.

I was tired from all the work I did and Wally had dealt with the whole Jimbo saga so we decided to call it a night. It was still drizzling rain, the dogs were huddled up on the back porch, the roosters were nowhere to be seen (maybe they've found a new roosting tree?) and the evening air had cooled off to the point of being chilly. I put on a pair of Wally's sweat pants (how sexy can you get?), my slippers, and a tank top and we called it a night. Perfect.

I awoke to a 48 degree morning, roosters cock-a-doodle-dooing somewhere off in the distance, stars shining all around the little slip of a moon and it was only 4:20 am. Already my day was off to a beautiful start. I got my shower, made my lunch and heard Wally coming downstairs. I got me a couple big hugs and a kiss and I was on the road to work. The leaves are everywhere now and it's hard to see the path but I know it pretty well after being here for 6 and half months.  Can you believe it's been that long already? I love it!

"The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools." Henry Beston