GUESS WHAT I HAVE????????????????????????

HAHAHAHAHA - Yes, it's true....drum roll please....

I HAVE PEAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woo Hoo!! Yippee!! Hoorah!!

Oh the joy of seeing those little green sprouts pop up from the ground  :) They're only about an inch tall but they are huge in my eyes! It seems I will be rewarded for all my hard work after all :) Were you ever in doubt? lol  I sure was...but only for a minute or two...hahaha

I have to begin by saying that our driveway is so beautiful right now that I find myself stopping along the way just to look out the window and gaze upon the hundreds of bright, white dogwood trees blooming to beat the band. There are so many that the woods appear to be engulfed in a white cloud of those soft, little petals.

The dogwood isn't a very tall tree nor is it big around but it puts out a tremendous amount of blooms - so many that you're deceived into thinking that there is one solitary humongous tree out there. Indeed a sight to behold and I behold it every day, morning and afternoon, as often as I can for the dogwood blooming time is short. You must enjoy it, savor it as you would a piece of dark chocolate, catch as much of it as you can with your camera and appreciate what the tree has to offer before it rolls up the blooming carpet and hides it away until next spring :)

So yesterday being no exception, I traveled slowly down the drive admiring what nature designed. I talk to myself (who doesn't? really?) and tell myself that I am the luckiest person in the world to be seeing what I'm seeing and living where I'm living. I know that this is right where I've always been meant to be. I see something new in the woods every day - sometimes it's just a leaf blowing in the breeze, sometimes it's a squirrel racing up a tree with his cheeks fully rounded by acorns. Soon enough there will be flowers aplenty to fill this farm with color.

I unloaded my groceries and visited with the old dogs as they warmed themselves in the sun on the porch. I petted the little, rambunctious, mongrels and then headed to Dizzy's Apt. to get the scratch feed for the roosters. Sure they've been doing a great job pecking around and eating all the ticks, grubs and whatever else they can find there but they deserve a treat and scratch is their favorite!

As I'm walking down the drive, I hear Wally coming up from the holler on the 4 wheeler. He rides over to where I am and we share the highlights of our day. He worked in the barn organizing and cleaning up things. He burned a bunch of cardboard and old mail that we don't want to put in the household trash bin and he worked on the list of parts we'll need to finish the bronco. As for me, well, I worked at work and then left to go to the doctors to see about my hands. Apparently I have carpal tunnel and it's been making my hands feel weird when I'm trying to sleep at night. The nice doctor gave me some braces for my hands and I was off to the grocery store.

Wally sat there on the 4 wheeler while I fed the roosters and then he said something along the lines of "oh, by the way, you got peas." I about flipped! He offered me a ride on the 4 wheeler so we could go to the garden and check them out. Sure enough the little buggers had sprung from the ground and were happily enjoying the afternoon sunshine as it warmed and nurtured them. What a simple thing to be so absolutely delighted about peas coming forth from the ground. That's life for me these days and it's so cool!! I told Kris "nothing can ruin the pea high" that I'm on today :) Can't you just feel my excitement? lol

You know I'll be like a mad woman tonight when I get home....I'll be looking for carrots, beets and onions with a determination untold before now...lol!!! Pictures will be downloaded come Monday for sure.

I'll come back down to earth for a while and tell you how the rest of the day went by... :)

Since we were already on the 4 wheeler, we rode down to the barn and Wally showed me all that he had done. We cleaned up a few more things, brought the bronco back inside, turned off the radio, closed up the doors and hopped on the 4 wheelers to head for the cabin. Food Lion had chuck eye steaks on sale so I bought a couple since I didn't have anything thawed out for dinner. While Wally started the grill, I seasoned the steaks and heated up a can of "Allen's Seasoned Butter Beans." I highly recommend them if you are a fan of the butter bean :)

He set Colt and Ruger free and they were busy terrorizing the roosters while the old dogs settled in behind the grill to catch the scent of grilling meat and hopefully a morsel or two. The roosters were so annoyed they started their "cock-a-doodle-doing" and didn't quit until the dogs finally left them be. They don't like disruptions in their world so the slightest change will get them going...lol it cracks me up and I love to hear them but of course I'm at work all day so I don't get to hear them as often as Wally does. He says they go at it all day long...lol! It likely drives him nuts...

The afternoon was warm and windy and the puppies ran and rolled and frolicked out there in the front yard until they had no more left in them and they came back to us ready to rest. The roosters forgave them their annoyance and pecked their way back to where I had thrown the scratch feed earlier. The old dogs growled, bared their teeth and barked at those little fellows until they too were finally left alone. Like little children, Colt and Ruger think all the attention should be on them all the time.

I brought the steaks inside while Wally put the puppies back on their chains. I dished out some beans and added a couple thick, juicy, slices of tomato and we sat down at the table to eat. The sun was shining in the back porch windows, the breeze was blowing through the open front door. Our dinner was everything a steak dinner should be with the steaks cooked perfectly, the outside of them crunchy - the inside juicy and warm. The beans were tender and vidalia onions gave them a slightly sweet taste. The tomato slices were thick and sprinkled with salt and reminded me that I still had some planting to do before the end of next week :)

We watched Two and A Half Men and a couple episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond and called it a night. We called it a Good Night, of course, for the peas had finally entered our world! LOL

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you...while I was on vacation, I was talking to Dizzy Debbie one morning and as I looked out the spare bedroom window towards where the horses come up, I saw about 7 deer right along the edge of the woods. They were eating the fresh, new, spring grass and enjoying the warmth of the morning sun. While I do love watching them, on this particular day I got an extra treat...there was a baby in the group!She was only about 2 feet tall and with her gangly legs she worked at keeping up with her mama. Mama had hit on a big patch of grass and was busily working her way through it. They were easily within about 10 feet of the cabin. My camera? Dead battery! Dang it!

The deer were dangerously close to my onion garden and as I watched, I noticed that they did indeed avoid that area. I don't know if it's because they know there are onions in the ground or if it's just because there is no grass... c'mon, let me think that my "onion smell" theory is correct...lol! It's the little things that make me happy :)

Tonight Wally is putting new shocks on my car. I don't know how often a car needs new shocks but he says it's time and since he's the mechanic, I'm going with that. From work I'll just drive straight to the barn/garage so he can replace them. They say there's a 50/50 chance of rain and from the looks of things outside, "they" might actually be right this time. Hopefully by the time I leave work, it will have passed.

Food Lion had ground beef on sale for, get this - $1.39 a pound. So here it is April, 2011 and a full pound of ground beef is now two dollars and twenty cents cheaper than a gallon of gasoline. That's a pretty sad state of affairs. If I had my druthers, I'druther stay on the farm, raise cattle and chickens, grow wheat, barley and all manner of vegetables instead of driving to work every day. Oh to have been born in the days of my Great Grandparents...

I hope your garden grows with all the seeds you've planted be they fruits or vegetables or flowers :) You're welcome to come see mine anytime you please....

"One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides." ~W.E. Johns, The Passing Show