Good afternoon!

This morning Rick made breakfast for us on our back porch. It was in the 70's, overcast and pleasant. We ate while watching the hummingbirds around the feeder. They are so funny. One guards the feeder from his perch in the pecan tree, swooping down when anyone else comes near. I am surprised they were not named "Twitters" since they do that as much as hum. Satchmo "the city boy" played around the property until something spooked him and then he ran for the back door. Petey stayed at our feet hoping for bacon and barked at the hummingbirds. It was a peaceful morning. Rick is out mowing now and I have peeled tomatoes waiting to be cooked and canned. Laundry beckons and I have wallpapering to do.

We had 14 people over last Saturday evening for a cookout. It was a lot of fun and great to see some people we hadn't seen for months. I hope now that Rick and I are not just "surviving" and actually starting to live again we will see them more often.

We attended the city planning meeting on Thursday. Our neighbor, Elsie, would like to donate her property to her church. There was much confusion about their plans and so the council instructed her pastor to meet with those on the petition before coming again before the planning commission on September 25th. So we still do not know what will happen. We met a lot of our neighbors. Very interesting and nice folks. All of them want the area to remain agricultural. The meeting itself was interesting. Before they got to us we had learned a lot about how they decide things. Rick and I have been married 33 years and for the first time realized that Rick worries and obsesses before anything happens and I worry after. We both pray before, during and after. Opposites attract.

While talking with Denice my neighbor to the west, their black cow kept putting his snout in a coffee can and then shaking his head. It was so funny! Ernie, their brown cow licked the black cow on the face. Denice said they take care of each other. I asked her how they were ever going to be able to butcher the black cow. The black cow apparently belongs to her brother in law. While we talked over the fence, storm clouds were building but, except for a couple of drops of rain it went around us. Night before we had lightening on all sides of us and rain galore! I can't remember ever seeing lightening like that.

Well, those tomatoes are waiting. Have a wonderful weekend!

The first 9 months

• First of all I don't know what the heck I'm doing, Catie made me do this. I wanted to keep a written journal. Catie wanted to see what we were up to each day. It would be easier for me if she would just move home...That's not going to happen, so here I go.
• I'm already confused, where did these dots come from?
• We took possession of our farm on December 6, 2007. We were so excited, we had dreamed of this for years. Our house is a Dutch Colonial Revival with a lane lined with Bradford Pears and a big red barn and five acres. Three days later a major ice storm arrived while we were moving our belongings into our house. All but one bradford pear was lost. We were without power for 6 days. The cavalry arrived in the form of my sister-in-law and her husband with a generator. We bought an electric blanket and continued to take showers at our old house. We had had both electric and gas at our house in town so this was a new experience! Our new house is all electric. Since we were still moving in we met in town and ate dinner out almost every night. There were broken trees everywhere. The bradfords fell on the lane and on the moving van and blocked it in. We purchased a chain saw and Rick went to work removing the downed trees. Luckily he had purchased insurance for the moving van, as the mirror was completely torn off. Ricks dad moved in with us in January and the two of them worked until May clearing branches and trees. We still have about 1/2 acre to clean up, we are waiting until fall to do so. Our first Christmas came and not having the energy to set up a tree and trimmings we made do with a vintage 1977 cardboard fireplace that my mom and dad sent to us while Catie was a baby. It was fun watching our adult children getting excited about it. We actually had a nice Christmas, Linda and Tom, Andrea and Rob, Grandpa Scott were here as well as Catie and Robbie and Daniel and his friend Subha. We had a fried turkey dinner with trimmings. The guys enjoyed the man barn.
• We have had a field fire. Lesson learned, don't use cell phone for 911 call. Our firemen are very nice people. Especially if you have a permit to burn.
• We had four cute little chickens. One by one they kept disappearing. Their names were Joy, Smiley, Gay and Merry. It wasn't until Joy was the only one left that we found a raccoon living in the loft in the chicken shed. Sadly, he came back for Joy. Lesson learned, don't name your chickens. Oh, and raccoons are not the cute little creatures that are portrayed on TV.
• One night we came home and there was (what we thought was a bull) a cow in our yard. Rick chased her out and we thought she went home. Later we found a note on our door asking for help finding a mother cow and her calf. A couple of days later the calf showed up. I called the people and they sent real cowboys to round the calf up. This was a big calf and it was very exciting. The calf escaped from the cowboys and jumped our fence. It took several days to round that calf up. The mother was caught much sooner. I didn't know that you could hire cowboys to round up and lasso your errant cows. Yes, we live in Oklahoma, however, cowboys with lassos and on horses chasing cows is just not all that common a sight here.
• We had a graduation party for our niece Andrea who recently graduated from the OU Dental Hygiene School. That was fun. We are really proud of her.
• We have seen a coyote and heard a lot of them. We have seen deer, raccoons and bunnies. Oh, and a snake. The mornings are glorious and so are the sunsets. We have grown some of our own food and hope next year to grow so much we have some to give to friends and family. I think Rick is the happiest I have ever seen him be. The barn is now a very nice work shop, air conditioned too!
• Our dachsund, Petey, went lame a few months ago. It is a disease that often happens to dachsunds. However, God saw fit to answer my prayer and Petey is walking again and Dr. G. will not be surprised to see him make a full recovery. Everyone at the Vets was so excited when Petey came walking into the clinic last week. Right now he kind of walks like a drunken sailor. But, he runs and his tail is directing symphonies again! Praise Jesus!!! We are back to normal. Let the dog in, Let the dog out, Let the dog in...
• It has been a crazy year! And yet, we have enjoyed the farm and look forward to the future here. In between the hard times we had days of waking to new growth of apple trees, blueberries, gorgeous crepe myrtles, peonies , five pecan trees and lilies I have never before seen. I have watched the joy in my husbands face when he brings in more tomatoes, cucumbers, zuchini, onions and peppers. Did I mention green beans, hundreds of them? There is a sort of peace out here. When I go to town, I find myself enjoying myself for an hour or two and then I begin to feel an urgency to get back to the farm. In spite of it all, it was a good choice to move here.
• Last weekend we went to "The Old Germany" restaurant in Choctaw. Our friend Charles Bitzer is home for a bit. He is in the Coast Guard and stationed in New Orleans. He and his wife Susan and Rick and I went. It was good food and lots of fun. Next weekend we are having several people over for a barbecue. Susan and I found a lavender farm about 10 minutes from our house. It has the cutest little shop and you can cut your own lavender for $5.00. I want to take Catie there next time she's home.
• Well, I think I'm caught up.