Patience

So many people over the years have looked at me and said "Wow you have so much patience. I don't know how you do it."  Want in on my secret?  Most of the time, I'm faking it till I make it. Seriously I'm just faking it. I look like I'm really calm, tolerant, persevering, long suffering... but I'm not Caillou's mom. Nope I just have made a habit of being that way on the outside.  Where as on the inside I could be seething with impatience (I don't have time for).  

I can hear my Mom saying "Andeale Vamonos"  (meaning move hurry) in my head as I wait in line at Starbucks wondering if it is ok to use my Mobile App to order drinks... get out of line and grab the 2 comfy seats in the corner before someone snaps them up.  I find myself timing things. For example it takes 10 minutes to get to ballet practice if I don't catch the 3 lights on my way there, but if I get all the lights it will take me 14 minutes... unless there is a stray car and that one light that is always green goes randomly red because SOMEONE needs to turn left, then it's 16 min. If ballet practice is in 20 minutes do I have enough time to find the socks Tippin stole, get my shoes on and herd these kids out the door? Hey look kids, life is word problems. To sock or not to sock that is the question. 

My sighs are not sighs of forbearance but ones of come on move it! It's just too tiring to be all hepped up on all the teen drama, in fact it's exhausting... so when I'm not "faking" my patience, I'm usually just to tired to bother. I'm in that stage where at 6pm I can and often do fall asleep if I sit down.  But I'm wired for sound at 1 am in the morning? What is up with that bio rhythms? You need to get in line with the sun!
 

How often do we look at a situation and only see the outer shell, the public persona. That person we think we know from Facebook and Instagram.  When in reality the opposite of what we see is what is actually happening.  When that person gets home do they too primal scream in the back yard, and later that day do they too dance in the "Super Moonlight" with their beloved?  I hope they do, because  this election cycle we all need a bit of primal screaming and being someone's beloved. 

Some Thoughts at 2am

So I'm sitting here again watching the hype on Facebook and realizing what a huge wide ranging group of friends I am privileged to know.  They span the globe and span the range of left to right, liberal to moderate to conservative.  I love you guys *hug*

Ya know I'm totally reminded of 1999 right now.

Do y'all remember Y2K... Oh the hype the freak out, the fear... and New years day 2000 ushered in a year of the electrical stations continuing to work and everyone being able to turn their lights on. Yup I'll admit it, I did spend the years 2000-2001 figuring out how I could hide powdered eggs in things to use them up. We also ate lots of rice and beans. Well you know we had to be prepared just in case.  Ok I did freak out, I did worry, and all it got me was a sack full of beans...

I'm sitting here meditating in my small way on Ecclesiastes 1:9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

All that fear over Y2K for nought, I spent so much emotional energy, time effort for what?  A sack of beans...  My hubby composed a song in 2005 so I'll leave you with it Nothing New Under The Sun it's quite catchy, he even let me be a beatnik poetry reader type in it.
Blessings

Dog Instagram Accounts

Dog Instagram Accounts 

or an exercise in silliness 

So my friend has a Instagram account for her dog I mean seriously Look at that mug!

Photo used with permission of Tosh's Mommy

Follow him at tosh.corgi

How can you not just love that face? She encouraged me to make one for Tippin which I promptly did.  I'm so glad I did. I think it is the most fun you can have as a homeschool mom on social media.  Instead of stressing about how many friends or likes you have. One just can post silliness about puppies. I absolutely love pretending to be a puppy.  Lying on the floor to get a dogs eye view of the world just because I can.  

How amazing it would be if you never were allowed on the couch and managing to sneak up on there. Dogs are always so positive, please note grumpy dog did not go viral. 

The awesome sauce that comes across my screen everyday is encouraging, makes me smile and laugh out loud. How can you not love dogs being dogs. other people pretending to be dogs talking like dogs it's hilarious. You too can experience many "Awwwwwwe" moments as the puppies and baby sloths pose for the camera and fill you feed with love. 

I highly recommend it.   

My Love Affair

Meet Tippin

Seriously How can you not just love, love, love this face. 

So back in July my dear sweet hubby said yes to my proposal! It was almost as exciting as his proposal back in college... ha ha ha.  I showed him a site that had links to where there were Old Time Scotch Collie puppies for sale. One lady was near Austin, he called her and she asked us lots of questions and finally agreed to sell us her last male puppy. She said a family friend who wanted him but since he tended to kill goldfish she was hesitant to send him that way. She was planning on breeding him and I can see why.  This dog has the best temperament. He is sweet and smart. I love how much of a family dog he is. Our smallest fluffy butt is bonded to only one person in the house. It takes a full slice of bacon to get him where I need him.  Ransom would rather sit all day every day at my feet leaving the kids feeling a bit left out. Where as Tippin seems to be happy with whom ever he is with.  Happy to chase a frisbee and bring it back once or twice... but after that *squirrel* and he is off to dig in the Zen Garden. At least he is not making holes under the fence right... 

One reason we got him was to be an all around farm dog. Good for laying doodies around the perimeter of the yard to keep away things that prey on chickens, and to discourage flying missiles (hawks) from taking out our free ranging chooks.  He seems to have a feather fetish.  Just a few days ago I noticed all the chickens were in their yard... they can fly over but he can't get in. So I let Tippin out to run around the back yard. He was so good for about 45 minutes... I'd be peeking to make sure he was where he was suppose to be. I looked and saw he had a chicken! He had Mama the one that successfully adopted the chicks we brought home from the store.  EEEk! I walk over, he runs away, because he knows chickens are not for chewing. I give him a few choice nose tweaks and say no eating chickens. I'm worried the chicken is injured. I look and look can't find her. Little miss Sunshine looks. We're looking front/back/side yards. No chicken, "Well she is mobile." I think to myself.  Eventually I spot her hiding in the long grass in of all places the dog run. No one said chickens are smart... this is the 2nd time Tippin has licked her right good. She was one wet hen. She had 1-2 feathers munched on but mainly she was just wet. I checked her wings her legs her neck, no squawking or I'm hurting sounds. She flapped her wings and huffed off after I put her back in the yard.  Today you would never tell she was sat on and licked. She waddled past him as if nothing happened. Not a feather out of place. Go figure. 

This dog has been a joy to my heart, up beat on the most depressing of days and happy, so happy. Give him a kong full of peanut butter and he just expresses contentment. He is smart too, I could see by the twinkle in his eye he stole that sock knowing that if I say drop it, I will give him a nice chewy treat.  He steals one sock just about every day. Were still working on "come here" oh he knows but some times he stands there and thinks.  I have to convince him my treat is better than chasing the toads.... Seriously stop it,  the toad are good for the garden.  Yet this trait of thinking is good. He may one day be out there and have to confront a possum. For example one day last month he just would not come in! No matter what I offered, so I put on my muck boots and went out to get him. When I scared the hawk out of the tree... I then proceeded to herd all the chickens into the covered run and locked them in.  See, good thinking Tippin! 

I love how he sleeps on his back next to the wall, how he jumps up on me when I'm lying down and gives my back a massage. How he desperately wants to get on the couch and cuddle but knows he's not allowed. So he gets all but his back paws on the couch and looks at one mournfully like Oliver asking for "more please."  Such a big baby that is a sweet sweet lover. What can I say I'm smitten. 

If you want to follow him on Instagram his moniker is TippinOTSC. Soon I'll blog about the joys of a dog Instagram account, really its the most fun one can have on social media. 

The Garden That Didn't Grow.

I had a great talk with a local lady at the Tiny hometown Trunk or Treat event on Saturday.  She was wearing a shirt that said "Farm wives aren't afraid to get their hands dirty."  I commented on how much I loved her shirt and we started chatting.  We discussed chickens, rabbits and gardening. Oh the gardening. She said she had given up because of the back earth... note not black soil. Black soil is good rich soil full of nutrients. Black earth she described to me as having been contaminated with oil.  Make plenty of sense as there is oil in them thar hills to the east of us. I have 2 kinds of soil in my yard. On one side I have soil that is black and holds together like crusty shells and glue that is the black earth. On the other side I could dig, dry and sieve the clay, and make sculptures with it. Neither side is ideal for gardening. The only plots that did well are the boxes out front which I have discovered have heavy duty landscaper paper under them keeping the roots of my plants from coming in contact with my land.

Now armed with this information I do believe I will be digging out my boxes laying landscaper paper down and when necessary starting from scratch. Luckly I have a child with 6 rabbits... anyone want a rabbit??? seriously anyone?? So if the 4H youth informations is right I'm looking at 3 tons of manure per year for my garden beds.  Can you imagine! The great news is rabbit manure requires no composting. It is not a hot manure. Unlike the chicken coop poop that I need to toss in the composter, (when Tippin isn't eating it all) I can have my child clean the rabbit area and just dump it in my garden boxes. 

My dear husband wants to just raise the level of the boxes fill them with rabbit droppings and plant... 

Meanwhile... 

I'm wondering where I can get biocentras (sp?) bacteria that eats oil, eliminates it, and then dies off for want of anything else to eat. One would think natural selection over the entire time this soil has "just been this way" would produce an oil eating bacteria, but my poor yellow stressed out plants showed me this year totally negates that thought process. 

I'm still trying to solve the mystery of who ate my garlic. I planted it, it grew, it started to die back.  I went to harvest and no garlic bulbs just holes in the garden, the soil smelled of garlic I was not imagining things I did plant it it was here... now who or what would steal garlic?