The Mean Green Machine!!

(note to readers: there will be NO self-incriminating pictures posted with this blog. Suffice it to say that this is one woman's testimony of battle against the evil world of the mean green machine.)
I awoke on Saturday morning with a dozen things running through my head about what needed to be done that day. The whole day stretched before me.....an empty slate just waiting to be filled with whatever I chose. Ken was scheduled to do termite work all day and I was NOT scheduled to answer phones and do paperwork. Saturday is the one day that I can do whatsoever I wish and not feel guilty about it. ( I do whatsoever I wish on other days, too, but always with a great degree of guilt since I am SUPPOSED to be WORKING instead of gratifying my own desires.....but we won't go there!) I looked out my bedroom window to scope out the lay of the land on the outside and it was looking pretty good for some outdoor activity after it warmed up a bit. I needed to finish up the bathroom, so I got busy doing that and one thing led to another until I had successfully used up all of the morning and was starting into the afternoon. The forecast was for rain to develop later, so I thought to myself: "Lorna, you should really mow the yard! That's what you should do!!" "Good idea", I said back. Then I remembered that the battery was dead on the riding lawn mower. I don't know what it is about lawnmowers that we cannot keep in good running order!!! This mower had only been used about 6 times and already the battery was past helping. Of course, it does hinder the cause when certain people, who shall remain un-named, leave the key on. Oh, well.....batteries were made for jumping, so I fetched the pickup truck, the jumper cables and the gasoline and set out to get that mower started. Did I mention that this is a new mower to me? It the same as the old one....it's green and has Craftsman printed on it.... but it doesn't act the same as the old one. The old mower was a normal mower. To go into a different gear, you must first push in the clutch. To get to reverse, you must first push in the clutch. To get the thing to stop, you must first push in the clutch. I know about clutches. What I don't know about is a machine that does not need a clutch to do all these things. You simply move the handle forward or backward and the mower will respond accordingly. Going a little too fast through that taller grass? Ease back on the handle and the machine will slow down. Got a long, straight shot of yard that can handle more speed? Push forward, and away we go!! It sounds very simple, but for people like me with clutches on the brain, this machine can turn mean in an instant! And that's what happened to me. I was mowing in the back yard, intent on getting all the grass cut that could possibly come under the blades of my nifty little mower, when that machine got a mean streak and leaped right into a patch of tall grass between the chain link fence and the propane tank!! OK, maybe it didn't do it on purpose. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I pushed the handle toward 'speed' instead of 'slow'. But the fact remains that I was stuck until Ken could come home and bail me out of my predicament. Oh.......the laughter and the mocking and the sly looks that I endured from my unsympathetic (or should I say PATHETIC) family members......the indignity that I suffered from being bested by a piece of machinery.......all because I happen to do better with a good, old fashioned, simple clutch!!! Stupid mean, green, mowing machine!

The Menagerie

I walked out my back door this morning to a beautiful sight and sound! Looking at me, over the fence that separates the pastures, were four very muddy and scroungy-looking horses. I was greeted by impatient snorts and excited whinnies. You would never know that the beasts had been fed just the evening before! I'm pretty sure they are hogs in horse skins!! At the sound of the horses, the cat came careening around the corner, making all kinds of anxious, starving noises. He jumped up on the hottub lid and proceeded to fall over on his side as if to say, "this is me....going fast." When they heard the cat rowling around, both dogs came running for their share of the attention and possible treat. I was rather surprised to see Snickers. He apparently has one, or more, girlfriends that he has been visiting for the last week. (We have GOT to get that dog fixed before the whole countryside slaps a paternity suit on us!) I spoke to each one and floundered my way through paws, tails and tongues to get into my office to do the morning paperwork. On my way down the sidewalk, through the rain dripping from the trees, I listened to the birds and reflected on how blessed I am. I have been given the desires of my heart. I am a country girl, through and through, and God has allowed me to reap the enjoyments of His blessings and good pleasure in His creation. I have a friend who married a farmboy. She told me the other day that when she got married, she never 'signed on' for all the animals and farm life that it would bring. Well.......I DID! After spending 5 years of our lives in Cincinnati and the other 15 in various small town, I was FINALLY given the oportunity to go back to my roots. I love muddy horses and pesky cats and over-sized dogs! I love the sights, sounds and smells of our little farm that greet me every day. I love to watch the antics of our animals, which has grown to be quite a menagerie. (those stories are for other blogs at a later date, just like the one where Lucky got all four feet stuck under the fence and I thought she was having convulsions... or when Snickers got locked in the barn overnight and we thought it was the neighbors dog barking his head off. We were so annoyed at that neighbor.......) When life gets crazy and I need to regroup, I can go to the pasture with a curry brush and groom away my frustrations and fears. I can confide in my horse and she will listen to every word I say. (Seriously, she DOES!!)
I just want to publicly thank God for giving me this home in the country and this delightful menagerie to be responsible for. Life in the country................it's all good!

The Farmer took a Wife!

It's the story........of a lovely lady.........!! Actually, the story is of a hardworking and very capable farmer's wife. Her name was Margaret Polly (Kerns) Stimmel and she was my Mother! This will be my eighth Mothers' Day without her. We never really made a big deal out of Mothers' Day. Oh, Dad took her out to dinner on Saturday night, but he did that every Saturday night, anyway. We usually bought her perfume or a bathrobe or something like that, but she always seemed to develop an allergy to the perfume and after the initial wearing of the robe, we'd catch her right back in her old ratty thing that she wore everyday. It wasn't that she was ungrateful. "Stuff" just did not matter to her! Her people were the important things in her life and she showed it in so many little ways. She didn't make flowery speeches. She simply stepped in to a situation and made it better than it was before. I remember wanting to go home sooo badly one week-end, but we just did not have the money to do it. We lived in a three room apartment with a small baby and Ken was working as a janitor at the school board to pay his tuition at God's Bible School. Believe me, there was no money bush anywhere near us! Mom called me and I told her, with much disappointment in my voice, I'm sure, that we were not coming. She sympathized with me and nonchalantly hung up the phone. 4 hours later, she and Daddy arrived at my door, bearing her wonderful fried chicken and deep dish macaroni and cheese. She was the type of Mother who made sure that the silverware was set on the left side of the plate for James since he was left handed......that Dad got the celery hearts since they were his favorite......that the porch light was left on if she knew you were coming in late........that the barn light was on so that Dad could back the wagons in after dark.......that there was plenty of iced tea and water on hand when we were working in the field during planting or harvest.......the list could go on and on of all the little, loving ways she made life all around her a better place to be. This is just a very small tribute to a wonderful woman. My Mother, the farmer's wife! Oh, to be just half of the woman she was!!!!!!!

Buffy, the granddog

Jeren doesn't live at home. Jeren has his own apartment. Jeren lives alone! Jeren got tired of being alone and began to make noises about getting a roommate. Mom went on red alert at this announcement. Mom doesn't have a very trusting nature. Mom could envision her baby boy being robbed or killed (or worse) by this, as yet, nonexistant roommate. Mom suggested that a new puppy seemed like a very good idea to her and she would even be willing to fund this venture if Jeren would reconsider the whole 'roommate' idea. Jeren fell for it, but with MANY stipulations. This dog could not be hairy, or stinky, or big! It had to be CUTE because we just don't do ugly and 'look, she's so UGLY she's CUTE' is not even an option! And it needed to be cheap, as in, Mom doesn't have alot of money to spend on this new 'roomie'. So, the search began and Jeren came up with some REALLY cute doggie ideas, none of which Mom, or most normal people, could afford. "How about the humane society or the animal shelter?" was one brilliant suggestion. What did we have to lose? At little gas at $3.50 a gallon and a little time, which we could afford. So.....we went, and we looked, and we found........BUFFY! She was part of a litter of 6, her mother being a 40 pound boxer and her dad a 5 pound chihuahua. She was CUTE, she was SMALL, and she was IRRESISTABLE!!! Adoption papers were signed, money was traded for puppy and I got myself a 'granddog'. Jeren got a GREAT roommate. She stinks up the place once in a while and we are thinking about putting her in Depends until she learns to control those puppy urges, but she is all the company he could ask for, she never tells his secrets and she loves him unconditionally. How much better could it be? We love Buffy, the Granddog!!

So....who's counting?

Life rushes past at the speed of..........what? I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I know that I am having a hard time keeping up. Last evening, we took a little trip to Beulah Grove camp ground in St. Mary's, Ohio, to see some old college friends. Not 'old' in the context of age, but 'old' as in....we've know each other for so long that we have morphed into being family. THAT old kind of friends, if you know what I mean. We ignore the obvious signs of age, such as graying hair, (or in some cases, hair that leaves us altogether!!) expanding waistlines and general cluelessness about what's just been said, and just concentrate on time! Time that we spent together before we had children.......when we still acted like children ourselves. Time that we spent fellowshipping around the kitchen table, playing Dutch Blitz until the sun came up! (yes, this really happened!) Time that we spent sharing our frustrations, concerns and victories of being young pastoral families, just learning that people can be anything but what you expect them to be, sometimes! Time that brought changes into our lives and took us in different directions, putting the distance of many miles between us. Time that just sort of took over and didn't leave us with many options other than just taking one day at a time and dealing with one thing at a time and hoping that we could get it all done without doing bodily harm to ourselves or someone else!! Time that marched on with a vengeance until we have found ourselves with children the age of US when we first became friends!! So...last night, as we sat at a table and played Dutch Blitz, we laughed together and reminisced. And we realized that, even though it had been over 20 years since we first became friends, nothing much had changed. We may look a little older, but we really don't feel older and, BELIEVE ME......last night we didn't act any older either. So, here's to old friends..........but, who's counting anyway??

What life is all about!

Well, here I go.....attempting something I never thought that I would do. I'm BLOGGING!! I think that it is wonderful when someone is able to express themselves eloquently, making their life such an interesting book that you want to read chapter after chapter. I'm not so sure that I can do that. I'm certainly out of my comfort zone, here, but isn't that what life is all about.........stepping onto new pathways and seeing where they will lead us? Sometimes we have to turn around and go back because THAT pathway was just a plain DEAD END! Sometimes we wish we had never ventured down THERE, because the end result was not at all what we anticipated it to be. And sometimes......most times.......we will find ourselves growing and glowing from the experiences that we were brave enough to venture into! So, here I go.......I'm not sure where, but I think it's gonna be fun.