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One of the things i have missed, since getting away from the house for so many hours of the day, is keeping in touch with my on-line, blogging friends.  With precious little time at home, i don't want to spend too much of it staring at a computer screen, instead of enjoying my lovely husband and my home, but i have missed my online friendships. Recently, i decided to invest my personal spending money in a better-than-what-i-used-to-have cell phone.   And after a great deal of reading and price comparisons, i bought one of these on E-bay, at a considerable discount to whatever price you might find elsewhere. It's a Pantech Ease.  It's not an i-phone, but it does lots of cool stuff, including this: which i really appreciate.   I got it less than a week ago, and i have been playing with it during my lunches and whatnot, to find out what all sort of fun things it will do for me, without charging me extra money.  Well, today, i discovered that i can read my friends' blogs

I was looking over my recent posts this morning and realized how remiss i have been in the wanna-be farming department.  We do have things going on around here.  I told you about my chicks a while back.  Well, here they are about a week ago: When i realized my mistake, i grabbed my camera and went out to the chicken coop at 5:26 a.m., in the pitch black darkness and took pictures.  Here are the chicks - or as many of them as i could get in the camera at one time.  The blond ones (the buff orpingtons) are for us to keep.  The others are for a friend. This is Arne (Arne means eagle in one of the Scandinavian languages, and it's just funny to name a chicken, "Eagle.")  Pronounced Arnee.   This picture is a little blurry, but even with the blur, i think you can see that he is a truly gorgeous boy. This is my broody hen.  She's broody every time she sees an egg.  In this picture, she's studiously brooding a golf ball, but it is very likely that when she notices

You know, after all this time (four months or so), after switching from being a full time homemaker/chicken wrangler, to being a full time go-some-place-else-to-make-money-er/chicken hobbyist, i'm still not wrapping my head around it very well.  Once i had what many people consider an "alternate" way of life, it stuck to me -- deep inside me.  Nothing else makes that much sense to me anymore. There have been times when i have been SO frustrated - the same frustrations i had in the old days, before chicken wrangling and whatnot -- the difficulty of keeping a home you're not in most of the time, the difficulty of balancing . . . juggling.  How do i keep my passion about my home and our dreams and still be a great employee -- but not become a workaholic? One morning, on my way to work, i was crying in frustration over all the confusion in my head.  Having left a hopelessly messy house to go and keep someone else's business in order, instead of my own . . .  and i

You might recall that when i went back to work, we decided to give up our bunnies - and admit defeat.  Well, i sold them to a good friend who wanted to get started with bunnies, and she has found success!  Molly and Oliver, on their second try, have made this beautiful little herd of white bunnies. O.k., well, i've been trying for two days to upload a really cute picture of lots of white bunnies, but i have been unsuccessful.  I'm sorry.  Just try to imagine lots of cuteness. Also, here in the heart of drought-land, we got lots of rain yesterday, and we are very pleased.  Sadly, we don't know when we'll get rain again, but we're all thinking positive rainy thoughts, and i think that the deluge we had yesterday must have helped to contain the wildfires that have been multiplying in these parts. So, this is my hurried mid-week update, while i swallow my eggs and gulp my coffee.  I hope you enjoy a little. Happy Thursday!

Last week, i spent a lot of time lamenting and worrying unnecessarily. I worried about not having money for lunches (spending error), only to look back from the end of my week and see that God provided lunch - and good company for lunch - every day of the week. On Friday, my usual day of rejoicing and irresponsible spending, a (ginormous) bank error meant that my (and some 2000 other county employees') paycheck wasn't in my bank account when it was supposed to be - and wouldn't be all weekend.  Looking back, several things just so happened to make so that not getting my paycheck wasn't a big deal.  My husband just so happened to get a bonus check this very same Friday....and a few other things. Hind-sight is 20/20, they say.  I look back at a week of worrying and complaining to see that God provided for every detail, and i needn't have worried.  Then i got thankful. This afternoon, a hose on my radiator split in this huge heat, and i never worried a bit.  Fu

This is a copy of a Father's Day post i wrote for my dad a couple of years ago.  If i say so myself, it says what my heart feels so well, that it bears repetition.  I love my daddy, and i always have, and he has always loved me.  Happy Father's Day to the bestest daddy in the whole wide world. Here's the post: To My Daddy This is me. I'm pretty sure i was two. I'm wearing my Daddy's sun glasses, my Daddy's cowboy hat, and my Daddy's Cowboy boots (with my pink flower shorts and matching red and blue tank of course). Do you know why? Because my Daddy is the coolest, biggest, strongest, most caring, smartest, wonderful daddy in the whole wide world. And when i was wearing my Daddy's clothes, i'm pretty sure i thought that i was as cool as you. If i look closely at that picture, i can also see that those two-year old hands look an awful lot like my Daddy's hands. And hands aren't the only thing i have in common with my f

Do you remember learning about inductive and deductive reasoning? I remember learning these little examples in junior high school or some such.  And it has occurred to me lately, that much of this country's troubles might be solved if folks could remember the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning. Here's deductive reasoning. All dogs have ears. Spot is a dog. Spot has ears. Inductive reasoning: All dogs have ears. George has ears. George must be a dog. Clearly, George might be any number of things, but not necessarily a dog.  This is such a basic lesson that we are taught at a pretty young age; yet it seems that the folks making decisions and giving advice in this country, don't know the difference. Large scale example: People who own homes have job stability. Therefore, if we give people homes, they'll have job stability. ?? Perhaps we should consider that the job stability enabled the acquisition of the home and not the other way

1.  Take some of these: 2.  Slow bake in one of these: 2 again.  Or better yet, give them to one of these: 3.  Bake 3 weeks. Yield:  Living breathing life. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.  Romans 1:20 I have believed in God for most of my life.  But if ever i should doubt, if ever i should waiver, when i see life form from what appears to be nothing.  When i watch the average egg develop lungs and kidneys and learn to breathe and eat, i cannot fail to believe in God.  Life was not an accident.  Life is by design.  Beautiful design.  I am in awe.

 Today, i was looking at some plants at my in-laws' house, and i saw this.      Isn't it beautiful!?

I've told you about our Friday mornings . About the comfort of going to the same local gas station for gas and coffee and gas station breakfast, early on Friday mornings. Well, this morning, after four consecutive days of fun family festivities, some lasting too long into the night for me and my early morning work schedule, i decided to visit Stubby's for my favorite coffee.  It's not really called Stubby's anymore.  It was Stubby's when i was a kid.  Stubby sold it to "in and out," which doesn't roll of the tongue as well, so it's still Stubby's to me. Oh yeah, my favorite coffee. My favorite coffee is one part Stubby's coffee, one part mocha cappuccino, from the handy-dandy gas station cappuccino machine. Don't glaze over, people; this is important information. Now, this combination can be made at many a gas station, but something about Stubby's - it tastes sooo good.  No one else does it as well. That was the prelud

Now that. That is full. I took this picture while visiting my family in Michigan a couple of months ago.  We were having dinner at a local restaurant, and after i added my cream and sugar to this cup of coffee . . . well, it was too full to drink.  I couldn't pick it up without spilling its contents.  It was the epitome of full . My pastor, Pastor Brian, from time to time, uses the word picture of a glass representing self.  He talks about how if the only time you're spending time with God is when you come to church, then you're not going to have enough . . . stuff . . . peace, love, joy, good God stuff, in your "cup" to get you through the week.  This is because, inevitably, by the time you make your way home from church on Sunday, someone will cut you off and make you slam on your brakes -- or the grocery store will be out of your favorite fried chicken that you were counting on for Sunday dinner -- or the grocery store will have your chicken, but the mid-

Writing is so hard when you can't think of anything to say. Well, i guess i can't speak for "you" exactly.  But for me, it's hard. I'm not sure where the line is drawn.  When the switch gets flipped, and i just start following the day-to-day rut.  It's not that bad.  I mean, i haven't become a zombie .  I'm doing fun things, like crocheting and hatching chicks and petting kitten s and so forth. But when i can't think of anything to write about, i know that something is wrong. So i'm writing about not writing. Scintillating.  I know. I think it might be the point at which i become more interested in the world in my head than in the world around me.  That might be called self-centeredness.  But don't tell me that; it might hurt my feelings. Who am i kidding?  You better tell me.  I probably need to hear it. There's a lie involved here.  I've heard this lie before.  It's the lie that says that i have nothing t