Grammys Corgi Country

Today was a day of remembering… My dad passed away 39 years ago today and I usually get nostalgic on this day or around it every year. As I mentioned before in another of my blogs, this year especially has been getting me, because the dates all fell on the same days as they did in 1969.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day that year and the next day was mostly pretty good too. As we were all in the kitchen cleaning up, my mom who was not very demonstrative, suddenly turned to my dad who was sitting at the kitchen table and said, “I love you so much!” Everyone knew that, of course, but I guess she had never really verbalized using those words because he broke down and said, “Now I can die happy, because you finally TOLD me you loved me…” and then they hugged.

Later, that Friday, I had a fight with my dad because I wanted to go to a movie and he wanted to just sit and watch TV. I ended up going (I was 17 years old and stubborn) and when I got back late that evening, his bedroom door was closed, so I didn’t get to say goodnight to him or take him his ice water like I’d done every night for years. The next morning, my mom couldn’t get him to open his door and woke me up to go around the outside and open a window to check on him, and he had passed away during the night.

I tell you all this because, especially at this time of year, I KNOW that it is very important that we take the time to tell those we love them, that we DO love them. Each day that you spend with your loved ones is a blessing and a very special gift. You NEVER know what is going to happen the next hours or a day from now.

Of course, now I know, at least in my head and usually in my heart, that my dad knew that I loved him and he forgave me for that last fight, but that stupidity on my part will always cause some pain.

Take a lesson from me and don’t lose what might be your last chance to say “I love you…”

Well, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. I got to sleep in, since I’d been up until almost 3 a.m. the night before. We had breakfast and watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the National Dog Show on TV. THAT was very disappointing because, as you know, we are Corgi fans and they skipped right over the breed (even in the herding group part of the show) and didn’t even show more than a glimpse or two.

After taking care of the animals, we took off for town and my sister’s place where we worked together to make mashed potatoes, candied yams, carrots, and other vegetables while the turkey cooked. We have such a large gathering with twenty family members plus other invited friends, that we usually get the church basement to hold the actual dinner in. All three of my sons that live in this state were able to come and join us for awhile, and we got phone calls from the others that live across the country. It was great to see my grandkids again.

There was a ton of food… a roasted turkey, a deep fried turkey, a large baked ham, yeast rolls, all kinds of veggie plates, and as many kinds of desserts as there were main food plates. All of us are weight watching now and everyone had a new low fat or low sugar dessert to try as well as some of the traditional desserts. There were a couple of strawberry cheesecakes, a couple of traditional pumpkin pies, a pumpkin cheesecake and three kinds of pecan pies…including my brother-in-law’s special chocolate pecan pie. There was a Weight Watcher’s pumpkin pie recipe and Spice Pumpkin Cupcake recipe. There were a couple of sugar free desserts like Chocolate Cream Pie, and Jell-O salad. After a bite of each, I really don’t know how many calories were “saved,” though…

After eating and playing a couple of games, we (the women) all worked together to get things cleaned up and the left over food divided. Everyone went home with plenty for several days worth of eating, and there were still enough to take plates to other friends that weren’t in good enough health to come out.

We got home pretty late, and were very tired, but all in all it was a very nice day. It was such a blessing to get to spend time together with family and friends. I praise God for the life and loved ones He has given me. I hope that all of you enjoyed your day as much as we did.

The weatherman said that the snow level is supposed to come down almost low enough to tip the hills behind us tonight, so we are going to have to start chopping wood for the stove soon. We have electricity out here, but not gas. We used to have propane for our water heater, but when the old one died, we got an electric one, so got rid of our propane tank. We use an old cast iron wood stove to heat the main house during the winter, and electric space heaters for the bedrooms at night, so we have to cut a lot of wood during the winter each year.

Last year, it only got real cold a couple of times, so it wasn’t too bad. We have quite a bit of wood in piles out back, because anytime any of our friends trim their trees or take a tree out, we bring out the big branches and put them in the big piles out back to dry and age enough to burn well. When late fall comes, my hubby, son, and I go out and work together to get the wood ready to burn. I break up the small stuff and get it put into empty horse pellet bags to take in for starting the fires, while my husband and son get out the chainsaw and axe, if needed, and cut up the larger pieces. We usually stack a lot of it in the small garage that is just outside of the side of the house in case it rains, so that it will stay dry and burn well. We also have a wood rack that my son made for us in his High School woodshop, in the den by the wood stove that we keep full.

I loved going camping with my parents when I was young, and the smell of the wood smoke takes me back. I really love it, and it is amazing how warm the house can get with that little old wood stove burning. We’ve even been able to cook on top of it when the electricity has been out during a storm. We have a homemade fire screen that we used to keep the kids away when they were younger, and we put that up now to keep the dogs back… particularly Sadie with that flag tail of hers. At least tails aren’t problems with Corgis!

Stay snug, warm and happy…

Goodness… It is still raining! I’ll bet we’ve gotten as much rain during this one storm as we have gotten the whole rest of the year! Our waterline is still broken, and though we’ve gotten the things we need to fix it, my son can’t get down in the hole safely and have it dry enough to glue the pipes back together, so I spent an hour carrying buckets of water from the horse barrels in the front yard to the big corral in the back so that I could put Cory in the back pasture tonight and he can use the stall in there.

Cory is such a sweet old boy, and Dancer is a typical ADHD Arab and wants to be moving all the time. He won’t let Cory rest in any one spot for any length of time… He seems to get a lot of pleasure in “herding” Cory all over the place. He won’t let Cory stay in the warm stall and just rest there.

As I’ve mentioned before, Cory is an older horse now (about 22 or so) and he doesn’t like to be out in the rain a lot when it’s cold. He and the other old horse we had until recently used to stay in the stall and stand close together quietly for hours when it would get cold. Anyway, I decided that tonight, since it is getting colder, I wanted to put Cory in the back pasture with the stall. To do that, I had to fill the small water barrel back there because they had finished drinking all of the water that had been in it over the past few days since the water’s been off.

At least I got my walking exercise done for the day. I can’t carry more than 25-30 lbs. with this back problem, so can only take one bucketful at a time. I fed Dancer in the other stall in a pen that is attached to the back area, but not in the back pasture so that they can visit, but he can’t keep chasing Cory out into the cold. He is such a jerk at times!

Something happened in connection with the storm, I gather, that knocked out the electricity all day too, so my son had to work on our portable generator most of the afternoon to get it working again in case the power was out this evening. Of course, wouldn’t you know it… about 5 minutes after he finally got it going, the power came back on… Typical… but at least now it is running in case of any future emergencies.

This evening I spent a lot of time peeling and preparing some of those persimmons for the dehydrator. I can hardly wait to try one when they are finished drying. I really hope they will be as good as I think they will. As I was doing that, I started thinking that they would probably make a pretty good jam. I’ve never heard of persimmon jam, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. I’ll have to try googling that, too. Anyone out there have any ideas or recipes for persimmon jam?

Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I’ve got a lot to do, so will have to close for now. Thankfulness is a choice… there are always things to be thankful for… As I have said before, I hope you all have a great day.

I LOVE persimmons… I have a friend whose husband has grown several persimmon trees and every year, she calls me and invites me to come and pick as many as I want… I get plenty for my family and for all of our relatives and friends, and my friend is really happy that she doesn’t have to clean hundreds more squishy, mushy ripe and rotting persimmons up than she already has to. We are both happy with the arrangements.

This year, I want to try to dry some and see if that will work so that I will have them for a longer time, because persimmons ripen fairly quickly and then they are gone. I’ve googled to find ways to dry them and since I like dried fruits of other kinds, and persimmons are so VERY sweet already, I’m sure they will be almost like candy when they are done. They also had a bunch of recipes that use persimmons, so I’ll probably make some cookies, breads or muffins for Christmas and Thanksgiving.

My friend has two different kinds of persimmon trees… The native type that you have to wait to eat until they are mushy or they will pucker your mouth, and the Japanese type that taste like a persimmon, but can be eaten while they are still hard and crisp… almost the texture of an apple. I LOVE both types. The native type is really great for cooking. My friend’s husband told me the secret to ripening them overnight… Just put them in the freezer overnight and when you thaw them in the morning, they are soft enough to cook with. Their trees were still loaded when we left with several boxes full and this is the second trip we have made.

This lady is such a dear friend, and not just because she shares her persimmons. We have been friends for over 18 years. She was the first teacher that I worked with when I started being an Instructional Aide for the Special Ed. kids. She worked with them over 37 years before she retired and she taught me so very much. I am truly indebted to her for her wisdom and the way she modeled being a wonderful teacher for the kids… They didn’t get away with much in the classroom and her patience with their handicaps was amazing. She told me that where a regular student may take 100 -300 repetitions to remember and apply something, a special ed. student may take 3000 or more to “get it…” some even more, and some won’t get THAT thing you’ve worked on, BUT they may get something else.

It started to rain tonight while we were picking the persimmons, so we got a bit damp. It really rained hard during the drive home. (I’d gone to a Dr. appointment in the big town about an hour away, and stopped by her place on the way home – about 45 mins. from our place.) We are SO HAPPY that it FINALLY rained !!! This has been one of the driest years we’ve had in this area and the air was really getting nasty, too.

It is a blessing to get this much rain… in a way… probably won’t be good for the alfalfa farmers, though, and THAT isn’t good. Alfalfa has gone up in price over the past several years from $8 to over $13 a bale. Still… we really needed it… I think they had enough notice to be able to get most of it baled the past couple of weeks and under cover… I didn’t see any cut hay down in the fields on the way into the big town.

Well, I better close for now… I’m supposed to get to see my grandson tomorrow and it has been several weeks since I last saw him, so I’m REALLY looking forward to it. I miss him a lot since he moved a couple of months ago… Before, I’d seen him at least once, and often twice a week since the time he was born and he just turned 5.

I will also be making the Thanksgiving Pies for our big family dinner on Thursday. I have a lot to be thankful for this year… I’ve got bunches of persimmons… I can WALK… I’ve got wonderful family and friends… I have a God that loves me… Yes… a LOT to be thankful for… I pray your holiday is as wonderful as mine is going to be. Have a wonderful day.

Today was a quiet day here in Corgi Country. It was very cool and slightly misty… not hot at all, but nice enough to be able to walk all over with just a sweatshirt instead of having to use a heavy jacket. I decided to walk the fence line around our 5 acres to check it. The back pasture is fenced in barbed wire and the cows that graze the BLM land behind us sometimes will rub or push on it and loosen or break it, so it needs to be checked every once in a while.

For me, getting to walk like this is a miracle. I had mentioned before that I am home on Worker’s Comp. because of a lower back/hip injury. A few years ago, when I first was injured, I did something that pinched a nerve and was in horrendous pain for a couple of months… I was in a wheelchair, and couldn’t take more than a couple of steps without almost passing out. I couldn’t even sleep more than 1-2 hours at a time, during one period, for almost 3 weeks even with some heavy pain meds the doctor had given me.

I believe that God touched me back then. There had been a lot of prayer, and one day, after a couple of months of this pain, while getting into the pool for therapy, I slipped and fell, and something popped in my back. Things got a lot better within a few days and about a week later, as I turned in my bed (I’d finally been able to lay down again instead of sleeping in a chair) it popped again and almost all of the pain went away.

I was able to go back to work after a couple more weeks, but I had been very careful about lifting the past few years, and was slowly building my back up. This past summer, I had to do a job that apparently reinjured the area. I’ve had a lot of therapy, etc. and can now walk for about an hour before having to rest my back, but after what I had been through before, just being able to walk all the way around the property IS like a miracle, for I love to be out of doors on a nice cool day like today.

I had fed the horses and the dogs went with me… Of course, they all act like little wild goons whenever they are given “freedom” to run all over. I can’t let them go to far from me because of the coyotes, but since it was still the middle of the day and they don’t tend to come out until dusk, I let them do a lot more snooping and running than they’ve gotten to do in a LONG time.

It was nice to walk… to be able to walk… to watch the dogs running and playing tag and sticking their little noses down squirrel and rabbit holes. It felt heavenly to breathe deeply of the fresh, slightly misty air. It was also nice to have a quiet time to think about things and be thankful for the day. As I slowly circled the pasture, I walked past the graves of several of the horses that we have had over the past 30 years. Beautiful, wonderful animals… each with his or her own personality… They gave us so much pleasure and joy, and then got to have a nice quiet place to live out their last years until it was time to say good-bye.

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I’m looking more and more at the treasures that I have waiting for me in heaven… I think at is this time of year my thoughts run in this direction, too, because my dad passed away from a massive heart attack when I was 17 years old on the 29th of November, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This year, those dates are the same as that year. At 56, I’ve already lived 7 years longer than he did. Death used to be very depressing for me, but now, I see it as just another part of life… a transition period from this life into the next. I am just so glad that I have a God that has made such wonderful promises to me that give me hope for a wonderful future. This hope brings me much joy and peace in my life.

I tried to instill this faith in my children so that they, too, know joy and peace deep down even when the “Storms of Life” rage around them. They saw that hope in my mom even as she died from cancer… It wasn’t a death that brought about an END to everything… but one that brought about new life and the end only of the pain and suffering she had been going through.

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Yes, I have much to be thankful for… the lessons I have learned during my past, the joy and peace I usually have during the present, and the hope of a wonderful life in Heaven whenever God decides to let me go home.

May peace and thankfulness rule in YOUR life today, too.

Today I am sad … and MAD !!! A friend’s fiancé was killed last night in a tragic hit and run accident. This man was a brother-in-law of another good friend of mine, as well. It happened on the two lane country highway a couple of miles from where we live, and one of the EMT’s that responded with the ambulance, and is also a dear friend, and he had to help with the cleanup.

So many people are hurting today, and it was all caused by someone who got drunk and decided to get behind the wheel of a car, and drive at around 100 miles an hour down a dark, curvy country highway at night. Our friend’s fiancé’s car had broken down, so he was walking down the side of the road to get help when the person hit him. Needless to say, his body was pretty messed up. The driver kept on going and was caught later. We aren’t sure if he even knew he had hit someone.

I know it has been said before, but I’m going to say it again: If you drink, DON’T DRIVE !!! If you do, you are taking the lives of you, your family and everyone else along the path you take, and putting them in danger of sustaining major heartaches, lives that are scarred forever, and in some cases even death.

If you cause an accident that seriously injures or kills someone, ALL of those that you love will suffer along with you as you live (maybe) with the consequences of your actions. So will all of those from the other side that suffer for their loved one’s and their damaged lives or from their deaths.

If you drink, please take a moment right now and think how YOU would feel if a drunk driver injured or killed your son… daughter… mother… wife/husband… or someone else you loved, and then plant it into your head that you will NEVER DRINK AND DRIVE !!! Please don’t say those famous last words: “It can’t/won’t happen to me…”

If this stops just one person from this kind of pain, it is worth passing on… Have a safe day…

Well, Bummer! We had another little earthquake in this area last week and, as often happens, even if we don’t feel it, we had our waterline break… this time in two places! Our waterline runs over a mile and a half from the water meter across 6 or 7 people’s pastures to reach us, so we often don’t realize that it has cracked until we suddenly get a really big bill. When this happens, it usually takes several days to several weeks to get the line fixed because we have to have someone dig it up and the people who ran the line before we bought it, buried it about 4 -5 feet deep in most places… some places even deeper.

This time we were blessed that we had the money for parts and my “eagle” son came and was able to dig it up today. He is a wonderful worker and has been such a blessing to us since he came to live with us when he was 14 years old. I call him my “eagle” because when he was a teenager, he was very athletic, doing flips and jumps and all kinds of gymnastics as well as swimming and diving on our local high school swim team. Sometimes it seemed as though he was flying. He has a problem with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) and still can’t really sit still in one place for very long. He will either be tapping his foot or fidgeting with something almost all of the time.

This problem made it hard while he was in school. He came to us through a foster care agency. His parents had problems, and he had gotten into some trouble, so went into foster care. He did very well with us and became a Christian. He has such a gentle heart for hurting people, and worked with handicapped students for several years as a counselor at Camp K.E.E.P during High School, and all the kids there loved him. They would fight over who got him to push their wheelchairs, etc. He graduated from High School and was the first one of his family to do that.

He’s had his problems at times (don’t we all..) since he went out of our care at the age of 18, but he has always been counted as our son and we are proud that he counts us as his parents. He has done very well during the last 6 years and takes good care of his three children. He always comes when we need any kind of physical labor help, and works very quickly to get the job done and done well. We should be able to get the waterline fixed within a day or so now that it is dug up — back fills from such a long waterline take a while to drain out enough to be able to do the gluing.

Several of my sons have had a problem with ADHD, and they have all done very well. They have worked hard to overcome it’s disadvantages and used it’s strength and energy to do very well in their jobs. With plenty of support, love, guidance, and discipline (teaching them to discipline themselves, etc.) they have all done wonderfully well and we are very proud of them.

We also gave them plenty of opportunities for types of exercise that they enjoyed and that helped them to get rid of their excess energy. One chose running and won several trophies in 10 k. runs. Another chose swimming, diving and gymnastics, while another chose horseback riding, gymkhanas, and working with animals. Of course, they all usually did a combination of these things as well, and we kept a punching bag hanging up that they could take any aggressions out on instead of on each other (try having 4 or more teenage boys in one house while they try to learn to control their raging hormones…)

If you have a child that has a problem with ADHD, don’t despair. Read and learn of the things that you can do to help (diet, exercise, etc.)… always show love though your support and guidance. Try to be patient with their foibles (we all have our different quirks) and find ways to discipline that will help them to learn to discipline themselves.

Have a restful Sunday…

Corgi Country is a peaceful, quiet place to live now-a-days. I like this time of my life, but I do miss my kids. They are scattered all over the country (U.S.A.) with kids of their own in most cases. I get a case of “Empty Nest Syndrome” every once in a while even though it’s not totally empty yet. I mentioned before that we have six kids… five legally, and one more that has become a part of our family since he started out in foster care here 16 years ago.

My oldest son, the construction worker, lives in Florida with his wife and 4 daughters. My daughter and her hubby live in Texas with their three boys, and my gentle giant son also lives in Texas with his wife, a son and daughter. My cowboy son lives a couple of hours away with his wife and son, and my “eagle” son lives about a half hour from us with his two daughters and a son (with one on the way—hence 13 ½ grandkids). My youngest, an author as of today, lives here for the time being as I have had to have help since my first injury a few years ago. (You can buy or preview his book, “Little Dott Finds a Home” by clicking the link in “my links” at the side of this blog)

I feel that we were blessed with Corgi Country so that we would have a good place to try to help fix broken lives, both animal and human. The Lord has helped us “rescue” children, birds, horses, goats and dogs during different seasons in our lives here. A lot of the time, the work has been hard and/or heart-breaking, but many times we’ve been so blessed to see some truly neat things happen.

I plan to share some of these stories in future blogs with you, so stay tuned. Have a great weekend!

Out here in Corgi Country, we depend on mailed movies for a lot of our entertainment. We don’t have satellite or cable, which so often have a bunch of nastiness on anyway, so we only get a few of the main channels that we pick up with our old-style house antenna.

Yesterday, we were listening to the new Indiana Jones movie and one of the characters made an interesting comment that suddenly got my attention. He said, “We seem to have reached the age when more and more things are being taken away from us…” I thought about that for awhile, and that IS kind of true if you look at it in one way, but if you look at it through Christian eyes, actually it is a time when I feel like I’m storing more and more of my treasures in Heaven, where the Bible says that rust and moths, etc. can’t destroy or steal them.

After all, what are our REAL treasures but those people that we love and the good things we do for others. For me, it is my mom and my dad… aunts, friends, some of my special kids, etc. So many of those that I love are already there now, and it will be such a joy to see them, and NEVER lose them again. What wonder and happiness to see my special kids being able to walk and talk and play, and to see my Mom no longer cancer eaten, but strong and healthy… to see ALL of them that way.

One of the most important promises in the Bible, to me, is the passage that is talking about being changed and then snatched up to heaven. It says that “Death, has been swallowed up in victory…” (I Corinthians 15: 51-58).

Promises like that one that God has made to ME and to all those who Jesus died for and who accept that gift of life, turn from sin, and follow Him, are so precious. I have learned over the years, that I CAN trust Him to keep His promises because He proved that He loved me by sending HIS son to pay for my sins. He has shown me over and over, when I’ve had faith in Him, that He will work things out for the best for me and those I love. THIS is what gives me joy and peace in my life now.

I enjoy my life here now with my corgis, in this beautiful place, and I know that someday I will be with those I love in another beautiful place.

Hope to see you there someday… I wish you faith, hope and love…