Grammys Corgi Country

When thinking about my special day, yesterday, with “Bear,” I thank God, that He has given me such a blessing in my grandchildren and my children. I wish the others didn’t live so far away because I don’t get to spend even the little amount of time with them that I do with my “Little Bear.” Children grow so fast! I loved being with my children, and if home schooling had been allowed when I was raising mine, I probably would have done that.

After they got old enough that the youngest had to attend school, I started to volunteer at the school he went to (schools can ALWAYS use volunteers.) I worked with the children and created a “computer lab” for them. This was over twenty years ago before that was a normal thing for a school. After three years of volunteer work and doing some subbing as an aide in the special ed. class, several of the teachers urged me to try out for a permanent Instructional Aide position in the Special Education classes. I totally loved the work and was completely blessed to be an Aide to one of the best teachers in the County.

She had been teaching, at that time for over 30 years, and loved the children and the job. She taught me so much, and allowed me to use the talents in art and my knowledge in science and with animals to help the children to learn with any hands-on activities that I could offer. I brought in some of my tack and taught them a little about saddles, bridles and other tack that is used on horses, and then we brought one of our horses and our pony to show the children, as well as allowing them to ride them. Now, they probably wouldn’t allow that anymore because of insurance problems.

I drew some of their favorite cartoon and/or movie characters reading, for reading charts, or cutting up pizzas for math fractions. We used computers in our room to stimulate the interest of several of the autistic children and get them involved. We used “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” videos to do dance/exercises that got the children’s attention and let them have fun with music and movement, while getting their exercise. This was one of the most amazing teachers I have ever seen or had the privilege of working with, and I will forever be thankful for her mentorship in my life. This wonderful lady and I still keep in touch and are good friends now.

If you have had a special mentor or teacher in your life, let them know if at all possible. They will appreciate the acknowledgement of their work in your life.

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.

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…

Yesterday, I was talking about our Corgis — how much joy they bring to our hearts, and how they are so much like children. They are filled with curiosity and want to see everything you are doing, getting under your feet and sticking their little noses into things they shouldn’t get into. Our old Buddy (Grandpa to Beeg and Dott) would insist on lying right in whatever pile of stuff I was trying to sweep or rake together. You have to be really careful to watch what you are doing or you will step on one of them that is hovering right on your heels, trying to be closer to you than the others are.

My grandkids, that are still real young, are the same way. They are so curious to see what is going on in this big old world that we live in. They look at things with new eyes, and it is fun to watch them grow and learn. You do have to keep a close eye on them, though, so that they don’t get into things that they don’t realize could hurt them.

I love working with children and teaching them things… watching their eyes light up when they finally catch onto some new concept or idea. I think that is why I enjoyed working with the children in my special education classes so much over the years. It may take some extra work, but when they finally “get it” it’s like watching a miracle happen. I really miss them now that I’m home with this back injury.

That’s probably another reason that I love watching the pups as they study their world… for instance, when you open the door to the clothes dryer, Dott will rear way up on her hind legs and crane her neck to see inside … almost EVERY TIME !!! … and whenever they go into the bathroom, they both go over to the tub, put their front paws up on the edge and crane their little necks to check out what’s in there. Their curiosity is cute in those cases, but when they get curious about that scorpion, black widow or rattlesnake, it’s not so good.

I sometimes get worried about what they might find when they disappear under the tack room. I’m sure there are Black Widows under there at times, not to mention the possibility of rattlers. I have seen them around rattlesnakes and they are pretty careful, sneaking forward, still out of reach and then jumping back if it rattles. Of course, I have yelled right away and they came over to me immediately. Actually, they’ve had three rattlesnake encounters that I’ve seen in and around our property, all with the same results. We try to be sure to kill those snakes when they come around and then show them to the dogs, telling them “NO !” or “BAD!” loudly whenever they go anywhere close to them.

They are also like kids in the “sibling rivalry” that has a tendency to crop up every once in a while. They will be playing really hard and someone will accidentally hurt the other one and then the fight is on… at least until I yell. Sometimes, when I’m handing out food, treats, or toys, they will fuss at each other, but, like children, they are getting better as they learn the manners I’m trying to teach them. O.C. is the mom, and she’s the one that has first choice and final say (other than me)… I’m Alpha dog and she’s Beta.

I do have to watch her because she gets in Sadie’s face a lot of times when the pups are playing and want to play with Sadie. The pups both love to play with their “Auntie Sadie,” but O.C. has a fit (gets a touch of the green-eyed monster) so I have to put her leash on her or otherwise restrain her so that they can play. Sadie has learned not to get to uppity with O.C. because I have taught her that isn’t acceptable, to be sure she won’t ever hurt her because of O.C.’s hip and back problems and being so much smaller than Sadie.

May you not have “green eyes” today, and may your actions teach good things to those you are around. Have a Blessed day.

I guess it’s hunting season again. As I mentioned before, we live out in the middle of nowhere with BLM land all around us and whenever rabbit, dove or quail season opens, we start hearing the guns going off around us. I don’t mind having some rabbit jerky every once in a while, but I hate it when people shoot the poor little dove and quail… especially when we have watched the quail hatch and grow up. I keep praying they will learn to stay in and around our yard or at least on our property during this season.

You should see the tiny little puff balls when they first hatch. You will see a mama or daddy quail stick their head out of a bush and look around carefully, and if all is clear, then they run across the empty space between bushes with a whole bunch of little balls of fluff about 1 ½ inches around, running after the adult and followed by the other adult usually at the end of the line. It is so neat to see the parents taking care of their little ones… so much better than a lot of humans take care of their kids.

A year or so ago, we had gotten one of those l0 ft. around swimming pools, and my son was sitting quietly in it soaking and not moving. An adult quail stuck it’s head out of the bush just inside of the fence and looked around. My son sat really quietly and watched as it came out slowly and looked around and then lay down in some soft dirt and started to take a dust bath. Within a few minutes, 3 or 4 tiny little quail came out and started to copy their parent… a minute or so later, here came another several little ones. They kept on coming until there were about 15 babies and two adults out pecking around and taking dust baths.

After about 20 minutes, Robert got up quietly (The birds ran back into the bush) and came in and told me about it and we watched through one of the bedroom windows for several minutes until they started coming out again. It was so cute and precious to watch those little ones copying their parents… They would watch and then drop down and do the same thing they had watched their parents do. The parents took turns keeping a watch and bathing and eating, so they would all be safe. It was cool to see how God has given even the birds the knowledge of how to take care of their young. I wish that kind of love and family life were available to all of the kids that are born today. Having worked in the school system with the handicapped for 18 years, I’ve seen a lot more nastiness then I ever wanted to see in relation to some parent’s “care” of their kids… but then again, I’ve also see some of the most wonderful parenting in the world… Parents and/or grandparents who have given up almost every free minute to take care of their severely handicapped youngster. I just wish more parents were like those special people.

Have a Blessed day, and bring joy to someone you see today.