Grammys Corgi Country

Today, I had a doctor’s appointment in the late afternoon and we got home about an hour after dark… to a completely dark house… It turns out that somehow (the electric company didn’t say) the power lines were down and it would be several hours before they got them running again. No electricity, no computer… AND, since we don’t have gas out here, NO anything else either (like a way to cook, etc.)

Of course, we have backup plans, like an emergency, battery-powered light that is plugged in at all times and automatically comes on if the power goes off. It lasts about an hour, so we had time to run around and gather up the candles, flashlights and hurricane lamps that we also keep for emergencies.

I made a quick dinner of cold sandwiches and then went out and fed the horses. The flood lights for the back were off, so for a while, I had to juggle a flashlight and the hay, but at least I HAD a flashlight and hay to feed. While I was out there, my son started to come out to help, but he got his foot caught on something and took a pretty hard fall off the step from the washroom into the enclosed patio. He got bloodied up, even through his clothes, on his arm and knee, and pulled some muscles in his calf and the back of his knee, but did come out anyway and help me feed.

We came back in, hunted up the emergency First Aid kit, got him cleaned up and then settled in the recliner chair in the living room with an ice pack on his knee and some ibuprofen to, hopefully, help keep his knee from becoming to inflamed and swollen.

Even though it was only 9:30, I went in and went to bed (Hubby had done that just after we ate, so didn’t know any of this) I turned on the light switch so that when they finally got the electricity on, it would wake me up, and that happened a little after midnight, so here I am, finally getting to type this.

It is interesting, though, because I had planned, during the drive home, to write about light tonight. We had driven past a church, on the way home, that had a message board outside that said, “Dusty Bibles lead to dirty lives.” I had been thinking about that and what Psalms 119: 104 & 105 says: “I gain understanding from your Words, therefore I hate every wrong path. Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Little did I know that I was going to get a real example of that about 45 minutes later when I got home.

It seemed to bring home to me that if God’s Word is “Light” and we don’t use it to light our life’s pathway, then we will end up falling and getting dirty and/or hurt, but if we do use it, we will have a lighted way before us and be able to go around most of the pitfalls that we come upon. One thing that I noticed though, is that a candle or lamp doesn’t light very far in front of you… just enough for a few safe steps at a time. I think I even remember a book about something like that by Stormie O’Martian called, “Just Enough Light for the Step I’m On.”

I read a blog about this very thing yesterday (See A Corgi in Southern California in my blogroll)… Do you think maybe God is trying to be sure He gets my attention on this subject? I already read my Bible daily, and have for many years, because my Mom had been an excellent example of someone who does that. One of my fondest memories is of laying in bed, listening to her read her Bible to my Dad one night. (He read, and was a brilliant man… they were just sharing this together).

Anyway, maybe I was just supposed to share these important insights with others or something, but I will definitely keep thinking about this, because God got my attention!!!

Note: You never know when an emergeny will crop up, so be prepared with flashlights (and batteries if needed… some of ours are windup), candles, First Aid Kit (kept up, not USED up already), etc.

Keep the light on in your life, so that you will walk in safe paths, and have a great day!

Hubby and I took another drive today with O.C. and B.G. Dott is going to be “indisposed” for about two weeks, and can’t go in the truck or car right now. She was NOT a happy camper!

We went back out into the hills around the same area we were in last week, and since I got a new digital camera for Christmas, I took a lot of pictures.

We went a lot further up into the hills this time, with me white-knuckling the dash as I gazed out the window and straight DOWN several hundred feet into some very deep ravines. My leg was about worn out pushing on a non-existent brake pedal as we came down those steep switch-back dirt roads. One place was so steep coming down, that O.C. slid off the front of the truck seat!

It WAS very pretty up on top of the hills with the views that were available since the air was very clear. Some places were still a bit misty, but by the afternoon, most of the fog had cleared off, so it was beautiful.

On the way back down, we stopped by that little valley from last week again, and let the Corgis out so that they could run around for about 30 minutes.

I’d mentioned in a couple of my blogs that we are in oil country, so, since we drove through one of the many oilfields to get into the back hill country, I also took some pics of them.

It just so happened… Hmmm… that we “found” a few mud holes to run through, too, so Hubby was able to come home with muddy wheels. It is nice having him home so much more this past couple of weeks with so many paid holidays and just using a couple of vacation days.

Oh, and we also got another waterline break about 4 days ago, but we got it fixed today because it was so close to the surface and the blowout sort of dug it out itself. This is about the shortest time it has ever taken to do that, Praise God!!! We didn’t even have to haul in extra water for the horses because they had enough to last that long in their water barrels.

I hope your first few days of this New Year have been as nice as mine. Keep looking for the bright side…

Proverbs 17:6 says “Children’s children (Grandchildren) are a crown to the aged…” Now I’m getting a bit “long in the tooth” as they say, but don’t exactly feel “aged” yet. Still, when I get to spend some time with my grandkids, I feel like royalty… or at least an especially blessed person!!!

Today, I got to have my “Little Bear” all day long, and it was so much fun. He is five years old now, and until recently (about 3 months ago) I had gotten to spend at least 2 days a week with him, and sometimes more, so he was a BIG part of my life. When his father, my cowboy son, got a new, much better job, they had to move to a town about 2 hours drive from here, so now I only get to see him a couple of times a month, sometimes for only a couple of hours a visit. I really miss him a lot, and he says the same to me.

This weekend, though, I saw him on Christmas day, and then today, he got to spend most of the day with us. It was a little bit of heaven. When we first got home, his Papa took him out to show him how our neighbor had plowed up our back pasture and planted the seeds to grow grain if it rains enough. He had saved some of the grain to show our “Bear,” and we plan to plant some of them in a pot or two so that he can see them grow.

I got to show him that big tarantula that I mentioned in my blog of about a week ago. It had died, and I kept it so that he could get a good close look at one. We had lunch, and then went out and picked some of the tomatoes that he had helped me start growing several months back. He was so excited to see that the plants had finally grown real tomatoes that we could eat.

After that, we gathered wood for making a fire since it is so cold out here, and he loves to help me with that task. We fed the horses, and then he came in and helped his Papa start a fire in the woodstove. It got dark, and we went out into the backyard for a while to listen to the coyotes and look at the stars. When we came back in, he and Papa watched cartoons while I made dinner. The time came, way to soon, when it was time to take him back to his parents.

He had wanted to spend the night (which we wanted, too) but his parents had other people to visit tomorrow, and EVERYONE wants to see my “Bear” when he is in town. They are a well loved family, which I am happy about, but they have a lot of friends and extended family that love them as much as I do, so I’ve had to learn to share, and just be thankful for the time I do get to spend with them and/or him… it doesn’t keep a little rain from falling, though…

If you have a chance to spend time with children that are special to you, cherish every moment you are given, for they grow up way to fast. Your life can be a model for them and others you know… make it a good one…

Late yesterday afternoon, Hubby took me to the big town, bought me some hay and put my wedding ring in to be fixed, both of which were the best Christmas presents I could have had.

I always ask for hay, since it is so expensive, and to me, it is like being given more time with my horses… not having to sell them because I can’t feed them… so it means a lot to me. I didn’t know that he’d gotten a bonus that was big enough for him to get me these two wonderful gifts, and I had really been praying about having enough hay, with a few little prayers about the ring. He got me enough hay for two more weeks which should hold them until I get paid.

I haven’t been able to wear my wedding ring for the past couple of months because the prongs that hold the diamond in the engagement ring part were so worn that the diamond could have fallen out with a simple bump. Praise God we found that out before it happened!

Worn prongs

Since I’ve worn it for over 33 years, I have really missed having it on my finger. My son had the idea for me to find a ring that I could wear so that I had something there and that helped a lot. One other time I’d taken it off to have it fixed and had some kind of nervous attack… it was really weird. I have been wearing my mom’s “mother’s ring” with a plain wedding band, and it’s been ok… just not the same because I’ve loved my ring since I first saw it.

Proper prongs

When we were engaged, Hubby and I had gone to Roger’s Jewelers to look for one that would be something like one my girlfriend had gotten, and when I saw the simple, single antiqued rose with the diamond in the middle, I totally fell in love with it. The black antiquing in the golden petals set off the glittering diamond like it had been laid on black velvet. The wedding band that came with it wrapped around the rose of the engagement ring. I’ve never seen a ring that I’ve thought was prettier throughout all these years. It is much simpler than the one my friend got, but I like it much better. I’ll post a picture when I get it back.

After that, we went to the bookstore (Hubby’s favorite place, and he had gotten a gift card for it) and then tried to go to Applebee’s® because we’d gotten a gift certificate for dinner, but they were packed and we didn’t want to have to wait forever to eat. We ended up at a Farmer Boys ® Restaurant and had dinner there and it was very good.

As we were leaving town, we drove by a bunch of people protesting our country’s involvement in the wars we are in. My husband got rather upset, because he remembers the hurt of the way he was treated for being in the service during the Vietnam war. There hadn’t been time to roll down the window, as we drove by, and say something, or I would have told them that those men over there are brave and honorable, and are fighting for their rights to freedom of speech that lets them hold their protests. They should be supporting them instead of cutting them down and saying evil things about them.

We talked a lot on the rest of the drive home, and I learned a lot more about my special man’s life, so it was a very nice evening together.

I hope that you have time to spend with a loved one this weekend. Share your thoughts and learn more about their life; their loves, hates, and other feelings. Take time to listen…