Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Life is Stressful....Go Camping, milk a goat, enjoy the scenery!

 More than two months have slipped by since I last wrote in this 'journal'.  It always amazes me to look back on the calendar and realize how many things happen in such a short time.  My calendar says that, since I last posted, my daughter had oral surgery, I took my mother to at least 21 cancer clinic appointments (many of them 4 hour appointments) and 1 emergency room visit.  We celebrated my only son's 29th birthday (honest!), attended a 2nd Annual Ladies Tea Party at our church, had a table & sold breads, pies & sewing machines at our annual Baw Faw Spring Festival at the grange, one goat gave birth to triplets, one to twins, we camped for 2 nights at Fort Stevens in Astoria Oregon and attended two
Quilting classes.

 No wonder I'm tired.
In my 'spare' time I de-stressed by sewing, crafting, painting.....reading, mowing the law, milking goats, feeding rabbits, cooking meals, cleaning house....Ok, so I lied.  I didn't really clean the house!

A lot of life goes by in a short time!
 Camping in April in Western Washington or Western Oregon looks like this picture, taken from our camp trailer while camping at Fort Stevens.  You'll notice that we are NOT sitting around a smoke.  You might refer to it as a campfire, depending on where you live, but around here it's easier to sit INSIDE the camper in April.  The guy in the next site over started his campfire with a HUGE propane ACME 5000 FLAME THROWER.  I'm serious.
 This is my beloved view from my front porch.  You can see my husband's toy tractor down below the grazing goats and lots of beautiful timber growing on the hillsides.

The roof in the pic is our Bee Bear-icade Building.  It is very sturdy now - reinforced since an encounter with a very destructive bear a few years back.
 My husband told me these look like Zombies.  Having never actually SEEN a Zombie, I couldn't really deny it, but I was actually aiming for 'Patriotic Primitives'. 

They sold nicely on Ebay, regardless of his opinion.
 I enjoyed making these primitive flags, too.  It reminds me of attending 4th of July parades in our very small town and realizing that hardly anyone stands up for the flag anymore as it passes by.  Is no one teaching patriotism anymore????  Do they not realize what those veterans carrying those flags DID for them?????
So far this Spring we've seen tree swallows, barn swallows, goldfinches, one purple finch, starlings, band-tailed pigeons, wild turkeys, stellar's jays, crows, ravens, turkey buzzards, a pair of geese, a pair of ducks, a pair of sandhill cranes, a couple of grouse, and about a bazillion robins, but I haven't seen any of the really big birds yet this season - no eagles or red-tailed hawks.

When a person in your family has cancer, life can be very stressful and your time alternately filled with heartaches & joys.  Every days has its stresses, but even more its joys.  I thank the Lord every day for choosing ME to live on this beautiful piece of acreage - a haven to come home to. 

Well, I've got to go live some more life (make dinner....), so off I go.  Until we meet again, my God hold you in the palm of His hand - the only safe place to be.