I have often wondered in the last few years.......the older you get the better sweet things taste? In our case the answer is yes. For some unknown reason I was the one that loved sweets. Now it seems we both do! Maybe it is our age and hell, you will be one day older tomorrow if it is to be. So, give me the good stuff, sweets, coffee with real half & half. Notice no healthy veggies or broiled meat, poultry and fish.......although we do eat all of that. Just not on the top of my what I want to eat list. Also, it seems that 7 pm is the highlight of my day on what is there good to eat?
Every morning we take a 2 mile or more walk on Holden Beach. The fresh air gets us going and also tires the dogs enough that they will sleep for most of the day and not follow us around begging for treats or go for a walk. Then in the afternoon back to the beach for one last fresh air and tire the dogs. Wait.......am I complaining that they ask for treats?? Now that is being a little two faced on the treat standards. If we can have treats then why would I deny the dogs to want a few nibbles after 7 pm. Never thought of it that way!
What do we do while wintering in NC besides the beach walks. Dick is in the shop building bird houses and feeders. We might need to hire a long haul trucker to get them home! I knit, bake or read just as I do back at the little cabin. It is a good 4 months to get my knitting projects done. From scarves, shawls and socks they will be finished by April 1. I always pick patterns that challenge my knitting. Most of the time You Tube saves my sanity if I have a hard time figuring out the technique. In the summer I will make another order of yarn and look for more patterns. The cycle that has been on going since I can remember. I did sew 3 Baja pullovers made from Army blankets my son gave me. His was first a couple years ago and then the "I want one" started. Another son, grandson and friend of a son all done and only one left to deliver. They are rustic and look like you should be in the woods roughing it. Real wool is the best for warmth and moisture wicking. The only problem I have with wool is I am allergic to it. It makes me itch and get a red rash so never do I wear it. While making the Baja pullovers it was itchy hands for a few days. Anything for the kids and grandkids 😍💥
As a little girl my dad wore wool winter clothes. I always thought the trousers were funny looking because they had wide hips, narrowed down to be snug at the mid calf of his leg. His leather boots came up high enough so the top of the trousers went over them. In the winter he walked the pipe lines and checked pump stations for Messer Oil that was on the Horse Run Road. He also had snow shoes when the snow was deep. No four wheeler or side by sides back then, just good old foot power. Off he would go with his lunch box and a thermos of hot tea for the day. Before he left the cows had to be milked and when he got home they were milked again.
I found these Woolrich Jodphurs on ebay and they are exactly like the ones by dad wore in the 1950s and probably many years before that. He had leather laces to pull them tight around the calf of his leg and over the top of his boots.
My mom did the feeding and cleaning the drops. Do you know what a drop is? It is a long narrow, about 12 inches deep trough that ran the full length behind the cows when in their stanchions. It is where the manure went and had to be cleaned everyday in the winter. In the summer the cows were outside 24/7 and only came in for feed and to be milked. So, back to the drops. I guess they were called that because it was where the cows dropped the poop and pee, or maybe because it dropped down about 12 inches. Who knows, now I am wondering. There goes that crazy wondering/wandering mind of mine. Never the mind, it was with a square deep shovel used to clean out the drops, thrown into the shit spreader and then hauled by tractor to the fields to use as fertilizer. The full circle of food to field, field to table :)
Now you have read one of the many reasons why farmers love their farms. And that my friends is the truth!
Remember, every morning put on that game face and remind yourself that even though it can be a trying day it must be faced with love and respect. We are not perfect, our lives are not perfect and certainly we are all facing that morning to put the game face on. One more thing, pass on the gift of whatever you have. Be it knowledge how to do something, a book you know a someone would like to read, a cookie, cup of tea or coffee just pass it on. Shhhh don't tell anyone you gave one of these gifts, it takes away from the true meaning of why you did.
