I went to town this afternoon...did some grocery shopping after I poked around for a couple hours Christmas shopping. Now, if that was the whole of the story I was going to tell you, then this really would  be a VERY short story. However, it's not.

I went to Sweetbay last. Believe it or not, I got a parking spot right at the very end of the row--the end closest to the door. :) (I was driving the pick-up.) I hopped out and strode (like I always do in boots) across and started to yank on a shopping cart. It was caught on the one in front of it. While engaged in fruitless yanking, an older gentleman with a cane walked up with his grandson. I'm guessing the boy was about 13 or so...a good-looking, clean cut youngster. Anyway, the gentleman saw what was up with me and said something like this to his grandson: "Son, help her get a cart." The boy reached out and grabbed a hold of the carts and then said to me, "Push forward a bit." Seconds later, the cart was free and I was grinning from ear to ear, saying thank-you.

It sure is nice to know that there are gentlemen still out there. Maybe that grandpa will engrain it in the boy so much that he won't need to be prompted to help. The fact that I could have done it myself doesn't factor in...I was grateful for the help and by whom it was given.

This is just to say that my story 'James and Burke', is no longer going to be posted on this blog. I have started another website called "Stories By Racheal" where you can read 'James and Burke' and any future stories. Due to the amount of work it would take to move 'A Gray Kepi' over, I am just leaving it on here.

Anyway, let me know what you think of my new site.

Now, I didn't do anything crazy today--unless you count riding almost to the very back of the leased property. That's rather interesting because I must stay alert--I never know if some nutty squirrel is going to spook Snip. He was rather interested in the dead cow...but I didn't let him dawdle too close or too long next to said corpse.

While back there, I noticed one of the cows was over on this chunk of land by herself. I got to looking at her and concluded that she was the cow that about two days ago I had said to myself, "She's fixing to have a calf." Meandering closer to her, I determined (a guess mainly) that she had had her calf. So, without trying to look like I was searching for it, I took Snip in several different directions around about. I had a feeling the calf was bedded down someplace to the west of where the cow was--blame that on how the cow was acting and where  she was looking--or better yet, when she started watching us closer. Anyway, I was headed west when I saw the calf off to my left. It is white, but other than that I can't tell you about it, being as it bedded down. I wrote it down in my little book (while trying to get Snip to stand still and stop nibbling on that palmetto.)

Anyway, I had a good, uneventful ride. The back-40 is slightly creepy sometimes...particularly when floating through the orange grove one hears Christmas songs played by something that sounds somewhat like a music box. I found another tree stand today too--only it's on the other side of the fence. There are at least three 2x4 constructed deer stands on the leased land. I also saw three raccoons scurring away from us. I don't know if Snip saw them or not, but I had stopped him because I was listening to the squirrels bark and chatter at us. Fortunately, I didn't run in to any dangerous critters. I did almost ride through a spider's web with the spider (a crab-spider) still in it though. I saw it just in time, backed Snip up, and went around the tree from the other side. :D

Snip finds the leased land just as fascinating as I do. He walks along (almost too quickly sometimes) with his ears pricked forward. Here I would like to interject and say that if he was not responding to commands fairly quickly, I would not be riding back there. As is, he is behaving quite well, stopping, turning, and backing without much more than slight pressure on the reins. Admittedly, stopping is his worst point.

I had fun...I just wish I didn't have to fight the bit into his mouth. He KNOWS how to take it and once it's in, he's calm as a cuke. I even think he's been enjoying the rides! He's just bound and determined to make me earn my ride by forcibly stuffing the bit between his teeth. Except for the bit, he's been being super good--mostly.

Oh well...I think God is using this to teach me patience...at least with this critter.

So, I really went crazy this morning. I did one of my spur of the moment projects. I sound so-so...but the point isn't to wow people with my etheral tones. Instead, the point is to show how one little girl loves her veterans. This tribute is especially dedicated to the men who were at Pearl Harbor seventy-one years ago today.

Today, the 7th of December, is a day that brings back some memories...

Last year, at about 4:30 in the afternoon, I took a headlong fall off my horse and broke my wrist. Remember? (If interested in re-reading that tale, you can find it under December 2011 on the "Archives" page. I wasn't using the blog format yet...)

Besides the pain, I was rather disappointed that it was (at earliest) 9 pm by the time Daddy and I left the ER with my fractures splited. (That splint cut the blood off from my pinky finger something bothersome!) The reason I was so disappointed was that I had really, really been looking forward to watching 'Tora! Tora! Tora!'. It has been a family tradition ever since I can remember to watch the movie on December 7th and we hadn't managed to see it for the last 3 years. (I'm fully planning on watching it tonight. I brought our VHS player over for that express purpose!)

The morning of the 7th of December, 1941 witnessed one of the most horrendous attacks our country had ever sustained up to that point in time. Many men died that day as the USS Arizona sunk and the other ships in the harbor were severely damaged. "The day that shall live in infamy" is one that my family has always honored. This is a day never goes by without a thought of the past. Thoughts of the men who died...thoughts of the men who sacrificed their lives so that we could be free. I pray that we will not forget the noble sacrifices of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines--past, present, and future.

While I may have broken my wrist on the day of infamy, even while sitting in the ER I didn't forget these men. (That's not a brag--at all.) I wonder how many young people my age pass the day without any knowledge--or care--of what happened at 8 o'clock that Sunday morning 71 years ago. This, my friends, is a reminder to never, ever, ever forget the men who have died to preserve our freedoms. This is reminder to honor those men...and I don't care if they are 100 or 18 years old! You owe your freedom first, to the grace of God, and second, to the soldiers He has seen fit to bless you with. Don't ever forget that.

God Bless Our Military!

P.S. You won't get any smart-aleck remarks about the Air Force or Navy out of me today....

First....for the first time in months I have added a review. This time it is on Nathan Bedford Forrest's Redemption. It's a bit more clunky than usual...I had difficulty in writing it.

Second...if you haven't noticed, along the top bar there is a new heading, James and Burke. I finally came up with the name for my Western serial idea and figured I might actually get a better grasp on it by changing it out of script format and writing in up as a story. So...take a stab at it and let me know what you think. (Read the side bar!!) The plan is to post a new episode every Monday (since that's my usual slow day it will probably be more likely to get done--besides the fact that I usually feel rather creative [writing-wise] when somewhat tired.) The main exception to the rule will of course be Mondays after reenactments...then I'll be writing reenactment recaps. :D

Third....wait! There is no third announcement...unless it's to say I got the Christmas tree up on Monday evening. ;)

Yep. Honest. It really took longer to comb the mass of goatheads out of Snip's mane than it did to put the bit in his mouth. It took someplace on ten minutes, accompanied by some spinning, to get the metal in his mouth. I tell you, holding onto his ear like that really helps me stay with him. :D I just hope it isn't humanly possible to rip a horse's ear off...(because I would...)

All told, Snippy behaved pretty well today. I not only rode him, but I got a head count on the cows. Total 46 head (44 cows, 2 bulls).  I think there are 14 calves....there will be more on the ground soon.

I rode back on the leased land some. It's kind of weird, but I almost get the creeps back there. I don't quite understand it. Maybe it's partly because I know if Snip spooked and took off before I could get him under control--or bail out, I could get seriously ripped up by the trees. Anyway, it's just interesting.

This morning I ran into Byran's and got a roll of hay for my poor, poor little herd. They need some fattening up. Serious fattening up. I probably ought to get that little crooked mouthed calf off Snowflake. She's tiny still, but Snowflake doesn't need the extra drain on her. I have to make it a priority to feed them every day. Perhaps I ought to stick a note on my forehead...

I'm kind of hungry....so I think I'll go set the table...and then bug Savannah as to whether or not supper is done!

See ya!

Of course, everything that happens is ordained by God, so it's all providential timing. Sometimes though, it's just more obvious. Take this evening for instance. I had just fed Snip and on my way back to the house, I looked up and saw something black in the grass in the pasture. At first I thought it might be a cat, but that wasn't really a serious notion. Other than a crow (which I had just heard) I concluded it was either trash or a calf. About the same time I settled on that, this 'little bit' as Mr. Ricky would call it, got to its feet and started to wobble toward its mammy.

I continued to go toward the fence as I was going to see if I could get a gender ID on it (I didn't--it can be so hard to tell when they are newborn). As I went I heard the floater valve in the water trough hissing. For some reason I glanced that way. Then I looked again. Clearly, some of the jostling the cows do around the water trough had knocked it crooked. Water was pouring over the side as fast as the valve could pump it in. (Or faster.)

Being my own self, without hesitation, I plowed out there. I hopped over the puddle around the trough to a little space where I could actually land. I tried pulling the still nearly full trough. "Stupid. Of course you can't move it!" Hmmmm.....

Standing on my little 'dry' spot, I janked my boots and socks off, tossing them across the puddle (good shot that...the boots landed one on top of the other!) and hauled my jeans up to my knees so I could wade around in the mid-calf deep water. Over the next several minutes I tried various means of shifting the trough. At one point, I was standing on the edge with it tipped as far down as I could pawing the water out between my feet. I'm surprised I didn't get much wetter than I did with that operation. I found an old soda can in there, wedged in the 4 to 6 inch deep mud, as well as some other interesting trash I could have cut myself on. I ended up scooping many, many handfuls of mud out and throwing it, "Splash!" into the surrounding area.

After a while, I hollered at Savannah, who was on her way to the house after watering the garden, to please come and help me. I had managed to shift the thing ever so little, but I needed some help. So she came out and waded in after making some comment about, "This is how you get parasites." Gee, thanks a lot, sis! :D

She had the smart idea (okay so I had the idea, but I wasn't smart enough to carry it out) to bail out the trough. She went and picked up the coffee can I carry Snip's feed in and brought it out to me. I bailed the trough most of the way out and scooped out more mud. Then, the two of us moved the trough...I stuffed some more wood under the lower end and took the stick out of the floater valve (I'd jamed one in to keep the floater up so the water would quit running).

Job done, I collected by boots and socks, went to the hose and sprayed the exess mud off me. Walking back to the house, in a put on, bow-legged kind of walk, ending each step with something of kick (an attempt to lose some of the extra water), Savannah told me I looked fashionable--two tone pants! Ya...so what... :D

Anyway, because a calf was born today, I saw that the trough was spilling over...so I could fix it. God's providence is awesome...and sometimes humorous.

Whoa. Hold the time! It's already DECEMBER???
 
Where did the summer go? What happened to half the list of stuff I was going to do and just didn't get around to? (Maybe a broken collar-bone in August helped that?)
 
On the other hand, I have done quite a bit this past summer. So, I guess I shouldn't feel too guilty about not getting that barn cleaned out yet (though I'm going to at least see if I can get started on that before New Years.) That is going to be a massive job as the men in my family have no organization skills and not only is there Granddaddy's mess but Uncle Rod's trash on top of that. (By the way, I'm not REALLY picking on the guys--I have the some of the same problems myself.) [And to be honest...some of the mess is mine. :D]

Life wanders on...it is kind of funny; I go through spurts where I work like a horse for days on end, then I have slumps where I don't get anything but the dishes done. (That's a bit of an exaggeration.)

Ever get that panicked feeling because you are feeling overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done? I think I may get that next week...but I'm not even going to think about it until then (and after I finish the SCV video.)

Today we are (hopefully) going to have fun...in an hour or so we will be head out of town, out of county to a Christmas Party at the Hendry House. This is the house that Captain Francis A. Hendry lived in after the War Between the States. It's a SCV thing and we will be going in period dress. I know the A's will be there (he is going to wear his uniform), and I think most of the other people from the local camp were planning on attending. I hope Tom and Dolly are there. I really like Dolly...she's a bit of a character, but very nice.

SOOO.....we'd better start getting dressed here pretty soon. I have to eat breakfast and feed the horse.