life on the farm

Did you know that man is the only complex and versatile servo-mechanical system that can be mass produced by unskilled labor? As a person who goes into peoples' homes to complete developmental screenings on children birth to five only with parental permission, today I am especially appalled by the... Sign in to see full entry.

About a week ago, my daughter had one of those stomach bugs and we were home for the second day in a row. It was a gorgeous day with blinding sunlight, freezing winds and brilliant cold! My daughter was parked on the couch, armed with the remote control and all the ginger ale she could handle. I'd... Sign in to see full entry.

Today my husband made the call to leave the horses in to ride out the worst of this newest storm. As the first one home in the early afternoon, after the worst of the storm had passed, I was naturally elected to turn the horses out. I love our horses, but I grew up being terrified of them! At the... Sign in to see full entry.

The story of the past few days was told to my husband and I one Memorial Day weekend as we were struggling to dig out an old well on our property near the vegetable garden. The plan was to put in a small pump and run a line out to the garden, rather than having to keep 200 -300 feet of hose lying... Sign in to see full entry.

Old Man Ware waved away the on lookers who came forward when both shells were spent. He removed the casings from the shotgun and leaned it against a nearby tree. The old man still looked haggard, but with rugged acceptance that hadn't been there a few moments ago. He began removing rocks from the... Sign in to see full entry.

Neighbors came from all around with their oxen wagons, block and tackle. Everything was tried in every way anyone could imagine. Two men tried to climb down in the well to put a belt around Blue that could be hooked to several different teams of oxen and work horses. Poor Blue thrashed and lashed... Sign in to see full entry.

At the turn of the 20th century (read early 1900ish) there was a thirty three year old white Percheron horse that lived on this farm. He had gone blind, but Old Man Ware wouldn't hear of having him put down. He'd seen that horse born on this farm. The horse had lived and worked here all his life.... Sign in to see full entry.

This house in which we live is old. There is an aura of being watched all the time, not in a scary way, but as though the lookers-on were curious, hopeful. I think they leave me strange presents in unusual places. When we first moved here this place was in a sad state of disrepair. We bought it... Sign in to see full entry.

Today it was positively balmy doing barn chores! I bet it got up to 40 degrees today. Didn't even wear a coat. The one horse we had that was so terribly messy left Sunday to be replaced by one of the neatest horses I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Took me 10 minutes to clean out his stall. So... Sign in to see full entry.

Not all surprises are good. This morning I left quite early for work, thinking I'd have a nice productive day. I had no more than sat down at my desk when my phone was ringing. My daughter was sick, couldn't keep anything down, etc, etc. Then the clincher: "I can't stay home with her, I'm supposed... Sign in to see full entry.