Happy Saturday friends!
Earlier this week Rayn said: When you choose a life full of animals, friends, and family—a life full of loving relationships—you inevitably choose a life of loss. When you love big, you grieve big.
Maybe I need this hoodie:
Sometimes I wonder if life wouldn't just be easier without all of the animal attachments but no, I'm really not built that way. I have learned so much by sitting at the feet of my animals:
Week before last Raynie communicated with me through oracle cards. This week she's making herself known through music and seeing her. Funny, I've always gotten little glimpses of loved ones (human and animal) who have crossed over but it's not often and they are barely there. The ones of her are extra powerful. It feels like she's teaching me to see, the way she taught me to hear her.
I was driving away from the farm this week, with my upper pasture on my right side and there was Raynie, running right along the fence next to my car. When she realized I saw her she kicked up her heels and veered off into the middle of the pasture. It was lovely to see her run again!
The Ed Sheeran Perfect song that made me ugly cry:
I found a love, for me
Darling, just dive right in and follow my lead
Well, I found a girl, beautiful and sweet
Oh, I never knew you were the someone waiting for me
Ever since I wrote last week, "I'm hardly able to cry"...haha, that opened up the floodgates!
I found this on facebook this week and wanted to share it with you, what a beautiful story!
THE RANCH:
I don't have a pic of the Wildlings this week but I've decided that they are my children and they have ADHD just like me lol. I keep saying that they are the strangest baby goats I've ever had and it's true! All baby goats are jumping beans but they are also snuggly and if you hold them in your lap they are happy to just cuddle.
Not Parsley and Rosemary!
They like to hop around and just won't settle down. It's the craziest thing! They just sproing right off any part of you as if you were a trampoline! Argh! So, the training will now commence. They are almost 3 months old and while I would absolutely allow a typical 3 month old baby goat to jump into my lap to snuggle, these two are so different that it's time to train them to stay out of my lap!
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I visited Dad and Delores last weekend and took this sweet photo of my mom's dog Allie:
She's getting older now but she has adapted to her new life well and seems happy.
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When ManChild and I were in Colorado we ate green chili a lot, it comes on or in all kinds of things there. I found out it was a New Mexico and Colorado thing, I lived there 18 years, how did I not know that? So, as I continue my quest to make Apex and this farm feel like home, I've been reading recipes for Pork Green Chili but it's a long process and I was overwhelmed by the whole thing until I found this recipe! We made it and it's AMAZING. It's definitely going in the rotation!
Pork (or chicken, or vegetarian) Green Chili is basically a stew and you can eat it that way with warm tortillas but it can also be put in breakfast burritos with eggs, cheese, potatoes; or make Chiliquiles (to die for!) My friend Jenn introduced me to this amazing dish which at its heart is just a pile of corn tortilla chips, pork green chili poured on top and a couple of over-easy eggs on top of that. It's even better with some crispy bacon, some crumbled feta, some avocado slices or guacamole.
Here is our green chili simmering away, delicious!
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I had told the boys during morning chores that we had coaching clients that day. I looked out the window about an hour before they arrived and found Sweetness and Jaffee waiting at the gate!
Jaffee hasn't really worked yet but we've come to an understanding ever since this happened. Now, I see him and he knows it. He's changed and gotten so much softer with me. I decided to open the gates to my coaching barn and see who wanted to come in with my client and me. Both donkeys came in and took turns working with us both. They are precious (pic posted with permission):
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The new Women's Circle started this past week. Tessa and I went out to set up the big fan and chairs and wipe things off:
Speaking of Tessa, send some healing light to her. She has lost a bunch of weight and we don't seem to be able to fatten her up. She will be 11 this fall. The Maremma breed lives to be 12-14 years on average, I want more time with her! We will see what the vet says.
I also moved some things around in the sitting area of my studio and the formal dining room turned classroom to accommodate my second studio table that was in my designated studio space in Colorado. Together they give me 14x4 feet of table space, enough space to seat 10 of us for art classes or Women's Groups, yay!
Also, arranging furniture just makes me happy:
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We've had a really long, hot dry spell here in North Carolina but it has come to an end and I'm so thankful! It's been pouring here today as I write this and looks like it will be coming down all day. Glad we live in a hilly neighborhood, there are a ton of flash flood warnings popping up on my phone but we don't have to worry about that.
I can't look through my office windows to see all the rain—air conditioning running and so humid outside. Typically this happens every morning in the summer here but with the rain it's all day today:
On Wednesday night, about 15 minutes after everyone left the Women's Circle a huge storm blew in and we were right in the middle of it:
I was in my bathroom when the skies opened up over our little farm, thunder and lightning popping all over the place! I Love Lucy came tearing in and dove into the tub. Usually she squashes herself between the wall and the toilet in the hall bath but this time it felt like she wanted some company so I knelt in the tub next to her and she buried her head in my chest. Ok then! I sat down and played "boat":
We stayed like that for 30 minutes. Unlike when I see her in the hall bath, she wasn't shaking! Maybe this is where we need to be every storm?
MEMORIES:
This will never not be funny:
When ManChild was 4 we saw a Bull Snake in the neighborhood (pre-farm) and he was obsessed! So, of course I had to squash my fears and I bought him a black and white baby corn snake. Then I learned about the snake rescue in Longmont, not far from where we lived. So, of course I took him to visit. And came home with this big corn snake:
Needless to say, I got over my fear of snakes. Glad I did too—you see them pretty often living on a farm!
But I have to say, I did let out a yell this week when this one slid out from under a stall mat...that I had been standing on top of!
Gack!
It took off toward the goats and that's when I started yelling, "Run goats! Run!" π Then I saw that it didn't have that angular head so it was probably okay. Wynter and Sweetness thought it was pretty scary when it slithered under their feet and quickly hopped out of the way. It got all our hearts pumping for a few seconds there!
We think it might be a Red-Bellied Watersnake. We've never seen one before so that was fun!
THE MEMES:
Zoom in on the bumper sticker! π
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