Take 1 city girl, 1 country boy, procreate 2 small children and move them to the country before "city life" warps their little minds...and this is exactly what happens.
I laugh at the "I will NEVER" statements I have uttered far too often in my life. Like when I moved to Montana and said with pride "I will NEVER decorate my house in anything WESTERN or COWBOY or whatever, that is so Hokey". Also the whole "I will NEVER shovel horse sh*t" has been said once or twice. (I said both of these phrases to my sisters on more than one occasion). I am sure to their complete surprise it took only about 5 years before that cowboy comfortable hit me like a sledge hammer. Not to mention that being a city girl in a rural area goes about as well as 3 inch heels in a snowstorm, so one is forced to adapt rather quickly. ....but getting back to my point...........
When we bought this here piece of Homestead (wow that is really me...the newborn hick talking) we were excited our dogs would have room to roam and play. That quickly evolved to adding a couple more cats. It is very important to have "mouser's" when you live in the country for obvious reasons. My cats do an excellent job of bringing me no less than 1 dead critter as a present each and every day. Then we were so kind as to allow an older gentleman to bring his 4 horses to live on our property (a temporary situation that has turned permanent somehow). Then came (and went) the rabbit. A couple of Goldfishes from the county fair that became Sushi for our cats...then a "friend's" dog(s) and cat. Oh wow, then came 2 MORE horses (ours this time) that actually live at my neighbors house down the road since the only fencing we have holds in that other guys horses. (I know..i know.. what is wrong with this picture you say?!!) Then in September I figured my brood was complete when I got the next horse ACE (for those that lost count - we now have 3 horses, and 4 that are not ours but are on our property). Oh thats not all. Lose a dog, gain a dog. The number of animals don't dwindle - they are always increasing.
Another great perk of country life is becoming a full fledged 4H member. For those of you (city folk) unfamiliar...it is a wonderful organization that has far reaching programs into all avenues of agriculture and country life. My daughter is now an aspiring Shepherd. Yes, you heard that right. She is not only a member of 4H, but will be getting her sheep/lamb (in about 2 months) which she will feed, care for and "train" if you will, to ultimately enter that fine specimin in the local County Fair in hopes of winning a ribbon! Also to ultimately sell said sheep at the same fair in the "market" category where some nice person buys the sheep in order to slaughter and eat it. The circle of life is well demonstrated in 4H!! She learns to budget all her (parents) money spent and keep logs of the care and cost involved in raising an animal. Then after it sells, re-invest in another animal next year or keep funds for college or whatnot. It is a study in real life accounting 101 as well as sh*t shoveling and leading a poor lamb around in hopes of "training" it before fair time.
I shouldn't, and am not complaining by any means. Mainly because we don't have the critter yet and also because they poop tiny little balls into nice tiny piles that can be cleaned up rather easily.
...Is it just me, or can you totally see the sheep talking???... "BAH RAM U" to my other animals just like in the movie Babe? (If you haven't seen the movie NEVERMIND you totally will be lost on that reference) If you have seen the movie I know you are totally busting a gut right now. But I digress once again...
The real point (if i ever have one of those) of my rambling is that our farm has already expanded by yet another critter prior to the whole sheep thing. Unbelievable I know!!!
Our newest member is this gal.....drum roll please.............
Another one of those phrases that is currently biting me is "I will NEVER have a smelly RODENT in my house". It seems ma and pa gave in over this weekend and allowed our daughter (the budding 4H wonderkid) to get a..*gasp*..Guinea Pig.
Now mind you, it was FREE, came with a huge cage, food, water bottle/accessories, and even a book on how to care for it. It seems our neighbor and classmate of my daughter just isn't spending enough time with the thing. It (the "thing") lost it's mate a month or so ago and is "lonely" and not being played with enough. So they offered it to my girl who then proceeded to BEG like her life depended on it for no less than 5 hours on Sunday until we gave in.
Of course we attached conditions though, as any smart parent would. *smirk*
She has a 2 week trial period in which she must prove #1) That she will clean said rodent cage at least every 3 days or sooner if it begins to smell even the slightest like an animal lives in that cage #2) That she, and only she, is responsible for the feeding of said rodent, #3) That she will spend adequate time keeping the "loneliness" the rodent is experiencing to a minimum by playing with, holding, and talking to it frequently - - since that was the entire reason my bleeding heart/animal loving daughter ended up with it. Should she fail at any of the 3 requirements in the next 2weeks it goes back to it's previous owner or new owner that they may designate.
Shall we start the betting now?
Oh and did ya notice said Rodent is also kinda cute? It doesn't have those red beady albino/vampire eyes...it's eyes are Blue and it is white. It's given name is "Snowflake" and it has some black around it's eye or whatnot. I also was excited to learn that said Rodent has once procreated and given birth, only to EAT it's live young. Yummy. Lets just suffice to say it will not be getting a male "companion" again while in our care. Or any time down the road for that matter. ICK!!
So I thought I would share. Who knew that I would have ACTUAL NEWS since regaining my urges to blog?
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