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Across the Fence:  Random Thoughts  |
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YellowRose
True Blue Farmgirl
6794 Posts
Sara
Paris
TX
USA
6794 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 30 2018 : 04:23:04 AM
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Barbara that's a great subject but for Random Thoughts let's keep it to those thoughts that just show up in our minds for no rhyme or reason. Why don't you start a new topic where you and others can share your stories.
Sara~~~ FarmGirl Sister #6034 8/25/14
FarmGirl of the Month Sept 2015.
Lord put your arm around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth.
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Edited by - YellowRose on Jun 30 2018 04:23:53 AM |
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HollerGirl56
True Blue Farmgirl
1334 Posts
Barbara
Flat Top
WV
USA
1334 Posts |
Posted - Jun 30 2018 : 05:37:00 AM
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My new random thought just hit me---why are my hummingbirds eating three quarts a day? So many little varmints---do I love them or hate them--not sure. Time to fill their feeders. And my husband took out the hot water heater before he knew we couldn't just go buy a new propane one. Ordered one and can't get it until Tuesday---cold baths for me. No wonder I am getting fed up living in a holler. No phone---cell or landline and they shut down my email for sending junk mail which I didn't. My random thought is why do I have to feed these varmint humming birds---LOL. Because I love them!
Life isn't finding shelter in the storm. It's about learning to dance in the rain.===Sherrilyn Kenyon |
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YellowRose
True Blue Farmgirl
6794 Posts
Sara
Paris
TX
USA
6794 Posts |
Posted - Jun 30 2018 : 06:04:12 AM
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Enjoy your hummingbirds though it can be a chore to keep the feeders clean and filled. I gave up on feeding them because of ants. There's three or four kinds of ants in my little yard but thankfully no fireants.
Last night Annie and I were sitting on the sideporch at ten o'clock and the squirrels were chattering in my neighbors big oak tree that shades my porch. I thought - what do squirrels have to talk about at that time of night? Probably how many holes they're going to dig in my yard the next day. 
Sara~~~ FarmGirl Sister #6034 8/25/14
FarmGirl of the Month Sept 2015.
Lord put your arm around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth.
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HollerGirl56
True Blue Farmgirl
1334 Posts
Barbara
Flat Top
WV
USA
1334 Posts |
Posted - Jun 30 2018 : 08:15:44 AM
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Sara---I too wonder what squirrels talk about. I watch mime in the morning before I let the dogs out. Chatter-Chatter for sure. The tame animals talk all day and the racoons talk and fight all night. No peace for the wicked as they say, LOL
Life isn't finding shelter in the storm. It's about learning to dance in the rain.===Sherrilyn Kenyon |
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Red Tractor Girl
True Blue Farmgirl
6517 Posts
Winnie
Gainesville
Fl
USA
6517 Posts |
Posted - Jun 30 2018 : 08:37:11 AM
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Barbara, I feel for you frustrated with internet connection needs!! Location is often a key factor in whether a person can get adequate important service. There are many rural areas in the US that do not have adequate broadband service leaving many folks sort of stranded where they live. Perhaps, you can find a better satellite service at a reasonable cost that will give you the basics? Or,maybe consider relocating to an area where access is both available and affordable? In the case of something serious like a sudden house fire or stroke/ heart attack/ fall, which could happen to any of us aging Farmgirls, it would be a crisis not to be able to contact 911 to get quick help. I hope you can figure out a better solution while you keep the kitchen responding to those ravenous hummingbirds!! We have the same demands for the corn that we put out for the every hungry squirrels and my Crow Friend who has been bringing it's Friends to join in the backyard feast! Hehe, now that the kids are grown, we are the indulgent custodians of the BackYardFriends Association!!!
The thought I had for today is wondering about the interesting way Americans have been celebrating the 4th of July for generations. I haven't found a lot of information of recorded celebrations until the end of the 19th Century and moving greater as we entered the 20th Century. From these beginnings, we can go back , look at old photos, postcards, and accounts of towns and see hometown parades, flags adorning houses, and fireworks becoming traditions. I have no stories from my Mom or Dad ,who were respectively born in 1914 and 1902, telling us kids about what they did growing up for 4th of July. Do any of you have any stories from your families about their celebrations for July 4th? Did any of those stories include specific foods or planned family gatherings?
As I think back on my early childhood years in the 1950s, I don't have a lot of memories about anything special other than my Dad had a work holiday. I would love to hear what you remember or did in the past.
Winnie #3109
Red Tractor Girl
Farm Sister of the Year 2014-2015 |
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YellowRose
True Blue Farmgirl
6794 Posts
Sara
Paris
TX
USA
6794 Posts |
Posted - Jun 30 2018 : 09:31:44 AM
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Winnie, we didn't celebrate the 4th at home when I was growing up. Fireworks were for New Years Eve and Day and we only had sparklers. I still like sparklers.
I do remember one 4th when we went to the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park to see the fireworks. We rode the bus into Dallas and the gravel road back to the farmhouse was long and dark but seeing the fireworks was worth it.
My mother was also born in 1902 and she never talked about celebrating the 4th but if they did it was probably a picnic.
A little American history trivia. Both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the 4th - hours apart. Don't remember which went first so if someone knows please post. Story goes they knew the other was close to death and they were trying to outlast the other. Jefferson and Adams were often at odds with each other.
Sara~~~ FarmGirl Sister #6034 8/25/14
FarmGirl of the Month Sept 2015.
Lord put your arm around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth.
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HollerGirl56
True Blue Farmgirl
1334 Posts
Barbara
Flat Top
WV
USA
1334 Posts |
Posted - Jul 01 2018 : 05:06:38 AM
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Winnie---I so agree with you that I will have to move from here one day---this place isn't for sissies---that's for sure. But we love it here and I want to stay as long as I can. I am addicted to being alone and in the woods---except for my animal friends It is great that you feed the crows. Rarely see them here except there are huge flocks in the fall. My family were hardworking dirt farmers and they had little time for fun---just like me---LOL. I do know that they all went on a picnic to A little amusement park about 15 miles from here. My two great grandfathers had farms about a mile apart as the crow flies and one of them was an old grouch and wouldn't go on the picnic---would take to the hay field and work and condemn all for going and having a day of fun. I didn't know about Jefferson and Adams But I do love Thomas Jefferson. He ROCKED> I suspect he was a bit of an old hippie---LOL.
Life isn't finding shelter in the storm. It's about learning to dance in the rain.===Sherrilyn Kenyon |
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HollerGirl56
True Blue Farmgirl
1334 Posts
Barbara
Flat Top
WV
USA
1334 Posts |
Posted - Jul 01 2018 : 05:28:35 AM
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I do know that my mom looked forward to the fourth because she got to get a hotdog---hard to believe in our modern world. She said she would think about that hot dog all year long and she loved them until the day she died. Another funny story is about the first time my grandmother and her sister had some hamburger and they didn't know how to cook it---so they cooked it until it was ruined because it wouldn't get tender. LOL
Life isn't finding shelter in the storm. It's about learning to dance in the rain.===Sherrilyn Kenyon |
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HollerGirl56
True Blue Farmgirl
1334 Posts
Barbara
Flat Top
WV
USA
1334 Posts |
Posted - Jul 01 2018 : 06:54:37 AM
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Sara---I know that Winnie told me she was a nurse and what garret job and you can tell how kind and caring she was. It seems to me that you might have been a teacher---were you/ As for myself I went two years to college and met my husband of forty years---and I have just kept house and helped elderly people over the years. When people ask me what I do for a living I don't say homemaker---I say I'm just a derelict and I almost always get a laugh and once a kid I told that told that to yelled "She says she's a derlict.
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Old Age Ain't No Place For Sissies!------Bette Davis |
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HollerGirl56
True Blue Farmgirl
1334 Posts
Barbara
Flat Top
WV
USA
1334 Posts |
Posted - Jul 01 2018 : 07:02:57 AM
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A cat hit my keyboard and made that mess. Anyway the kid yelled back over the bleachers that I said I was a derelict and we all had a good laugh. And maybe I am a little nuts because anybody who lives with six cats roaming around might be. LOL and happy Fourth of July.
Old Age Ain't No Place For Sissies!------Bette Davis |
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YellowRose
True Blue Farmgirl
6794 Posts
Sara
Paris
TX
USA
6794 Posts |
Posted - Jul 01 2018 : 07:15:25 AM
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No Barbara I was not a teacher. My talents lay elsewhere. I had odd jobs in high school; a payroll clerk and cucumber inventory clerk at pickle factory and then worked in the electronics field for 15 years before being in quality at a auto glass plant. My last position before taking medical retirement at age 54 because of MS was writing quality manuals.
In high school we were given a test to see what career we were suited for. My teacher told me she couldn't believe what my test showed - I could either be a scientist or garbageman. The garbageman may be on the money because for years I have collected all things vintage. Have a fondness for crusty rusty old things.
Sara~~~ FarmGirl Sister #6034 8/25/14
FarmGirl of the Month Sept 2015.
Lord put your arm around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth.
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Edited by - YellowRose on Jul 01 2018 07:17:33 AM |
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HollerGirl56
True Blue Farmgirl
1334 Posts
Barbara
Flat Top
WV
USA
1334 Posts |
Posted - Jul 01 2018 : 07:31:01 AM
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Sara---I am sorta like you I think. I was smart and fourth in my class in high school but now I collect old things and am a "garbage collector" like you. So funny---We were so poor when we got married that I couldn't work because we only had one car and we lived far from a town. But it has been a happy life and I found true love---so what is failure?
Old Age Ain't No Place For Sissies!------Bette Davis |
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HollerGirl56
True Blue Farmgirl
1334 Posts
Barbara
Flat Top
WV
USA
1334 Posts |
Posted - Jul 01 2018 : 4:16:53 PM
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Hi Sara---some redneck friends just stopped by on four wheelers and they were playing a Bucky Covington song---so that is my new random thought. It was a different life when we were boys and girls---not just s different time It was a different world. LOL and happy 4th!
Old Age Ain't No Place For Sissies!------Bette Davis |
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hoosiercountry
True Blue Farmgirl
572 Posts
karla
north port
fl
USA
572 Posts |
Posted - Jul 01 2018 : 5:40:00 PM
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I remember when I was real young my grandmother would get us kids sparklers on the Forth. Later after moving to the farm we spend the day butchering chickens, dinner was hot dogs and watermelon. Some years we would drive over to the next county and watch the fire works the local factory put on. Simple but great times. Hugs Karla
FGOM March 2018
I dusted once, it came back. I'm not falling for that again. |
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hoosiercountry
True Blue Farmgirl
572 Posts
karla
north port
fl
USA
572 Posts |
Posted - Jul 02 2018 : 6:26:34 PM
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A few days ago I pulled into a friends cement driveway, which has cracks, there at the top of the drive growing out of a crack running across the drive was a periwinkle. Not a spindly one like would be in one of my pots, but one that is healthy, strong and in full bloom. Well that little flower has been in the back of my mind the past few days. Yes I have seen grass and weeds growing in cracks before but not such a beautiful strong and full flower. I keep wondering about its will to grow and live in such a barren space. Wow. Hugs Karla
FGOM March 2018
I dusted once, it came back. I'm not falling for that again. |
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YellowRose
True Blue Farmgirl
6794 Posts
Sara
Paris
TX
USA
6794 Posts |
Posted - Jul 02 2018 : 6:39:06 PM
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Karla when I am privileged to witness something like the periwinkle thriving in a crack I am awed struck because I have just seen a miracle. Volunteer plants often outshine their hand sown and potted kin.
For us that look with our spirits we see wonders that others will walk over. I often wonder what miracle I missed today because I was caught up in my daily life and wasn't looking with my spirit.
Sara~~~ FarmGirl Sister #6034 8/25/14
FarmGirl of the Month Sept 2015.
Lord put your arm around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth.
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HollerGirl56
True Blue Farmgirl
1334 Posts
Barbara
Flat Top
WV
USA
1334 Posts |
Posted - Jul 02 2018 : 11:03:46 PM
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So true girls--- I tried to grow raspberries and they all blighted. One come up in my flower bed and it is huge and covered in berries. I had a huge morning glory just come up one year and on and on. My husband once said we should just throw our seeds all over the garden and they would do better. Probably true as this year has been a pill to grow anything.
Old Age Ain't No Place For Sissies!------Bette Davis |
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Red Tractor Girl
True Blue Farmgirl
6517 Posts
Winnie
Gainesville
Fl
USA
6517 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2018 : 11:43:08 AM
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Today, I have another thought that has been winding in and out of my mind over the past few months. When you realize that "the ship has sailed on an opportunity", how do you react? A close friend and I were talking about this last week, and I realized that I don't really have a good way to reframing a disappointment very well. I think my common method of dealing with it is to just laugh if off and brush it aside with an "Oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be response. But, honestly, that really doesn't address the feelings of loss or disappointment adequately. What have you done to address this reality that occurs in everyone's life?
Winnie #3109
Red Tractor Girl
Farm Sister of the Year 2014-2015 |
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YellowRose
True Blue Farmgirl
6794 Posts
Sara
Paris
TX
USA
6794 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2018 : 12:09:51 PM
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Winnie sometimes I have dealt with it like you by saying I guess it wasn't meant to be. Other times I have told myself to acknowledge how much it hurt me not to be able to do it. Give myself a set time to grieve over the lost opportunity than it's time to move on and seek out something else to focus my dreams on. I'm a great believer when one door shuts another opens - it's just a matter of time.
Lost - Grief - Move On - Dream - Do - It's a constant circle in my life.
Edited to say: I always keep one or two dreams on the back burner for the times I need to get my mind on something good and off an disappointment.
Sara~~~ FarmGirl Sister #6034 8/25/14
FarmGirl of the Month Sept 2015.
Lord put your arm around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth.
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Edited by - YellowRose on Jul 16 2018 12:32:38 PM |
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HollerGirl56
True Blue Farmgirl
1334 Posts
Barbara
Flat Top
WV
USA
1334 Posts |
Posted - Jul 17 2018 : 05:19:00 AM
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Girls---I usually find that what I plan doesn't work out a lot of the time. I feel a sadness at times because my life is nothing like I wanted it to be. I had no intention of being a semi-hermit in a holler---I wanted to live in a little southern town in a big old house with a large fenced yard---but here I am. That is what happened to me. I am a believer in the old "life is what happens while you are making other plans." I am also a bit of an expect nothing and you won't be disappointed type of person. Which may be a negative attitude but so many things I plan get put off or never happen. I have had a lot of disappointment, but also a lot of triumphs---like building this little farm from nothing. I think we are all put here to live by God's plan for our lives and that what we are doing and where we are is what was meant for us. I have always ben a bit of a loser so I handle disappointment pretty well and it makes the achievements in life that much sweeter to have known disappointment. True happiness comes from believing that everything in our lives as is it should be.
Old Age Ain't No Place For Sissies!------Bette Davis |
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Red Tractor Girl
True Blue Farmgirl
6517 Posts
Winnie
Gainesville
Fl
USA
6517 Posts |
Posted - Jul 18 2018 : 06:51:56 AM
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Sara and Barbara, it is interesting to see how many coping strategies have similarities amid women who are roughly in the same age group. Our life experiences and cultural values growing up, shape a lot of what seems reasonable to us. I am not sure my 30 years olds girls would agree with what we have found useful. I think technology and Facebook have opened new ways of community and support that were not part of our early years when growing up and decision making were being formed. I wonder if their responses at our age will resemble what we have found to be useful?
For some reason, today got me thinking about old enamelware cooking utensils. They came in so many colors and were used in most households along with cast iron cookware. I remember my Grandmother had a grey speckled coffee pot and a two huge grey canning size enamel ware pots on her black wood cookstove. Since there was no running water in the house, she kept a big kettle of hot water on the back burner at all times for a source of hot water. After each meal, the water was used to wash and then rinse all of the dishes while someone dried each one. My Mom never had any enamel ware dishes. I think she was one of the many homemakers who wanted the new types of cookware. She did have a set of cast iron skillets and a dutch oven that she routinely used. Did any of you grow up with enamelware cooking pieces in your home or grandmother's home? If so, what colors did they have? I often wish I could have had Grandmother's grey enamelware pieces. When they had to close and sell the farm because of health issues, they brought only a few items when they moved in with us. The farm went up on auction and everything was sold. My Mom didn't want anything saved for her. It was 1958 when the auction happened, and Mom had a big family and everything she needed to cook with. Do you have any enamelware pieces from your family?
Winnie #3109
Red Tractor Girl
Farm Sister of the Year 2014-2015 |
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YellowRose
True Blue Farmgirl
6794 Posts
Sara
Paris
TX
USA
6794 Posts |
Posted - Jul 18 2018 : 07:37:29 AM
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Winnie I'll think on how different generations handle setbacks and get back to you.
My mother had a dark blue speckled roasting pan. When she broke up housekeeping I think one of my sisters may have it. I have my grandmother's dark blue speckled roasting pan and use it now and then. It's mid-size. I don't remember any other colors.
I collect cream trimmed in green enamelware and have over 100 pieces from close to forty years of collecting. When I first started collecting it the pieces were cheap at estate and garage sales because it wasn't popular. Very seldom would I find it in shops. Then Country Living did a cover and spread using the cream and green and within months the prices had skyrocketed.
To add color to my kitchen I collect cream trimmed in red or orange. I also have several pieces of solid green, orange, or red.
My cream and green enamelware collection has spilled over to almost every room in the house and outside where I plant in the crusty rusty buckets, pots & pans. An flower or herb growing in an enamel tea kettle is beautiful sitting on deck railing. I have a solid green large enamel mixing bowl with a rusted bottom so I use it to collect vegetable parings and then take to my little compost. I cover the bowl with a large speckled green enamel lid.
Never ask a collector to talk about her "finds" because like a gardener talking about her gardens she'll bore you to tears. lol
Sara~~~ FarmGirl Sister #6034 8/25/14
FarmGirl of the Month Sept 2015.
Lord put your arm around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth.
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HollerGirl56
True Blue Farmgirl
1334 Posts
Barbara
Flat Top
WV
USA
1334 Posts |
Posted - Jul 18 2018 : 10:47:56 AM
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My husband just left for an evening work shift and I have a minute to post a comment---then closet organizing for me all evening. I agree that young people are very different from we older ladies. I have no idea what they think---I don't understand them at all. Social media has really changed things---that is for sure. There is a lot of support and friendship through social media. My sister and her friends love it, but I do not use it as my close friends and acquaintances do not like it or use it. I think technology is great if used properly and in a good way. I know I was isolated and alone growing up and it made me have to depend on myself to handle my fears and disappointments. I am still that way today. I guess it made me stronger in a way. I LOVE enamel ware. I started collecting in 1977 when I first got married because I needed to decorate our apartment and I found a lot cheap at rummage sales. When I moved to this farm I saved it until we built our cabin shack and that is where it is today and we use it there. I have quite a lot of it and I love it. It is red and white. My family only had a few pieces---they used cast iron. I didn't like the cast iron---
I wanted new shiny pots and pans, but now I love it and use it.
Old Age Ain't No Place For Sissies!------Bette Davis |
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YellowRose
True Blue Farmgirl
6794 Posts
Sara
Paris
TX
USA
6794 Posts |
Posted - Jul 19 2018 : 04:24:19 AM
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Winnie, I've thought about how young people deal with their disappointments and I don't have a feel for it. I know they do a lot on social media and I'm still out on whether that's a good thing or not.
Thinking on one subject always leads me to thinking on others. Like dealing with setbacks/disappointments makes me think about choices. Seems to me most everything in life is about the choices we make.
I wakeup in the mornings and it's my choice whether to be happy or not. If not happy at least thankful and contented. I'm talking about an average day not one of pain, grief, or major problems - just your ordinally kind of day. I can choose to be positive or negative. Whichever I choose will effect every other choice I make that day and may for days to come.
Sara~~~ FarmGirl Sister #6034 8/25/14
FarmGirl of the Month Sept 2015.
Lord put your arm around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth.
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HollerGirl56
True Blue Farmgirl
1334 Posts
Barbara
Flat Top
WV
USA
1334 Posts |
Posted - Jul 19 2018 : 05:16:49 AM
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I agree Sara---we can choose to be happy. I used to wake up happy and then I would let negative thoughts take over and ruin my day. Now I choose to think good things and I usually have a good day. Sometimes I wake up and start dreading all my chores and that makes me depressed, so I try to focus on the birds and squirrels and my flowers and nature. Instead of letting my animals aggravate me I try to enjoy their antics---which start as soon as I am up. Some funny---others not. I guess I am content---not happy all the time---but content with the way things are. And speaking of disappointments---my friend at our little local antique shop was looking forward to retirement with her husband and he got brain cancer and died. Then her friend was going in with her to help her run her business and she got cancer and died. Her grandchildren both had two major things get wrong with them---one almost died. But she stays strong and happy. When I talk to her my problems seem small. She says I inspire her and she sure inspires me. Such a classy lady.
Old Age Ain't No Place For Sissies!------Bette Davis |
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Across the Fence: Random Thoughts |
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Random Thoughts
