Visiting the Farm

I had a nice day yesterday visiting a friend of mine. She and her family live on a farm. I was raised on a farm and really miss it.
I can't say that I miss some of the chores I had to do as a child, like cleaning out the rabbit pens, or washing out the cows watering tank. Yuck!!
But I do miss the animals and the country life, and my afternoons in the pasture.

I lived on the farm during my young years, until I got married and left home. I don't remember the pressure of getting the wheat planted on time, or the worry of the rain and hail storms coming right at wheat harvest time.
What I remember is the relaxed, peaceful times when I would take a walk in our pasture. There was always so many adventures there.
Much different then walking on a sidewalk around my neighborhood now days.

A lizard runs across the path. Where is he going so fast!
A horny toad sits on a rock watching me. I catch him and hold him for a while looking at his funny horny skin. Then I put him back down and he scurries away.
A cockle burr gets caught in my pant leg, or a sandburr in my sock. Ouch, I reach down and pull it out.
Look, there is a bare space on the ground filled with small rocks. I found a small piece of petrified wood!
A small amount of water is in the dry wash in the pasture. I pull off my shoes and socks and play in the water and mud. Oh, I better be careful, I see a couple of crawdads! Look at them run backwards when I get close. How funny!
In a bigger puddle I see tadpoles, some have two legs growing all ready!

Then I get to the area where a big patch of sunflowers are growing. They are taller then I am. I start bending some of them over and make a path into them and then a whole area.
I have a new play house!! I sit down and watch the bugs and butterflies go by.
Finally I decide it is time to walk back up to the house. The adventure continues as I go back up the path.
A big yellow grasshopper jumps and lands right on my shirt! I grab him in my fingers and black tobacco comes out his mouth. I laugh and toss him in the air and he flies off.

What a wonderful afternoon I have had. An adventure as great as any safari!!
And it was right at home.

All of these memories come back to me as I am walking around my friends yard on the farm.
She has different animals then what we had. But I still love to be on a farm again.

Here are some pictures I took yesterday:

Farm Goats

Galloway Beef Calves

Her Pet Chickens

Puppy to Grow up to Protect the Goats

Getting Older

Well, I can't believe it. I am getting old! And today I feel even older! When I got my mail today I had a letter that had my new Medicare Card in it!! Golly, I won't be 65 for four more months!!! They didn't have to send it so early!!

I don't really feel that old. And my up coming birthday is not bothering me that much really. But I can remember when my mother turned 50. I was still fairly young and I told her, "Gee mom, you are half a century old!". She told me in later years that she really didn't feel that old until I told her that!

My "older" sister told me today, " I love being old. There are so many advantages and deductions that you can get." I guess she is right. Golly, we both are retired and can do what we want!! Now what can be better then that! ha ha

All of this is leading up to more memories I have been having. I have some of my father's old toys. He loved toys even when he was older. His toys were special toys that he kept in a special drawer. We only got to play with them when we asked permission and then we had to handle them very carefully. We only played with them for a short while and then had to put them away again in his special drawer. But because of this, I have some wonderful toys today that were my fathers.


This photo is of the original metal Slinky and the original box it came in. Also pictured is a metal top. You wind the string around the top, hold the end of the string with the metal washer between your fingers and throw it out onto the floor. Notice the holes in the side of the top, that would let it whistle while it spun.


Here are two tin toys. Very simple but fun. The clown would sit on a string that two people held very tight and the clown would "walk" down the string. The other item is a spinning disk. It says on it, "Blow On It See It Spin".

Such simple things but they were so much fun to play with! So life goes on, I get older, but I try to keep my life simple. Life for me is fun.
I think I was taught how to enjoy the simple things in life.