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Monday, November 26, 2012

Monday Musings.

I have started romancing the Me.  It all started when I was doing a blitzkrieg clean through the house - nothing like facing wind and snow to make you suddenly very interested in cleaning the inside of the house.  I took a look at my bed and realized that I had never made pillow shams for the back pillows.  I guess I figured that I was the only one looking at them and who cared.  Well, gosh darn it, I do!  So I hauled out my sewing machine and imagination (heaven forbid I use a pattern....) and whipped up two shams in about a half hour.  And they are darn nice!  It becomes too easy to forget to treat yourself nicely.  To make your space pleasant to look at just for you.  I doubt very much if I will be dragging out the good china and lighting the candles with every meal, but I am going to try not to slide down that slippery slope....

Speaking of romance, I spent most of Friday afternoon standing around watching goat sex.  I had been hanging up my three loads of laundry, trying to make the most of the last lovely day for quite a while, when I happened to look over at the goats.  Sage was wagging her tail like a dog and cozying up to Chickie at every opportunity.  He was not buying all this "friendliness" and avoided her like the plague.  I dropped the laundry basket and sprinted into the house -- we had heat!!!  I emailed my friend AnnMarie, who called me and we arranged for her to bring one of her bucks over for a 'date'.  So, there in the last nice day of fall, with the sun shining, everyone - including the sheep and llama, who were lined up along the fence line - stood around nonchalantly while my little baby doe became a future milking doe (we hope).  AnnMarie and I talked farms, goats, DIY, llamas, feed prices, vet bills, self-reliance, and milking stands.  Her handsome little buck, Troy, was in heaven and he and Sage hit it off famously.

As AnnMarie drove away with a sleepy but happy Troy in the back of her old van, it struck me that there is much kindness and generosity in the world.  This was the first time AnnMarie and I had ever met - actually.  She doesn't know me from Adam, and vice versa.  She has a Nigerian Dwarf dairy operation - a small one - but she hand milks 25 does every day.  And cares for a bunch of rescued llamas.  She works hard and manages to scrape by.  Yet, here she was, taking a chunk of time out of her busy afternoon for my benefit.  She is also taking Sage and Chick to their own little section of her farm three weeks before Sage is due so she'll be there when Sage kids (and has promised to call me no matter what the time).  She will then teach Sage how to milk.  And me, too.  And, when we're comfortable with it, she will send the Chickie/Sage/kids family home with a milking stand that her brother is making.  For free.  Asking nothing at all in exchange for all of this time and effort.  She knows that I am trying to sell Sage and figured it would be an easier sale with a doe in milk.

As bad as things are in the world, there are plenty of good, kind and generous people.  As a matter of fact, alot of them are floating right out there - not so far away - in the blogosphere.  It gives you comfort and courage to know that it's not all bad and it's okay to be hopeful.

14 comments:

Sue said...

I so agree. It always seems when I hit a point that I think the world is going to hell in a handbasket, someone always manages to do something nice and blows that theory all to pieces....which is a good thing.
Sounds like you found a nice gal there. Send her over. I'll trade you one crotchety Dolores-LOL!

Susan said...

Sue - Who is crotchety Dolores? And - no, you can keep her! No crotchety-pantses wanted!

DFW said...

AnnMarie sounds like a gem. I really like good people ... the other kind, not so much.

Susan said...

DFW - She is. It's rather overwhelming. But I am extremely grateful for her help. She sure knows her stuff! I'm with you on the other kind. Too many of them.

Sandy Livesay said...

Susan your new friend Ann Marie sounds so sweet and wonderful. Can we clone her, lol.....it's so hard to find good people.

Sue said...

She is my neighbor and the only one around here to go to the nurseries and garden centers with in spring. But wow--what a grouch.

Unknown said...

What a great person! Make her a cake or pillow shams :)

Anonymous said...

Good for you for prettying up your space. It is too easy to say "no big deal", and it is. And I bet I'd love AnnMarie. Friends like that are few and far between.

LindaCO said...

As a kid from the suburbs of Cleveland, I can't help but giggle at how you spent your Friday afternoon. I know, I know, I was removed from some of the connections people had to the land and their food. I try to compensate by reading homesteading blogs :P

True 'dat on the hope thing. And how nice to cross paths with someone as generous as the goat lady.

Candy C. said...

Good for you for making the shams "just because!" I have been trying to add more beautiful things to my everyday life recently, mostly in the form of functional yet beautiful kitchenware! LOL!!
What a nice lady you met, aren't goat people the best?!? ;)

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Ha ha ha ha! Had to laugh at the goat part. We bred our two girls already this season. We are hoping for some girls next spring.

SweetLand Farm said...

Sweet! I hope you little goat becomes a great milker for you!
The blogger world I have found is a great network of "friends"

Erin said...

You gave me a reminder about the good people out there JUST when I needed one! Love the idea of making things pretty... I am in the throes of decluttering/donating items to Goodwill, the pretty will come later LOL. I go through this every time hubby deploys for a long time, it's like nesting :)

petey said...

Wow. I would love a friend like that!...Wait....what am I saying? I'd love any friend I could actually SEE and talk to! LOL