# 485 - Long Overdue Country-Life Update

This are going slow out here in the country. We've now been here almost seven months. Things have often been exhausting, yet so peaceful and beautiful.

Living on raw acreage is challenging. A couple of weeks ago, we suddenly didn't have water and it turned out that a neighbor hit the line with his tractor. Such is the life of a country dweller.

For the past couple of months, the weather has been ultra-yucky, which translates to bad conditions that prevent you from doing much outdoors. The private road leading to our residence has parts that are so muddy and bad that we simply avoid driving, unless necessary. We've put in road stabilizing material, but these things take time. Unless you put in concrete, you've got to keep at it so you can deal with the low areas or water-logged zones that need elevation changes.

This past week we had some excitement. Our Australian Shepherd, Howdy, went outdoors with my husband and he immediately raced for the thick part of the woods. Sgt. Dave was yelling commands for Howdy to obey, which he normally turns on a dime to obey, but he kept going. Sgt. Dave normally carries a gun at all times, but he didn't have one, so he ran back and grabbed one, then went after Howdy.

Using his machete to reach Howdy, Sgt. Dave finally made it deep into the woods to find Howdy's reason for bolting. I knew something bad had happened...Sgt. Dave told me to stay inside because he knows I have a tendency to be too curious.

A while later, he comes walking in and saying, "This is a drawback to living in the country, look at what we've got..."

Puppies!

These two had been in the woods for a while on their own. The day before I had heard yelps, but could not figure out where the sounds came from as the forest can makes sounds echo and boomerang.

Oh goodness.

Thankfully, we found the black and white puppy, a male, a good home of some old friends of ours.

Howdy is not keen to have his lips chewed on by tiny teeth.
He's the Big Boy on this acreage and things go HIS way.

So, he's living in the Greater Houston area with a wonderful family. But, the little white/brindle gal seems to be adopted by our own family.

She is so sweet, she won't give up. She's gives Howdy kisses.

I think I lost the battle with finding her another home after Sgt. Dave began calling her "Grace," which I morphed into "Gracie-Baby."

I was NOT expecting to be raising another puppy, another dog...but this is how it goes.

After laying down the law, Howdy
becomes a big buddy.

We don't have fencing in place, so that's an issue, but she seems to be smart enough to stick close to her new home-base. It appears she doesn't want to be lost in the woods again, one time is enough for her.

Other than that, I had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my oldest daughter's house in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area as Sgt. Dave had to stay home due to work and work and work.

Me at Heather's house for Thanksgiving.

My son-in-law did a fabulous job with the turkey that had been "harvested" from the farm approximately 48 hours prior to Thanksgiving. I do believe it was the freshest and most delicious turkey I've ever eaten, definitely the biggest I've ever seen --- about 25 pounds.

Of course, being with both of my grown daughters, son-in-law and grand-baby brought me tremendous joy.

Photo taken by my brother-in-law, Warren.
I sure love my Grand-Baby!

It was made even better by my sister and her family joining us!

Photo taken by Warren.

Aunt Stefie loves her baby Coraline!

Aunt Stefie with Coraline. Photo taken by Warren.

The day after Thanksgiving, we all had a ball visiting downtown Fort Worth and my son-in-law took the entire family out for Italian food at Taverna --- delicious beyond expression.

My TALL oldest daughter, Heather, then me, my sister, Robin, my
youngest daughter, Stefanie and my precious youngest niece, Shaye.
I love these gals - I am a blessed woman.
Photo by Warren.

I stayed five days at Heather and Henry's house and that gave me ample time to get up close and cozy with my sweet first grand-baby. I brought Sgt. Dave some Thanksgiving food leftovers for him to gobble down and my road trip was peaceful.

Life is full of beauty, in spite of the sprinkling of heartache, which we all contend with on some level. I am thankful because my dad's long year of chemo and radiation has come to an end. We are praying he gets good results in the coming months after battling this aggressive cancer. My husband's nephew was murdered on Father's Day and his confessed killer has been indicted by a Grand Jury, so we are always emotionally drained as we contend with the upcoming trial and with knowing a killer can throw enough money at the system and remain on the loose...but his day is coming. I try to not get bogged down by the slow pace of things here in the country, and I COUNT MY BLESSINGS!

The guest cabin construction will begin by February 1st, so I am hanging in there and glad that I planned for a year out here before construction began because the weather is definitely our boss.

This cold weather hurts my body --- I am a pure Southern gal and cold weather is not so awesome, but it's a time to prepare for Spring chaos.

I'm preparing.