Not ready for the main road just yet

Kathryn came in from doing chores last night with deep concerns. She had nearly hit a fence with the Steiner lawn tractor. For a long time now, her brother and sister have fussed over the fact that she was the only one in the family that didn't know how to drive the thing. She, on the other hand, was quite happy to walk. So, recently, I notice the tractor going down the driveway, swerving from one side to the other. I thought to myself that I needed to get after Thomas for goofing off while driving the thing. Much to my surprise, when the driver stepped off, it was Kathryn. It seemed Thomas had finally convinced her it was time and wouldn't take no for an answer.

Supposedly, she had been doing better and according to Thomas, she could do it alone. Well, last night she was less than thrilled. She had been trying to slide the knobby thingy from "rabbit to turtle" (those were her exact words) when she ended up going off the driveway and toward the fence. Thomas says she stopped in plenty of time, but that doesn't mean he will get her back on the tractor anytime soon.

If she takes a page from my book, she won't be driving any tractors until she has been married for 12 years or so.

PS: Daddy and Thomas haven't gotten a deer yet. There are plans in the works to stake out a spot in the woods this weekend. Updates when available.......

Who gets the blessing?

Sunday night our family joined a number of other families from our church in a opportunity for service. We visited four ladies who are now residing in long term care homes and are no longer able to worship at our church on a regular basis. This was the third time we had done this, and each time it seems more special it is.

At two of the homes, we were able to sing to more than just the lady from our church. At one location in particular, there is a dear man who each time we have been there has requested "In The Garden". He and my mom sang it together as a duet this time. A very sweet moment.

These folks are so draw to the kids. I suspect many of them don't get many chances to see kids, and ours are a treat for them. I am grateful that our kids are learning at such a young age to be comfortable around older people. To have the opportunity to serve is special for them.

So who gets the blessing???? I know the idea is to give these ladies a little break from what must seem like long, and sometimes lonely days. But to be honest, I think I am getting more from it than them. This takes me out of my comfortable pew on a Sunday night and opens my heart to the needs of others. That is a wonderful thing.

You can hear the sun rise......

Well, not exactly, and especially not this morning. What on earth am I talking about???? It is opening day for all the deer hunters across Michigan. It has been a long standing joke that on opening morning, you can "hear" the sun rise, as hunters bag a big buck. Unfortunately it has been raining all morning, so there was no sun to see or hear rise, and the deer are few and far between.

My family has joined the ranks of deer hunters. In all the years I have been married to him, dear husband has gone hunting once. That was before Suzanna was born, and after a contractor we did a lot of work for twisted his arm to join them. Suzanna is 12, so you can see how long ago that was!

Enter Thomas. His best friend and buddy from church, Jacob, is from a hunting family and this fall, he took the Hunter Safety class in anticipation of being old enough to hunt. In addition, a girl from our church and cousin to Jacob took it as well. Thomas was pretty concerned they were getting ahead of him, so just two weeks ago, he and his daddy took the two-day course and passed "with flying colors".

Thanks to the encouragement from Uncle Rick, our neighbor and relative by marriage, my guys were up before the rooster to get to the woods. Despite the fact that Thomas isn't old enough to hunt deer yet, he still wanted to see what it was all about. Of course, knowing what the weather was going to be like, hubby whipped together a shelter, so that they aren't sitting out in the elements. I received a call from hubby a little while ago, and Thomas was thrilled to have seen three does. They were playing in the field about 50 feet from the shelter and had no clue the guys were there. Of course, they weren't interested in taking a doe. It's all about the big buck.

I have my own concerns about this deer hunting thing. I have only had venison a couple times and I wasn't impressed. Several friends from church are old hands at cooking with it and promise to coach me if my hubby manages to get the "illusive" buck.

I will keep you posted!!!!

Riding

I haven't mentioned it, but I have had the opportunity to ride my horse for the past month. As a kid, my parents had Morgans, and I had a fun gelding to ride. Riding was nearly a daily occurrence if the weather was nice. I had a friend just up the road who also had a horse and we had a great time together. Some of the stuff we did with our horses, my mother would have had an absolute fit over....but nobody broke any bones, and if we did fall off, we just got right back on.

As I moved on to college and then got married, horses just didn't fit in. I sold my gelding the summer before I got married and used the money to buy my wedding dress. Priorities, don't ya know!!!

In 1998, hubby and I bought a broodmare, and thus began Knolltop Morgans. Breeding was fun and having new foals was a great experience for all of us, especially for the kids. With so many other priorities, riding was never very high on the list of things to do.

All that changed when Storm got back from Nationals. Despite the fact that I may have ridden 10 times in the past 20 years, Trainer Mike said there was no reason I shouldn't be enjoying my own horse. He didn't have to ask twice and soon I headed to the barn and took my first ride on horse that I brought into the world! What fun it was! And believe me, she was very forgiving, considering it had been a lot of years since I spent any time on the back of a horse. Since that first ride, I have been faithfully riding twice a week. I am no longer so sore I can hardly move, and actually look forward to my time in the saddle.

We are still marketing her, but on the off chance she doesn't sell within the next few weeks, she will come home for the winter. If that happens, I suspect I will spend some time in the saddle this winter.

It is really special to have the opportunity to ride an animal raised from birth on our farm. And big compliments go to Trainer Mike for getting a three-year old mare steady and safe enough for me to enjoy.

Sure didn't take long.....

to throw Sarah Palin under McCain 's campaign bus.

I wasn't very happy with the results of the election, and stayed away from the TV news networks through most of the day, since it isn't a happy, happy, joy moment for me. So last evening I sat down to watch a little on the Fox News network. Now they are accused of being biased all the time toward Republicans by everybody else. Trust me, they weren't last night. To my disappointment, Bill O'Reilly had a correspondent reporting all the juicy details from "McCain campaign aides" who could finally tell all about the real Sarah Palin. She really was dumb, a clothes horse, a hick and a redneck (I am paraphrasing here).

I know there is talk about her running in 2012, which seems like a lifetime away right now. My advice to her, FORGET IT!!! Do you really want to subject yourself to the wonderful, supportive press we have in this country? And I am disappointed that the same John McCain, who tells us all to get along and support the new President, doesn't have a greater respect for the LADY he pulled from a quiet existence in Alaska to the national spotlight. I think he owes her more than a kick in the behind less than 24 hours after it is all over.

I do know one thing, the liberals are getting just what they hope for. If you beat up enough good people when they attempt to run for major office, the good ones will quit running and you can get more of your liberal ideas through the system without much resistance.

And as far as Sarah Palin, I can't help thinking that the only thing she really is guilty of is actually trusting that her ideas would be appreciated enough to be Vice President. Oh, and Senator McCain???? If you had been as strong a conservative as Sarah Palin, you might just have won.

Exercising my right....

FINALLY!!!

The talk is over (well, sorta) and the day has arrived. We can finally go to the polls and enjoy an amazing right we have in America. We can vote.

I have been a political junkie for over 20 years. My family taught us early on that we had a responsibility to have a role in who was leading our country as well as our state. In high school and on through college, I worked for a gentleman who was well connected in the National political world. You couldn't help but be mindful of politics when he was around. I started college at Michigan State in the fall of 1984. There was a booth where you could register to vote right in the room we registered for classes. I was SO excited that I was old enough to vote for the first time. I remember Geraldine Ferraro was on campus that fall and went to the rally with a bunch of girls from my dorm, where we proudly chanted "REGAN-BUSH" during her speech!!

Suzanna was born in the fall of 1996, and hubby and I took her with us to vote that November, tucked in her car seat. We have continued the tradition of having the kids go with us and will do it again this evening. Hopefully through our example and conversations around home, our kids will grow up appreciating their right to vote.

Don't forget to exercise today.....the right to vote is a privilege men and women have willingly died for. And also remember that no matter what the outcome....God is in control!

Trick or treat, country style

We took the kids out to trick or treat last night and had a great time. Unlike many people, we don't go door to door in our neighboring town. When I was a kid, we never did and I have carried that on with my kids. Instead, we all pile in the car, and with daddy at the wheel, I give him the route for about 6 houses of relatives and neighbors that we do stop in at. This year, Terry and Cindy, my brother and sister-in-law wanted to join us, along with Sapphire, their collie. Mind you, my car seats 7, so the dog had to ride behind the back seat in the cargo area. I think she was mildly insulted, since she is an "only child" she normally ranks much higher in the pecking order of life.

So off we went with Zorro, Little Bo Peep and Felicity (American Girl character). At each stop, we all have to pile out of the car, go to the door, get treats, chat about life and then pile back into the car. At our third stop, we hit two houses in one. Grandma Stanna was finishing up on some yard work, so we quickly got our treats and she got back to work. We also caught the neighbor Harts coming from the barn. Neighbor Melissa had to fill me in on her great news....and we talked.....and talked.....'til my ride went rolling down the driveway and threatened to head out to the next stop. See that is the fun part of country style trick or treating. We get to catch up on the latest news, since all the houses we go to are people we know.

Off to my aunt and uncle's place. Now Aunt Stub (her real name is Naomi) makes sure there are treats for the big kids, and this year was no exception. She had a huge box of doughnuts and fresh cider from Gleis for everybody. Now they hadn't seen my brother in about 4 years, so there was a lot of catching up to do. That stop lasted about 45 minutes!! Between that stop and Grandpa Bob's, we called in a pizza order to the local pizza joint. We made two more stops, grabbed the pizza and headed to my parents for supper.

Great fun was had by all, and the kids came home with bags full of candy. One more thing I figured out about trick or treating, country style......you get more candy per stop than the in town style......so your kids still end up on a sugar high on the way home.