Work out

Since we've moved in with the Bird Woman, I have not exercised much.

I have been more physically active, but not actually doing sit ups and push up.

Today I knuckled down and just did it.

Here's one of my workout regimens.

I found it somewhere online.  

I don't know where.

I also don't remember if you're supposed to do it for time, or just do it till you're done.

I just did it till I was done. 

Warm up (Repeat 3 times):

50 jumping jacks

10 push ups

10 squats

Stretch:

(I did the listed ones and some others)

30 sec each leg side lunge stretch

60 second butterfly

30 second wide arms circles forward

30 sec wide arm circles backward

Workout:

50 push ups

40 lunges

30 sit ups

20 squats

10 burpees

60 second plank

10 burpees

20 squats

30 sit ups

40 lunges

50 push ups

I also have to be honest and say that I couldn't get straight through the 50 push ups.

I did about 10-15 before my body collapsed.  

I would then do 5 "girl" push ups, and go back to 10-15 regular push ups.

I'm also not sure if I was doing the burpees right.  

Then I ran about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile, in my flats, since I forgot to bring my tennies to the farm.

I felt this great sense of accomplishment when I was done.

And then I remembered that the urban warrior challenge is more than 7 miles long.

I have such a long way to go.

Monkey's Wedding

 Tonight was a night that makes you feel, somehow, more alive.

The wind blew incredibly hard today, and then just stopped.

The rain crows had called and the storm answered.

All around the sky poured out grey.

Not silver, just grey.

We hid in the farm house, except for Nellie, the farm dog, who goes into a kind of stupor when rain comes.  

She lays on the back porch and sleeps.  When you wake her, her eyes are glassy and she doesn't seem to see you.  

Nothing can rouse her.

As soon as you leave her she goes back into her rain coma.

Inside, we weren't much better.

We watched I love Lucy, Wheel of Fortune, and a documentary about cats.

Then, just before dusk, the sun came out.

The storm had somehow condensed it, and then poured it out upon us.

It shone through the still falling rain.

A sunshower, or a monkey's wedding, which ever term you prefer.

Everything was touched with gold. 

The air was fresh and clean, emerging from the water, surrounded by light. 

I have learned the aura that the land gets when it's rainbow weather.

I can look out a window and tell that there is a rainbow somewhere.

The air itself gets this golden hue.

I was not disappointed.

My husband later told me that when I went outside, he was afraid I wouldn't come back.

If night never came, I don't think I could have.

Old Blue

This was our wedding limo.

The Bird Woman's late husband thought we were crazy when my husband asked to use the truck, but he obliged us anyway.  

He even put a clean sheet over the seat to keep my wedding dress clean.

Geese...

Every day on the farm a pair of geese fly over and land either in the neighbors field or by the creek at the bottom of the hill.

Their approach is heralded by honks back and forth as they argue over where to eat lunch.

I hadn't heard them for the past couple days and thought nothing of it, until we found this.

We don't know what he or she died from.  

Though the feathers are ruffled from the rain, it was completely un-marred, with no sign of sickness or injury.

Finding it saddened me greatly because geese mate for life.

They will grieve, sometimes for days over their lost companions.

Sometimes they will mate with another goose, but sometimes they never mate again.

I didn't hear this goose's mate crying, or see it circling the hill again and again, so my hope is that it will mate again.

Whether it will bring its new mate back here to the farm only time will tell.

Nellie

Introvert's paradise

A farm is an introvert's paradise.

It is often quiet, and even when it's not, there is room to be by yourself.

There is room to be yourself.

(No one stares if you dance in the rain.)

If you are willing to work hard, with a smile, there is a place for you.

You don't have to rely on your conversation talent or social graces to be accepted.

Since you work hard, there is no reason to feel guilty for sitting down and enjoying a good book.

I don't read as much here.

There are adventures to be had without picking up a book.

Some day we will have our own farm.

Until then, I, as an introvert, am blessed beyond words to be living on this one.

Dual purpose bed

 We painted the tulip bed today.

Until this fall it will serve as a vegetable garden.

I bought tomato and pepper plants at our local farmer's market today.

Tulip Bed

This isn't a good picture, but this is a wire screen with black planter's paper over it to keep both the weeds and moles from eating the tulip bulbs.

We stacked the cinder blocks two deep and then filled them partially with stream gravel.

After the stream gravel was in place, we finished filling them with some gravel that matched the cinder blocks.

My husband finished filling it with dirt last night, and there are already elephant ear planted in it.

More pictures to come.

Rain Crows

The Bird Woman told me that her grandmother called Mourning Doves "Rain Crows".  

When they call, rain will soon come.

Welcome to the Farm

We are going to be living with The Bird Woman for 6 weeks.

Welcome to the farm.

Spring Flowers

The Bird Woman's Flowers

Photos by Jacey Storer

Yum Yum...

Only my best friend would send me dried squid from South Korea, and know I'd think it's awesome.

As soon as I get the right seasonings,

I am going to cook it.

I am going to eat it.

I am going on an adventure without ever leaving the kitchen.

Horses...

I still doodle horses in my notebooks.

I learned to ride when I was 6.
I was struck with a love for horses very young and my mom thought that if it was a phase, better to cut it short.
She called around and found some local day horse camps.
The questions she asked the barn were some thing like "Will my daughter be made to clean stalls, clean up after her horse, clean tack, etc?"
When a barn about 35 minutes from us said yes, mom signed me up.
She was sure that doing hard work, in a barn, in the middle of the summer would put me off horses forever.

Her plan backfired.
I ended up even more in love.

I rode all the way through high school, at two different barns, and with two horses of my own.
When I got engaged I have the last horse to a friend.

I have ridden 3 times in three years.
I didn't think I would miss it so much.

I miss warming my hands up in the thick fur around the girth in winter.
I miss kissing the velvety noses.
I miss facing backwards, resting my head on a rump, just hanging out.
I miss sharing my apples and crackers.
I miss knowing a horse so well I could get them to do things, like piaffe, bareback, with just a halter and lead rope.
I miss feeling that rolling power underneath me, and yet feeling totally safe.
As frustrating as it was, I miss telling someone something that I did with a horse, and having them not believe me, even asking me if I knew which horse I was talking about.
I miss smelling like cedar shavings and horse sweat.

Maybe someday I will ride more often than annually.
Until then I'll keep doodling horses on scraps of paper and dream of being one with 1000lbs of herbivore again.

The Bible in 90 days

I am reading the Bible, in 90 days.

I've heard people say that if you read the bible that fast you don't actually get what it's saying, or that you're doing it just to prove a point or show off.

I've done this before, and none of it is true.

There is a degree of pride that has to be guarded against. (How many people do you know that have read the bible in 90 days?)

Contrary to not getting what it's saying, or doing it "just because", I found that it is much more entertaining to read it quickly.  It is more of a story to me.  I make more connections between events.  I get excited reading about the prophecies, looking for them to show up later on.

I encourage you to try this, just once.

http://www.thebrooknetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/BibleIn90Days.pdf

Tuesday was 95 degrees.

Today it's snowing.

Welcome to Missouri.