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Saturday, April 30, 2011

My absent neighbors have been here.

While my life is great! the closest house to the drive on the estate is a house that is used not two weeks out of the year!   A summer home for those from Hilton Head....
Just this last week it was .... occupied.

I am always thrilled to see them use that house!

While the house is in use ... not only is there a car in the drive but there are people always on the deck... as the views are breath taking!  They cook outside etc.. The other morning they were not on the deck but in the drive? Strange! I thought as I pulled into my drive! But... the air was sharp and only the birds made a noise in the neighborhood...

Until... I walked into my pasture!

While I have gate after gate on the estate... I also have a walk through! something I fit through; but the horses would never make that turn! so no issues.  Guest can come in and out at will!
I passed the gray gate, approaching the red, when I heard something move.
through the west wall and ...

There in my pasture where two small bears! Yes they were adorable! Yes they were terrified.. and RAN... Squalling like nothing I have ever heard before trying to squeeze though that stallion fence?   I could have cared less they were foraging on my rye and oats... My issue was knowing where mom was and if I was in her line of site!   I never found out... as the two babies squeezed through the fence and into the thick brush? I never even saw them cross the road.

Rumors have it... there is a bear den just above Roberts house?  As my neighbors have frequent visits from a 300lb bear all too often. On their deck with only a glass door between them and the bear...  They see the mother.. I am the first to report new babies... THIS year!

The issue is the SECOND story!
There is a loose/lost/ FREE cow on the road.  Not from our road... But it had been taken from a large herd, to this new house... and it broke loose, ? (not sure of the details) but with in 24 hours of being unloaded at its new place ... with no companion animals to keep it closer to home....
So it does not know where it lives.. has now been loose over 48 hours... drinks from the stream, and stays near those of us that have ? some pasture.

I can only hope the bears don't get it before the owner can put his hands on it!

LIFE... it is full of unexpected events... having baby bears on my place was ONE of those events.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

A good Laugh!

A good laugh for the rest of the world but when a police officer stops me I am worse than a kid!  I'm nervous, I'm half scared and when I'm either; I'm also very short with my answers.   While my life revolves around my husband getting stopped so much he is on a first name basis with the cops and the fed's around here, I on the other hand have been stopped so little I can still recall every time.  

This time I had just gotten off the phone with Mother, going into the gorge, sun finally down new reflectors along the walls, even snow reflectors on the side of the curb.  I was enjoying the new struts on the car, left, right, left right, right... etc... There is something addictive about sway of a car in the darkness of the night and there were no other cars around.

BLUE lights flash, my relaxed state of mind goes into panic! I pull over at Fines Cove scramble for the wallet, the paperwork (that expires in 37 days...) all in the dark!  My heart starts to beat so fast it hurts, I'm sure my breathing was irregular?  I just get silly! It's like the worst thing for me to get stopped?  Besides the radar detector is in the corner cabinet at the house.  

Flashlight in the side mirror, Flashlight in the rear view mirror, blinded by the first, relief with the second move.   A tap tap tap on the side window... ? I'd already turned the car off in my panic.  I get it ? turned for electricity and get the window down.  Do you have any concealed weapons?  Well yes sir ... sort of... KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL.  What and where are they?   As my voice shakes, but my inside wants to start laughing... I've got a knife in my belt buckle Sir!   

I'm not sure what happened, he asked for my lisc, reg... typical stuff... I took ONE hand got the envelope/ he asked me to take my paper work out...  As I did that OVER the dash? He asked me if I liked my little car? 
ok?  at this point he steps next to me instead of behind me... I fumble with paperwork... finally answer, yes Sir, but she is 10 years old.  hand him my registration; I need your licenses .. YES SIR... I fumble...as 20's fall all in my lap ( my emergency money, I keep behind my drivers license.)  

Do you know why I stopped you?  I can only imagine SIR.  You were going 79 in a 55.  I could see that... and it's not even a 4 cylinder and my tires are bald.  ( it must have been the Lain in me... I didn't REALLY want to say that out loud, but I was thinking it! and it must have slipped out)   I'm so used to defending myself all day against typical men and their ? thought processes I am getting well... a little snappy about mechanical things.

He just let out a deep breath. These are only three cylinders? I thought they would be more like the CRX. 
NO Sir, I'm Sorry!!!!! I was just enjoying my ride back to Asheville.  He asked more about my car, What my gas millage was. I asked if I could turn the key halfway on... I showed him my dash... the 57.1 miles per gallon. Is that typical?   NO sir... I get 62 leaving the mountains  I get about  58 coming back up... but  I only get  52 running around while I'm here.   So I get less on a normal day.

Do you always drive like this? as he bends over...  He's young, cute... I'm thinking when did kids become state cops? 

NO SIR I just left my family, was zoned into the curves, and wasn't watching my dash.. only the new snow reflectors... 

Are you from up North?   
NO SIR, just got in a white out with my mother once and these red reflectors were the only thing that told us we were not going off a cliff.   

More silence as he looks at all my paperwork etc...  Honestly I'm getting more nervous as the seconds start to ring in my mind like the jeopardy theme song.

I'm going to let you go! 
Oh Thank you sir! 

You need to slow down and pay attention.  Some of these curves are blind and someone could be in the road.
I'm thinking to myself ( and did NOT say out loud) yes and stupidly engineered with all the descending radius issues ... thank a higher power that one did NOT come out of my mouth.... 
I started to relax, collecting my funds in my lap. 

He asked me to be more careful... and strangely enough... commented  On hoping I can live to an old age.

That is the second time a cops has alluded to age.  First one said he was letting me go, and hoped he never saw me again unless it was rocking on my front porch?   That one had stopped me ... not two days after I changed my life, found out my father had cancer, and I was rushing to the hospital to take him sleep clothes...

The only place that I ever get tickets ... GOODLETTSVILLE TN  Somehow most of the time I am so scared they have pity on me.  I can only suppose last night was one of those times.




Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Why is life so hard?


Why do we all keep adding to our plates?
Why do we always want what someone else has?
How is that new gadget REALLY going to make my life more simple?
If all these things are made to SAVE TIME ... why do we as American's feel like we have no time?


I find I am most at peace at my barn...
Where I have NO electricity , NO pumped water, but I can hear everything... smell the roses, and think of things in great length.

I find having chosen to have my barn piratical but geriatric... has paid off!

I find I am wanting more and more of my life back to the VERY basic's of life.  Living with the weather.  I find   more and more  I want my house as simple as I can make it WITH modern inventions that TRULY make my life more simple.   Not things for looks, but all for function! BIG difference.

It seems to me the more time we save, the more we find to put in the place of what we wanted to get rid of.  I am at the point I am ready to have time.  Time to read... turning a page in a book... not a computer.  Time to talk to people face to face.   Time to cook for or with other people.

So No I do NOT want a big house,  I do NOT want designer clothes, I do NOT want a new car (mine is 10 now... and truck is... 9)  I do not want to add more, I simply want to experience more... like I did playing to hot lava in a volcano...


More REAL relationships... face to face...
More TRAVELS to experience new cultures, I learn so much from other countries... the way they live, the way the PLAY, RELISH life, and expect nothing!
More time with my family... although ALL are so far away.
More time on my horses... listening to the voices in my heart!





Wednesday, April 13, 2011

I forgot!

I somehow forgot to mention all the trees I have planted...
I got two pecan trees, an almond, a cherry, a grafted mixed fruit, an asian pear, three paw paw's and two weeping willows planted as well.   The only thing I am missing is a peach tree... it's on the hard bound to do list....

I am starting to feel like I have done a little work to the estate... I can only hope my trees survive! and provide me with something in years to come.  The Apple trees I planted last year are BEAUTIFUL this year, already in bloom, but I am sure I will have to pull the apples again this year as the trees are still a little small to be holding such heavy fruits as of yet.

oh well back to early morning work...

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Well, lets see.

Sense last I have really posted, I've given myself a black eye, planted lots of food, stocked the barn for the next months hay!  ( I hope it last a month, given it's going down to freezing again tonight!)

I have such a to do list I ... it should be in hard bound instead of so many separate pieces of paper!   Basicly I have a need to plant something every night for the next month ... in order to get my garden in the ground.  having said that! If I get a day off I could probably knock it out in 12 hours.

I did get corn, peas potatoes,asparagus, and more lettuce in the ground yesterday! Already up are the broccoli, brusselsprouts, green cabbage, red cabbage, Asian cabbage, thymes, sages of many kinds, chives, garlic, shallots, and cilantro.  So we shall see how everything else comes along.

oh yea! the black eye thing, stupid, but I was pulling on my hot water hose trying to wind it as large as possible, when the end came up a little faster, and a little lighter than I expected... popping up and hitting me in the eye.  Thank goodness the silly thing hit the bone around my eye as I was trying to close my eye and react to object flying at my face.  I ended up with a beautiful black eye that eventually faded into the best eye shadow I'd ever had! encouraging me to do my shadow differently from now on.  So lessons learned.  Watch what you are doing! and hey as the rest goes south... take the eyeshadow north! ha ha ha...

Got 50 bails of hay to the barn, had it not turned into freezing cold again I would have expected these to last me a while but... having shaved the horses, packed the blankets, I'm paying for my preparedness... with my hay rations.  DARN! I was doing so good!

BUT the shave paid off with Navarre! He rides longer without all that hair! no huffing or puffing, no sweating 1/2 mile down the road.  It was great!   I got to get out with the horses, ride with a helper around the estate, and RELAX for a while.

We got so much done after our ride.  We cleared the hay from around my water container, put stepping stones in the kitchen garden at the entrance, cleaned hay stall and filled it with hay,feed, and FLY control!

oh well... hope to take pictures soon.  I'm just on the move so much I dare not carry the camera with me yet! once I get my new schedule down pat... I'll consider it more!

Till then... Much love to you all
Amber.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Sun is OUT

The Sun is out and feels good on my face as I type this short note.   This is going to be a good day! My day started with a good laugh, animals all around, and a husband that loves me.  I am such a lucky person!

While I have not been posting I have done MUCH work.  I have planted a 7 fruit trees, three nut three and two weeping willows.  I am doing all I can to stand on my own two feet.  not to mention the cold crop annuals I need for kitchen garden!

Today I am high on life! Three good jobs, healthy animals, and family.

Today I work at the B&B later in the day, so I shall take my camera to capture some of its brilliance!

Much love to you all!

Friday, April 1, 2011

April

April : from Aperire,  Latin for   "to open" pertaining to buds