Retirement!
Not at this farm!
I started this post months ago. I had my daughter "driving" in the computer chair showing me how to create this site. Looked fairly easy.
With HER confidence, I was ready for the cyber world!
My daughter left the farm the next day and I was left with, "You can do it mom!" As if I were getting back on a bike!
NOT!
Doomed...that is, for a couple of months!
Periodically, I sat staring at the screen trying to open up the blog site several times.
I wasn't so sure how she made this site, but figured I could just push buttons until I figured it out! I knew my password, I thought that was all I needed!
I found out, trying to log onto the blog spot the very next day, this isn't like pushing the remote control buttons on the VCR or stereo. You know, do the little dance around, squeak out noises, and hope that sound comes out of the black box and TV at the correct time! (Yes I still use those!) I learned quickly my computer doesn't talk back giving me directions or answers to my questions. I not only forgot how to get on the site, but in two months, I managed to lose my whole blog spot address!
The very next day after my daughter built this site, I had the beginning of what was to be several rattlesnakes at the farm. Add a bunch of hatched baby chicken peepers to protect from the wild life, and a few Search and Rescue (SAR) missions along with a lot of training missions. The reality is, my physical life moved on, the cyber world would have to wait.
My husband now has a female puppy named Cricket! At 9 months old, she is an amazing puppy! Yes! I say AMAZING! Mainly because she can drag my husband all over the desert at the end of a leash and he doesn't ask her why! If I tried that, well most women out there will be able to imagine just what kind of resentment they would get from the masculine side, especially at our retirement age. But put a pretty little German shepherd in front of my hubby, and he is in L-O-V-E! It is like the donkey following a dangling carrot. He follows her jogging and mostly, willingly! And he doesn't even like to jog, so he has told me over the years!
After the morning chores this morning we continued our day with a K-9 training mission. Cricket, easily found me about a mile away! I am so impresses with her willingness and ability! And even more so, with my husband's new found energy and ability to follow her the mile or so at a jog. We have great expectations for her. And for me, I'm ecstatic, on how she can lead my hubby around without him giving that look that keeps him from doing manual labor around here, you know, the honey do list...yup that look!
I have always had a strong need to put Search and Rescue (SAR) on the forefront. I started with the SAR group back in the mid-seventies when I was fresh out of high school and on my own! It was a very loose nit group back then. (Now, it is very well organized with constant training! This helps out with the confidence levels.) Then the children came and I stepped away, always feeling like I was missing something. However, over the years and the children grown, I joined again. This time, my husband took to it too, easily. He loves hanging from a chopper or off the side of a mountain, he was a fast willing participant trusting a skinny rope! I on the other hand, I still have to run the farm, so if the missions come in-between the morning clean out the nest boxes and after the evening collection, I am game too. I miss the freedom to go on the missions at any time. Having a poultry farm dictates my schedule. ( Been known to say it keeps me in a fowl mood! HA!) But fresh eggs are tops!
My farm workers are real dogs! Oh how I love my dogs! I like dog breeds who make me look good, and who are easy to train! And my canine partners have all have had a job over the years. Currently, my Standard poodle, Cottonball Jack, is the best farm dog I have ever had! I call him my farm foreman! No foo foo poodle here! He doesn't back down from the coyotes, (behind a sturdy fence that is). He puts unruly roosters in their place and lets me know when the mountain lions are close, and when the rattlesnakes are around. Currently my reality is setting in with Cottonball Jack, he is needing to train the next foreman soon, he is slowing down at the age of 9. I have a Border Collie~Aussie mix named Charliebug Jazz who can also track the lost persons out there. She is very laid back, unusual for a Border, but will chase off the Hawks that kill the chickens. By the way, so far my dogs have been owner surrendered, until Cricket. We lost our last Shepherd that was owner surrendered to what the vet called inbreeding. Devastating and heart breaking as we bond with these guys deeply. Not to mention we lost a lot of training time.
So, the purpose for this site is for sharing.
First reality, I hope I can get back on again as I am not sure what password or sign in address did the trick this time! I was doing everything I could think of for both words. Next, I hope I post this correctly.
I will post pictures as soon as learn how. I'll show how I make my art work, share pictures of our animals. We also have mules we use for Search and Rescue. I have three donkeys and one of them was 'Apple' who was a therapy donkey and well received,went into hospitals! He didn't care much for the elevator though. He did stairs well going up, but not coming down!
My husband and I have always been busy cheering and helping others. We were clowns volunteering at events in the hospitals. When retirement was approaching him, I thought he'd finish projects he started here years ago. Surprise!... that stuff will still need to wait or get fixed when it becomes an emergency! Do I need to say more?
I have done all the wifely duties and trained all of the animals until now, now he is preoccupied with Cricket! Those projects can wait some more. Cricket can do this! And if she and him can help save a life or find a lost person, I will need to wait on the forever growing list. Besides, she is getting him to jog!
Rules for blogging!
All fun stories and realities of retirement, farming and if you have animals or are a volunteer with Search and rescue, share in your stories.
No profanity!
Suzanne
