How Wild Horses Dragged Us Together

Recently my husband and I had a bummer of a few days. We really needed an evening at home together. A night finally freed up for my husband… but then of course, I couldn’t be there. I had to take the older two kids to a class. I was just pulling out of the driveway when our horses escaped the paddock. With a fall nip in the air and some sprinkling rain, all five horses... Read More

Smile on the Horizon

A couple days ago my hyper-responsible older daughter burst inside yelling, “MOM! There’s a cow in the yard, and the baby is trying to go outside!” I peeked out the door and saw neither hide nor hair of cow. What I did see was the most marvelous light from the sunset… the kind of light that keeps reminding me, “You’re home.” I cajoled... Read More

New Home: The Place of Perfect Marital Bliss

My husband and I have spent hours daydreaming together about our perfect home. These have been fun times for us (the dreaming part of it, not the hard years). I feel a little foolish admitting this, but I was a tiny bit worried that after we moved to our permanent place, we wouldn’t have anything to dream together about anymore. Haha! There was no need for concern! (Click... Read More

Planting Fall Mums (While Cooking Stuffed Pasta Shells)

The last few days I’ve occasionally felt a slight chill in the air! Maybe I’m just imagining it. Either way, it seems to me like sufficient reason for planting fall mums. A couple evenings ago, I started up some stuffed pasta shells, in my new quest to have sit-down family dinners more often. I boiled the shells, browned the onion and ground beef, mixed a pack of cream... Read More

The Farrier's Visit

Monday evening a farrier came to our house. (Update: I found out on his next visit that he is not, in fact, a farrier. A farrier trims hooves for the purpose of affixing shoes. This guy is a barefoot hoof trimmer. It’s a different style, intended to make the hoof flat against the ground and to help the hoof become calloused, similar to wild horse hooves. I’ve changed... Read More

Summer Evening Reverie

Summer evenings make some of the most nostalgic memories. We’ve been soaking up the evening play time, when the heat has relented a little, bedtime is still an hour or two away, and the light starts looking magical. The kids love it… At least, I think they do. Sometimes I wonder about the littlest. But they all seem to enjoy themselves, in their own ways… even... Read More

Lowly Worms

I’ve been feeling low, in a “nobody likes me, everybody hates me” kind of way. (You know that song?) I know it’s not true, just feelings. (Click here to read more or leave a comment on Lowly Worms)  Read More

Cowgirl Wins a Prize

This heat is getting to me. It’s getting to the animals, too. It’s getting to the grass that’s turning yellow in their pastures. It’s getting to the grasshoppers that eat the grass that’s turning yellow in their pastures. Actually, it’s not getting to the grasshoppers, but I wish it were. Thursday morning I spied several cattle grazing on our... Read More

Aaaaahhh…..

We’re HOME. I’ve been waiting a long time to write those words! This has been a jam-packed week, and we’re only gearing up for more! There have been the usual frustrations with moving: – a sprinkler that won’t turn off and is watering the paved drive – a gas fireplace that is stuck in a no man’s land between on and off – a hitch... Read More

Flower Headbands and a Savvy Vet

I made my last shopping trip in New Mexico a couple days ago! While we were picking up shampoo, the girls spotted some headbands with enormous flowers on them. They were $7 each, and they were the kind that poke you behind the ears. Instead, we decided to make our own silk flower headbands. I let the girls pick some soft crocheted hair bands, plus whichever silk flowers they liked…... Read More