Mother's Day Festivities

Mother’s Day was founded by Anna Jarvis back in 1908. Her original intent was to have a day spent in prayer and remembrance of mothers. Jarvis protested the holiday 15 years later due to the undesired commercialization of the holiday.

105 years later, Mother’s Day is the third most popular holiday next to Christmas and Easter. $2.6 Billion is spent on flowers, $1.53 Billion is spent on gifts and $68 million is spent on cards. More phone calls are made on Mother’s Day compared to any other day out of the year and more people go out to eat on Mother’s Day. Looks to me like Joyce Clyde Hall (founder of Hallmark) won this battle.

Thankfully, we didn’t have to battle the Mother’s Day lunch crowd considering Mother’s Day lunch was at our house this year. It seems like Mother’s Day is slowly becoming our holiday to host. Maybe it’s time to stop before it becomes our official holiday…just kidding!

After discussing Mother’s Day plans with Mom, I invited my parents to come in for the weekend. It just so happens that I had a list of projects that needed to be done as well! You see, Dad has this thing for restoring old machinery. His latest project is this 1965 Pennsylvania Panzer. After making just one comment about my yard full of weeds, Dad decided that he would load up the truck with his pride and joy and drive on down to Kentucky so he could spread some fertilizer/weed killer on his daughter’s yard. Darn the luck!

Making Dan proud!

Giddy as a school girl!

I was able to find a few other odd and end jobs for Dad to do (imagine that) while Mom and I horsed around. With a large lunch crowd coming over after Church Sunday, Mom and I spent Saturday afternoon cooking, baking and cleaning until the cows came home (if you read a little further you may find that statement rather funny).

I don’t want y’all to think that all I do is put my parents to work. We actually do have some fun! What’s interesting is that we just discovered this variety show theatre that is located about 20 miles from our house. Dan and I took my parents there last month and they loved it so much that we had to go back a second time! Dad compared it to a Branson show if that means anything. Not too shabby for good ol’ Western Kentucky!

I was so blessed to be able to spend Mother’s Day weekend with the best mom a girl could ever ask for. I am so blessed to have someone like her as a role model. She has the biggest heart full of love and compassion. I guess I never realized how strong she was until now. There was a time where she spent days on end sitting next to my brother’s hospital bed while he received his chemo treatments and bone marrow transplant. She hauled me all over creation for riding lessons and horse shows. She would drop everything for us kids. She is selfless and my biggest fan!

God was smiling down on me when he blessed me with a great Mother-In-Law as well! She is so kindhearted and compassionate. She has raised two boys into the most respectable, caring, Godly men, one of which I am married to! I don’t know how, but she even survived living in a house full of men! Needless to say, I am one lucky girl.

After everyone left Sunday, I was able to sneak in a short ride and play around at the barn. Just as I was about to walk back to the house to finish laundry and pick up, Dan came cruising over to the barn. He informed me that cows got out and that he needed my help. This is when things get interesting.

As any good farm wife would do, I jumped in the truck to go help load some panels and fencing equipment. We drove out to the quarry farm (the farm that shares a fence with the local rock quarry) thinking that this would be about a 30 minute fix, an hour tops…

Just as we pulled up to the hole in the fence, the majority of the herd began making their way back to the correct side. Noticing that we were still missing the two bulls, a cow/calf pair and possibly a few more cows, I was instructed to call the cows (like Dan does) and guard the hole while he walked into the quarry to see if the rest were back there.

At nearly 7:30, the sun was beginning to set and the temp began to drop. This was all fine and dandy seeing as I could just surf the internet on my phone while calling the cows and blocking the hole. Gotta love modern technology and multi-tasking. Thirty minutes passed and still no sign of Dan. I finally got a phone call saying that he was following the tracks to where the cattle went and that he was at least a mile away. As the sun began to drop down even further I began to worry about Dan being able to see to get back but he reassured me that he was fine. I continued to do what I was told and occupied myself with a phone call to Mom.

Mom happened to ask if I was at home, never dreaming of the answer she would get. I replied with, "Well, I am actually stranded in a field guarding a hole in the fence. I am trying to call the cows home without sounding like a dying hog. It is getting kinda dark and the temperature is dropping. Dan is about a mile out and he said that he isn’t completely sure who’s pasture ground he is on. He said he was able to track the cattle to where they were at but still not able to herd them back home. We brought the two-ton truck out here so there is no way I could drive it even if I wanted to. Heck, I would be thrilled to just go sit in the truck in order stay warm but it’s too far away from the hole in the fence of which I am supposed to be guarding. It’s 9:15 and I am so ready to eat. Thankfully, I think Granny is coming out here shortly to bring me a jacket and keep me company. That may be a problem though because she doesn’t know where I am exactly and frankly, I don’t know where I am at either. Oh, and my phone is about dead!"

Such soothing words for a mother to hear!

After about an hour and a half, 5 phone calls to Dan, 4 phone calls to Granny and 3 phone calls to Mom, I was ready to be done with this cattle round up. By now, Dan had a ride picking him up about two miles away from where he started and I was still stranded by the hole in the fence. It got to the point where I was so cold that I had to do something. 48 degrees seems rather chilly when you are in a long sleeved t-shirt and accustomed to 70 degree temps. I wasn’t able to get my workout in for the day so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone. I began doing jumping jacks, high knees, running in circles, anything to keep me warm. As the cows started coming towards me I figured I better stop seeing as this was not helping my guarding abilities. Cows are such nosey animals!

Even though sitting in a warm car sounded lovely, standing in an open field under a gigantic, clear, star-filled sky was breathtaking. Sadly, the moment was quickly ruined by what sounded like a rushing river (cows urinating) and the massive slop of their…poo. Thank goodness the smell of cow poo doesn’t make me sick!

As I began hearing the sound of a car nearing, I held up my phone with the S.O.S. flashlight going (yes, there is an app for that!) Granny was able to find me and I was soon on my way to a hot meal and warm bed at 10:30. Cows have safely made it home and a new fence is in the process of being built.

Oh the joys of being a farmer’s wife!　

So God made a farmer's wife

Well, it’s that time again! Time for lonely meals for one and a few hours of having the entire bed to myself. I don’t mean to make planting time seem like a burden or anything. I really do miss Dan when I only see him for about five hours in a five day period but having the entire bed to myself for a few hours isn’t so bad. I guess that’s what life is like as a farmer’s wife.

To be quite honest, planting season truly hasn’t made its full debut. This rain three days, dry three days, rain three days cycle is not helping the farmers much.

Dan was blessed enough to get all of his corn planted three weeks ago but his Cousin hasn’t been as lucky. This weather is throwing a lot of farmers off but we sure are glad that we hadn’t started a drought like last year. This time a year ago we had a grand total of under 1 inch of rain with a temperature easily reaching the 80 degree mark . As of now, we have had a total of  nearly 5 inches of rain with an average temperature of 65 degrees. Now that is just crazy. Needless to say, we are happy about the rainfall. Now if we can just keep it coming through the blazing hot summer months.

 Queen of the house

 

With Dan’s busy season in full swing, I am learning to readjust to quiet nights at home. Just me, Gunner, Gracie and Gus. Okay, maybe quiet wasn’t the right term. Maybe chaos is a better term to describe my crazy household! Who is Gus you might ask? Gus is a new addition to our family! I found him stranded in a hole inside the horse barn, all by his lonesome self. He couldn’t have been but three-four weeks old when I found him so of course I picked up this scrawny but beautiful and oh so fluffy little kitten. I do believe I have the word….S.U.C.K.E.R. plastered across my forehead. An animal in need is Ashley’s indeed! I just can’t say no. I broke the news to Dan over the phone but he knew this one wasn’t going anywhere once he saw the kitten formula and bottle on the kitchen table.



My little Gus Gus

Most likely the happiest dog ever...always smiling!

It’s nice having a few buddies to keep me company while Dan’s out in the field until midnight. I sometimes feel like a cold and heartless wife when Dan tells me he will be working late and I don’t get too bummed. I have a slight problem with getting too involved in too many projects. What can I say, I just love projects. Between finishing a few projects around the house, working on my photography, gardening and the horses I somehow find my lonely nights at home slipping by quickly. Thankfully, I have a husband that understands that his wife has a slight ADD/OCD/Extreme need to always be doing something.

Latest Photo Shoot

 

 

 

 

So while Dan is out doing what he loves, I am at home with my house full of animals doing what I love.  Although, after a four day period of not seeing the hubby, we can really appreciate a lazy night at home. Farmer’s lives are definitely one of a kind but it works for us!

It just so happens that I stumbled upon this poem about the life of a farmer’s wife and I just might have to agree with this!

So God made a farmer’s wife

And on the 9th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "Oh dear, the farmer is going to need help." So God made a farmer's wife.

God said, "I need somebody who will get up before dawn, make breakfast, work all day in the kitchen, bank, school or alongside her farmer and then come home to fix supper and wash us the dishes." So God made a farmer’s wife.

God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with their newborn son. And watch him grow. Then pray each morning and teach her children to say, "please and thank you." I need somebody who can make a fried-egg sandwich, stretch a paycheck or thicken soup, who can clean her house with vinegar, baking soda and hot water. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish her forty-hour work week on Friday, then, join her farmer in the field for another two days, six meals and five loads of laundry." So God made a farmer’s wife.

God said, "I need somebody strong enough to plant trees and heave bales, to co-sign a loan for a half a million with steady hands, yet gentle enough to tame show lambs and raise kids and calm the farmer when he’s upset over higher rent or lower corn, who will stop her work for an hour to talk on the phone to her neighbor who just found out her mother is sick. Somebody who could cook and clean and not cut corners. Somebody to wash, dry, iron, tidy, feed, rake, water, drive, check the homework and pack the lunch bags and remember the basketball schedule and replenish the refrigerator and finish a hard week’s worth with a five-mile ride to church.

"Somebody who’d sew a family together with the soft strong stitches of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh and then reply, with smiling eyes, when her daughter says she wants to spend her life "doing what mom does," So God made a farmer’s wife.

I thank God everyday for this simple, but honest lifestyle that he blessed me with. There is something so humbling about life on the farm...something I would never trade. Farm life is pure, simple and rewarding. It definitely has it's stressful times but those are the times that we are able to grow closer to the Good Lord. That is when we take the opportunity to cling to Him and allow Him to lead way. This is not the lifesyle many would choose but I am grateful God chose me to be a farmer's wife.


The true joys of being a farmer's wife!