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!
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| Making Dan proud! |
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| 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!
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