Friday, October 26, 2007

Pounding Rain, Healing Rain

Tapping, pinging, pounding; whatever decibel the falling rain assumes as it hits against the the tin roof of my barn; whatever level of deluge God sends down, it brings peace to my soul. Anyone who has experienced the soothing sound of rain on on tin roof knows of what I speak. Combining that with the monotone hay munching of six, seven, or eight horses in a cloud-darkened barn creates an atmosphere of the utmost simplistically profound peace, words are inept to describe. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty!
Shew...

Tuesday, October 23, 2007



OK OK OK

Here were are, not me I guess, but Jer with my dad and his wife Hazel. We went to visit them last Sunday, the day before my birthday. Allen, Stacy, and Kaleb went along too. We had the most wonderful day. I picked up Kaleb from Bev's in the morning and was able to take him to church, not to show him off to my friends of course. But...it was fun to have folks swarm around and ask about the sweet little one Jer and I were wrestling over. Despite the temptation to stick around an enjoy the spotlight we had to leave early in order to travel to New Bethlehem and pick up Kaleb's parents. My dad was expecting us after lunch. After grabbing Allen and Stacy we headed to Joe's for lunch. Joe's deserves a post all its own. So we will save that for another time. Ha. Ha. The leaves on the hillsides were so beautiful; the sun was warm and the skies were clear. So the drive north was exhilarating and restful.

Once at my dad's we were excited to meet his sheep and enjoy touring his new barn and other improvements. Kaleb was charming as usual so meeting his great-grandpa was a wonder for us all. Allen was so fun to watch as he showed off his young son. Allen and Dad seemed to hit it off as adults, discussing raising sheep, other agricultural topics, even wind power. Watching everyone relax and spend time yapping about everything and nothing was a great blessing to me. The one thing I wanted to do this year for myself, for my birthday, was to spend as much time with as many of my family and friends as possible. When we got home Sunday night I called my brother to catch up on the last six months of our lives. It was good.

I remember after it was all over being filled with a sweet peace as I reflected on the Sunday described above, and also the fun that was had on Monday the 15th, the real day of celebration. I am falling asleep at the keyboard. I will try and recollect and record Monday's adventures tomorrow.

Friday, October 12, 2007

I will soon have my last birthday before my fiftieth. Monday we will officially take possession of my new Lincoln and I will turn 49. Most likely more than half my life has passed; my life on this earth anyway.

I am going to meet my dad for lunch tomorrow. I haven't seen him for some time, I do not even know when was the last time. For some reason I have been missing my family. I called my brother just to say hey and see when I could go out and visit. I am hoping to take Allen and his family with me to see my dad. I can pick them up on the way to Clarion where we are meeting for lunch. I can't wait to show off Kaleb. I have not gotten them on the phone yet; hopefully in the morning.

It will be my celebration of my birthday, at least part of it. I want to see or speak with everyone I love. Just to tell them I love them. 'cause I do. And, I need to tell them.
Love Love Love My New Car/Truck

Feels like a truck, rides like a car, have not begun to figure out how to work much more than the radio, and that's only if I want to listen to the stations already programed in. Ha! Of course of I park, drive, and reverse under my belt. I can put the windows down (and up), lock and unlock the doors. The heated seats were the first buttons I discovered and became friends with. Whoopee. I will post real time pics of the new ride, as soon as I am able. The vet is coming in a few minutes and I must get back up to the barn. Fall booster shots, and maybe an x-ray of Sonny's leg.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

My New Lincoln...
I get to pick it up tomorrow.
OK, its not this one. Mine is in at McGills in Indiana. This is a stock photo I found on line. Its a 2004, super loaded. Four bucket seats, navigation system, side curtain airbags. The whole package. Yippee Me!! I will miss grandma's hot rod, but I needed four wheel drive and all that. Gotta run. The man with the big feather is waiting.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Stiff Neck

Yes, I have a stiff neck. It had been bothering me for several days, but I went to the chiropractor last Friday; I felt tons better after that. I went again on Monday, but do not feel as relieved as I did over the weekend. Seems like if I sleep wrong, or bend wrong, of look at at someone wrong, I end up with a stiff neck, then tightness between my shoulders, and of course the headache. That's funny that I said/wrote that; Drew always says he has, "the headache". Not a headache, but the headache. I did not mean to say I had the headache, only that when I get stiffness in my neck and shoulders a headache always follows. So the headache simply meant the usual headache I get with stiff a neck and shoulders.

I bathed the dog today. Ha, what a project. First, I had to find her. Lucy usually hangs out in or around the barn in the mornings until I am done with the chores. When I go to the house she will go to. After I had finished everything else I had to do today, I decided she had smelled horrible long enough. Of course at this point she was no where to be found. I phoned down to the house; she was with Ned. He was getting ready to go to class and said he would drop her off on his way out the driveway. He did.

I finished up a few things, then started calling her so I could get her scrubbed up. I was already getting tired, but was determined to complete this task. My smelly yellow dog had vanished. (Later taking to Ned he said from the moment I called him earlier to bring her up she had begun acting sheepish. He had to trick her into even coming to the barn, almost as if she had heard the word BATH.) I continued to calle her name several times, getting a bit more stern with every holler. Still no dog. After a few minutes or so I figured she must have taken off for the house. Remember at this time I did not know Ned had trouble getting her to the barn in the first place.

Oh well, another day. I walked back through the barn, checked every one's water and headed for the truck. Huh, there was my wayward dog sleeping, or fake steeping under the truck. She heard me calling and ignored me, blatantly. Oh yea, she was getting a bath today. I reached in the truck and retrieved her leash. Snapping it onto her collar we headed back into the barn and straight for the hose.

I began to gather up doggie shampoo, a bucket, sponge, stuff I would need to scrub a dog. Lucy thought her and I were headed to the house, she was happily padding along beside me. Until she saw the bucket. Already having hooked the leash on her collar, I was trying to fasten it to a pipe near the hose when she made her escape. Heading across the yard for the house, she should have kept running. Buy now I would have given up and called it a day. Instead she crawled into the gator parked under the pavilion and hid, yes hunkered down behind the seat and hid. Her leash hanging off the side was the tell tale, tail.

Needless to say she got her bath today. Four scrubbings later, a few fleas remain, and a faint odor lingers. But, I was not to be outwitted by a sneaky dog, even if she is cute and clever. The worst of it all was I had to undress on the back deck, just my soaked to the skin, wet dog smelling jeans. But still I kept my eyes peeled for passing motorists or incoming visitors as I thew the soggy pants on a lawn chair scurried into the kitchen. I headed straight for the shower. I needed at least four scrubbings...and a nap.

Photo taken at an earlier dryer time....

Saturday, October 06, 2007

New House Plans...

Below you will find a copy of the new home we hope to build. We are planning several modifications. The area between the kitchen and the garage will be extended so that it is flush with the front of the house. That space will help increase the size of the dining area and make room for a laundry room and a coat room. Also, on the site where we build we will reverse the house itself so that the garage will be on the other end and the "boys" rooms will be on the the end where the garage is now, literally flipping the house. I hesitate to use the term "flip this house" since it is commonly reference by the entertainment media in home reconstruction on existing homes.

The new house will sit on top of a hill with woods to the rear, the cows down over the hill in the front, and the horse barn to the left of the garage about 3o feet or so. (the cows will be several hundred feet, they are much more odorous) We will build a small barn up on the new property to house several of the horses we ride the most, leaving the rest in our current barn for riding in the arena or to be used as broodmares. Writing this seems really dry, but I am very excited about the whole project. I have deep, deep roots in our current home and moving in the past has always been unthinkable. Lately though, God has done a work in my heart. A house is just that a house, and mine has become increasingly unmanageable for me. Never very domestic, my decreasing energy level only makes the problem worse. I am looking forward to a kitchen across the hall from my bedroom and the living room around the corner from there. Instead of a deck in the rear of the house a four season sun room will annex the sitting room in the master bedroom, serving as my library/reading/writing room. I should be able to see the barn and the pasture from there and be able to drink my morning coffee and watch the sun rise if I gaze in the opposite direction.

We are building with the future in mind and hoping this will serve as the Kimmel Retirement Village for quite some time. Wide doorways and halls will hopefully accommodate any mechanical assistance we may need. I want grab rails in the bathroom yet, am planning quite the nifty shower room in the master bath...Sort of dream home meets the nursing home. Heh heh!

Wow! I just pasted the link for the home plans and it is a doozy. I will try and get some pics of the construction site and post them so I can show off how beautiful it will be. No home can ever replace the castle we live in now. God has so blessed me with the most incredible palace I could ever imagine. The memories and events that have happened here will stay with me forever; I am sure more than a few tears will be shed when moving day drawls near. But for now I am content to dream and plan and trust God for all that He has in store. I know the next twenty will be even more exciting than the last.

http://www.homeplans.com/exec/action/plans/browsemode/details/filter/Flrs.1%3bMSFeatID.9%3bMSFrID.5%3bSQFTMax.2000%3bSQFTMin.1500/hspos/hsnet/page/12/planid/7351/section/homeplans?viewstate=tot.eNozNDMDAAE4AJ4%3d

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

What a day...

What a day! What a day! Not that it was a bad day or anything, just a what a day, kind of day.

Jeff my blacksmith was here today. He is on my top ten list of favorite people. He is a brilliant horseman, and an all around cool person to be with. Now that we have eight horses though, shoeing day is a big day, a long day, sometimes an exciting day. Today was not so exciting which made it a good day. No one bucked, or kicked, or reared, or acted like a horse's...rear. Janet came over to take turns holding the shoe-ees. The whole job can take several hours, like from 10ish to almost 2:30 in the afternoon today. Standing there holding a lead rope for four hours can get a bit tiresome. The job can get a lot worse if a horse decides its not a good day for new shoes. An extra pair of arms comes in real handy.

Jer had to be in Indiana for a tutoring appointment, of which we were late, then we late picking him up. We, Drew and I, were test driving a couple of cars for me; did not find anything I really liked. When we went, late, to pick up Jer I did not have the cash to pay the tutor, felt like a heel. By this time I am getting tired, no real nap, running late, feeling like a heel; all this life stuff totaling up to what could end up in a Sandy melt down. But alas, dinner out with Ned and one of our dear friends takes my mind off my self pity, for a little while. The little while ended when I got home to find a light fixture dangling from some twisted wires in Poco's stall. All eight water buckets were empty, should not happen if they were all filled at four o'clock; Jer was to fill them before we left, before we left after four o'clock and we were late.
I am wondering if in a thirst induced rage our sweet pony reared and knocked the light off. All the while Jer is swearing up and down he that DID fill all eight of the buckets, some fluke of fate made all eight horses drain all eight buckets on a cool fall evening in only a few hours.

Really all this sounds like any ones any day, not a what a day kind of day. But lets add to this my husband, Drew had a run in with a good friend, and possible future neighbor; a future neighbor, if we move, if we find a builder, if we decide on plans for our new house. The builder we were hoping for called this evening to recommend another builder since he had decided not to be our builder. The possible future neighbor seems to be on the verge of...or already in in the middle of a of a nervous breakdown. From what Drew says she was ranting and raving and flailing and despairing, way beyond self-depreciating kinds of despairing. Even hearing about the conversation was quite disconcerting.

All this being said, when I flopped down in bed, what a day simply hiccuped up out of my esophagus and blurted onto the keyboard. Bed feels pretty darn good. What on earth do folks do who do not know and trust God hold their what a day days in His hands and near His heart? What do they do? Shew, what a day.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Hammers 'n Nails

I had cement poured in the back of my barn this week. The rear pasture is getting a small shed that will act as a shelter from sun and rain and winter gales. Seems a busy place, my barnyard. The horses oblivious to the activity, are frustrated by the limits on their outdoor frolicking. Everyone has been stall bound to keep them out of the contractors hair, and to protect these inquisitive equines from self-inflicted mischief or even injury.

'Spose that could seem a bit like us, impatient with the process of new growth. A temporary inconvenience is challenging to tolerate even if the end result will be an improved living situation. When God begins a new work in my life, or on my character; my first response is to balk. But, dah...its God doing the work, why should my lazy soul complain? I get the benefits of greater peace, increased joy, and deeper relationship with my Lord. All I have to do is submit to His chipping, scraping, and burning away of the crust and chaff which weighs me down and impedes my spiritual growth.

Yet still, when God closes a gate and hems me in protecting me from dangerous pitfalls, I want to paw at the ground and nip at my neighbors. I know that when the constuction at the farm is complete, my four legged friends will have increaced safe space and be more content in their new digs. For now they will have to trust me.
Hmm...just like I should rest, be still, and be confident in a God who sees a bigger picture than I.