“Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭96:11-12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

When Mr. FixIt asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I immediately answered…

“I want to stay at the farm for a couple of days!”

We came out Wednesday evening and set to cleaning. It’s amazing how an old house gets itself dirty all on its own. We had a light supper, played a few hands of cards, and I enjoyed several phone calls for my birthday. Yesterday morning, I cooked a big breakfast and we headed up the hill for a good hike to burn it off.

It was noon before we got on our way so by the time we got to the top of the hill, the sunny stretch without trees, it was HOT! We carried enough water with us to get us back. We stopped at Mount Zion Church and signed the guest book as we always do. The hickory tree just next to the cemetery is loaded with nuts. I wanted to go on up the hill to see the compressor station, but I couldn’t believe the amount of traffic coming and going. We sat at the church for a while to catch our breath, then headed back.

At this point, I was getting blisters from my hiking boots. A woman came by in one of the company trucks and I asked if she was going back down our road. She was…and we had a delightful conversation as I ogled the changes this construction has done to the landscape. Turns out, she is also a widow…her husband died of suicide nearly twenty years ago. She spoke of the breakdown she had afterwards and how she has no problem speaking about it as it raises awareness and calms the stigma surrounding mental health issues. I was very taken with her sunny, straight-forward disposition and she said she will look up Marshmallow Ranch and toot her horn when she passes by. I love that I can be five miles from nowhere and still reach people with a commonality.

When we got home (and checked for ticks) we went for a drive and circled around a favorite backroad of mine looking for blackberries and wine berries. We found them, but they are a little ways from being fully ripe. Hopefully the critters (two-legged and four-legged) will not get to them before I do…it’s always a race. We stopped and watched the Painted Lady butterflies swarming on the milkweed flowers that have recently bloomed. I didn’t see any monarchs, unfortunately. Maybe next year I will order some from the internet and plant them out there. There’s such a huge concentration of milkweed in the area…it would be a great place to cultivate some beautiful butterflies.

We returned to the farm and checked our own patch of blackberries. Unfortunately, they are totally unreachable as they are tucked behind the burn pile that hasn’t been burned yet. My cousin’s wife Charlotte came to feed the kitties and got a surprise that we were there. We ended the day with a lovely dinner on the porch, another sunset, and more cards. When I’ve been at the farm for even a couple of days, I feel as though I’ve been on vacation for a week. But today it’s back to the Ponderosa and the chores.

How can it be Friday already? Hope you have big plans for Father’s Day Weekend! ❤