The Front Porch Swing

[perchie.girl]

This computer is a big deal.... I will be able to work out of the house. Last time I did it I was able to pay the mortgage..... and I wasnt even advertising...

deb "daydreaming"

 

[heartsizedfarm]

No fair!  With that bad boy you'll leave the rest of us in the dust and be able to keep up with the fastest moving place on BYC!

Absolutely!

Happy Mother's Day to you too, tntchx!

Yeah, that too!  

And welcome Beth!  I think it's probably safe to sit on the bucket with the turtle - by now he's probably turned to dust.  Hey, that reminds me of a Ma thing....shall I share?  No?  Well too bad, gonna anyway!

Ma loved a neat clean house.  But 5 kids and a heart condition didn't make it easy.  Ma was old school - I think I mentioned once that when someone would pull up for an unexpected visit she'd drag out the vacuum, a dust rag, or something, and then tell the visitors she was glad they were there, she needed to take a coffee break and they gave her the perfect excuse.

One day she walked into the kitchen where I was doing dishes and dropped her dust cloth on the table.  I wiped my hands and poured her a cup of coffee, then sat down with her for a minute.  She had a look she'd get on her face sometimes...we called it her, "The hell with it all" look.  So I said, "Ma, you okay?  You look a little frazzled."

She took a big sip of her coffee and said, "Well, I got the vacuuming done and the last of the laundry put away."  She sighed.  "I started the dusting, but then I got to thinking about what the Good Book says."

I must have looked as confused as I felt, because she winked at me.

"Bible says we came from dust, and we shall return to dust.  That means there's a lot of people coming or going in my living room and just for today I'm leaving them alone."

What do you mean the turtle is dust?!!! I'm thinking of him as eternal, turtle the world is riding on sort of thing. I brought him lettuce! This is a digital world. Lets agree the turtle gets to live.

 

[Blooie]

What do you mean the turtle is dust?!!! I'm thinking of him as eternal, turtle the world is riding on sort of thing. I brought him lettuce! This is a digital world. Lets agree the turtle gets to live.

Oh, I was desperately hoping the turtle was still with us.....but I don't recall any of us having fed or watered him, and, well, I was a little reluctant to remove the crime scene tape in case there really was a crime scene under there.

Yayyy for returning cows and grandkids with a chance!

Oooh, I just think all of you guys are too wonderful for words. You make me smile you make me laugh, you teach, you learn, and you encourage. What a lucky chicken owner I am!

 

[heartsizedfarm]

OK folks, here's a turtle story for you.  Perhaps the turtle under the bucket is a direct descendent of the turtles I grew up with.  When I was a kid, I was blessed to have pets of every kind, including the typical rodents, reptiles, farm animals, birds, and the occasional wild critter.  I often had one of the little green turtles that they used to sell in the pet and department stores.  My bedroom was kind of like a jungle, with a parakeet, mouse or hamster, tropical fish, crayfish, and a little green turtle.  There were so many plants in there that it would take several gallons of water to get them all watered.  Well, one day, my little green turtle went missing.  I cleaned the whole room, top to bottom, and even cleaned the ductwork at the 2 registers, where I figured that he must have eventually fallen, and turned into a turtle fossil.  I never did find him, and gave him up for dead.  Fall turned into winter, then into spring, and the turtle was forgotten.  One day, I was watering my jungle, which was long over due for water, and I noticed that the soil in one fairly large pot was bubbling quite a bit.  So I added some more water and watched.  The water level drained down, and it continued to bubble... then, to my surprise, one of those bubbles winked at me.  I dug around in the pot with my finger, and extracted one very reluctant turtle.  Washed the mud off him, and set him up in a terrarium.  He was no worse for the wear!

You see! Our turtle is just hibernating.

 

[Blooie]

You see! Our turtle is just hibernating.

Yayy! Turtles are my very favorite critter because they don't get anywhere unless they stick their necks out!

 

[OHhappychicks]

Yayy! Turtles are my very favorite critter because they don't get anywhere unless they stick their necks out!

Love it!
Happy Belated Mothers Day to all the wonderful mothers here!!!

Welcome to the front porch Michalbeth7!

Prayers to all that are facing uncertain times! "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge
him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5,6. This verse gets me through a lot.

 

[rrrmamma]

I hope and pray it works out. As for spotty cell service...most of these kids text, which does not require a great signal to go through....just an occasional one. So she won't be cut off.

I don't know what kind of charges she is/was facing, but the boonies is waaay better than jail!. The seclusion will give her time for reflection.

Hang in there.

I am so glad you got your cow home. Is she registered?

yes she is registered. Both of the Highlands are. It is Misty Morn's Clara and Misty Morn's Red Dawn. My granddaughter was running with a rough bunch of semi-dropouts. She was stopped for a traffic stop and was found with drugs and stolen property, both belonging to her boyfriend. The detective knows the boyfriend and wants to cut her a break. If she comes here and gets her diploma ( only 15 hours to get It) then he will not file the charges against her. Since she is 18 he is cutting her a huge break because none of this will go on her permanent record. Hubby says if BF shows up he will be looking down a gun barrel. Since he is a gunsmith, we have a few to look down! Lol.
he

 

[Blooie]

Cindy and Will adjusting straps on Kendra's gait trainer. Her first time in it. She was not happy - don't know if this picture shows the alligator tears in her eyes or if it was the other shot. Who cares? She ain't crying in it any more!

Okay, okay, this is huge! I need to see if my brain will let my fingers keep up. KENDRA WALKED TONIGHT. YEP YEP SHE WALKED!!!
Calming down...taking a breath.....breathing...okay, ready GO! This is a bit of a story!

Every year cash donations from the citizens of Cowley pour in for families in need here in our community. People add 50 bucks to their water bill, or drop off $10 or whatever at the town hall, and since we don't have a large list of people on the gift list it amounts to a pretty good Christmas for lots of people who might not have had much - usually a couple of hundred in the form of gift certificates from the grocery store and cash for each family. I'm in a awkward position because they keep Tam on the list as a single mom, even though every year she lets the council (especially me!) know that she and Evan are fine. But Evan wormed his way into the hearts of every member of the council so they just leave her on the list because of him, and because they admire how hard she's worked to provide. Besides, Evan built the mayor a bat house. LOL Problem is that when her name and Kenny and Jenny's come up, I step outside. I just can't vote for the distribution for my own family for some reason. It doesn't seem right.

Anyway, for Christmas this year the town of Cowley gave the kids the funds to buy Kendra a gait trainer. It's a medical device that puts her in an upright position with her feet on the floor so she can learn how to use her legs in that familiar way we do. The insurance the kids have wouldn't pay for one. They denied it because they'd already bought her the wheelchair, so they determined that they had already provided her with some form of mobility and she didn't need a different one - even with a recommendation from her doctors! But by the time it finally arrived, she was in casts again. No way to get her to be able to use it when she has two casts on each leg and can't bend her knees. Then after the casts came off her legs muscles were very sore and weak, so then we had to start all over from crawling. She simply couldn't stand in the gait trainer. Besides, we're pretty isolated out here and Kendra's amazing physical therapists had never worked with a gait trainer before and they weren't comfortable with trying to fit her when they weren't even sure what the proper fit was. But we got a call on Thursday - a therapist from Billlings had agreed to come down for Kendra's session on Friday afternoon and help get it fitted to her properly and show all of us - Ken, me, Jenny, Katie and Cindy (Kendra's regular therapist) how to teach her what the gait trainer was for. She HATED it. She cried almost the whole time. Didn't help that it was 45 minutes past nap time either.

After the fitting and the lessons, he told us if we had any problems to call him directly, but in the meantime to start her out being in it for about 15 - 20 minutes a couple of times a day until she wasn't fighting it any more. So that's what Jenny was doing all weekend. The most we were hoping for was that she'd figure out that if she stood rather than sat in it she'd be more comfortable. Tonight I got a FaceTime call from Jenny....apparently there was a sleeve of crackers and Kendra's sippy cup on the coffee table in the living room. Jenny was doing supper dishes. Next thing she knew, Kenra was eating a cracker and enjoying her juice. Nobody else was home to help her, so there's only one way Kendra got from the kitchen to the living room.....she walked in her gait trainer! So Jenny held the iPad about 10 feet away from Kendra and I called her. She WALKED over to see me on the iPad screen. And she was grinning - she was walking and she LIKED it! Oh, boy, what a God we have! I'm going over as soon as I get home from my doctor's appointment tomorrow and get it on video!

KENDRA WALKED! I'm so excited tears are running down my leg!

 

[LBejaran]

I feel so sad for everyone that didn't enjoy their Mother's Day, but I think we all have to cope with negative experiences in our own ways. It takes time and we don't always get over loss or betrayal, but we all must do the work to heal ourselves. I'm still young, though, so what do I know?

Also, just thought I'd share the Mother's Day video I made for Mom. She really liked it!

 

[Triple Willow]

@rrrmamma... I'm glad you finly got your cow in the right side of the fence. Saying a prayer for you, your husband, and your granddaughter.