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Rosebuds

I've had a lot on my mind lately, and it's a mixed bag of emotions.

Family matters:

It's been rough for us since Friday evening. My father-in-law (and I love him and my mother-in-law dearly) is dying. Since he was checked into the hospital Friday, he's lasted longer than originally expected, but we know there will be a funeral very soon. I get teary thinking of the situation. I've known my in-laws for nearly twenty-five years; although at that early stage they were only potential in-laws since hubby and I weren't yet even engaged at that point. They accepted me readily and have always been welcoming. FIL was a farmer most of his life and always had a lot of advice about any construction projects for the home or for gardening issues. He loved to woodwork, and we have some of his handy and/or decorative projects, including a paper towel dispenser attached under the kitchen cabinets and stained to match the color perfectly.

It's been difficult and I try to stay busy or I get choked up like the sisters-in-law. It must be a woman thing. Hubby and his brother are keeping it together, although so is my mother-in-law, but she's had a long time to prepare for this. It wasn't unexpected, but it did progress suddenly quite fast.

Writing:

I have been getting writing done and am down to the final two scenes now of the story. Yay! The story came together perfectly with an ending that ties into the opening fun scene but is very serious by the end incident. There's a discovery that will add to understanding the Issan a bit more, and the Inari get more involved, especially since one of the discoveries is an abandoned, hidden Inari outpost similar to Kurtuz but set up so that it has remained undisturbed. It wasn't intended to be abandoned and bears a grim reason.

The book is currently 47K words, so past the point I thought I'd finish. Now, I'm guessing it'll be closer to 50K words in the first draft. The writing is somewhat keeping my mind off of FIL.

Progress is being made towards the final series ending.

Roses:

And just as my FIL is dying, my first rosebud is opening. I don't doubt he would have enjoyed seeing this, being the gardener that he was. I planted three bushes in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Trinity (She is the child of the Father, spouse of the Holy Spirit, and mother of God the Son).

The first plant with buds developed three buds, which is perfect. All three buds are developing and all three plants are taking off with leaves; two plants actually have buds, including the one now blooming. The first one started budding within a week of being transplanted, which is miraculous, but I don't doubt Our Lady of the Rosary had something to do with that.

That's my life right now. I am writing, and it's helping me to take my mind off the death of someone special.

God bless you and your loved ones! Treasure every moment.

Thanks for reading.

doing something right...

Two for two. That's a pretty amazing statement as a mom.

Two kids. Two Valedictorians. (Although one of many in each of their respective classes, anyone with a 4.0+ GPA.)

The youngest graduates tomorrow. Technically, she's already done. She's also 2/3 done with an associates degree from the local college, because of her many dual-credit courses during high school, and she has a free year coming up thanks to scholarships. She'll be completing her associates degree in the next year. After that, she'll go on to her bachelor's degree, which is a 2-3 year remaining educational journey. Kids have so many opportunities these days that my generation and those before me didn't have.

When hubby and I were dating, my youngest sister, knowing my school record (honor roll but not valedictorian, back when there was only one per class), blessed us by saying, "You two are going to have smart kids!" How very prescient of her, over twenty-four years ago.

A week ago, we held the grad party in our garage. Tomorrow, all three public high schools in town have graduation.

So, I had been pretty busy getting things together while trying to write over this past month, and the prep work also stole some of my attention from writing. Some of the stuff (buying decorations, designing the banner, designing announcements and then sending them out) had been done for a while, but the stress of the week or two before the grad party was wearing on me. I'm used to organizing events, but this was my own child, so I didn't want to forget anything, despite the simplicity of it.

After tomorrow, it's all done.

But aside from the proud mom moment, I want to say that it's not natural intelligence that is the reason for such achievements. It came down to hard work and dedication by each of my kids. I wasn't a perfect A student when I was in high school, but I wanted to be; I had to work for it, and I made sure my kids knew how to work hard and have the self-discipline to do well. You can have all the intelligence in the world, but if you don't have the discipline to do the work required, it all means nothing. Sacrifice and hard work contribute as much as intelligence and can even make up for a lack in that area.

You have to do some work that you may not like in order to succeed in life. We taught our kids that lesson when they were young, starting with assigning chores to earn privileges and rewards. That carried over throughout their young lives at home and in school and hopefully will continue into adulthood. It was the best thing we could have done for our kids. We know what we did right, the same things many parents do right for their kids.

I wish the best for all graduates...

ID 370078026 | Congratulations © Natalia Sintsova | Dreamstime.com

Parenting woes

I was given a few more gray hairs tonight, thanks to our youngest child (17 yo). She's responsible and generally well-behaved, but she has her moments.

She disappeared tonight and I expected she wouldn't be gone long, but as it was getting late and she wasn't home, I started to worry a little. I figured she would answer her phone and tell me where she was. (What did our parents do in the days before cell phones?!)

She didn't answer my text. She didn't answer my calls.

I'm a writer. Consider what my imagination started doing... Yeah. I feared I would never see my daughter alive again.

Hubby was at his gaming place, so I called and told him and asked him to try calling her.

A few minutes later, I received a text that she was home. Thank you, God!

I went out to the garage and her car was back. She had gone to a school play and didn't tell anyone, not even her older sister. The play is fine, but me worrying that she could be in a bad accident or abducted is not fine.

I need my evening prayers, our Lord's and Lady's solace. I'm grateful that my child came home safely, but many parents don't have that comfort. My prayers go out to them and their lost children tonight.

God bless and keep you and your family.

the dog days of summer

Tuff enjoying a cool dip in the pasture dugout

We had a busy weekend, or at least I did. Saturday, I kicked my family out of the house to clean the garage. The mid-morning started out hot already, which was why, after pulling out as much stuff from the garage as we could and sweeping out all the leaves, dust bunnies, and insect carcasses, my youngest child kept asking me to spray her legs while we hosed and scrubbed the floor. By the time we finished cleaning, the temperature in the garage was almost 90 F and we had a fan going. The kids chickened out on us by then, so my husband and I finished the task of putting everything back. I had to wait for the floor to dry, while he built a quick shelf in front of where I park my truck; but that shelf allows more stuff out of the way and still leaves me room to fit my pickup so I can walk around it. A lot was rearranged. He and I worked in the garage a total of at least five hours. It was a long day.

Today, I started out tired but made the drive out to see my Buddy. I haven't seen him in two weeks because of weather and not feeling quite right. Today was blistering hot again with barely a breeze. I didn't ride, but I did check over my boy and gave him some treats. Afterwards, when I turned him out in his pasture and expected him to hightail it back to his friends, he surprised me. Instead, he followed me back to the gate with a look of "Aren't you forgetting something?"

I wasn't actually forgetting anything. I had just decided that he didn't need any body work, and I was already soaked in sweat just from the walk leading him in from the far side of the pasture and then brushing him off and picking hooves. So, figuring he wanted a quick work of his main problems, I went in and put my hands on his face. As soon as I did, he was yawning. It didn't take much, but I knew when he was done and happy. I said my farewell, and he meandered towards his friends--it was too hot to run.

I learned from my sister that I sometimes have a horse of a different color--apparently, Buddy likes to roll in the mud. I've seen her horses do it too. It's likely as much for natural fly protection as well as to cool off. Pasture horses know how to take care of themselves.

It's also haying season. Lots of cutting, raking, and baling going on right now. We pray for a few days at a stretch without rain so that the hay can be put up properly.

It was a quick trip, but I also delivered some goodies for the younger nephews and niece, toys that my kids no longer wanted or needed, which had been taking up space in the garage. And there were a few other items that my parents and sisters and their families could find useful. Now, if I could just get those old horse blankets and sheets sold, that would mean more space saving.

A nice winter day?!

If you can call 10 F that "feels like" -6 F nice, then, yeah, it was a nice day.

After a brief morning snowfall, the sun came out. Although the morning temperature and breeze were higher, the afternoon turned sunny and calm. It's the wind that gets you!

I hadn't seen my Buddy in two weeks and was overdue for a horse fix. I also missed visiting with my family. I thought I could try going out earlier in the day, but the interstate was slippery and I started fish-tailing before getting too far, so I turned back disappointed.

But after the sun was out for a while and I'd eaten lunch, I was feeling more confident and suspected that the roads might be better. They were. The sun had helped melt away the ice and I drove out to the farm on this cold but nice winter day. All bundled up, I stayed warm on my walk out in the pasture to bring my boy up to the barn. Inside the old barn, I gave him his supplements and the little bit of sweet feed that helps the medicine go down. Vitamin E is invaluable for him, especially for muscle recovery when he's out in the cold weather. A little SmartGut Ultra doesn't hurt either.

Nature has certainly upped the ante on the weather tolerance. My boy has finally become a fluffball:

He could get fluffier, but I'm glad to see that he has this much. He and his herd were playing when I walked out to catch him, so that was good to see also, as was the belly he's keeping through this time, the coldest period of our winters--January and February. He's doing well, but I still feel guilty when I don't get out to check on him.  Spring is going to be a pain, though--a lot of that hair ends up on me.

But for now, I'm happy because Buddy is happy, even if he's "roughing it". I've learned that the best care for a horse physically and mentally is what is natural to them. He has a pretty good life!