Life at Homeland Farm

      As you might know by now, (if you are a regular blog reader) I had the opportunity to grow up with many different types of farm animals. We had everything from horses, cattle, and sheep, to dogs, cats and ducks. I think it all stemmed from having a mother that was a big animal lover. Every stray or unwanted animal in town seemed to find it's way to our door, via the back seat of my Mother's station wagon.       One day, my brother, sister and I were sitting in the kitchen after school when we suddenly heard our mother's horn blaring. We went out on the porch and watched  as she turned into the driveway ever so slowly. We knew for her to be driving that slowly, she must either be out of gas, or have an animal in the backseat of the car.        Sure enough, as she drove past us, there was some type of animal in the backseat. We ran around the house just in time to see her drop the tailgate of the ...

      Back when I was "in my prime", I used to think of myself as a pretty good rider. Western, anyway. I could never quite get the hang of posting a trot, or master the art of jumping. Not that I didn't try, however.      One evening after supper, I went over to Zenya's house to try jumping our horses with her. At this point, she had tired of riding my old nags, and had bought her own horse, a part Arabian that loved to jump.      As Angel and I headed over the road, I hummed to myself in anticipation of the evenings events. Angel, my Quarter Horse type mare, had jumped over fallen logs and streams without hesitation on the trail, so I thought a few small jumps in an open field would seem like a piece of cake to the old girl.     We trotted around the corner of Zenya's house, and I saw Teke and Zenya out in the field, heading for the next jump. As graceful as any horse I had seen on television or at a ho...

       As I mentioned in my last blog, I have been watching way too much television lately. I don't usually pay much attention to the commercials but a few have caught my eye lately and I have been giving them much thought. I guess I am really out of the loop, because I hadn't heard of this plague that has apparently been causing a lot of issues for many people, according to the number of advertisements I have seen. Frankly, I hardly dare go outside any more, lest I come across one of the bad boys.        I am sure there are many readers out in "Blog-land" that are by far more sophisticated and aware then I am. Perhaps you can fill me in on what it is exactly I should be looking for, so I can protect myself and my family from the potential dangers that are associated with these terrible creatures.       According to the commercials, these beasts seem to stalk middle aged people, and they can do it ins...

Liam as Mr Drysdale, ready to defend Homeland Farm      I have a really good reason for not having posted anything in the last couple days. I got caught up in reality television. I really don't watch much T.V. at all, with the exception of an occasional cooking show and the news. Oh, and of course, reruns of "The Walton's".  Recently though, Liam was watching a couple different shows, and well, I got sucked in. Boy, do they ever have some odd shows on television these days. It is apparent that they are really grasping at straws for show ideas.     Which gave me an idea for tonight's blog. I am thinking us folks at Homeland Farm need a reality show. We just need to decide what it is going to be about, and then we will start filming A&E channels newest hit show. I think the storyline will be a bunch of shows all rolled into one. Here is what I've got so far....       The intro has to be catchy, of course..to lure the vi...

    Owning a farm with a variety of animals made it hard for our family to get away for a vacation, or even an overnight camping trip for that matter. So, my siblings and I would pitch our old canvas tent at home, and pretend we were out deep in the wilderness, surrounded by wild creatures. We had a lot of fun in that old tent, but one memory sticks out in my mind the most     My sister and I decided one steamy summer night that we wanted to "camp out." While my mother packed our snacks, Kim and I lugged our pillows and sleeping bags over to the tent that my father had set up earlier that day. Now for some unknown reason, we always pitched the tent in the horse pasture, underneath one of the apple trees. Every year after we set it up, the horses and steers would check it out carefully, then pretty much ignore it the rest of the summer.       Kim and I made several trips across the pasture hauling our "supplies" for the night. You ...

             I was mowing the lawn for the first time this spring, and reluctantly kept mowing off patches of Blu-ets. Those little clumps of white flowers with a hint of blue were always a favorite of mine as a child. Seeing them in the spring always meant another long Maine winter was over, and spring was upon us at last.         As a little girl, I would walk around on the lawn, or in the field and pull up big handfuls of the little flowers to give to my grandmother. Nanny, as we all called her, would oohhh and aahhh over them like I had just presented her with a dozen long stemmed roses. She would take my little fistful of blooms, dirt and all, put them in a jelly jar, and set them on the table. Whenever someone new came in, she would exclaim " See what Carmen gave me?"      I would be so proud of my offering, and can still recall her picking up the  jar full of flowers and taking a big sn...

          Did I mention that Zenya and I used to ride real races horses? Well, we used to ride ONE real race horse..actually, I rode the real race horse. Zenya rode Ebony. Let me back up.           One of our first horses was a retired Standardbred race horse by the name of BJ Frisco. She was a tall, leggy chestnut, whose coat shone a fiery red on a nice sunny day. Even though she was retired, she loved to run, or should I say trot, because Standardbreds are trained to never break into a canter. If they go any faster then a trot, they are disqualified. During the time we had that horse, I never remember her breaking out of a trot. But, that was fine with me, because boy could she trot.             I guess it was inevitable that we started racing each other, me on BJ, and Zenya on Ebony, our old Quarter Horse. I am not sure why it wa...

         I love pigs. They are very comical and fun to watch when they eat their dinner. Oh sure, they have a bad rap about smelling bad, and living in a "pig sty" but if you have ever had a pig, you know they are clean animals that pick one spot in their pen to go to the bathroom. I wish my cats were as tidy.         I remember about 30 years ago when my sister, brother and I were discussing what to get our mother for Mother's Day. She wasn't big on chocolates (then), and my father always gave her flowers, so all the traditional gifts were out. Then it hit me.         "How about a piglet?" I asked my fellow siblings, sure they would think the idea was as dandy as I did. My brother, who was thinking she would much rather have a BB Gun, wasn't so sure about a piglet. My sister just out and out thought the idea was "stupid."       ...

       I am not sure exactly when it happened, but apparently I got old. I think it must have happened sometime after my 49th birthday, as near as I can figure. It seemed one day I was a young, vibrant 48 year old, and then next BAM! Old people catalogs started filling my mailbox. Ordinarily, I  don't really look at the stack of catalogs I receive almost daily. I only glance at them as I stuff them into the recycle bag.      They range, well, let me rephrase that, they USED to range from horse owner catalogs to cooking catalogs, from LL Bean outerwear, to a country woman catalog featuring nice colorful sweatshirts and calenders. All pretty mundane stuff.       However, lately I have noticed a distinct trend, and frankly, I don't like it one bit. Old people catalogs. Now, perhaps someone in cyberspace read my blog about being "not as good as I once was.." and then the...