Feeding Time

                It’s always great when I get to spend time at my grandma’s, you know, the cute, little, quaint farm house that I am oh so found of. 

Every time I go to visit, it seems like I have a routine of things I absolutely have to do, or else my trip just doesn’t feel complete.  I of course have to go to the lake, and hang out on the “beach,” as well as help out in the garden, go for a walk through the woods and fields, as well as go up to another lake to “feed the damn fish” as my uncle puts it.  

I know it sounds so silly.  Feeding fish?  How in the world can that be fun?  But for me, it is. 

 

I could probably spend an entire day feeding the carp and watching them jump on top of one another trying to eat the little bits of bread I throw down to them.  There’s something mesmerizing about the hundreds of fish splashing around, fighting for food, and my precious P would agree. 

Starring and pulling to get to the carp

I know it may not be everyone’s cup of tea per say, but I’ll let you judge the lake off of the photos and videos.   

If you watch the lower left hand corner you can see P trying to get to the fish.

The carp in the spill way.  This is only a small portion of how many there are in this massive lake.

Home Sweet Home

                Sorry about my long hiatus, and I do mean loooooooooong.  JM, P, and I were out visiting family while JD got to spend time at her friends and her boyfriend’s houses.  I know, it doesn’t seem fair, but since we were visiting our grandmothers it only seemed like a safe choice.  We wouldn’t want JD accidently knocking anyone over and injuring them, not that she would, but better safe than sorry.  And now that we are home, I am exhausted from the extensive amount of driving we did.  I officially feel drained.  What is it about a trip that makes it hard to get back into the swing of things?  Also, why is it when you visit your family it never seems you get to spend enough time there, but when you visit someone else’s family, you are just counting down the minutes till you return home?

                Well back to the trip, or at least the leg where we visited my grandmother.  

My grandma and I

JM was taken aback when he laid eyes on my grandma’s house, which is an old farm house (that I unquestionably love) and heard that the small town she lives in is also inhabited with the Amish.  JM grew up in the city, so country life was all new to him, and I'm not sure that this was a life style he would be willing to do for an extended period of time.

Isn’t it quaint? 

The farm house is so old that there’s even an outhouse out front.  You can barely make it out in the right hand side of the above picture. 

Of course it is no longer used, and no, it does not smell.  We just don’t want to tear a piece of history out.  

                So you may be wondering if it's an old farm house, where's the farm?  Well, there are no animals on this farm anymore, other than cats.  Having animals is just too much work for my grandma.  But here are a few pictures of the once was farm.

Above:  The barn  Below Left:  the old chicken coop  Bottom Right:  planted field

Cabin in the sky, or the deer hunting perch.

AHHH!!!  HOME SWEET HOME!

I Will See You Soon!

                I know it’s been a long while since I’ve last written about what is going on in my neck of the woods, but I am out and about on vacation and internet access is very limiting.  I had been visiting my nephews, KC, as well as my oldest brother (side note:  I am not sure if many of you know this, but I have 2 brothers.  I am the youngest of the siblings, so for blogging purposes I differentiate between my brothers by saying oldest, who is the first born, and my older brother, the middle child; kind of confusing I know, but that’s what I have always called them), and now am heading up to visit my Grandma as well as JM’s Mum-Mum.  Since both of our grandmothers are in their 80’s JM convinced me to leave JD with some friends.  His reasoning was because she is a rather large dog and the risk of her knocking over one of our grandmothers accidently is imminent, also, we will be spending part of the trip at his parents’ house and they prefer not to have a large shedding dog in their household.  As much as it pains me to take P and leave my precious JD behind, I complied.  However, the preparations for leaving JD behind were exhausting.   She suffers from separation anxiety.  I had her since the day she was born, and I’ll admit I suffer from it too.  Whenever I leave for a trip and I am unable to bring her (which is very rarely, I take her almost everywhere), she tends to go on what I call a “hunger strike.”  JD just refuses to eat.  A trip that lasts less than a week, she can lose up to 10 lbs.  That’s not healthy for a dog, or anyone for that matter.  So when I leave to go somewhere, I make sure of a few things before I leave:

1. She knows and is comfortable with the family/friends I leave her with
2. She gets along with their dogs and/or children if they have any (which is never a question since she loves kids and meeting new play pals)
3. I cook her boiled liver with brown rice.  The doggie sitter mixes about ½ cup in with her food, as an enticement to eat (I don’t want a skeleton of a dog when I get back)
4. I pack her a “doggie survival bag” with her favorite toys, treats, and any medication she could possibly need (JM has severe allergies in the spring and summer months)
5. I make sure that they will take her for walks or play fetch with her so she gets enough exercise to curb her anxiety induced chewing
6. Probably the most important, THEY LOVE DOGS! and more specifically MY dog.

                Seems like a lot of work for “just a dog” (other people’s words, not mine), but to me, she’s more than “just a dog,” she’s family and very much so worth the so called trouble.

A face I MISS! and LOVE!

P.s.  Happy late Father’s Day for all the dads out there.