Dinky on the Farm

I was going through a breakup of a 26 year marriage. It was not ending well. It was Christmas day and life was very empty. I had been spending most of my free time on Facebook. It was a new thing for me and I enjoyed getting reacquainted with old classmates. During my first marriage I was living in East Texas and had not been keeping in touch with people from my hometown. I won’t say anything derogatory about my first husband in a public forum. I have wonderful children by him and do not want to offend them. Let’s just say, it was time to readjust life. Anyways, back at it. I was getting reconnected with old class mates. I had been on some lunch dates with some of the girls that I went to church with. It was fun to see how we had all grown up.

Christmas night was the first one that I had spent alone in my whole life. I do not remember where the kids were. I think maybe they had gone to have Christmas with some relatives. We celebrate and exchange gifts on Christmas eve. I was chatting it up on Facebook and came across a friend request from a man that was friends with most of my friends. I accepted and we started chatting. I asked what year he graduated from our school I wanted to look him up in the annual. He told me that he did not graduate from my school but from a neighboring community. I told him that I was sorry but I did not know him. He said that he knew my friends because he was the manager of the supermarket in my hometown and all my friends worked for him. He told me that we should meet so I could get to know him. Chuck is sooo smooooooth that way.

We met the day after Christmas. My birthday is on the 27th of December. He brought a rose and a birthday card. We met at a local steakhouse and went out for coffee afterwards. He was a reserved man with a great big smile. He wore a sweater with patch pockets that reminded me of Mr. Rogers. I secretly adored Mr. Rogers in my youth.

Our romance has been a whirlwind since and we are currently working on year 11 of being married. I adore him and love him with all my heart. Chuck says that we are still living our love story.

Breakfast is one of our favorite meals of the day. There is an art to making sure everything is hot at the same time and the eggs have the right amount of goo to them. Chuck tells me that he knows when I am pissed at him because his food is either raw or burnt. All I can say is, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”

My daughter hates me wearing this type of house shoe. she would really hate to me see wear two that do not match. I have another pair just like them. I am headed to the kitchen to do my wifely duty of cooking my man his breakfast.

I like to pre package my breakfast sausage so it cooks easily. I also like to have a larger sausage patty. I use a hamburger press to make these. I know they make these and sell at Wal Mart but mine have more flavor and less filler.

I cook my eggs on medium as well. I turn off the range top if Chuck is taking too long to get to the table. I cover with a lid.

Coffee is an intense process. We like very weak coffee. Chuck uses exactly twelve packets of Splenda. He can tell the difference if we are one packet off. He likes lots of Coffeemate. I like coffee with one packet of Swiss miss and either heavy cream or Coffeemate. I also like a splash of red raspberry syrup but we are out. I have to order some.

Nia (the girl that lives with us) helped me make this jelly last summer. We made it from our wild grapes here at Overstreet Farms.

I like to keep a jug of sugar free lemonade iced down for everyone to enjoy. The slicker is broken so we have to use an ice puck to pull up the plunger That’s how to make do.Chuck saws I am a tightwad.

I was scrolling thru my Facebook and came across a post from an acquaintance. She recently had a baby and was telling her story. She was having pains earlier than expected. She and her husband went in to the hospital. They gave her the pre-admittance COVID test. Within thirty minutes her water broke and she was well on her way to giving birth.

Her test came back positive. She had no idea and had not been experiencing any symptoms. They transferred her and her husband to a tiny isolation room. There she gave birth to lovely baby boy.

The pediatrician came to check on the baby. He told the parents that the baby Downes syndrome. When they tried to take blood from the baby his oxygen level had fallen. It was determined the baby has a heart condition. They transported the baby to the local Children’s hospital. The parents are not able to be with the child for at least 10 days due to the COVID diagnosis.

I remember giving birth to my children and how unexpected experiences change lives. Those are stories for other days. I say my prayers for this young family and their road ahead. Their son is beautiful and precious.

This is the second time I have ever tried to keep a blog. The first was an experiment in being a food critic. I am not sure people will enjoy what I have to say but there might be a tidbit of information that someone will find useful, informative or just make you smile.

I was diagnosed with being attention deficit at the age of 44. My writing will probably reflect that flaw. I personally do not count it as a flaw but as a great gift from God.. He never lets me get bored in life. My life is the same chaos. I have many unfinished projects and boxes of items and many books to tell me how to do them. Analyze me all you like. Maybe I will learn from this project a little about myself. I do know that I am pretty fun to hang out with and am a Jill of many trades and master of none

The reason I have started this blog is so I can teach some people skills that I have learned along the way. I can also open myself up to learning from others about what I do not know. I have many interest and hope this is an outlet for me to talk about them. The subjects I will hit on are cooking, farming, homesteading, senior issues, antiques, sewing, art, singing, binge watching, religion, relationships and whatever else pops into my brain. This is my place to be myself with no interest to impress.

COVID hit pretty hard.

We were all sitting in the welcome area at church a few weeks ago on a Wednesday night. The usual crowd was at the church enjoying coffee and snacks before the service. Pastor was sitting by the window laughing and smiling and soaking in the fellowship of all the church members coming through the door.

We attend a non-denominational church in the town that Chuck graduated from high school. Pastor was his classmate. A few years ago we decided to get baptized along with a young lady that had moved in with us. She was raised in a Muslim home. She asked to be baptized as a show of taking the Christian faith. chuck and I had been baptized before but wanted to be baptized with her as a show of family.

Pastor lovingly baptized all of us along with another young lady that wanted to have that same happiness. He is a tall man around the 60 year mark. His wife is always smiling. They were high school sweethearts. He was also a steer roper,

Later that week I saw on Facebook that pastor was ill and in the hospital. He died within the week.

We were heartbroken along with the rest of the congregation. I just feel lost.