Chapter 5--Why Does Everything Have To Be So Damn Perfect Anyway

12-19-17    Chapter 5--Why Does Everything Have To Be So Damn Perfect Anyway

Good Morning you all.  Its 4:45 in the morning, I'm sipping on my first cup of coffee and listening to the dogs bark and raise Hell outside.  Must either be deer or coyotes close. Now I know a lot of people would be sticking their head out the door and yelling at the dogs to shut up so they could go back to sleep, but I figure they are just doing their job and besides how could this morning be anymore perfect .  That's not a question, that's a statement.  Its pitch dark in the house this morning, with the exception of the flicker of the flame from the stove and the brightness of the computer screen.  I can hear the pitter patter of our little Pomeranian's feet as she patrols the house looking for bad guys, then I can hear her crawl back into her bed and go back to sleep since her recon duties are done.  Our other dog in the house is on the loveseat snoring her morning away. This dog could raise the dead  with her snoring. Side note why do they call it a loveseat?  Is so much love made on a seat like that?  They aren't really big enough for a lot of love to be  made on them.  But I digress....................Great way to start a morning.

I'm to sentimental for my own good.  I'm a student of history, just not history of the state or the country, but history of me.  When I find a treasure on the farm I don't care that it might have a little rust on it, or that it might have a corner broken off, or a page has turned yellow with time, I see history.  I see a story about how things used to be, I see blood, sweat and tears of my forefathers and I see the history of me.  Awhile back I found an old metal  sheep's ear  tag probably from the 40's or 50's that had my granddads name engraved on it.  H.M. Little, Houston Marvin Little, my dads dad, an integral part of this community and an integral part of my family.  After all If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here.  Now this ear tag to anybody else would have been a piece of junk that at the best somebody would have picked up and  thrown away, but more likely would have just been stepped on and driven further into the dirt and lost for another period of years, but today it sits on my dresser, worthless to everybody but me.  To me its a perfect way to look back at my heritage.  When I first acquired this house, Nobody had officially moved out, ever!! My great,  great grandparents still had a little bit of paperwork in this house.  they built this house so I guess they were entitled to leave some stuff in it.  My great grandparents still had some stuff in here, my grandparents definitely still  had things left in here.  Nothing that would been much interest to anybody but me. Things like  old fuel tickets when they filled up for $.10/gallon, a couple of old sale flyers from bull sales from many years ago and old newspapers that were used as backings in old picture frames. No gold, no old coins, no treasures for anybody, except me.  People back then, because they lived through the Depression, didn't throw away anything,  today if you did that, you would be called a hoarder.  Because they went through times where they didn't have anything, you didn't throw something away because you might be able to use it again sometime.  It might be years before you did, but if you needed it, you would have it.  So because of that mindset I have old tools, not really usable, especially in this day and age but still invaluable to my little piece of history.  I have an old plat map, the pages are ripped, stained with who knows what and outdated for sure, but when and if we ever get our house remodel done, I will frame our farms pages and hang them on the wall.  A link to my past.  We repurpose a lot of stuff on the farm.  You have to, you cant just run by "new" all the time. So when we took a door out of the old dairy barn and used it as the counter in the bathroom, I didn't see junk, I saw history.  I saw a way for future generations to be able to tie me into their past, and if I'm being honest I found a way for my future generations to also probably ask" What was Granddad Doug thinking?"  Hitting middle age hasn't been the easiest thing for me.  Seriously where did all this grey hair come from?  People that say they wouldn't go back and change one thing in their life are full of crap.  Really?  You wouldn't change one thing, ever? You find things you can't do anymore with the ease you used to be able to, you remember the things you wish you did, you remember the things you wish you didn't and you realize that the alternative is death and not doing anything anymore, and then it dawns on you that things aren't all that bad.  I guess maybe that's the reason I find solace in old stuff. Not that I'm old by any stretch but like the old wrench I found the other day, I'm a little rusty and rough around the edges.  I might have a tooth or two stripped off my gears and my chain probably needs greased and the tension tightened on it, but like any older piece of equipment I still fire up and go do my job every day.  Like that old tool or old piece of machinery I'm not perfect and  sometimes its hard to find replacement parts, but once I get started look out, you can't stop me.  

Around the farm................We are still trying to get ready for Christmas and the cold weather.  There is always weather proofing that needs to be done around here.  First thing is to get a heat lamp in the well house before I forget it again. Nobody has time for frozen water right? As far as the market garden goes, there is tons of logistics that have to be planned out.  Nothing I wasn't expecting but still lots of mind work that has to be completed before we ever plant one seed.  Glad I started early on that one.  

If you like what you read, please share this blog with everybody you know.  If you thought this was a waste of your time then let me know that as well.  You can plunder my good name on Facebook, you can reach me on Twitter @OKREDNECKFARMER, or you can email me at bodarkspringsfarm@gmail.com.  Time to get some bacon and eggs in this belly.  Have a great rest of the day!!