A simple life?

This blog thing is still quite surreal to me. Perhaps I'll stick with for a bit just to be sure I give it enough time to be sure it is a waste or wonderful.

My daughter and son in law have made it possible for us to live a dream and be out in the country on this 80 acres of peace. Of course God is the real reason they have such wonderful hearts and gracious attitudes. We would never have moved out here except they encouraged us by saying they would love to live on the same property.

My oldest grandson, KB, is here for 4 weeks while his mom and dad are overseas picking up our new granddaughter. This makes for an active time around the place. It also makes for more laughs and fun. Seven year old boys have a way of making everything a game and adventure. He also loves to hear my indian and settler stories about Dun Croft in the old days. We found a stone tomahawk blade and that has given my stories some credence. Every night I try to make up a new story with indians, settlers, cowboys, bears, deer, wildcats, brave young boys and once upon a time adventures. He smiles a lot as I tell them and asks lots of questions so they must sound good to him. I suspect I'll be a lot less interesting as he gets older and I get more muddled.

Saturday we got up 6:30 and looked at the trap to see if we caught another tomato stealing and watermelon stealing opossum but it was empty. We caught two on previous nights and spray painted their tails the next morning before we set them free about a quarter mile down the road. If we catch them back on the property again they won't get the same good treatment. Then we took the dogs (stupid 1 and stupid 2) for a run. KB and I on the golf cart and the dogs on foot straight out through the Buffalo Gate and down the ridge. Back home we picked up trash from the addition being built on to the house. KB hitched up the trailer to golf cart and off we went to collect rocks from the pasture. Rocks damage the baling mower if they are too big so we cleaned up about 200 pounds of them and dumped them in the woods. A quick trip over to the the mud pond to hunt for some frogs just for fun then back to the house to cool off. It was about 98 by 8 o'clock. Mury and KB sprayed for weeds in the drive and on the gravel beach at the swim pond. I went down and got a pick up load of mulch to start a new area around some trees in the yard. Got it unloaded and spread then we sat under the cedar tree in the shade while the sprinkler sometimes sprayed us to cool off. We shoveled up some dirt piles around the new foundation and dumped them in the big pile. The Ranger needed some gas so it was filled up. Weedeating was next on the list since the grass has not been cut for three weeks. The yard looks like it had a bad hair day. Not much to cut but it was looking ragged. It was now time to go Cat fishing. We saddled up the golf cart, grabbed a hot dog for bait and headed for the pond. One cast and KB caught a 2 pound cat. The next three he caught large Bluegill. He was tired of fishing and it was time to swim at the other end of the pond. After moving the sprinklers for the fourth time we called it a day and came in to play with KB's Playstation. That machine is something from Hell. It dominates a kid's mind and is a cause for conflict between us. They should be banned but grandparents aren't the ones in charge of such things so we just try to limit it without being too restrictive. Grandparents are to be buddies not Playstation Nazis.

A couple board games after dinner and it was off to another bedtime story for KB. As is the usual he was homesick for mom and dad. We talked about it, prayed about it and he was off to sleep.

What a great day The Lord gave us!

4th of July

Since we are such great patriots we decided to have a small gathering the 4th. As of the 2nd we had 12 friends and family coming. As of the evening of the 3rd we had 40 coming and by the 4th it was just over 50! What a great day to be at the Dun Croft! Horseshoes, volleyball(the over 50s lost to the under 50s by one stinking point. Our pastor wouldn't lie about a ball he thought was out but was really in...Christians are such sticklers for the truth), fishing, fireworks, more fireworks by the lake, hayride(a deer dutifully showed himself for the riders delight) snow cones and an abundance of wonderful food that everyone brought. We wish you all could have come too. Some of us used the occassion to remember how God has blessed his nation, not necessarily the US but his holy nation of the elect. We are so blessed to be His people and in turn this nation, the US, is blessed because of us. What a great system but don't mention it to those who worship the government. They might be offended. Anyway, the party broke up about 10 or 10:30. We had such a wonderful time and most everyone said they did also. We all smelled like sweat because it was so hot but after a while even that ain't so bad.

If you read this and know us then you better not wait for an invitation to come visit. We expect you to come when you can! If you don't know us then maybe you need to wait for an invite.

Time to go. Blessings from DunCroft.

A New Creation

Even a golf cart can be given a new purpose in life. Isn't this a Beverly HillBillies classic? We have used it to move our family furniture, chase the geese. pull the mower out of the mud, haul plants hither and tither, explore the woods, entertain a cranky grandchild, beat the dogs to the Buffalo Gate and pick up the mail. The mail box is about a half mile down the gravel drive so don't think we are too lazy to walk. Well maybe we are too lazy to walk now that I think about it.

On the right is son in law and left is his dad.

Make a note that skunked dogs still smell after 2 weeks and geese do not like to be pelted with a paintball gun. They do look stunning in pink splotches though.

In my next blog I'll show you how good our old refrigerator looks in the front yard next to the old mattress.

This smiling Happy Camper looks harmless but in his right hand is a knife. Yes, the fish has no idea of the Happy Camper's real intentions.

5-pounds of catfish from our pond this spring.

My son in law caught one he thought was larger but unlike me, he tends to exagerate.

Life in the Country

Last evening we went out in the golf cart with our 3 dogs. Actually we only claim 1 as ours, but we have temporary custody of 2 others. Now these 3 love to romp and explore as we give them some exercise. We had strayed off the path to take a look at some ripening blackberries. We saw some movement in the tall grass, but couldn't see anything when we went to investigate so turned the cart toward home. Of course our 3 amigos are right behind us doing whatever it is that dogs do. We came into a clearing and turned around to see a skunk being escorted by 3 dogs. If we had obedient dogs that came when called, we would not have had a problem, but we don't. The 3 continued to harass the skunk until it had enough of them and then let fly, or whould I say spray? Gidget, the dog that we claim as ours, is still a pup and not real bright. She stayed with the chase the longest and took the brunt of the spray. They all got their share however. We now have 3 dogs that no one wants to go near. We did do what we could to relieve them by bathing and applying eye drops, but it will be many days before any of them are bearable to be around.