Just what I needed this morning...

God Sees

Once upon a time...

there was a fuzzy caterpillar. But he has nothing to do with the story.

Once upon a time there was a horse named Big Joe.Big Joe had a best friend named Walter.

Big Joe just showed up at a house in Uhland one day and decided that he was never going to leave. Walter just showed up at a house in Uhland down the street's from Big Joe's one day and he decided he was never going to leave either. So Big Joe and Walter became neighbors.

Every day Walter would journey up the road from the house he stays at to visit Big Joe. They would play and frolick and have the best of times. Then every night Walter would meander back down the road to his house.

One day though, two girls took Big Joe for a walk to the other side of Uhland. Walter went to Big Joe's house but Big Joe wasn't there. Walter was very sad but he sat down at the end of his BFF's driveway and waited patiently.

Then, all of a sudden, he saw Big Joe coming over the hill with his two girls! Walter ran and ran and ran and when he got to Big Joe he jumped all over him with excitement! Then they ran away and played in Big Joe's yard until the sun went down. It was the best day ever.
The End.

This is seriously a true story.

The Newest Addition

A chicken coop out back. And a lot of little chickens.

That rooster there on the other side of the fence just paces back and forth. I guess he's nervous. The one all the way on the right is Roberta and the little black one to the left of Roberta is Aretha. No...really.

Then that thar is a Texas Nekkid Necker y'all...

's called a nekkid necker cuz his neck is all nekkid see? Eww.

These here little ladies are the Golden Girls.

This one is probably Dorothy. I snapped this right before I turned around running and screaming like a tiny girl.

And right here y'all we have what we farm folk call a dingleberry. Look it up.

Oh this is Screech. Because he looks like an owl. No, really.

And this here would be the chicken playground cuz you can't just have chickens runnin' all around without a playground to keep 'em outta trouble y'all.

And so long as ya got a chicken playground you is gonna have happy sunshiney chickens.

(Not pictured are 3 little fellas who were in chicken prison for stirrin' up trouble with the Misses. Also not pictured are a few little other hussies who were set free to go be "Uhland Chickens" with the other delinquents who are always gettin' kicked outta the dance hall. Goin' to be with the "Uhland Chickens" is the worst of all punishments.)

The Uhland Zoo

One of my most favorite pieces of the Uhland puzzle is the piece that I call the Uhland Zoo. There are critters everywhere and I just adore them. Up above we have who I like to call the 3 Musketeers.

...or the 3 Stooges...

Meet Dee. Sweet, crazy, terrorist Dee. This would be the creature that woke me up at roughly 4 a.m. every day that I lived in Uhland. She would bounce around on my already deflating air mattress, licking my face and running up and down the length of my body. About thirty minutes later she would settle down and curl up in a ball on my neck. We had a love/hate relationship. But I miss her the most.

She's a fierce hunting chihuahua.

Here's Fee. She's fierce too. Well at least when it comes to tiny stuffed cows. Outside of that, she's pretty skittish.

Oh and she's the supermodel of the bunch. See that front leg down there...that's her supermodel pose. Diva.

And then there's Yum Yum. Yummy had a stroke a couple of months ago and although you can't tell it in this picture, she has a hunchback. So she's a bit...fragile. But she's oh so soft.

Oh sweet Yummy Yummy. Oh and she's extremely protective of the foodbowls. I don't know what that's all about.

And another of the usual suspects...Bootsie. Bootsie laughs, says "Hi" and "Roxanne" and screams. She's extremely loud and will literally outlive us all. That's all I have to say about that.

And then...Big Joe. He's smiling for you.

When I rolled up in the driveway in the dark of the night, my headlights caught the eye of this guy. I'm not going to lie. I was a bit concerned. At the worst he was a rabid, viscious, blood-thirsty Kujo type who was going to tear off all my limbs before I got out of the car. At best he was going to grab my flip flop and take off running. Either way...I wasn't looking forward to my options.

I opened the door slowly and here he came, not running, but hopping across the driveway, like a giant 4-legged rabbit. And just as soon as he could get his head into my car, he started covering my arm in slobber. This thing is literally the size of a small pony so I had to do a little budging to get myself out of the car. While I was getting my bag out of the backseat he was bouncing on and around my feet. I am now short two pinky toes and a middle toe on my left foot. But I digress.

As I walked to the house he walked with...well, on...me. The side of his horse body was touching the side of my leg the entire time we walked. Our legs got a little tangled trying to go up the steps, but we both made it out alive.

I watched his sad eyes as I closed the door behind me and yelled, "Hellooooo! Y'all know one of the neighbors dogs is hanging out over here?"

Before I saw any faces I heard, "Oh no, he's ours. That's Joe!"

Ah...Fee, Dee, Yum Yum and Joe. Makes sense to me.

Joe isn't really the brightest star in the sky, and he has no idea that he's a bit oversized, but boy golly is he happy. And really...what else matters.

Back to the Land of Uh

Oh to my faithful blog readers...to the old timers...to those who have been with me for almost two years. These posts are for you. This is for those of you who remember my one stop sign town where chickens run from the dance hall and inbred dogs named Daisy steal your flip flops. For those of you who remember the armadillo story...this is for you.

Uhland, Texas...how I've missed you.

I went back on Mother's Day weekend. It had apparently been too long since I was there because I got lost on my way. It's not as bad as it sounds though. Since my last trip down, a highway had been built across the road that I take to get there. Leave me alone; it's a bit jarring. So, what is normally a 30 minute trip took an hour and a half. But on the way I had the opportunity to remember the beautiful sunsets I used to see every day on my way home from work.

Then I strolled into "town"...and nothing had changed. Same ol' Uh-land.

Just as...uh...sumthin'...as ever.

And still just as beautiful. Oh...there was one new addition. This gem...

I love Austin, but oh my heart...this is magical.

Lilyfly

Seriously...if this doesn't cheer your heart up...well, I got nuthin. But she absolutely knows how to work this smile. It's very intentional. :)

A Day for Mi Madre

To celebrate the beauty, grace, wisdom, love and encouragement brought to my by some pretty amazing women. I miss you...
And you...

And you...

And YOU!

Would give a lot to be able to wrap my arms around any or all of you today! Happy Mother's Day...I love you all!

Just thinking today...

There's one sad truth in life I've found
While journeying east and west-
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.

~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

What unfortunate truth there is in this tiny little poem, the most striking part being about flattering those we scarcely know. How quick we do this! So many of us go above and beyond to love well the people who barely know us. And while it could be admirable, I can't help but wonder if we do it for all the wrong reasons...

And it's in the comfortability and safety of those trusted and extensive friendships that we show who we really are...

I can't help but think of a very few people (like, 2) that I know who came off as reserved or even standoffish when I met them, but oh how they blossomed as our friendship deepened. While it seems backwards, maybe they've got it more figured out.

Maybe it's that the flattery and the attention and the great love and care for the friendship that belongs to those closest to them is going where it should. Not being taken for granted in the deep friendships and being thrown out like candy at a parade to strangers.

Just something I'm thinkin' through today after reading this little poem. :)

At Just That Point in History

We believe that the death of Christ is just that point in history at which something absolutely unimaginable from outside shows through into our world. And if we cannot picture even the atoms of which our own world is built, of course we are not going to be able to picture this. Indeed, if we found that we could fully understand it, that very fact would show it was not what it professes to be-the inconceivable, the uncreated, the thing from beyond nature, striking down into nature like lightning. You may ask what good it will be to us if we do not understand it. But that is easily answered. A man can eat his dinner without understanding exactly how food nourishes him. A man can accept what Christ has done without knowing how it works: indeed, he certainly would not know how it works until he has accepted it.

We are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself. That is the formula. That is Christianity. That is what has to be believed.

~C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity