Life's path...

As I was walking to the house this evening from the chicken pen and garden I noticed that I was walking on a path...a path that I've slowly made from daily trips back and forth. Even in the area Don hasn't mowed yet any one would be able to see my little path. The dogs use it as much as I do and every day we walk in a line out to do the evening chores.

Many times Don and I have chuckled at the horses as they walk their worn path from the barn to the pond after they've been fed. I can even see it on the Google map of our farm! Don's walking path down the hill and into the woods is also visible on the map. Before long the paths our dogs are making in the front and back yards will also be visible. Strange to think that a path made just from walking the same direction every day could become so permanent as to be seen from a satellite spinning in space!

I guess we all make paths in our lives in more ways than one...paths made from doing, feeling, reacting, in the same way day in and day out. Some might say I'm "in a rut" doing the same things every day, walking the same direction, eating the same foods, having a schedule, etc. Some might say that sameness makes me a very dull person. I don't find my life dull at all. I find the sameness...the paths I've made...to be comforting and no day is ever the same!

Today as I walked back from the chicken pen and garden on my same little path I noticed the sunset through the Black Gum tree and wished I could see the solar eclipse, but I still enjoyed the lovely sunset. I rejoiced in the three perfect eggs the chickens gave me and the tiny bean sprouts that had just popped up in the garden today. I walked as I savored the handful of ripe raspberries...the first this year...that I'd picked at the garden. I was tickled to hear the tanager singing his heart out in the Elm tree...he always heralds in summer for me.

I am grateful that life's path has led me to this farm and all the treasures nature has in store for me every day. There is a peaceful contentment to routine and I welcome it every day, just as I welcome all the new and exciting experiences I find here on the farm each day I step outside.

Bad luck comes in threes, right?

If the old superstition about bad luck coming in threes is true, then I should be good to go! Computer virus last Friday, water leak in the laundry on Saturday and realized on Sunday our satellite wasn't working on the television.

Don fixed the computer last Saturday night, I called Directv on Monday and ended up having to set up an appointment to have a repairman come out on Wednesday, which turned into a very busy day!

I got up early yesterday so I could get the floors swept and the laundry room emptied while Don went to feed the horses and call the plumber. Plumber actually arrived before the TV repairman and got to work sawing two big holes out of my laundry room wall. Pictured above is the bad fitting he found. It has now been replaced, but the entire house was plumbed with this stuff so we're just waiting for the next one to spew. An example of the lovely plumbing work done on our house when we built it:

While the plumber was restyling the laundry room walls and plumbing, the TV repairman got busy restyling the cable to our television. Seems the dogs had been using the cable as a chew toy and the high winds we've had this Fall repositioned the satellite dish. The repairman replaced the cable and ran it above the windows along the back wall by screwing it to the brick wall.

HA! I'd like to see a dog chew on it now...the cable is a good 12 plus feet off the ground! Of course, I think it should have been installed that way in the first place, but we only had two well behaved dogs when we moved into the house almost eight years ago.

After everyone finished their repair jobs and left I was able to get outside and start putting up some of my Christmas lights. Don hopped on the tractor to do some driveway repair work and we stayed out until well past dark. Yesterday you would never have thought we'd already had snow twice this Fall as it was 68 degrees. I was hanging up Christmas lights in short sleeves...and enjoying every minute of it!

Here's hoping you don't get hit with triple trouble this holiday season! I know I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we don't get a triple whammy again any time soon!