So did anyone notice the little egg counter over there creep up and pass the 800 goal? A couple of days ago I collected “the“egg plus a few more, then yesterday Handsome and I ate them for brunch along with orange segments and some toasted and heavily buttered homemade English muffin bread. YUM. Egg #804 was as delish as all the others.

   Well, this morning I was in the barn raking hay off a large bale for breakfast for the buffalo and horses, when my steel rake hit something hard. Clink! I climbed up and reached around (foolish, perhaps, as it could have been anything. Like maybe a snake. A metal snake?) But my hand felt a nest of cold eggs!

   So here in this photo we have eggs #805-808. Of course, the rake did some damage to one of these little liquid-chickens-in-a-package, so it was promptly donated back to the hens who have already devoured the extra protein.

We love our chickens!

   Okay! So it’s time for that custom apron set giveaway! Please feel free to comment here or on Facebook or Twitter. A few fine readers have already thrown their names into the hat on Facebook, which is awesome! The more the merrier, and enter as often as you like. I’ll do a drawing this evening.

   The winner will receive a complimentary custom apron with coordinating dish towel! Aaaannnddd…  everyone else who enters will receive a 25% discount on a Green Goose Textiles purchase, just in time for the upcoming baking season!

   Have a beautiful Sunday everyone. In our corner of paradise, the sun is sparkling and the air is cool. Love is breathing deeply and keeping us on track.

“Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul:

where there is compassion 

even the most

poisonous impulses 

remain relatively harmless.”

~Eric Hoffer

Be Compassionate. Everyone Needs It.
Including Chickens Whose Babies We Eat.
xoxoxo

   Today was strange. I read a lot, but not all books, certainly not all books I had decided were nourishing and worth my time. I thought and ruminated longer and harder than I planned to and went for an overly emotional run in the back field. I enjoyed a spontaneous lunch in town with my Momma. Then I went shopping for new vitamins, did some window shopping for my first born chicken’s upcoming birthday, and met Handsome at home for a sleepy and affectionate afternoon.

This beautiful baby will be seventeen on Saturday. When I look at her sweet face or think of the time that has passed, I cannot breathe.

   But tomorrow is Friday, an excellent day to extinguish that staleness! My lists are plentiful and always growing and shifting, just like space and time, but I am lucky blessed enough to have all the resources to accomplish whatever I decide is important. Maybe not every single thing I conceive, but surely every single thing to which I actually apply myself  What is that saying we all have been seeing on the site that rhymes with Zenterest?

   
   That is the crux, isn’t it? Deciding what should fall away, what is nothing more than a distraction or an outright attack.

 
   Resisting the pull of that door to the Worry Room, swimming strongly through the waves of pain and challenging emotions without succumbing to the old downward spiral.

   Looking up when the habit of staring inward becomes unproductive. Seeking beauty and surrounding ourselves with it, celebrating it in all of its intricate and surprising incarnations. These are the actions that replace the slippery, dangerous ones. These keep me out of the Worry Room and back on track, doing more than just whittling down lists of projects. These positive habits keep me in the business of building life and cultivating joy.

   Thanks for listening to me ramble! I just needed a little pep talk tonight, to be ready for a big, rich, textured day tomorrow! I hope you are closing up your week with a healthy perspective to match a satisfying routine. I hope you feel loved and are finding ways every day to show it. I hope you can look up and know you are seen and heard.

Oblah-Di, Oblah-dah!
xoxoxoxo

   One of my very favorite things about having this little farm is raising chickens. (Poultry-chicken is what I’m talking about today, not human chickens, although what a dream come true that would be!) The hens and roosters look so cool strutting and dancing around the yard. Their many, varied sounds are complex and beautiful. They control the worst of the bugs and most of the snakes. They contribute to the compost heap generously.

   Few are the people who eat a farm fresh, free range egg and still prefer to buy the thin, watery, comparatively anemic eggs from the grocery store. These are just so big and heavy and rich and flavorful, and most people who seem to know about such things say that farm fresh eggs are significantly more nutritious, too.

   Sometimes we find eggs that are even bigger than the normal giants we collect every day…

   Any input you have for any of these will be greatly appreciated. I am feeling kind of bad tonight, possibly heat stroke, and so writing this and asking for your brilliant, witty input is a heckuva lot more entertaining than researching this stuff on my own. Let’s hit it.

1. What is the average number of books a woman reads in her life time? How about a man? Feel free to apply any demographic you find interesting.
2. Why oh why do the alligator hunting Swamp People never wear gloves while gripping those wire fishing lines? Drives me crazy.
3. Do you think it’s true that people now have multiple life crises, once known as a mid-life crisis?
4. Is diet cola really, really bad for you? I mean, really?
5. Why do you think Americans choose not to vote? 
6. How many weeks until NBA season again?
7. Is it even legal to shoot and kill a wild alligator in Oklahoma? Because apparently we have them.
8. Does my buffalo understand me?
9. What are the statistical odds that my freakishly Jurassic (and not to mention gorgeous) watermelon vines will produce enough ripe, juicy fruit to us to retire at the end of this summer?
10. I would love to meet more authors. Do you have any suggestions?