Buried Treasures
I bought a trio of Buff Cochins Bantam Chickens this Fall and another black Cochin hen to add to my dwindling flock. The young cockerel is very handsome, but is less than a year old, not fully feathered yet and he doesn't have the wonderful comb he will have at maturity. The other day my husband came in and said I must come outside at once. We stood in the driveway. Just then I heard this squeaky, pathetic sound like furniture being drug across the floor or a rusty hinge being opened. It was the first 'crow' of our new rooster. You see they are like little boys who grow up and their voices start changing. At first a little bit, but before long they sound like Josh Groban (to the girls anyway). How exciting to witness such a bend in the road in a chickens life. I'm sure it really ruffled the 'girls' feathers.
These are the things that make you realize why you need to be living at a place like this. I don't need fancy clothes, big cars or things like that. I was there when Moose, a young horse my son raised from a baby lost his first tooth. It was laying in his stall like a diamond waiting to be discovered. Of all the places he could have lost it. Anywhere in the pasture. He could have trampled it into the bedding or anything. No, it was laying there waiting for me. I have it in my kitchen cupboard to this day, 25 years later along with the plaster impression of my own teeth when I had my partial made.
My friend Nancy is helping neighbors whose cows are calving. We were talking today about the white of a newborn calf. They are a glistening white like no other white you ever saw. Perfect and precious and innocent. When I had sheep I loved watching my lambs first experiencing a little hill in the barnyard. They all took turns playing king of the mountain. They'd bounce up the hill, stop, turn around and then bounce down flipping sideways and just having a marvelous time. Then the whole little band of them would go cavorting recklessly all over the place like the wind was blowing them here and there.
A few days after we moved here my daughter was in the back yard. She was sixteen, and not at all happy we had left town and moved to this God forsaken place. I heard her screaming for me. Thinking she surely must be under attack by a pack of wolves, I found her standing perfectly still, her bare feet covered with about 20 newborn ducklings. The former owners left some ducks here and one was hatching out a huge nest of eggs. Till all were hatched, Deb was their self appointed surrogate mother. They followed her all over the yard. After a while the mama came waddling over and claimed Deb's ducklings and life went back to normal again, but not for Deb. It was a gift from God she needed to see. A priceless little event. A moment she'll never forget.
During a winter storm we had about 23 years ago, the creek flooded and ice a foot thick was left on the lane coming in from route 94. The township had to spend the whole day with backhoes clearing the lane of mountains of ice. Frozen in the ice were Sunfish. I have pictures of 12' slabs of ice standing beside the road, and showing through the ice are these perfectly preserved 'Sunnies' as we call them. Buried treasures. Another time in the spring, our yellow transparent apple tree was lush with fruit. A mother raccoon had her 4 babies up in the tree eating apples. They ate so many that they fell asleep on the branches and were oblivious to at least 6 people under the tree looking at them.
Life is good. You have to keep your eyes open though or you'll miss some of the finer things. Across the road in our woods long about April there is a transformation that takes place. The whole forest floor is carpeted with the most heavenly blue you have ever seen. If you lay down among them you become disoriented. You feel as if you were floating somewhere between heaven and earth on a fragrant blue plane known only to you. Virginia Bluebells. There was never a human gardener who planted them. No frazzled housewife who wanted to brighten her corner of the earth and then complained about the weeds. God spread them all along this valley, and it's up to YOU to take the time to find them. He spreads His treasures at our feet all around us and waits. I know I see a lot of things, but oh the things I miss. Imagine the beautiful, magical things in the world we don't see, but they are there all the time waiting. My prayer is that we don't get so wrapped up in all the useless everyday things in life that we miss the first Robin of Spring or overlook a Box Turtle coming out of the soft mud after sleeping there all winter. There are treasures in this world, and you don't need piles of money to have them. All you need is curiosity and a will to smell the earth's breath. Sniff my dear's, sniff while your sniffer is still working!!!!!
These are the things that make you realize why you need to be living at a place like this. I don't need fancy clothes, big cars or things like that. I was there when Moose, a young horse my son raised from a baby lost his first tooth. It was laying in his stall like a diamond waiting to be discovered. Of all the places he could have lost it. Anywhere in the pasture. He could have trampled it into the bedding or anything. No, it was laying there waiting for me. I have it in my kitchen cupboard to this day, 25 years later along with the plaster impression of my own teeth when I had my partial made.
My friend Nancy is helping neighbors whose cows are calving. We were talking today about the white of a newborn calf. They are a glistening white like no other white you ever saw. Perfect and precious and innocent. When I had sheep I loved watching my lambs first experiencing a little hill in the barnyard. They all took turns playing king of the mountain. They'd bounce up the hill, stop, turn around and then bounce down flipping sideways and just having a marvelous time. Then the whole little band of them would go cavorting recklessly all over the place like the wind was blowing them here and there.
A few days after we moved here my daughter was in the back yard. She was sixteen, and not at all happy we had left town and moved to this God forsaken place. I heard her screaming for me. Thinking she surely must be under attack by a pack of wolves, I found her standing perfectly still, her bare feet covered with about 20 newborn ducklings. The former owners left some ducks here and one was hatching out a huge nest of eggs. Till all were hatched, Deb was their self appointed surrogate mother. They followed her all over the yard. After a while the mama came waddling over and claimed Deb's ducklings and life went back to normal again, but not for Deb. It was a gift from God she needed to see. A priceless little event. A moment she'll never forget.
During a winter storm we had about 23 years ago, the creek flooded and ice a foot thick was left on the lane coming in from route 94. The township had to spend the whole day with backhoes clearing the lane of mountains of ice. Frozen in the ice were Sunfish. I have pictures of 12' slabs of ice standing beside the road, and showing through the ice are these perfectly preserved 'Sunnies' as we call them. Buried treasures. Another time in the spring, our yellow transparent apple tree was lush with fruit. A mother raccoon had her 4 babies up in the tree eating apples. They ate so many that they fell asleep on the branches and were oblivious to at least 6 people under the tree looking at them.
Life is good. You have to keep your eyes open though or you'll miss some of the finer things. Across the road in our woods long about April there is a transformation that takes place. The whole forest floor is carpeted with the most heavenly blue you have ever seen. If you lay down among them you become disoriented. You feel as if you were floating somewhere between heaven and earth on a fragrant blue plane known only to you. Virginia Bluebells. There was never a human gardener who planted them. No frazzled housewife who wanted to brighten her corner of the earth and then complained about the weeds. God spread them all along this valley, and it's up to YOU to take the time to find them. He spreads His treasures at our feet all around us and waits. I know I see a lot of things, but oh the things I miss. Imagine the beautiful, magical things in the world we don't see, but they are there all the time waiting. My prayer is that we don't get so wrapped up in all the useless everyday things in life that we miss the first Robin of Spring or overlook a Box Turtle coming out of the soft mud after sleeping there all winter. There are treasures in this world, and you don't need piles of money to have them. All you need is curiosity and a will to smell the earth's breath. Sniff my dear's, sniff while your sniffer is still working!!!!!
posted by Prudence at 11:25 PM
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