A Good Day To Ride A One-Eyed Horse

Things You Find In The Country
You never know what you might find out in the rural areas in the Midwest.  I know that you can find black horses, brown horses, white horses, good looking horses, ugly horses,  pedigreed horses (Michele has lots) but I don't now if I can find a One-Eye Horse to ride today.  Many years ago, we used to go to a place with a carousel that had a horse with only one eye.  I always called that wooden horse the "one-eyed horse", and told everyone that I was going to look for a real horse that looked just like the one with only one eye.  I have yet to find one, but I remember my dad had a steer that had one eye poked out from the horns of another steer.  That can happen to animals when penned up together.

Besides being able to find horses in the country, you can always find an old piece of farm equipment rotting away in a pasture.  And, you can  sometimes find windmills and old pumps.  Besides crops and tractors and other equipment, you can usually find a lot of grass and crops.  In the yards of old houses you might see an old root cellar, which is great for tornadoes.  In the barnyard, you will most likely see a pig sty and pigs, a rabbit hutch, a hen house and chickens, a manure spreader, lots of poop, a cow lot with cattle, and a couple of trucks.  And if you drive the country roads at night, you could see a falling star.   The best thing of all is that you will see "Local Yokels".  All of these things are a part of country living.  If you don't live in Greenview nowdays, do you remember the sights I've listed?  They are still here.

But......I think it might be a while before I find my real one eyed horse to ride so maybe I better find something else to do today.  Maybe it would be a better day to clean dust bunnies from under the bed.  For a while I've wondered what exactly is under my bed....and  I know I didn't put that "stuff" under there.   I guess that the other resident of this house must have done that hoping I wouldn't notice because he knows I don't like to clean under the bed.  I just hope that none of those dust bunnies had babies or even worse, up and died under the bed.  What an awful thought.  So.....I guess I better plan to don my coveralls and my kerchief on my head and tackle the job I hate the most.  If you don't hear from me for a few days, I got lost under the bed among the dust bunnies.

Continuing Story......the finale
Today's post concludes the continuing story about a young girl who was afraid of death.  She grew up and learned that death is a part of life and life is a part of death.  Here's the final post in this series: 

"Losing my dad was hard but not as hard as it was losing my mom. I firmly believe children are typically closer to their moms, so I feel death on the maternal side is harder to cope with. After my dad died, then Grandma and Aunt Marie both died in their mid-90’s. Luckily I spent a lot of time with Grandma in her older years and learned a lot about her younger years but, I didn’t get to talk to her about knowing if she was dying or how she felt. But she was a very religious person and I know she was a willing soul because she loved the Lord so much.

Through the next years, the loss of classmates really bothered me. These people were kids who were actually like family. After all, growing up with these kids and going to school and playing with the kids all of those years, we spent more time together than most families spend with their kids. And our classmates really were close. We'd already lost two classmates while in school. After graduation came word that one classmate had hung himself, then one was killed in a car wreck, then one died of a heart attack, then two got cancer at about the time I had a massive heart attack. Us three who were sick at the same time survived those first years, and then one of the cancer victims lost the battle not long ago but I survive still and so does the other cancer victim. The cancer victim who lost her life knew she was dying and finally made the decision to not have any more treatment which would slow the progression. I remember her sister telling me that my friend just didn’t want to go to the hospice facility because she knew she wouldn’t come home ever again. She finally agreed to go to hospice and died I believe the next day. She knew she was dying. She could feel death approaching. I don’t think she was afraid, but she didn’t want to go. Shortly after that, another of our classmates died of a heart attack. It appears death is creeping upon the babyboomers and I’m still not quite ready, but I feel I’m not afraid like I was as a child.

Two years ago, my father-in-law was nearing death due to cancer. Hospice people explained it to him, but it didn’t sink in for quite a while. He thought he would get better and go home again since he had been bad before and got better and went home. This time it wouldn’t happen. He told me he wasn’t ready as there were so many things he wanted to do. He wanted to travel and see more sites in the USA. He wanted to do ‘things”. But that didn’t happen and he slipped away one night after we all had been with him. He knew and could feel death approaching but he was scared. I was holding his hand and singing Jesus Loves Me to him just hours before his death. He was mad at me because he felt that I was the one who put him in hospice, but it wasn’t my decision.  He thought I was making him die.   But, better he blamed me than his children. They were too upset to watch him slip away and the decision for hospice placement was difficult so they were naturally upset.  I had been through so many persons dying whom I really loved, I became strong and could shoulder the blame that came from my father-in-law. I feel he knew the real truth when he reached God’s side.

After my father-on-law’s death, my wonderful collie Toby got very sick. The vet bills were too much to handle and we had to make a choice since he couldn’t get better. Toby had been with us for over 11 years and was like a family member. He didn’t complain, and it broke my heart. He was faithful to the end and loved us with no strings attached. He is buried on our hill, with his favorite blanket and lies next to our previous best friend Shilo who left us in 1999.

During the illnesses of my father-in-law and my dog, my two sisters and my best friend were gravely ill and getting worse. The youngest sister couldn’t understand death as she was ravished with Alzheimer’s. My oldest sister didn’t want anything to do with talking about being sick. She just wouldn’t believe she was getting worse. I knew that I had to talk to her but it was difficult. She got worse and finally went into a nursing home. Her doctor did not do his job as he was afraid to tell her she had only a few days to live. I tried to talk to her but she didn’t want to listen even though she knew she was bad. She wanted to go home. Finally the doctor told her she was dying but she didn’t believe it. On her last day, we all stood around her and told her it was ok to let go. She fought death until her last breath and it was difficult to watch. We held her hands and all sang Jesus Loves Me to her and it seemed to calm her a bit. Then she left us. Death was difficult for her but it didn’t scare me like it did when I was a young girl.

Next came the death of Jean, who was one of my best friends and who was also an aunt by marriage. At this time, I was having a hard time coping with life’s problems.  My sis was also getting worse but we couldn’t explain death to her as she was simply too far gone under the horrible devastation of Alzheimer’s disease. I didn’t want her to suddenly have a spurt of energy or recognition in life so I spent a lot of days with her, just watching her die. And, I tried to explain death to her, hoping she might hear me.  Time went on, and then she forgot how to swallow and was forgetting to breathe, so we knew death was approaching. In her case, death was not easy and it took many days for her to relinquish her hold on life. I saw how a person who is dying turns black/dark purple on the legs and arms and body and even her face. Then she just simply took one last breath and was gone. Having a best friend and a sister losing the battle within a couple of weeks was the most difficult thing I’ve been faced with for a long time. As I age, and death knocks at siblings, friends and other family members’ door, will this be more difficult to face? Another question about death which I may never know an answer.

Right at the present moment my life is calm and I’m not facing death of anyone close. But we all know we have no guarantee in life. A person can face death’s door at any moment. We should not be afraid. The last few years have been difficult for me with so many death of close friends and relatives but I learned that death is a part of evolution and we must all one day die in order for life of our future generations to go on. God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, but it sure seems that sometimes it’s close. Some of you may have been scared as a child. You may have not understood the death thing when you were young and may not even want to face it now. Your question may still be “Why Must I Die”. That was my question as a child…..but I still would like to know if all persons know when they are dying. I may never know." The End.

Thank you for reading this story.  Actually it was hard for me to decide to post this for others to read, but I felt that perhaps it might help others see that we all are humans and go through periods in our life which are difficult to handle.  I'm also sure many persons have a hard time dealing with the subject of death.  Life begins the circle and death completes the circle .... without death, life would not exist.  And, without life, death would not exist. I have been taught through my readings that death completes my existence on earth and begins the transformation where my soul will live on in heaven.  Everlasting life....eternity.  I will see you there sometime.

My wonderful friend Toby...RIP

 





Classmate Betty Faye - RIP







Classmate Butch - RIP

Best Friend Jean - RIP

What's To Eat At Our House Tonight?
Kabobs. I simply cut up meat into cubes....anything you want....chicken, beef, pork. For marinade, I use the lime juice, soy sauce, liquid smoke recipe that I use for Fajitas... I posted the recipe a few posts previously. Let it marinade at least 6 hours. Place the meat alternately on the skewers with pieces of onion, green pepper, zucchini, tomato, yellow squash, or anything you prefer. Baste it with fresh marinade....do not use the marinade which was used for the raw meat.  Grill.  

Thought of The Day

To want to be what one can be

is purpose in life.

--Cynthia Ozick

In the world of fast paced living, almost everyone has a cell phone in their possession at all times.  You can be sitting at a stop light and the majority of drivers who make a left turn in front of you from the other lane have their cell phone up to their ear, and it appears to me they are not paying any attention to driving.  I personally hate to even talk on the telephone, so not often do I have that little prestigious piece of electronic genius up to my ear when driving.  I might answer, then pull off the road.    I swear these people who are cell phone drivers are probably developing "cauliflower ear".... as we used to call any weird looking ear....bumpy and lumpy.  I personally think the addiction to using  a cell phone while driving is as dangerous as a drunk driver.  Just my opinion mind you....but I was a part of the insurance world for all of my career so I've seen why accidents occur.  And what if that cell phone user driver has had a few drinks.....unbelievable!

What did humans do before we had cell phones?   We stopped at a pay phone and made a quick call in order to save money.  And if we were away from home, we thought up ways we could call home and charge it to our home phone so we didn't get collect call charges.  Wow ..... has the world changed in just a few years.  But of course, not long ago we didn't have high definition television either....and up until a few years ago, we didn't have a digital camera which could be plugged into a computer for instant pictures on a computer screen.

Over the years I have accepted the invention of new fangled things with grace.  I love new things, I just don't like it when people abuse the use of "new fangled things".  So if you see me at a stoplight and you're on the phone....could you humor me and put the phone in your lap so I can't see it.....after all, it's your life and mine that I'm concerned about.  Rant over.....see you at the stoplight.