Julie's ... "A Simple Life"

Life in the country as we live it.

When we first moved here there were clumps of dirt and tall, sparse, mean-looking weeds. There was no grass for Lucky to roll in, or a cool damp place for him to lay when it was hot. Ben leveled the dirt in front of our "tri-level", we put fertilizer and grass seed on it, and it became our first lawn in Texas. Lucky can't roll in it yet, but we wanted to show you the green. There is not much of that here because of the 2 year drought.

(Week two of framing) Sunsets here in Texas are beautiful almost every evening. This photo was taken on the north side of our new home facing west showing the "under construction roof" and branches of the old tree north of the house. I guess you could say - branches of the new and branches of the old.

We all know who the real boss is here!

Living in rural America is different in many areas of life. One very obvious difference is in this photo. Guns leaning against the wall, and hunting dogs laying around until the next exciting hunt.

Ben is hoping to "get" a wild boar that has been badly damaging the hay meadow. My mom loaned him her deer rifle for just that purpose. When Ben gets his boar there will be photos.

Lucky, on the other hand, is resting before his next chance to chase the bunny that has discovered our new lawn. Lucky loves to chase, but he never catches. He comes running back to mom with his tail high in the air, and an expression on his face like "I sure scared that monster away! Aren't you proud of me?"

Yes, I am back to the days of laundry hanging on the line. Ben made this make-shift clothsline for me, and it works great! Actually, the whites are whiter when dried in the sun. The clothes smell so good that I am going to have a permanent clothes line constructed once we are in the house. No, I do not have to wash the clothes in a washtub. I have an automatic washer in the shop. Ben said I could have one of those, but I still don't wear shoes. (ha)

My mom raises beef cattle for a living. The baby calf was the first one born since Ben and I arrived in July. The baby bull is only a few hours old in this photo, and this is her mama. (the black one, not the one with the white hair) My mom is placing a halter on the calf, and don't you know, the calf was not happy with the halter, and dropped to the ground right in the pile of poop shown in the photo. I had to help with the calf, so I, of course, got the green stuff all over my jeans. I had a meeting with the electrician and cabinet maker a few minutes later. No one cared because that is a common thing here in Texas; cattle dung on jeans.

Lucky dog is my faithful, loyal companion. Ben calls him a mama's boy. Lucky gets his own shower in the house. When it is 30 degrees outside, I can give Lucky his bath in this shower. Since he is getting older, it is harder for him to crawl into a bathtub. He will stand in the shower, and I will use the handheld to wash him. How easy is that? I know you have to be a dog lover to understand my logic.

Big Texas Spiders

"They" say things are bigger in Texas. Whomever "they" are knew exactly what "they" were talking about. The spiders are as big as freight trains, and some of the spiders carry all their millions of little babies on their backs. When you try to kill the big one with a broom, or shovel, or 2 X 4 all the little babies scatter in every direction. Then it is time to do the spider dance. Lucky, being the great hunter he is, chases the big one, and I dance around stepping on all the little ones.

There are other spiders that are bright yellow and black, and are so big you can see them 50 yards away. I like that because I can go way around them. "They" say those spiders are good spiders, so as long as they are not in my space, I leave them alone. My space, however, is quite large.

When I take Lucky for his walks, of course he wants to go through the woods. And, what's in the woods? Big spiders with webs as strong as monofilament thread. I take a steel walking stick with me, not to help me walk, but to break the webs so I don't walk into them. Have you ever seen "The Parent Trap"? That is me, only waving my stick instead of hitting two together. Some country girl I am.

Another Big Bug Story

Lucky loves to chase down all the super sized crickets, grasshoppers, spiders and locusts. The first time he caught a locust it scared both him and me. I didn't know locusts screeched like two male cats fighting. Lucky tried to catch the locust, and it screeched, and Lucky and I both jumped, and the locust screeched again, and jumped. I was wearing a skirt, and the locust tried to jump up inside my skirt, (he missed) and all the while Lucky was trying to bite the locust. Lucky won that battle. That was me and Lucky doing the locust dance.