Missing Child

Law enforcement has asked that this photo be shared everywhere. Celina Cass, age 11, is missing from her home in W. Stewardstown, NH, since Monday, 7/25/11, at 9pm. She is described as 5 feet, 5 inches tall, weighing about 95 pounds, with hazel eyes and waste-length brown hair. She was last seen wearing a pink shirt, a pink pullover, blue shorts and shoes. If you have ANY information at all that you feel is relevant to her disappearance or whereabouts please contact New Hampshire State Police at 603-846-3333.

Post Script: 8/1/11 - After a massive search effort by local authorities, volunteers from various places and organizations, State police from several states, Fish and Game, Border Patrol, the FBI and the Canadian Royal Mounted Police, divers discovered Celina's body this morning in the Connecticut River about 1/2 mile north of her home. Please pray for comfort for the family, friends and community that are devastated by this horrible act, and that whoever is responsible is quickly brought to justice.

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My Birthday Bouquet

My birthday bouquet from my sweet hubby. He even remembered that I love yellow flowers. On the note card he said he's taking my out to my favorite restaurant Saturday night. YUM! BTW, just in case you're wondering why he told me that on the card rather than in person, it's because he's gone for work from Monday through Friday. He retires at the end of this year so we'll be able to talk face to face every day rather than over the phone and email.

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Flat Out Of Luck

Some days don’t just go sideways—they veer into a ditch, set up camp, and start roasting marshmallows.

It started like the perfect morning. Sunlight pouring through the windows. Birds doing their little Disney chorus thing. I actually thought to myself, “Well, isn’t this lovely? Today’s going to be a good day.”

Cue the record scratch.

I stepped outside and there it was—a tire that had clearly given up on life somewhere around 3 a.m. Not a slow leak. Not a subtle sag. This thing was flatter than roadkill on I-93. Aggressively horizontal. A crime scene in rubber.

It sat there like an air mattress the morning after camping—wrinkled, useless, and impossible to revive. No warning, no farewell hiss, not even a dramatic pop for flair. Just slumped over like, “I’ve been holding your sorry self together for too many years, lady, and I’m DONE. Figure it out.”

So, instead of my tidy little to-do list and that smug, get-stuff-done satisfaction, I got a pop quiz in “tire triage.” Which, for the record, involves kneeling in gravel while the wind tries to sandblast your face, balancing a jack that sounds like it’s been crying for help since 1998, and muttering words you wouldn’t say in front of your grandmother.

I haven’t crouched that long since I was elbow-deep in a goat birthing situation. And let me tell you—both experiences involve heavy breathing, regret, and the faint hope that someone will arrive to save you.

The jack was, of course, hiding. I finally found it buried under the back seat, keeping company with a fossilized French fry and what I’m 80% sure was once a map of Ohio. We’ve never been to Ohio, which means either the car’s been sneaking off without me or I’ve been storing roadside garbage for sport.

Anyway, I got the spare on. I survived. The tire. . . not so much.

The soundtrack to my morning? Picture muffled grumbling, the groan of a rusty jack, and the faint sound of my will to live rolling down the driveway.

But hey—I got the tire changed. I still made it through the day. Because sometimes life goes flat. . . and you fix it with grit, sarcasm, and just enough air to keep going.

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Skunked

In the grand scheme of things, the two things I'm thankful for this morning may seem trivial to the general populace. But you fellow homesteaders, as well as dog owners, will totally relate, I'm sure. 

The first thing I'm thankful for is dogs who convinced the skunk that was heading toward the meat chickens, to change direction. They further convinced the skunk that a late night chicken dinner wasn't in its best interest. This is not an open-all-night KFC drive-thru, or in this case, walk-thru. After all, that's why we have dogs - 2 Great Pyrenees livestock guardians, and 2 English Shepherds who provide backup as needed.

I can picture the whole episode - poor skunk is out for a late night stroll, meandering across the lower pasture, and smells chickens. Oh, yummy chickens. Live chickens. Juicy chickens. Young, tender, 4 week old chickens. And in it's vast experience it realizes that these chickens are concentrated in one area - a chicken pen! What luck. To have all those live, juicy, tender, young chickens in a cage, on the ground no less, just waiting for a beautiful skunk, such as itself, to pop open a corner of the chicken wire, slip inside, and have a captive audience so to speak. Then, out of nowhere these huge white beasts come crashing up to the fence, barking and snarling, bent on eating said skunk for their late night snack. And what's even worse, there are 2 rust colored beasts right behind them, obviously with the same vicious intentions. Now really, what's a poor defenseless skunk to do? These snarling, viscous beasts can, without a doubt, run faster than the skunk, are much larger, and definitely have bigger teeth. The poor skunk has no choice, turn and spray in the direction of the beasts. 

Which brings me to the second thing on my thankful list. A fence that kept the dogs away from the skunk while it was making that very wise decision to seek dinner elsewhere. The dogs obviously intercepted the skunk while it was still a suitable distance from the fence and weren't close enough to get sprayed. While my yard was very stinky for a while, it was definitely preferable to having to bathe 4 dogs in tomato juice. You might say that the skunk got skunked!

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Farewell, Old Friend

"Every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life, gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are." ~~Author Unknown~~

I've had a very busy life. Every since I was a pup I've had lots of work to do.

I've learned lots of lots of things to take care of my family.

There were children to keep warm.....

The whole yard to patrol.....

Friends to make......

Dinner to catch.....

Dinner to eat.....

Smiles to capture.....

Children to keep clean.

Under my watchful care children flourished, a family was kept safe, and a home was filled with my love.

Indy - (Gunmettle's Independence Day) 5/4/98-7/13/11.

You will be loved and remembered forever. Well done, faithful friend.

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