Earth Outdoor Living Diaries

There's nothing quite like a small town parade.  The excitement builds for days as people discuss who is going and where they are going to park, which people are going to have floats and which ones are most likely going to be the best.  The weather was perfect last night-57.  Just chilly enough to require a coat.  Hila Fay was so excited that I could barely get her to lay down for her nap.  I couldn't believe that she remembered the parade from year before, but she obviously did because all she could talk about was getting candy.  

Our whole family stood together and Hila Fay and her cousin Matt, a mere two months apart in age-and absolute best friends-stood eager for the candy fest to begin. As soon as the distant drums began, little Matt and & Hila began excitedly marching around chanting "CANDY! CANDY! CANDY!" as the adults looked on and laughed.  Our parade wasn't fancy, it consisted of about a dozen floats and probably the same amount of antique cars and trucks (and one vehicle made to look like a yellow-jacket, our high school mascot) and ended with-of course-Santa Claus-being escorted out by a good bakers dozen of cowboys and cowgirls. No, it wasn't fancy-but it was a good time had by a all.  It was a comradery when everybody came together, putting differences aside, and just enjoyed the moment.  It reminded me of why I love the small town flavor.

I love the expressions that kids come up with.  Hila Fay's way of saying that it's a nice day out is "It's a cute day." That certainly described today! I had to remind myself over and over that even though it was 70 outside and I had the windows open it really is December and Christmas is just around the corner!  

Hila Fay and I made a trip to go get feed and hay for the mules.  She loves helping out on the farm and we encourage it at every turn.  We waited for my husband to get home from work then the three of us loaded up and headed to the farm to unload our stash.  Hauling hay and feed into the barn sure is a lot nicer in "cute day" weather!!! 

What makes a redneck housewife quite for more than one day? A sick toddler! Not only did my poor tootsie get hit with a stomach bug, just as I thought she was healed up and felt it was safe to leave her with my mother so I could make it to my doctor appointment in Memphis she comes down with a cold! Does it ever end?

On the good side, I LOVE how technology has advanced and allows me to shop without ever leaving the house! hehehe 

The things a mom will do for a good Santa picture! Despite being under the weather all weekend, and actually having multiple WONDERFUL photographers in my family I was up bright and early with the rising sun this this morning getting ready to take Hila Fay for Santa pictures.  Why you might ask?  Because I was chasing Santa.  Hila Fay will be three in January and I have yet to acquire one decent picture of her with Santa Clause and, by golly, I was bound and determined to get one this year!

So when my niece (whom is a photographer so I didn't feel to bad getting the lead from her) posted some GORGOUS pictures of her kids with Santa on Facebook I was on the hunt like a buck in rut!  We arrived at studio, Pinkston Photography in Jonesboro, AR at about 9am and were out maybe an hour later. Cutest moment? When we left the studio and Hila Fay said that Santa was going to marry her :-D Even Santa gave a "Ho-Ho-Ho" to that! Mrs. Claus better watch her stuff!

I've decided that maybe the Holidays should just be grouped together into one lump sum.  We could all go around telling everyone "Merry Hallowgivingmas!" Our Thanksgiving was great, but seemed way too short and led (pleasantly) directly into Christmas preparations. 

My man fried the turkey, keeping careful watch over the time on his new smart phone (he finally entered the twenty-first century) then we all pigged out together.  

With tomorrow being Thanksgiving, today was filled trying to get chores out of the way, and when you have a "working farm" that means cutting.  In our world, everyone chips in-even Hila Fay.  My husband cuts small branches for her and she helps by putting the sticks into the small wagon to tote them out to the truck and then them throwing them into the bed.  After lifting a small branch or two (about an inch or two in diameter) she then sits down on a fallen tree and says, "Whew, dat's hawd work!" 

Oh how she tickles me! (That's Southern for makes me laugh, hehehe). 

I love the age that Hila Fay is now.  At two she is just old enough to start truly participating in the Holiday traditions.  Yesterday we made  Turkey Cookies, today was a much more simple tradition: I raked up HUGE piles of leaves and she went between un-raking them with her miniature rake and (the REALLY fun part) jumping in the giant "nests" as she called them. 

I love the utter joy in which she lives life, and how when I'm playing with her I'm able to abandon my worries for the moment and truly enjoy just that moment.  Whether we are dancing with Santa in Lowe's or praying to God before nap-time: everything she does, she puts her whole self into it.  I would do well to learn from her!

Yesterday all around the South if you passed by most any church you saw a common sight, women carrying covered dishes into the Fellowship Halls.  Stomach's growled all through the sermon as the aromas wafted down the hallways and teased at us.  I'm pretty sure the the pastors mess with us and make their sermons an extra ten minutes long just because of the delicious smells and the anticipations of all of our favoriote dishes for the Thanksgiving Potluck. I brought my homemade chicken noodle soup and Hershey Bar Pie (which got ate up before I got a piece). I almost didn't get to make my pie since I didn't hide the chocolate bars well enough and my husband found one! O_o I have GOT to learn to find better hiding places for my treats if I'm going to be able to turn them into full fledged desserts, hehehe. 

Mel

Today was nowhere near as exciting as yesterday, but still a good day.  Hila Fay went with her daddy to go "hep" cut firewood while Bob Dylan and his Christmas CD (is it still called a cd if I downloaded it from iTunes onto my computer?) helped me clean my kitchen and put together a new shelf/toy storage "thingy" for Hila Fay in preparation for the new toys that Santa is going to bring.  I was rather proud that my husband didn't even have to fix it after I put together! Once ya'll get to know me, you'll see what an accomplishment that is.

My great nephew turned three today and we headed up to Jonesboro today for his birthday party; of course, no trip to Jonesboro is complete without a trip to Lowe's.  Do ya'll know what they have now???? Christmas trees that have fake pinecones glued on and rotate!!!! All for the low-low price of (wait for it...) $258! Yea, Don't know 'bout ya'll but that's a little rich for my blood! However, Hila Fay and I had fun twirling in the aisle with the "dancing Christmas tree". :-D 

My first post and self-introduction is a rather exciting one and, I'm afraid, going to be hard to live up to.  You see-I killed my first deer today! EEEeeek!! As you can tell, I'm a tad bit excited so I hope that you excuse the breach in etiquette since I just jumped right in and shared my good news without so much as an introduction!

I am Melonie, currently a Stay-at-Home-Mom to a beautiful almost three year old little girl named Hila Fay.  My husband, an agriculture electrician, also has his hands full with his family farm where we grow about a hundred acres of soy beans.  I love EVERYTHING retro, homemade, quirky and country.  I am known for my weird luck and even have been dubbed 2% (the story is waaaay too long, but basically anything that happens to 2% of society happens to me). 

Well it has happened....the temperatures have finally went over 100 degrees!  Still no rain in sight and the heat index is rising higher and higher. This is when I'm glad I live in an area with a lot of trees...I don't think I could live in the flat areas where you are just baking in the sun all day long!!  Everyone is taking full advantage of the rivers and lakes around the area and I'm sure Wal-Mart is have a run on flotation devices!  I get a laugh out of the people who try to fit those things in their cars without taking the air out of them first!!  Guess it would take too long to blow them up themselves...easier to drive down the road, holding them in your laps while they stick out the window...waving at everyone that goes by.  

Just like most days in the country...not much has been happening for me lately.  Summer has started and as usual things are starting to die and a burn ban is in place because we haven't seen rain in a while.  As I walk across the yard, I can hear the crunch of what used to be a beautiful green cover.  We keep our fingers crossed that we wil get some afternoon showers, but really don't see it happening anytime soon.  Even the river and the lakes are really low and visitors have been mentioning it when I see them around town.  Probably not that easy to canoe down Spring River when you have to carry your canoe across the rapids because the water is so low!  

There are places in our life that hold memories for all of us. It may be a place you visited with you parents when you were a child or the place you met your life long partner. I have a few of those places, some that are more memorable than others. Life was hard for us when I was growing up. We often set-up at flea markets, selling anything we could to make money on. One of those places was the Water Wheel outside Hardy, Arkansas. We began just selling household items and things we picked up at the local auction house. It soon became a full family business when my parents decided to open a concession stand too. Our specialty was homemade Grandpa's Pork skins! It was something everyone in the area loved...even those from out-of-town seemed to always want more. We had people that were traveling, stop on their way back home just to get extras to take back with them. I remember watching my mom hand mix the spices and carefully fill each one of the bags to make sure they were as full as they could be. Samples were always available and custom mixes were never a problem. As for the recipe....that was a family secret!  

During the summer, people come from all over the country to enjoy the beautiful waters around our area. Sometimes we forget about how fortunate we are to live here....thinking more about the reasons not to live here. Living in the city everything is always moving so fast and it's a lot harder to find a place to just relax and be quiet. That's not something we have a problem with here. One of my favorite things to do is just sit out somewhere by the water and think about what's going on in my life. It gives you a chance to sort things out and get ready for another week.  

If you're lucky, you might see a few of the local residents during your visit. We have several deer and other wildlife that will make an appearance. My son has found a few snake friends when exploring around the creeks and spillways. Our most shocking encounter was on the way home from my mom's house one night and not the most pleasant one! As we topped a hill on the dirt road not far from their house, we were shocked to find two large black cats in the middle of the road...little did we know that they weren't cats, but skunks! I quickly put the truck in reverse and hit the gas before they could get to their feet. All I knew was I wasn't going to be washing my truck in tomato juice anytime soon!! After waiting several minutes for them to wonder off and make sure they were gone, we made it by as fast as we could. One thing you learn living in the country, you don't mess with the black and white kitties.

One of the best things about living in an area where we have lots of trees is all the squirrels and birds we have in our backyard.  This morning I noticed the new baby squirrels were having a ball running and playing all around.  I had a little time before I had to be at work so I decided to take a break with my camera and just see what they were up to.  They would run after each other and up the trees, jumping from limb to limb. When they got annoyed they would chatter and shake their barely fuzzy tails at each other. Suddenly a blue jay flew by and the playful couple scurried up the tree to the safety of their home. The bird found a few strands of dry grass and headed back to where he came from. Soon the little ones felt safe enough to return to their playground and even grabbed a few nuts when they got tire of playing.  I was very careful to quietly open the sliding glass door just enough to get my camera lens out and not disturb the playful kids. At the same time I was watchful not to let my baby doll cat, Pooder out. She had been watching her "kitty vision" through the door and found the same squirrel channel I was watching. I watched her as her tail mimicked that of the squirrels whenever she got excited as they played near the porch.

I enjoy being able to work part-time as a retail merchandiser for Hallmark. It allows me to meet new people and it's never dull! Today during work I met a lady from California. She was visiting her family in the area and was celebrating her parents' 50th wedding anniversary. While I helped her find the perfect card, she continued to tell me about how her parents grew up here and would never leave. She just didn't understand how anyone could live in such a slow paced environment. She couldn't wait to get back to the restaurants, shops, and clubs. I told her there was a bowling alley and movie theatre just down the road and she began to laugh. I thought about what I said and too laughed at myself...how could I compare the two...was I nuts! Only someone who has lived here for a while would have made a statement like that without thinking.

In a small town there are very few things to do when it comes to entertainment and places to get together. It's not like we say "meet you at Chili's after work for a drink"...unless you're willing to drive at least an hour or more to get that drink! Around here we see Wal-Mart as the local "hang-out". It's the place that you go to find friends that you haven't seen in a while, the place where teenagers spend hours just talking in the parking lot, and of course, we can't forget...catching up on all the town gossip! Oh of course no one is going to admit to the last one, but we know we all do it. In rural areas it's the way you receive your news. The local gossip chain is faster than any media out there! Anytime I need to find out about something going on in the community, I just take a trip to Wal-Mart and before I have my grocery shopping done, I'm caught up on local affairs.

Our baby chicks are growing up nice we lost about 15 out of 125 so I am happy with that. We have them in a mobile cage that we move everyday and it is actually working out very well. I really enjoy watching my husbands contraptions work. It is one of the things that attracted me to him in the first place-his ingenuity and on the spot quick thinking. But still if he would listen to me the first time I told him somthing he would get stuff done much faster than he once did things, but he is working on it. If it is my idea it isn't an idea until he thinks of it just a little bit differently. But still I get all the credit when he comes up to me and tells me how I enspired him to build or make something great with my idea.