The dream of creating fruit orchards

is starting to take form.

I planted two apple trees...........well........twigs, last week. They are starting to leaf out. It will be a small orchard..........for now,

I am starting out slow and taking baby steps...........but one day........it will be complete. I plan to have peach and pear trees as well. I love apples most of all and can't wait to be able to pick my own someday!

If you love apple pie.............well, any kind of pie..........visit my cooking blog.......... My Country Kitchen.

I have just made these wonderful small hand pies...........so flaky and tasty! They are so easy to just pick up and eat with your hand..........almost like fried pies,..........but baked and so easy to make! You can hop over by clicking on to this link........

http://countrykitchenkat.blogspot.com

We also had a visitor to the farm. My son spotted her sitting on the edge of our property. When I approached her, she was so sad and alone. She soon cheered up and followed me home. I had plans to keep her.........if no one answered my ad...........no one did..........

I already had a name for her............Bell.

However, she stayed one night...........got rested up and was gone the next day. I really am relieved............I really do not want another dog. Sophie is just fine and enough!

In between my embroidery work............I like to take on something different. I dug out my crochet hooks and decided to work away the weekend on this. It is not quite done, but I am enjoying the process. You can visit my embroidery blog, Yesteryear Embroideries, by clicking onto this link.

http://yesteryearembroideries.blogspot.com

So how about you??

Do you have fruit trees growing? What is your favorite kind of pie?

Do you have four legged creatures visit you from time to time?

I would love to hear!

Lately, I've been letting uncertainty and doubt

storm over my thoughts and heart..............

making myself completely forget and almost give up doing what I love to do the most. The whole reason I convinced my husband that country living was the thing to do...........

I was allowing "the ways of the current world" scare me out of. So today, I went to town, completely armed with my pet carrier and scooped up handfuls at a time of these fluffy and chirpy little ones.

Just look at those eyes.............

For years, while we lived in town, this is all husband heard about...............

chickens. And fresh eggs.

and look at these precious little feet ............I love little duck feet, don't you??

Let me ask............how in the world could I resist this??

My whole dream has been to raise a family, live out in the country and raise lots of chickens and ducks..........and what ever else might come along.

And yes, hard times are near and far.........all around and all across the country. But I can't put off living the happiness of today in fear of what will happen tomorrow...........I know that is something the Lord does not want us to do.

I have decided to work at making my dreams come true.................until the hard times come..........when they do...........I will just lean on the Lord and work through them as best I can.

How about you? Are the struggles and the worries of the world slowing you down to run the race of what you love to do? Are you putting things on hold............until a better day?

Or are you jumping in with both feet and living life to the fullest?

I would love to hear.

This is a Texas Prairie Dog.............

yipping at me as I got too close to take it's photo..........and this ..........

well............... this is another Texas Prairie Dog...........
who hams it up for a photo.................
and this.................

well this is a ham..........all the way around........enjoying a long, cool, drink in front of the birds...........out of their bird bath.............

Spring arrived wearing

her purple floral dress with butterflies. Her bags are packed full of pumpkin and flower seeds to sprout...............her pet birds of every kind are singing in my trees! I think she placed a cottontail bunny in my yard!

What has spring brought to you? I would love to hear!

Fire swept across the prairie

way too close to grounds of the farm. Although at night, when all of this happened, it seemed much closer and worse, but in the light of day,............. not so bad.

The scariest part............my husband and I were not home when this broke out, and were called by our son(who was home) who told of what was unfolding........while we were on the road to home............ in the middle of a hail storm, trying to get out of it.............. Have you ever noticed that when you are hurrying to get somewhere.........you can't go fast enough.? It seemed as if our truck was driving in molasses...........so slow.........as the hail pounded us! All we could see when we got closer to our home was a long, high, wall of orange haze along the dark horizon.
Thank goodness for the farmer's cotton field. It lay between our land and the land that caught on fire.
That term I have always heard.................(Support your local fire fighters)............it's not just a phrase for the bumper sticker.........it's something that I truly hold as an important phrase and something that needs to be done. They were out in all of the fire and the pitch black night..........making this country life peaceful once again.
Sophie has a smile on her face, as much as we do now.
Hope this is finding you safe from fire, floods and storms.

Happiness for me is.....................

a handful of chickens and ...............

a basket full of eggs...............

May you find happiness in the smallest of things today!.................
What's your happiness?

I step out and instantly,

the fragrance of the heavy blossomed Stock flower

gets my attention and greets me in the new day. It's vibrant purple blossoms sway in the breeze ...............a gentle breeze, that will soon become hard blowing and full of dirt by mid day. However, this is one tough Texas lady as she survives the drought and the harsh winds hanging on to her petally blossoms.
I finally have finished some hand embroidered things and have placed them in my Etsy shop in hopes for selling. I still have a basket full of things to stitch...........sigh.........bliss........... {:

With the warm spring weather , I am busy getting things done outside. Flower beds are clean and ready and new flower beds are in the making. Mice attacked in the greenhouse and ate all of my pumpkin seed that I had just planted..........so another week to exterminate them and then time to replant.

Always, always there is brush and weeds to clear. There is so much ,it seems ,this year and it has taken up much of my early morning. But with each cleared space, there is a blank canvas for flowers and pumpkins to grow! Hopefully by now, you are experiencing signs of spring?

What are your plans for this coming growing season? Do you have lots of things to clear away.......or perhaps you are ready to start growing? I would love to hear!