A Day Apart

The Prospector decided to stay home with the dogs and take care of the farm. I drove down to spend the day with family.  I stayed overnight at my sister's house and came back home yesterday.

We all had a wonderful time. Lots of visiting, laughing and EATING.

My Sister-in- law's decorations were wonderful and the food was delicious.

Little Bean was so excited about everything and found the staircase a wonderful place to get away from the madding crowd.

I think that if someone had handed him a blanket, he could have gone to sleep there, but his feet still kept moving even though his eyes were glazing over.

Big brother, aka THE BEAN, was acting very grown up.

until someone put a soda in his hands. Then he and Mom got kind of silly for the camera.

And he went a little crazy.

This is The Bean's version of a magic trick, "Look Noni! No hands."
"You'll cut your lip."
"No, I won't Noni. I'm holding the tab."
"You'll swallow the tab!"
"No, I won't."
That's when I used my best "who's the boss" voice,
"Give-Noni-the-can."

Too much sugar? Maybe... but he gave me the can.
I took the can and then made the mistake of asking him to smile for the camera. Yea, right.
This is the portrait of a young man.... A few teeth missing, a fake smile... and a dead eye dick stare. So natural, so sweet... HA!
He's a little boy... with attitude.  What a little toad, but I love him.

Then  his mom let him have her camera. This was a special treat and he knew how to use it.  All of a sudden he was the consummate photographer.
He spent the next few minutes before dinner taking lots of photos of unsuspecting relatives.

It was a really nice day. Wish the Prospector could have been there too. Our neighbors invited him over for a turkey dinner so he didn't exactly starve. I made him a pumpkin pie to take over there so don't feel too sorry for him.
I stayed overnight at my sister's and drove the river road home the next day.

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On my way back I stopped to take some pictures of a very large herd of goats.

They were stretched out for a quarter of a mile along the road. It was late afternoon and the sun was coming through the clouds. It was the perfect photo shoot.

I stopped and got my camera out. I stood between the car and the fence because there wasn't much room for the car and I wanted a buffer from the road.
I reached over the fence to get a shot of the goats when I got this funny feeling. I don't know how to explain it. Kind of like a bee buzz only inside of me. I backed up and then I reach over again and the same thing happen. I honestly didn't know what was going on.
Well, I'm sure all of you who have livestock, making sure that your animals are safe from crazy people who might harm them and wanting to keep your animals from wandering into traffic on the road, are well aware of what was happening to me.
This trespasser, who thought she could just lean over the fence to take a few photos was getting "fare warning" from the fence. IT WAS ELECTRIFIED! My brain finally caught up with what was happening.
It's a good thing that I didn't fall against it. Someone would have had to pick me up off of the ground.
And, as if to make things more complicated, I heard a bark and a big white dog came barreling up to the fence.

It must have been lying down with the goats. It came out of nowhere. I backed up and started talking to it.
Immediately it stopped barking. Just call me the dog whisperer.

She had an identical mate right behind her and he didn't seem as friendly.
She settled right down and , although she never jumped up on the fence, she gave me her best wonderful dog look. She seemed young. I think she wanted to play or needed some human companionship.

She was very friendly in a quiet sort of way. Look at that sweet face. I would never have reached over to pet her or made any fast moves, but as long as I kept talking to her she was very agreeable.
I took my pictures without touching the fence  and kept talking to the dogs. They never got too far away from me. I was, after all, a stranger.  A wolf in human clothing. They were doing what they were trained to do.

Look at those eyes.  So wise, so beautiful... yet warning me.

The encounter was lasting longer that they wanted it to and she was probably thinking, "Is this lady every going to leave so I can lie down and rest."

"I just want to go lie in the sun, Lady." She kept pacing back and forth until I realized that she wasn't going anywhere until I took my leave.
So I said goodbye and  got back into the car.

The drive back across the valley and up into the hills was uneventful.
It was good to be home. The Prospector and the dogs were waiting  for me.

I have a lot to be thankful for. Life is good.
Family is important even if circumstances make "being together" sometimes difficult. Having good neighbors helps. They are a support system and a community of friends that serve as surrogates for family when need be. I'm thankful for these people who we call neighbors.
I'm thankful for my true family and the friends that are like family to me.
And I'm thankful for my life.