Mostly for Betty

...but also for everybody.

Our drought lasted so long that we have yearling deer in the area who had never seen a puddle before,

I tried to find a way to show the video, but the best I could manage was to link the page:

http://www.ksat.com/video/29457200/index.html

Ann

Ann,


What a fun sight. Thanks for sharing.

You lightened my day. Such innocence and sheer joy and wonder.

10/12/2011


Ann..

That was delightful and fun..


Cheers..Joe...

Reminds me of my kids playing in the back yard kiddie pool.

Dear Ann,

Thank you. Wooffer and every animal I ever met was all about the joy of living.

Yesterday, I went out my drive and saw three deer at the little bridge. Of course, they flew off on magical hoofs into the woods.

It may be my imagination, but it seems that we have had an inordinate amount of birds this week and many armadillo and squirrel that have come to The Old Oak Tree. Three 'possums, a raccoon family, green lizards without numbers, and Old Agnes . . . well, she and the thousands have risked life and limb to stand by Wooffer's resting place far into the breaking of morning. The rabbits . . .

Thank you on behalf of all of us on this farm for the beauty of your rememberance and especially for the deer who have the love of living and the joy of life.

Old Agnes wanted to make sure I mentioned her and the Thousands. Her heart is broken.

Love,

Betty

Loved it Ann. I especially like deer and this is one super performance caught on video.

Today, I got email from people who were children when Wooffer was the Present. They were there at the party. Now, they are 24. I post The Present for them.



It was the wonderful Christmas season, and time had come for the family Christmas party. Everyone was there — moms and dads, aunts and uncles, nanas, grannies and grandpas, and lots of children.

The tables were full of delicious things — ham roasted in honey, special breads and pickles, sauerkraut balls, little wieners in buns, cheeses, crackers, vegetables to dip in the special sauces — good things to eat of all descriptions and lots of it!

It was a bodacious party!

When it came time to hand around the presents, the children received theirs first, one at a time, so everyone could see what they got and ooohhh and aaahhhh over it and have a good look at it, and wish they had one just like it themselves. And so, each child received a special present that day.

After the children and the grannies and grandpas got their special presents, it came to be Nana’s turn to get her special present from the family. She was so excited.

Nana was told that her present was so very BIG that they had to go get it in a very large truck. Off went the uncles and grandpas in the biggest truck they had to get Nana’s present. Nana could not imagine what it could be! What could be so big that it would take such a very large truck to carry it?

It was not long before the uncles and grandpas came back with the very big truck, carrying the very big present. But, before Nana could see it, she had to close her eyes very tight and not peek at all, and wait until they brought it in.

Nana closed her eyes very tight indeed and did not peek at all. As she waited with great excitement for someone to tell her it was time to look, someone put a very furry, very soft, very small animal in her arms. She could not help it! She had to look.

It was Wooffer that she held in her arms. He was a very small puppy. Nana looked at Wooffer, and Wooffer looked at Nana. It was LOVE at first sight! Nana cried for joy. She had wanted Wooffer for a long time.

Wooffer looked at Nana with the tears on her face and knew that she was his new MOM.

Wooffer is not very big, and you may wonder why it took such a very big truck to bring him to the party. But, it is simple. There was so much love that came with Wooffer from the family that it took the biggest truck they could find to haul it all. And even then, the truck was not big enough to hold all that love. Some of it spilled over. And so, Wooffer’s brothers, Pogo and Jazzper, and sister, Daisy, came to live with the family too. They live in town with their new moms and dads and Wooffer lives in the country with his mom. They can visit each other often and, every Christmas when all the family is together, Wooffer’s brothers and sister are right there too.

Betty,

I love that story. Thank you.

I wonder if I start off the new adventure as free author with this.

There is nothing magical about any of the animals in these stories. They are real. The magic is sung heart to heart. Beat by beat the rhythm of life continues animal to animal; a web of life that began in the beginning of creation.

Love,

Betty

Perfect!

Ann

What Ann said.

This last week, the racoons are out and looking for food. They have found my hoard of sweet potatoes that I put on top of the chicken's house, had a lovely time with those, climbed and eaten out of every bird feeder, gorged themselves on corn and flowers and disappeared into the early morning light.

Snort!

We now have five Sandhill cranes that are coming and going and coming and going and defending feeders willy nilly. Two pairs, and one lone one. How nicely they enhance our lives.

I wish you all visits unexpected from nature and the eyes to see.

Love,

Betty

Betty, this was our first Christmas morning in the house we built when the kids were little. Dave was about 18 months old, Susan had just turned four, and Lynn was a week away from her sixth birthday. We had only been in the house for a few months, and hadn't had time to do much decorating; we were still getting settled.

I posted it because it's one of the few pictures I have that shows our woods. We cleared many of the trees from the front three acres for the house and yard, but left the two acres at the back of the property in their natural state. We had a large family of jackrabbits, a couple of racoons (David called them tigers), at least one opossum, and an occasional king snake.

Ann

I once had a nice woods behind my house but during the housing boom, they were cut down. A hole was dug in the middle of the property and a spray thingy put in to spray the water into the air Around it were cleared lots for sale On the one directly behind my lot, within five feet of the lot line, a house was built. A few more houses were built and then came the bust. The lots remain empty and weed choked in most cases, but the woods are gone. With them gone, the owls left. I used to love hearing them call in the night - it was comforting in a small way. The turtles went crazy, wandering in the streets, across the lawns and driveways. Snakes found their way into my bathroom.

Ereka palms were planted by my back fence neighbor. If I didn't have a quarter acre with my house set near the front of the lot, we could talk from window to window. However, those ereka palms have provided some camaflage to the house. Since several years have passed, I have heard the owls wandering back. Yesterday, a gigantic turtle was in my neighbor's yard. Fortunately, the snakes have found a new home. I ride my bike around that mess behind me and miss the woods. New weeds take over, but nothing replaces the old trees.