Top 10 Things We Love About Country Living

As I consider thankfulness this fall, I thought I'd do a Top 10 list of what we love about living in the country. I asked J to write his without looking at mine first!  This is a compilation of what J and I both agreed upon and wrote down in separate lists.  I could not believe the striking similarities!

The bug collector checking off his finds.

skinned knees summer 2012

 1.  at the end of every day my kids get plenty of exercise (and so do I) and we are always dirty and tired...tired and dirty! 
J--

Raising our children on land where they can run, scream, have animals, and get close to nature,

            being part of something that could link generations, having a wife that loves the country

Skeeter plays in the mud in the watering trough

2.  We eat a lot of things that we raised/grow.  There is nothing like fresh eggs and melons!

J--- Livestock/Pets-watching a hen peck around and use her beak like a surgeon uses a scalpel, smelling a horse as you hang around their neck and feel more strength than you will ever possess, watching a calf nurse and get a milky, frothy nose, feeling an egg that is still warm, watching a calf be born and standing for the first time, letting your dogs run. Wow, can't believe my man wrote that! So proud of those showing not just telling details!

blackberries!

Millie and Cay

3. Wide open spaces and fresh air make you so much happier...and you can make a lot of fun noise while screaming on your trampoline.

J's addition:  Garden-planting a tiny seed that grows into something that feeds your family, picking and eating berries, etc.

4.  No neighbors too close!  We can go out and yell (good and bad), and wear just about nothing or anything out there!
J's thoughts: 

Freedom- I can pee in my yard, I can put what I want on our land, I can shoot stuff, I can burn stuff, NO HOA or POA...this would NOT work for us. 

5.  we can have lots of junk...that comes in handy!

From J:  Tools/Equipment-riding 4 wheelers, operating tractors, skid steers, track hoes, mowers, owning a truck for a reason other than taking off the trash, having a reason to buy tools.

camping at the creek (top) gang ready to go to creek (bottom)

6. lots of critters can come and go and brighten our lives and teach us things

7.   having the falls and the creek to play at/in!

Fun with Friends at the falls

J's Thoughts:  The Creek- fishing at the creek with the family, watching the kids swing on the rope swing over the creek, exploring the waterfalls, catching snakes, frogs, toads, crawdads, etc. at the creek with the kids, building dams, playing in the sand.

even old folks swimg

 8.  Views-seeing the peaceful cattle graze and hearing them moo while I teach my children.  

J's thoughts:  seeing the stars is easier in the country because of less artificial light, seeing the sunset because there is not someone else’s house in the way, watching my children enjoy the country!

9.  Well Water and lots of Trees- drinking fresh, freezing cold water out of the spigot on a hot summer day that is being pumped from 300ft below

Trees- splitting wood by hand that you cut with a sharp STIHL chainsaw from a dead tree that was

            begging to be productive just one more time, being shielded in the backyard by your woods

            from a cold wind, being shaded by your woods on a hot day.

10.  Clearly, this addition was not mine but I see its validity.  

Training in progress

Hunting- Sitting in a deer stand freezing to death for just a glimpse of a “grey ghost” (I will

always be amazed at how a deer can magically appear like a premonition and then disappear

like smoke), watching deer that don’t know you are there, hunting squirrels with the boys, 

snow days getting pulled by the 4W

My baby girl home sweet home

Random Skeeer Funny:  On the way to school lately we've been rocking some oldies like "Do the Locomtion," "Rocking Robin," etc., and when we get near Je-Je's school he yells "STOP YOU ARE CRAZY."  Sister, yells out while getting down in her carseat, "NO SHE'S NOT!" We all just died laughing...all but Je-Je.

Jeopardy games with J

fun times this summer at our fav mtn lake! 

 I am embarrassed to confess, but feel it is worth recording for posterity that J and I have really competitive Jeopardy matches at home. We play where each person gets a point for each correct answer, no deductions for wrong shout outs (we are terrible so guesses are allowed), and then we can wager whatever on the daily doubles.  We sometimes fight and argue about who shouted out first, so I think we are going to get Wii Jeopardy for ourselves soon!  J gets all the ones that are common sense unless they are plays on words (I get some of those).  I am slow to get the catchy titles of the categories, and he reads ahead to beat me to the punch.  I have realized that I am not too quick on my feet and he can beat me to the answer.  Still, usually we have a close game with one person only winning by a point or two and it is usually funny.  I have stormed out of the room during our sessions, I must confess! 

Cay is ALWAYS fishing.

Skeeter catches a catfish! 

 I am embarrassed to confess, but feel it is worth recording for posterity that J and I have really competitive Jeopardy matches at home. We play where each person gets a point for each correct answer, no deductions for wrong shout outs (we are terrible so guesses are allowed), and then we can wager whatever on the daily doubles.  We sometimes fight and argue about who shouted out first, so I think we are going to get Wii Jeopardy for ourselves soon!  J gets all the ones that are common sense unless they are plays on words (I get some of those).  I am slow to get the catchy titles of the categories, and he reads ahead to beat me to the punch.  I have realized that I am not too quick on my feet and he can beat me to the answer.  Still, usually we have a close game with one person only winning by a point or two and it is usually funny.  I have stormed out of the room during our sessions, I must confess! 

Wild Wonderful Washington by Ferry: North Cascades Pt V

 

I was totally enamored with the moss!  It was so pretty.  It was so thick on all the rocks it was like someone painted it on there to hide them. 

Ranier at Sunrise

There were LOADS of apple and pear farms and about as many wineries.

Wind power!

Winery From our ferry on Lake Chelan into the  heart of the North Cascades. 

Loved that this ONE ferry that comes daily in the summer but only MONTHLY during the rest of the year (only 90 folks live in this village of Stehekin in the Cascade Range) brings all their groceries and their mail! The mailman was the first to greet the ferry with his small cart.

Rainbow Falls

Wineries abound.

Love the teal Lakes!

I was so excited to see where my organic cereal is grown and packaged!

This is only the 2nd time I have seen a sea plane take off .  It looked like he was going to fly into the mountains, but he whipped it right around!