This should be my last morning waking up in my MIL’s house in town. Tonight I will be back in my own bed until something changes. And we all know that things change – slow or fast – they still change. And we only get this one life so I am more than happy to take life’s new offers.
But I am looking forward to a long night in my own bed.
Today is going to be a stupid busy day too.
The day before yesterday we cut hay and I have just discovered that the hay from the last cut was never stacked into the barn across the way. (How did I miss that?). So I will begin to unpack that hay rack today- in preparation for the last baling of the season. (Our John likes to make hay but not to stack it so I will be looking for help today).
I understand – I love hanging washing on the line but am useless at getting it in and folded.
But we only have one hay rack. So I am going to call around his (Our Johns) sons and see if I can put a team together. Or I will go ‘Little Red Hen’ on the lot of them!! 😂
That should give my muscles a work out. My job is to stand way up on top of the stack and throw the bales down. And as you all know I am allergic to hay. My skin comes up in itchy welts. So I cover up totally. It is going to be quite the day!
We have a lot of hay.
The White Chicks

The white chicks are getting more confident outside but if I don’t shut their door they all waddle back inside.

Which is counterproductive. Their first pen runs out under the apple trees. So, I want all that fertilizer on the outside not the inside.
Driving back and forth from town to country means a lot of stuff is now seriously behind on the farm.


But help has arrived.
It will be easier going forward because The Matriarch’s room-mate is back in town. Her co-minder, John’s daughter. She lives with her grandmother but has been away. Together we are a formidable team. So, things will be so much easier now.
In Town

You will remember that I lived in a big country house just out of this little town when I was 16 years old; as an AFS student. I was here for a rather wild year. So this is a second home for me. I lived at the big farm with Our John and his three brothers under the care of the woman I am nursing right now. She has been my very good friend for years now. Though we prefer not to count how many years!!


It is a different kind of town now. In the year when the brothers and I were loose on these streets it was bustling and busy – lively. All is quiet now. I barely saw a soul out on the Saturday night streets yesterday evening. There are no empty houses in this little town so where has everyone gone?
Have a lovely day!
Celi
PS – remember to click on LIKE if you can. I can zoom to your site on my phone if I follow your LIKE. (Did that make sense?). For some reason when I am working in the app (across the course of the day) your comment does not leave me a link to visit you. But if I go to my list of LIKES I can quickly find you and read your posts too!
Coding is not always perfect.



26 responses to “Town and Country”
Those chicks are growing so fast! Stacking hay bales when you are allergic to hay is tough. Good luck.
I have been doing it for years so I dress well and BOLT for the shower straight after!
Darlene! Where is the best place to buy your book of short stories! Dying to read them.
Thanks! Right now it’s only available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/You-Can-Take-Girl-Prairie/dp/B0C2S7MHWK
glad you’ll have a night home and best of luck with the hay, absolutely pull the little red hen out of your pocket as needed!
The Little Red Hen is rather ferocious!
I’ve been away on holiday for a few weeks, and I’m trying to catch up now. So much has happened on the farmie in 2-weeks!
Life! Right? Keeps rolling and surprising us. It has been the best weight loss program too! All this rushing to and fro!
The town sounds like rural France – you barely see a soul in some small villages.
I love the chicken run – they are lucky to be with you!
The run will be slowly extended – they are still putting themselves to bed in the evening which is good.
I have been trying to piece together your comings and goings of late and family connections. It all makes a lot more sense now, thanks. You must be frazzled, so glad that “room mate” is returning. Fingers crossed for those sons making up a team, you certainly deserve that. Apart from the farm backlog of work l hope things calm down a bit now. The phrase “If you want anything done ask a busy person” is SO true.
The sons converged and the hay is all put away. So the hay rack is empty now waiting for the next lot. Such a relief.
Enjoy your lovely own bed! Complete with sheets hung on the line, my preferred way of drying sheets and pillow cases. The best sleep.
Yes!! I love sheets crispy from the sun. They even smell better!
I love my simple clothesline. I like hanging things out and love their smell when you take them in. The original wind and solar powered clothes dryer!
Yes!! I often tell the young people I have a solar powered clothes dryer. They are terribly impressed until they see my finger pointing skyward!
Yup!
So interesting to read the reminders of your start with the matriarch and family. Perhaps, down the line with changes and the possibility of the updated blog there could be a lovely history of Celi and the farmy page. Good luck with the hay today, and have a wonderful sleep in your bed.
Yes! That would be a lovely idea!!
I don’t envy you throwing bales in this unusual heat. Family matters here have been a tad unsettled too. I am now in temporary custody of a small blind dog. How amazing that in a short while he has scoped out the house but unfortunately he fell into my little decorative pond, the only thing I didn’t think to block!
I read this ( and sorry little blind dog) but I laughed about the pond! And I needed a laugh!
Quite all right. I have to admit I laughed too
I’m so glad you’re back to your own bed. It makes all the difference. Also that I read the hay is stacked. Maybe you can stop whirling like a dervish for a moment and draw breath…
Yes!! Oh mercy i love my own bed. And we have a proper roster this week so I am even home in time to do the chores before dark!
Wonderful images Celi … how good to be able to look after John’s mum, I bet she thinks the world of you
She thinks I am bossy.