Monday Blues

What is it about Monday that brings on the blues sometimes? Perhaps it’s because the weekend is over or maybe there’s a busy week looming ahead. Regardless of the reason, we all experience the blues at one time or another. Life isn’t easy, no one is perfect and everyone has down days… sometimes it’s not even Monday!

Maybe you’re going in 5 different directions, already running late, trying to get out of the door and your youngest has to go potty - AGAIN! OR the cows get out OR you have a flat tire. There are any number of obstacles or disasters that can occur at the most inopportune moment. It can be enough to just bum you out. Occasionally, it may even have a domino effect into a series of unfortunate events. Cue the pity party and it’s hard as rip to break the cycle. Sound familiar? I’m reminded of lyrics from an old church hymn, “Count your blessings, name them one by one..” which always helps. Counting blessings encourages gratefulness. It’s hard to be bitter or down when you’re thankful and humbled by your blessings. That song is probably stuck in your head now, you can thank me later.

My friend, Regina, taught me a trick about looking for a yellow car which has done wonders for the morale in our household. I realize this sounds funny so I will try to explain. Sometimes on the road of life we find ourselves SO surrounded by negativity that’s all we see. Envision driving down the interstate, during rush hour and all of the other colored cars symbolize our stressors, our triggers and any other negative situation we are dealing with at the moment. Eight lanes full of black, white, red or even brown cars darting in/out of traffic and speeding to their next destination. Sometimes the distractions and the noise drown out our focus. It can be so overwhelming when all we see are the things going wrong instead of allowing ourselves to see what is going right. If you choose to look for positivity, like looking for that yellow car - you’ll find it! You may have to look long and hard but if you’re determined to find a positive ray of sunshine to bring yourself out of the darkness - you will find that yellow car and you can’t help but smile when you do! It’s all about focus.

Since explaining this yellow car philosophy to my family, the kids have become obsessed with pointing out yellow cars everywhere we go… on road trips or just around town. I certainly can’t take credit for the idea and I won’t pretend that it’s always easy but it’s a fun way to beat the blues - whatever the day. Hearing my kids shout “Yellow car!” from the backseat reminds me that when life seems to beat me down, I try my best to focus on the positives, count my blessings and look for that yellow car.

All Pets go to Heaven

What a week, let me tell you. In addition to our normal hustle and bustle around here - checking cattle, feeding animals, raising kids and peddling beef… we had to say goodbye to one of our beloved pets. Our fur babies are like family and losing one is never easy, no matter the circumstances.

I inherited Goku from a dear friend almost 3 years ago (another post for another day). He was 16 years old when he came to live with us. I’d already loved him for years and thought he was the coolest cat ever! He was a ginger, like me, and we just shared a bond. He would ride in the truck with me, better than some dogs! Jody laughs at me because I talk to our animals and “talk back” for them. I may be a tad crazy but I’m ok with that. Regardless, we had a relationship. I often referred to him as “Grandpaw” because of his age but he ruled the “roost” around here (porch rather). Our other pets quickly learned not to mess with Goku, he could still hold his own. He possessed a sense of grandeur like he was the King, until Jody came around. He knew Jody was the real boss. The rest of us were mere servants, ha. Taylor loved to pick him and carry him all over the place. I would always say, “Don’t pick him up! I’m afraid you’ll hurt him!” as toddlers so often do. But Goku? He didn’t seem to mind. He would follow her around and put up with her picking up, dragging him around and loving on him. I finally gave up my fight and figured he must enjoy the torture. Perhaps it made him feel like a kitten again, who knows. But those two, had a bond as well.

We’re gonna miss him. Every day that I pull into the carport and he doesn’t greet me will tug at my heartstrings for quite sometime I’m sure. I am however grateful to have had this time with him. His presence at our farm has helped me in more ways than I can say. The lump in my throat tells me I should probably stop here as to not become a blubbering cry baby.

I firmly believe that all pets go to Heaven and now that Goku has crossed the rainbow bridge and left his paw prints on my heart, I will cherish his memory forever.

Sheep Show

When Jody and I were first married, he decided that our kids (then ages 5, 6 & 7) were old enough to show sheep and he thought it would be a good experience for them. So he bought each of them their very own sheep to raise, train and eventually show at the county fair. At this point, the only farm experience I had was from watching Lassie and Little House on the Prairie re-runs growing up. Naturally, the new family “pets” were more my responsibility than the kids’ but I love animals so I wasn’t complaining. “Shaun”, “Tricia” and “Maxie” took up residence in our side yard and I fed and watered them every day just like the dogs. The kids would help occasionally as I would remind them that the sheep were supposed to be their responsibility. From time to time, we would work with them by putting their halters on and leading them around the yard. This was as much of an experience for me as it was for the kids. We were all so proud!

One day while my husband was working a 24 hour shift at the Fire Department, I arrived home to find Chloe’s sheep, Tricia, lying down at the edge of the yard, lifeless. In a panic, I called my husband not knowing what to do. He has the most patience of anyone I have ever known. He calmly talked to me and explained that he needed me to take the sheep to Auburn University so they could run some tests and tell us why it had died. He went on and about how important it was that we find out the cause of death in order to protect the other sheep but I was still trying to digest the notion that I was expected to transport this sheep to the University. I fretted, hemmed and hawed around until finally I confessed that I just couldn’t pick up this dead animal and put it into my car. Jody told me not to worry, he would send his brother Isaac to my rescue. Within minutes, Isaac arrived and without any hesitation whatsoever grabbed the sheep and placed it in the trunk of my car where I’d luckily thought to line with trash bags to prevent any possible contamination.

Still in shock, I set out on the 15 minute drive to campus but not without calling my best friend. I recall saying, “You will never guess what I’m doing… I have a dead sheep in my trunk!”. After a brief run down of what was happening she was laughing hysterically. The day would come that I found it funny too but this was not the day. I arrived at my destination and the young man that met me handled the carcass so that I didn’t have to, thank goodness. He assured me they would run the necessary tests and send us a report as soon as it was available.

Meanwhile, we had to replace Chloe’s sheep with another so she would have one to show. We soon discovered that the new sheep had somehow acquired a broken leg. After dinner one night, my husband, a friend (who happens to be a veterinarian), and a welding machine fashioned the new sheep with a splint for it’s broken leg. It was a success! I had never seen craftsmanship such as this - I was amazed! The sweet little sheep hobbled around on it’s little splint and we were all overjoyed. Unfortunately, our joy was short-lived as that sheep too passed away the next day or so. Apparently, the injury was worse than we had realized.

So there we were with the Lee County Fair fast-approaching and Chloe’s sheep had already died twice. There was no time to get another sheep. We had three children and only two sheep. Luckily, a friend saved the day and loaned her a sheep to show the night of the competition. They all did great. It was very much a learning experience, for all of us. While we enjoyed it, we have never shown sheep again.

A Child's Imagination

Our older girls, Riley (12) and Chloe (11), have recently started riding their horses ALOT! It’s something they both love and enjoy spending hours talking about, reading about, riding, bathing and brushing these gentle giants. Our youngest, Taylor (4), has felt a little left out as she’s not quite big enough to do what the “big girls” do. She didn’t let that stop her imagination! She quickly announced that the bicycle she got for Christmas was actually a horse named “Hickory”. Hickory is a mare and she loves to ride. Taylor started talking about taking Hickory on trail rides, needing Daddy to haul her in the cow trailer and I even caught her one day spraying Equine Fly Spray all over the bicycle… excuse me, Hickory. However, she is still a little shaky on Hickory and feels much more comfortable riding her tricycle. Therefore, her next announcement was that her tricycle is actually Hickory’s little brother named “Ham”. I honest to goodness could not make this stuff up! Well, Ham has since been a part of a few family outings. He has traveled to Wind Creek State Park, Emerald Coast RV Beach Resort and Blue Springs State Park. It is funny to me how we have all followed her lead in referring to this tricycle as “Ham”. Ham has enjoyed riding on the back of Daddy’s truck and even inside the camper as we’ve traveled. She makes sure he’s always fed, watered and parked in the shade.

As adults, we rarely explore the world of imagination but through our kids - our eyes are opened a little wider. We get to experience things with them that remind us of a simpler time… a time where your imagination could take you anywhere you wanted to go. This is such a fun age and a wonderful season to be silly, play with them and enjoy a little imagination.

Welcome to our Blog!

Hey Ya’ll!

My name is Jennifer Robertson and my husband, Jody, has been a cattle farmer for many years. He grew up on a farm and works harder than anyone I’ve ever known. I, however, did not grow up in a farming family so every day is still an adventure for me! It is hard work… starting every day from sun up until sun down. There is always something to be done, always a challenge to overcome or something that needs to be repaired. We are a blended family of 6 and most days it’s “all hands on deck”. It’s definitely not easy but I wouldn’t trade this life for anything else in the world!

It is so special to me to be able to raise our family this way - on a farm and working the land together. We all work hard and contribute but we work hard to play hard. We enjoy quality time together whether we’re building something, cooking something or “fixing” something. I just pray that as our kids grow up they realize just how valuable these lessons are - life lessons and the blessing of family.

In this day and age, it seems everybody has a blog and if I had a dollar for every time someone has told me I should do one… well you get the idea. It’s become the thing to do so here we go jumping on the bandwagon! You may ask what makes ours different? Well, it’s ours and that makes it special to me. I invite you to join us and follow along. I look forward to sharing stories of our adventures, our animals and perhaps a recipe here or there.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our page and I welcome you back!