Piece By Piece, the Puzzle Completes

I didn't think I would get to it.  I have been busy typing something today, and by the time I finished, typing was the last thing I wanted to do.  But here it is; my Monday post!

Yesterday, I had to visit my nearby laundry mat.  I am certainly glad that we have these kind of washers - as compared to the itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny ones we had in Singapore.  I am even thankful that I have a lot of them in one place so my laundry is done lickety split quick.

I will also say, after having a front loading washer in Singapore, I swore I would never, ever in my life own one.  However, last week, I wanted to wash our bedding and I gotta tell you, it was a much better experience than my Barbie sized one in Singapore - and it only takes 22 minutes from beginning to end. Unlike the washer in Singapore that took HOURS to wash my one pair of jeans OR two shirts.  Yes, I even appreciated these front loaders:

And finally, the dryers.  Look at the size of them!  I can take 2 or 3 loads (some people put even more) in to dry and these take a mere 30 minutes to dry all the clothes - even the super thick bath towels are bone dry.  I am thankful for fast drying dryers.

 

As you may have noticed, I have also found out the least busy time to go to the laundry mat.  I have you fooled -  I have yet to find it NOT busy - except yesterday.  Nary a soul in the building, except me.  Not even the lady that works there was inside, she was plopped outside in chair.

Why?

It smelled like someone got skunked and brought their clothes into be washed.  I think it cleared the place out.  I was not so lucky - I HAD to get Steve's clothes washed so I toughed it out and washed clothes.  It was nice a peaceful, and I didn't have to fight for dryers like I usually do!   I guess I was thankful for the skunked person - if that is what it was - but it took me a bit to be thankful for that.

The bulls are still at it.  They are constantly butting heads.  They give me quite a bit of entertainment:

The funny thing is, you know how boys watch their dads and girls watch their moms to figure out life lessons?  Well if you look on the right side of the picture below, you will see a mini 'bull' watching the conflict.  He will nearly kill himself getting across the field when 'the guys' are butting heads.  He runs all around them to get a good view of how it is done right - paying close attention and getting all the hints.  He is so fun to watch!

Also, I have seen one calf born and two others have been born while we have been here, but I missed the other two big events.  So fun to see the little ones learning to walk and tumbling over their long legs to try to catch up to momma... I check every morning and can tell you if we have new babies.  I love seeing new life!

The cows (and bulls) get out of the fence every once and a while. I am one of two people that will herd them back into the fence and try to refence so they will stay in there.  Yeah, I am meaner than the bull - he tries to stare me down, but I am meaner than he is and I have won every time - so far.  He is back in the fence again... 

But once I got him in the fence, I looked down and what do you think I saw?  No dear, not a bloody self, but...

Blackberries!!  So I ran and got a bowl and walked beside the bull all the way down the fence line and picked all the ripe berries.  That bull was still staring me down, but I ignored him, reached into his pasture and got berries.  I actually got quite a few of them!
 

The problem?  I don't eat blackberries!  Lol... so I gave them away.  Yes, I will pick some more because it gives me something to do.  And yes, I will give them away too.  And whoever I give them to will be quite happy to get them.

You know those little round stickers that come on each piece of fruit and veggies?  One day in my bored state, I was pulling one off to wash the fruit.  I looked at it and it said it was from Guatemala.  Curious, I picked up another fruit and found out it was from Mexico.  It piqued my curiosity, so I grabbed a piece of paper and started saving them.  Everyone knows in our old age we can't remember one thing from the next, so I surely wouldn't remember all of the countries my fruit came from and I thought since I was bored, I would start keeping track of where my fruit comes from.  You would not believe it!  Our fruit comes from every nook and cranny in the world!  Try it - you will be amazed!

Oh what my life has become; skunk scented laundry mats, bulls butting heads, mini bulls watching, calf counting, blackberry picking and sticker tabs....

Such is my life.  But the end of life here is nearly finished.  Tomorrow, Steve starts the testing of the unit he has been building.  If all goes well, after the commissioning of the unit, we will be moving on later this week. Looking forward to it.  

So I have quite a lot to be thankful to be thankful for here, and I realize that.  Every little piece of our lives fit together to make the puzzle complete, right?  I am looking forward to leaving this little piece behind...

But I will miss 'my' cattle.  And the bulls.  And the calves.  Aren't they all cattle?  Lol...