All the Dogs...

Do you ever feel like something is missing in your life?  Like a void that needs filling?  I'm not ashamed to admit that I do, and more often than I would like.  After all, I'm only human and I feel all the feels that come with the wonderful things that happen in my life, as well as the feels that come along with the not so wonderful things.

In my twenties my void fillers tended to be spontaneous decisions that I had given zero thought to...Like the one time when I was 21..I had just broken up with my longtime boyfriend and my void filler was a brand new tattoo.  It was not a reminder of anything..other than sometimes I make really stupid decisions...I woke up the next morning like what in the heck did you just do to yourself...and then 10 years later I had it removed.  I don't have anything against tattoos...I actually think on some people they're pretty awesome..they just aren't for me.

Now that 40 is quickly approaching the desires to fill my voids have changed and have also become more expensive.  Like...buying land that now I am scratching my head about because I don't know what I want to do with it and I'm constantly second guessing myself after purchasing it and losing sleep wondering what I have gotten myself into..or the old Jeep that I am on the search for just to have a new toy, but they still don't cut it.  Those are just things.  Temporary things.  Thank goodness growing older for me also means growing wiser, and thinking about my decisions a little bit before I act on them...not to say that prevents me from making bad decisions, but at least there's more of a thought process put into it now that I'm a tad older and a little bit wiser...

One of the joys of growing older is that it teaches you that one of the best ways to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others

Recently, my void filling tool is dogs.  Like I want alll the dogs.  You know, because more responsibility on my already overflowing plate is exactly what I need, right?  Probably not, but dang it..a dog just makes your heart happy.

I already have three and they all compete for my attention,  I don't have enough hands to pet all of them at the same time so I'm usually rubbing on two of them with my hands and then another one with my elbow.  How would I even manage to love on a fourth one?  My other elbow?  My foot?  I mean, I guess it's possible. Winston would probably shun me if I brought another dog home anyway.  He was my only dog-child for a year until I got Brodie, and then my husband snuck a Great Dane into the picture without asking, so Winston basically started giving me the side eye smug look..which he still does from time to time because I ruined his only dog-child life by bringing the other two heathens (his words, not mine) into the house.  

 So, since I am pretending to be a responsible adult (most days), but most importantly a responsible pet owner (all days), I will wait until the right time to bring another one home. Which probably won't be anytime soon.  <insert pouting face here>.

  Meanwhile, I have been volunteering my time at our local animal shelter and loving on all the dogs that don't have homes.  It makes my day, but most importantly it makes theirs and that is the ultimate

void filler.  Our shelter is a kill shelter which breaks my heart, but it is what it is.  I blame irresponsible dog owners for overcrowding at the shelter and would really like to punch them all in the nose.  So going to the shelter and taking the dogs for walks, playing fetch, giving them all the love that I can for that day and getting them used to socializing will increase their chances of finding a new home. 

Although, at the end of my days spent there when I walk to each kennel and give each dog a pat on the head and a treat while telling them what a good boy or girl they are and that I love them...just really makes me want to open the kennel and say come on kids, you're coming home with me...They are so sweet and special and a day spent with them makes my emptiness seem minuscule compared to how they must feel.  

If you really want to receive joy and happiness, then serve others with all your heart.  Lifting their burdens will most definitely lighten yours.

xo

Carrie

Snake in the Coop

Well hey ya'll! It has been so long since I've written a post that I seriously had to click around a little bit on the ol' blogger home page to remind myself how to actually begin a post.  Apparently blogger has been updated in the last year.

I had such a great day today.  At one point during my day I had an lol moment, to myself, (imagine that) and I thought ohhh you should make a blog post tonight.  So, tada!!  My Spring break kicks off tomorrow, so it's the perfect time to unwind and tell a story.

Ahhhh...a break. I so need one.  I came home at the end of the day and just plopped down on the bed for 2.5 seconds before I had to get up again.  

We finally found land.  Eeek!!  Accidentally, stumbled upon this little gem.  It is considerably less acreage than what we originally set out to buy.  We looked at a tract on the same road twice in one day, and on the second trip we decided that we didn't like that one..

So after leaving that property I saw a for sale sign on the way out, and made Kyle turn around to go back and check it out.  I looked through my stack of listing print outs in my hand, but it wasn't in my search.  We parked outside the gate and walked up the long, winding driveway.  I stood at the top of the hill..looked around..couldn't believe my eyeballs..opened my mouth and said "this is it".  

I may have said that a few times while standing there.  I was so excited.  I had only said "this is it" one other time.  This spot is less than a mile from my other "this is it" place, so in a way I secretly had my heart set on that general area anyway.

(I got this shiny new gate for Christmas)

Kyle was ready to call our agent right then.  I was like wellll let's wait a minute. Let's look it up in my system at work and make sure it's legit.  So, we did..it was about 2 acres less than our minimum.  We were looking at tracts 5-50 acres..this one turned out to be 3.5.  So, I wanted to sleep on it..or stay up all night thinking about it..however you want to call it.  Think about it was basically all I did.  It was the only thing I could think about. 

I looked into it further, drove out there a few more times...I was so wishy washy because I was afraid I would regret not holding out for more land.  One weekend I printed 57 listings for of all of the areas we love, and decided that after we look at them, we will drive back out to this place and if we love it over all the other places, then we will make an offer.  

We left early in the morning.  Drove around to three different counties and even into another state, but none of them made my little heart skip a beat.  So, we went back out to the last one, one more time....and called the agent before we left.  

The next morning we signed the paperwork to make our offer official.  Eeeeek!!  And then it was rejected.  Three times.  We decided to give up...we had a set limit that we were not willing to go over so that was it. I wasn't going to get my little dream piece of land in the middle of the forest.

  A week or so later it was eating me up inside.  I couldn't stand it.  Having worked in the real estate field for over 20 years I already knew our last offer was more than it should have been..this guy must have thought a lot of his property because he was asking entirely too much for it. 

Somehow I convinced myself.. and then my husband to make one more..just one more offer - and that will really be the last offer.  And if he rejects it again, well then whatever..he's an idiot.  I justified our last offer because all of the utilities were already on site..which is rare for vacant land and it would be money we wouldn't have to worry about spending later on down the road...well, that plus I reallly wanted it.

I'm basically stubborn...if I really want something I don't give up that easily. 

So, another call to our agent.  I wasn't holding my breath.  The next day he called me at work.  Our offer was accepted!!  Yassss!!  My mouth dropped open. I couldn't believe it. Our agent couldn't believe it.  It is prefect you guys..and even though it's less acreage than I intended to buy we still have plenty of room to be able to do all of the things we planned to do with it from the start of our search.  It's wonderful, I love it, and it's mine.

We took our Great Dane out over the weekend and he loved it as much as we do.  

Moving on to my story....  Oh my gosh ya'll...so at the end of Summer last year Trey went to gather eggs...a few minutes later he ran inside and said "snake in the coop"!!  

Snake in the what??!!

This is my snake in the coop, face.  In case you were wondering.

He wasn't kidding.  He went back outside..with my phone and selfie stick (haha) and then came in to show me this.  All this meant for me was 1.  My egg collecting days are over, unless it's Winter. I'm not kidding.  and 2.  I died.  

There was a snake in my coop.  A big snake.  A big, HUGE snake that got in my coop from we still don't know where..or when...or how.  

Current situation is I'm making the same face pictured above, you just can't see me.

Trey is the snake wrangler.  I'm semi-proud/sometimes concerned that he's an adrenaline junky and is not afraid of anything, but do I wish he wouldn't man handle snakes in front of me.  

I basically died again.

  Ya'll..our nesting boxes are so high that little ol' 5'5" me has to stand on the bottom ledge of the fence to even see inside the nesting boxes...so ok..when the snake finally decided to exit the box...his head was already touching the ground and slithering away before his tail was even out of the box.  

I'm still making the face and I may have just died again.  I seriously can't even.

There you have it.  I died a thousand deaths..in one day.  And then again just now 3 more times.   I was thinking of this story today and it made me laugh.  1.  Because I'm moving to the woods..where snakes live.  How many times can one person die?  and 2.  Well, isn't number 1 enough? 

A friend at school was telling me that he saw a snake over the weekend, so obviously it's on my mind..

Every time I go in the coop or the run I cringe thinking a snake is watching me and is going to jump out and eat me alive...then I would die..again. But for real this time.

  

I just want my girls to be happy and safe and not have to worry about sharing their space with intruders.  My girls are proud of their eggs...just ask my neighbors..because they announce it to the world every time they lay one..and they definitely don't want to share them with sneaky slitheries.  Is that even a word?

Thanks for stopping by to read my ramblings.  I hope your weekend is as cool as you are!!

xo,

Carrie