Many of you are experiencing the same weather as us. Dreary, wet, and raining. A recipe for sitting on the couch in pajamas all day long with the exception of trudging out in mismatched rain gear to feed our animals. (Note to self: There are holes in my rain boots. Several inches of freezing cold rushing water confirmed that for me on my trek to the barn to retrieve some dry hay for our donkeys.)

The Outdoorsman and I spend most of our time outside wandering our land on Green Acres so, for him, having to stay indoors all day is like torture. Kind of like forcing him to go clothes shopping with me at a boutique in a trendy shopping area. Yep, it’s that bad.

This morning, I put black-eyed peas, chunks of leftover ham, garlic, and seasoning into the crock pot and we were able to smell the aroma wafting through the house until this evening when I made rice and jalapeno cornbread to accompany our tasty meal.  As our dinner was simmering in the crock pot, we took the time to talk about upcoming plans on Green Acres. We have had some plans curtailed over the past couple of months due to The Outdoorsman’s chainsaw injury on his hand, bad weather on the weekends, the time change that brings The Outdoorsman home with only an hour of sunlight left, and just plain ole life in general getting in the way of our productivity.

Some things we talked about and considered on this rainy day were as follows:

1. Do not let me go to the cattle auction unattended until we get our fencing finished.  (This situation was made more serious when I was told that only a tiny percentage of the animals at the auction were taken to live on ranches.  A local rancher informed me that 97% are going straight to a feed lot.  Don’t think that didn’t pique my interest in bringing some of these amazingly cute and fluffy little heifers and bulls home with me.  For them, Green Acres really is the place to be!!)

2. We need to be patient about training our challenging young dog, Zeus, before we go out and find a suitable replacement for The Outdoorsman’s constant companion, Oak, who died peacefully in his old age two days ago.  We need to see if Zeus can stand in the gap or we need to go find a calmer breed of dog for The Outdoorsman to walk around Green Acres with every day.  (Do not look at puppies for sale. Do not look at puppies for sale.  Do not look at puppies for sale.)

3. We need to focus on some unfinished projects that we have planned to do over the past year before making new plans for projects. (This is super difficult, Mr. Pinterest, who sparks in my brain more ideas than I could possibly build, paint, or make in one lifetime.  I love you and hate you at the exact same time, Mr. Pinterest.)

4. Do we want to make Green Acres a type of petting zoo, an animal sanctuary, or just a ranch for our own animals? (It didn’t help AT ALL that we are stuck inside today watching TV and, apparently, watching the “old people” channel that shows the depressing ASPCA commercials that make you want to run out and save all animals on the planet.)  The fortunate/unfortunate thing is that we have 30 acres.  Enough to save quite a few animals.  (Don’t think I haven’t been looking on Craigslist at the cute farm animals people are trying to “re-home” for various reasons for practically nothing. Tiny, blue-eyed ponies for $150, people!)

5.  Questions we have asked ourselves or said out loud during our house arrest today:  Why would we think in a million years we should purchase more animals?  Do you see what they are all doing outside in the freezing rain right now?  Don’t they realize that they can go stand under trees and in the woods to get out of the rain and not stand under our porch? Why is Ginger, the cow, right next to Sugar, the cat, and mooing literally right into her ear 3 inches away?  What is Zeus, the dog, doing chasing Cash, the cow, in the rain?  Why are all of the cows crowded into the breezeway of the barn with the tractor?  How did Zeus get the cat’s box and bedding that we put out there for her?  Why is Gypsy kicking at the other two donkeys and not letting them eat any hay?  We have A LOT of work to do to get these animals fenced in and away from the house!  DO NOT let me get any more animals!  I think you get the point.  Our farm animals provide hours of entertainment AND, at times, hours of work for us on a daily basis.

In addition to these discussions, we were able to talk about upcoming projects on the ranch, future animals for Green Acres, the holidays with our families, Christmas gifts for our children, and the entertaining things our lively animals are doing out the window.  The amazing and wonderful thing about this day is that I get to do this with The Outdoorsman for the rest of our lives.  We get to talk about our three children and the hopes and dreams we have concerning their future jobs and future spouses.  We get to make plans about our upcoming years on Green Acres.  We get to sit on the couch watching bad daytime TV with even worse commercials on a rainy day.  I am so grateful for this and do not take any of this for granted.  We know that all of these blessing could change in an instant so we value every moment.  It is a gift that I cherish.

Rainy days and dreaming are both what I needed this weekend.