And speaking of my mother (and father) they finally saw my tattoo when they were up last week. It was like unveiling ..... I don't know what. I think Mom said she thought it was pretty and Dad said it was bigger than he thought it would be. They both seemed to like it which was good. Mom did make the comment that it was colorful - not like an old Army or Navy tattoo men used to get that were just black :) They have thousands of quizzes (and I'm not exaggerating) on Facebook that you can take and a friend took one about what tattoo would you be - so of course I took it. And guess what it was - a hibiscus! I just chuckled and then posted that it took me 25+ years to decide what I wanted for a tattoo, if only I could have taken this quiz I would have known in 30 seconds I should get a hibiscus :)
Yesterday was Easter and I was all set to go to church but didn't. I'm not sure why. Lots of things going on in my muddled brain. Yesterday was 4/24 and last year that was the day Mike came home from the hospital - for the last time - that may have had something to do with it. I may have felt guilty because Mike had said many times in the last few years that we needed to find a church home but I wouldn't pursue it - and maybe I didn't feel I had a "right" to go to the Easter service without him - I didn't feel "worthy" to attend. I don't know.
One thing I've come to learn this past year is that emotions are definitely real, unexpected and at times uncontrollable. It used to be easy for me to look at someone and think, "why don't they just get around and do such and such" not knowing the whole story of what was going on in their life. Trust me, it's very easy to look at something from the outside and be "judgemental". But until you've been there - you shouldn't be forceful with your opinions. That's when patience and prayers are truly needed. When people say things about someone that they should be doing such and such I don't keep quiet any more - I try to think how that person may be feeling and empathize with them and be more gentle in my words. I'm no where near perfect but I'm trying.
I do feel bad but I had to work on the cow pasture yesterday due to the weather forecast I had been seeing. I try very hard to do very little on the Lord's day but I had to mow yesterday - and I ran into Satan in the backyard in the form of a snake while I was picking up branches. Thankfully she was laying coiled up in a low place of grass so she was easy to see - I had some places the grass was calf high on me. I of course greeted her loudly and she decided to slither away but not very far. And I am getting braver with dealing with the small snakes - so I picked up a large stick and poked at her :) And she reared up like a Cobra, opened her mouth and lunged at me!!!!!!!! Then flicked her tongue at me!!!!!! I looked at her in shock and then thought, "oh no you didn't" and poked her back. She reared up again, opened her mouth, lunged and flicked! We did this 2-3 times and finally I decided to walk away but she kept her head up for quite a while. And of course Butler was oblivious to everything, even as he walked really close by her - I was more afraid the snake might bite Butler. And as the rearing was going on - I recalled Mike's story of how he saw one snake in the backyard that slithered toward him that he mowed up. Then the sibling of the snake he chopped up got mad at Mike, reared it's head and charged the mower - and Mike proceeded to mow that snake up too. I'm like, "ya Hon, I can honestly see that happening."
Anyway - the snake disappeared into one of the densed, highest grassy parts of the backyard - of course - so I mowed all around it first. And I'm no dummy. I had my bib overalls on to have long pants in the tall grass. After seeing the snake I tucked my bibs into my socks so no stinking snake could slither up my leg inside my pants. I don't care how stupid I looked I was prepared. I finally got to "that section" and am like "God I don't want to see the snake and I don't want to mow her over either - you know I can't deal with snake parts in my lawn." So bravely but cautiously I finished mowing and no snake!!!!!
I then took a little time to work an area right outside the back door that doesn't have any grass tossing grass seed and roping it off so Butler could stay out of it - see the photo below.
I call this area the Indian burial grounds and I'm not being racist since I'm 1/8 Native American. And I'm recycling using some of the bigger branches from the backyard as the stakes. I bring Butler outside to show him the roped off area so he doesn't walk into the ORANGE string and what does he do.........he walks under the rope right into the middle of the grass seed. Sigh. And yes, dogs only see in black and white McFall. It only took him two times doing this to realize he shouldn't walk under the string......
One thing Mike and I loved (I still love) is how peaceful our backyard is - with the privacy fence and trees you don't know anyone is close when you sit back there. Friends are welcome to share Saturday afternoons and nice evenings with me and Butler - you'll have to bring your own chairs though :)
