Crazy, lazy Daisy

This is our sweet, super-stinky, adorable dog, Daisy. I have hundreds of blurry pictures of this dog because she is only still when she is asleep. She was so spastic when we first got her that we couldn't even pet her. What a wiggle worm!

Aaron found her smack dab in the middle of the road on a very hot July day. She was extremely malnutritioned and, as a result, her hind legs didn't work very well so she would drag them behind her as she walked. But soon, she fattened up and got healthy and now, years later, you would never know she was ever sickly.

She would trip over her ears, smack her face on the ground but get back up, completely unfazed. When she was little Aaron and I would play with her in the living room with a tennis ball. He would throw it a few times and she'd chase it and, maybe, bring it back. Then he'd pretend to throw it and she would search for long minutes. It was so funny. For a hound dog, she is not too good at the hunting. Maybe her sniffer is broken.

She loves snacks. Our other dog, Mack, is really not that concerned about the snacks. He just wants love. But Daisy's primary daily goal is to get some snacks.

Also, she used to be a chicken eater but has since changed her ways and we are perplexed as to why. She now shares her part of the yard, dog house and water bowl with our hen, World's Smallest Chicken, and we can't figure out why this chicken. Is it because she is smaller? She looks more like a large dove than a chicken. Is it because the hen is confused and thinks she is a rooster sometimes? (She does crow on occasion!) Whatever the reason, Daisy and World's Smallest Chicken get along just fine. Better than fine. They appear to really like each other.

Daisy is one of the absolute cutest creatures I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I'm so glad Aaron saved her that day and that we decided to keep her when we picked her up from the vet's office. That was the day our little farm started to grow.

Hands

I have always remembered peoples' hands. I have always paid attention to them. I adore Aaron's hands. I love how strong they are. I love the way his fingernails look. I love his hands when they are dirty even. (I like to talk like Snagglepuss and put "even" on the end of sentences.) When his hands are dirty, he has been doing things that he loves most in the world: gardening, working on race cars, building stuff, etc. I love to feel his hand in mine. I love to watch his hands work or type or dial a phone. I love his hand on top of my steering wheel in my car, while he drives me around and we listen to fun music. I could describe every detail of his hands from memory. I know each finger, every vein, all the scars and lines. I really love to kiss his hands which he never lets me do unless he has just washed them. Luckily he washes his hands often.

ponies and horse power

Here on Ferrell Farm, we have race cars and all sorts of make-a-racecar-go-faster paraphernalia mixed among our animals. Our pony, cleverly named Ninja Pony, has taken a shine to hanging out in the shop while Farmer Ferrell works his magic. I don't know if he likes the way his hooves sound on the smooth concrete, if he prefers the stagnate air in the shade of the shop over the breezy shade under a tree, or he simply wants to chill with the dudes. Whatever it is, if the guys are in the shop, operating any variety of loud power tools or shooting sparks all over the place with a blow torch or a welder, Ninja Pony will be at the door of the shop watching all the while.

Ninja Pony likes to go fast. He is often spotted running figure eights or random circles around the back yard. Periodically he will buck and kick mid run. He has done this since he came to Ferrell Farm. I think he fits right in with the race cars. Maybe while he's lingering in the shop, he is dreaming of ways that he too can go faster.

This has nothing to do with race cars but Ninja Pony also likes to "give kisses," which consists of raising his nose up so I can kiss the top of his upper lip where it is soft. He also loves it when I share my sweet tea with him, and by share, I mean give him the rest. He is a slobbering fool over sweet tea. When I go out with my trusty snake finding flashlight to put him in his corral at night, Ninja Pony will gently move along as long as I sing to him. If I fail to softly sing something pleasant, he will take off running away from the corral and make me chase him. I hate that because it is very difficult to spot snakes in the dark with a flashlight while running before you are actually on top of them. So I always sing.

Leaving Ninja Pony out of his corral all night is not an option. Unattended, he will kick, stomp, & head-butt his way into the feeding cans and eat-probably until he dies-all of the sweet feed, chicken corn and rabbit feed he can get his short head at. Then he will kick at the rabbit cage to try to get at the rabbit feed in there. No, no! Every night, Ninja Pony goes up.

That is all about Ninja for now. I have lots of stories, pictures and some video about his antics. I will have to post them here and there as we go along. Happy Tuesday!

Ten years. A decade. A long time. An era in my life.

This was me exactly ten years ago in Jamaica mon! Gretchen & I had gone on a trip together...the last one alone because after this trip we both got hooked up with our future husbands. So it was Sunday, September 10, 2000. We flew home that day from Montego Bay. I remember seeing Texas Stadium as we circled the airport to land. It was kind of a rough flight and I was not feeling well. We swung by Walgreens and then went to Gretchen's apartment to rest. Aaron and I had talked the day I was leaving for Jamaica and decided to hang out when I got back. No big deal, no date; Gretchen was even supposed to go along. But she didn't feel well and decided to bail. I guess he was thinking that way because he came over on his super cool, green Kawasaki Zephyr and brought along an extra helmet. No way the three of us were fitting on that thing (cause this ain't India) so it was just us two. Let me just say that he was my very first crush in high school. I thought about him several times since then, wondered what he was doing, who he was with if anybody, what his life was like...and it was soooo good to open the door of her apartment and see him standing there. So good! So many things I remember about that day: the bird he found, my toenail polish matching his bike, looking at pictures on my first ever, pretty crappy digital camera, getting gas at the Chevron on Precinct Line and 183 that is no longer there, so many things. Then we went downtown to watch a movie at the Palace. He got sour patch kids and we both had cokes. We were both addicted to cokes. That has changed over the years and now we are addicted to diet coke along with the rest of the white folks in America. After the movie, we got back on his bike, he told me funny stuff about himself and Chris Mitchell riding motorcycles and I will never forget how it felt to be on that bike riding through downtown Fort Worth in the warm September night air. The whole time I had been hanging on to the bar on the back of the bike and before we got on the highway, he explained how I needed to be holding on to him for safety sake. ;) He said even Chris holds on to him when they have been on one bike. So I did and I didn't admit that I had wanted to the whole time.

I noticed he was driving slower than he should have been and was taking the back roads back to Gretchen's. Finally he stopped at a light and asked if I had to get back then or did I want to see his boat instead. No brainer. Boat. I really really really liked this guy for a long time in high school. I looked up to him and he was larger than life to me. The night before I moved to Austin, I was staying at Gretchen and Cody's apartment (they had just gotten married and I hadn't realized until now how short their marriage was) and I had this mini meltdown about moving. Was I doing the right thing? Was this the avenue I was really supposed to be on? Lots of questions. For some reason, thoughts of Aaron Ferrell kept persisting in my mind. Even though I was moving to Austin with my long term boyfriend, I couldn't stop thinking about Aaron. I looked up his number in the phone book (funny) and begged Gretchen to call him and pretend she was me. She told me that if she was going to pretend to be me, why didn't I just call myself? So we called and got no answer and hung up after something like three rings. Of all the people in the whole wide world, I wonder why he was the one I wanted to call before I moved on to another big phase of my life. People take for granted how big a deal it is to move away from everything you have ever known to a new town, new surroundings, unknown things around every corner, new people, new job, having to make new friends, new clients, find new favorites. It's exciting and wonderful but also crazy scary. And before I took that step, he was the tie holding me back. I digress. So because of allll of this, I didn't want to show him any of my cards. I was trying to play it cool which is pretty hard for me to do.

So we went to his boat. He told me that he had just gone out on the lake with his aunt that day. And then later, he scratched the name "Cumulus" off of the back of it. It was the boat's name when he bought it. He said he had never named any of his boats before. He handed me his cd folder and I flipped through, finding so many great cd's that would be fun to listen to but then I saw Kelly Willis and I knew this guy was cool. I was so excited! At the time, nobody knew about her except her following in Austin and a few scattered people who watched her on Austin City Limits. So we listened to Kelly croon some of Bruce's songs while we teetered in the slip on Eagle Mountain Lake. Across the way, at Porky's, people were faintly singing and talking on the balcony and the wind blew the leaves of the nearby cottonwood tree. It was a beautiful night. He told me that his favorite movie was Sandlot and that he was embarrassed about it. I thought it was cute and we watched it while we drifted off to sleep. When I woke up, it was 6 in the morning! I knew that Gretchen was going to kill me. My cell phone had died and she didn't know his number. Also, it was miserably cold in his boat. He had the ac cranked down and I was about to freeze to death. So I woke him up and told him I had to use his phone and I had to go. I called Gretchen and she, of course, was panicked. She said she was up for hours trying to find his mother's number to call and find out where we were. I felt so horrible. Everything worked out ok and she forgave me.

Then he drove me back on his motorcycle and I went home to Austin. There are lots of little fun things I like to remember about that part, but that was a new day and I am only talking about this one today.

Those were some of the happiest days of my life and I hope I never forget them. It has brought back so many feelings just writing this out. It has reminded me of so much and I am grateful. My life was forever changed on that day. There have been some hard times when I know that both of us wanted to give up. But somehow, we both never wanted to give up on the same day and the one who didn't want to give up pulled the other one through. There have been some magical times, too. Lots of beautiful, wonderful days. And I truly believe that those magical times could not have happened if it weren't for both of us together. Nobody else could have done that for me.

Aaron is passionate just like me. He is hardworking and diligent. He is smart and funny. He makes me want to try harder. He has given me so much. Life is more beautiful because of him. Not just for me but for so many people for whom he gives so much of himself. The love I feel from him makes me feel something beyond words and I love him very much.

I have always loved Thursdays

Picture #1 was sent to me yesterday by my adorable nephew, Matt. Attached to the picture was his greeting, "Hello from Horseshoe Bend!" Picture #3 was sent to me from my sweet nephew, Jason. They were there to finish spreading the ashes of their maternal grandparents at Lake Powell. Jason and I visited Horseshoe Bend together the year that my father-in-law passed away, 2007. It brightened my day immensely that they took the time to photograph part of my beloved canyon and send me the pictures. I wish I were there with them so I could smooch their faces off!

Picture #2 was sent to me by my crazy husband, Aaron, just this morning. He had an early flight to St. Louis and sadly I will not be able to meet him there. He will return late tonight though, so I am not too terribly sad about his absence. Most people don't know this about me but my dream job, as a child, was to be a steamboat captain on the mighty Mississippi. So anytime he crosses the river, he'll send me a picture of the moment. It has completely made my week that while I plug away here at my beautiful dark wood desk in itty bitty Keller, Texas, my loves are sending me pictures from their travels, each of them places I adore for certain reasons.

Tonight, I will go home alone to hang with my dogs, cats, bunny, pony, duck and chickens-each of us saddened just a bit because Farmer Ferrell will not be home with us until after we all hit the hay-to watch the very first, regular season game of the year! The ever returning Favre and his Vikings taking on the Saints in New Orleans. My money's on the reigning champs, just for the record. Like I said, I *have always* loved Thursdays. And so it continues.