I'm so thankful

This summer has been depressing. It started out with such promise, but turned into the evil step-sister that just demanded attention and care.  Just going about everyday living has been stressful, with heat, drought and all that comes with that, living on a farm and in an old house. I find myself on the verge of getting an attitude, but then try to snap out of it by thinking about how much worse it could be.  At least when I cook I don't have to do this:

Scouring the countryside for buffalo chips for fuel would not be my definition of a good time. I also don't have to do this:

If we had to rely on what I shot for our meals, we'd soon be starving. I guess I could always send Pa out:

I'm thankful that when it's 105 degrees, I can strip down to nearly nothing, and not have to be trussed up in this:

Shoot me now if I have to wear that.  Give me capris and a tank top any day.
I'm thankful that when I go to town, I don't have to hitch horses to the wagon and clip clop for hours. Of course, if we all slowed down, we'd be able to stop and smell the roses, but we'd be smelling something else, too, methinks:

I'm thankful my husband retired from farming, and raising the crops in this dry year is someone else's worry. I do still worry, just not as much as I would have before. It is a struggle and hard work, every year:

If it just won't rain in my neck of the woods, at least I can still give thanks for other things. We are enjoying the last of the pumpkin blossoms tonight. The squash bugs and squash vine borers have pretty much done the vines in. I've already resigned myself to there being no pumpkins, watermelons or cantaloupes raised in my garden this year.  We are enjoying the ripening tomatoes. Keeping them watered is a high priority task. The green beans have seemed to laugh at the dry weather. I'm still picking some every few days. I'm happy others are getting rain. I'm thankful for farmer's markets, and the efforts of others.

Most of all, I'm thankful I'm healthy and able to shrug off this crazy weather year.  Who knew it wouldn't rain for weeks on end?  The well seems to be holding out, thank goodness, and I don't have to haul water from town, or worse yet, in buckets from a spring half a mile away.

I'm thankful there are Kroger's and Aldi's and Walmart's and other bountiful places to shop. I'm thankful I have chickens that gift me with beautiful eggs and their egg songs.


I'm forever thankful for my family, my church family, my friends and the warmth I feel when I'm around them.


Now, excuse me while I go water the maters with my crocodile tears. (hahaha)

Hot, dry blessings,
Brenda

P.S.   Dear Weatherbug. You are a liar. You just can't know how you've played with my emotions this last week. Do not, I repeat, do not show my dot in the middle of a yellow/red blotchy area if you aren't going to deliver the goods. That is just cruel. Thank you for listening. Signed, disgruntled viewer.