Catching up...

Garrett pulling Trixie's calf

My thrift store find, it was meant for me!

The amazing windows at the Mercantile Holly created

 

These two 😍

"Grandma Ruthie" on her 100th day of school

    I hope you didn't think I had abandoned you or decided to give up blogging. Life has been... well, life. I have been putting SO MUCH time and effort into trying to figure out how to make The Middlebrook Mercantile "be all it can be." It's mentally wearing me out if I'm being honest. I want that little store to thrive and be around for Charley to run one day, but I'll be honest with you, it's been a struggle here lately. January and February are always slow for us (and for everyone I'm being told) but these last 7 weeks have been a little bit of a challenge. I keep praying and telling myself that if we can get through the next 3 weeks it will pick back up like it always does. So that's where I'm at with that. We hired Karley Buchanan to help us 3 days a week, and I have to tell you I have enjoyed working with her! She always makes me laugh, I'm learning new teenage lingo and I have decided I like working with young people, they make me feel "not so old." 

    Life on the farm has been a little hectic as well. We are in the beginning of calving season, the farm cows are calving nicely (they understand the assignment) the first-time calving heifers though, well... let's just say the very first one we had to pull her calf. She wasn't much of a pusher and her calf (a heifer) was stillborn. That was my first experience actually seeing a calf being pulled and the delivery "live." It was pretty amazing to watch. I'm SO THANKFUL that Garrett happened to be home that morning when Trixie decided to go into labor because I would not have known what to do. I guess Carl & I could have done it, but I'm glad Garrett was here. As you can see from the picture above, she decided a cold walk in the creek would be best 🙄. Garrett finally got her to dry land to deliver and it didn't end well. Thankfully Trixie is ok, she's depressed (even cows get that way), but we will give her time to heal and then let her try again. We have two more in the lot beside our house waiting to calf. We have been patiently waiting for about two weeks now, their milk bags are getting full, and I say every day, it's going to be any day now. The other first-time mommas won't be too far behind them. Hopefully we won't have to pull any more and they all live. I'm excited! 

    Charley celebrated her 100th day of school and they had to dress like 100-year-old people. She nailed it! I've always called her Grandma Ruthie because she's an old soul. 

    Charley, Noah and I went to Kline's to have ice cream on a Monday because that was just the kind of day we had, and we needed to eat ice cream right after school. They were holding hands and praying. I'm at least getting that part right. Drake is done with school until graduation day (other than vo-tech) and words cannot express how thankful I am for that! I knew he would graduate because Garrett & I didn't give him a choice, but some days I wasn't sure we would make it. He will be 18 in six months and then HELLO world. That's also when your mom stops making sure you are up on time in the morning for work and helping with your laundry. Your parents also don't pay your cell phone bill or car insurance anymore, at least his parents are not! It's a harsh reality, but he will be fine. 

    Life is moving at the speed of light around here and some days I'm just holding on for dear life. Thank you for reading and following and sharing and for your support. Thanks for reading my stories. Thanks for being you! 

    I hope to have something else to talk to you about sooner than later. 😘

Wishing you sunny skies and green pastures,

McKession