Thankful Thursdays

I have so many things to be thankful for so I will do it in list format (and probably few paragraphs along the way!). I think 10 is a good round number

1. The peace I have when I am sitting in a deer stand—no one asking me where something is, no one expecting me to cook/clean up, no one calling me, no time limit. Just me, my thoughts, and books (yes, books, plural, I take several with me in case I finish the one I am in the middle of reading b/c it just wouldn't do for me to run out. I have extra books in all the vehicles—including a few in my dad's vehicles—and the mule.).
   
2. The support of my dad in a traditionally "male" activity. Actually, his support in all things I end up doing that are thought of being in the male domain (bunching logs, feeding cows, fixing fence, running a bulldozer). Granted I am usually helping him when I get in the midst of all this but he thinks that women should be able to take care of themselves and stand on their own (that way they are never in an abusive situation with no options and end up having to stay).
   
3. Jess. She keeps me grounded and reminds me what it was like to be a teenager. Plus she is my social world. If it weren't for her playing volleyball, basketball, softball, and showing goats and lambs, I wouldn't go anywhere or meet any new people!!
   
4. My grandmother. Even though she is gone now, she raised me and I still find myself quoting her and saying things like "Well, that's how my grandmother did it and if it was good enough for her, it's good enough for everyone else!"
   
5. The box blinds I get to hunt out of. I love the windows and the heaters!!
   
6. The opportunity to take my nephew hunting (and get him his first deer with horns!!!). It doesn't matter what you are doing, what you enjoy, you should always find a way to introduce a kid to it. Even if it is nothing more than walking in nature. They need the time with someone who cares and you need the time teaching someone else about the things you love (but don't come whining to me when you run out of answers to their million and one questions!!!).
   
7. The flowers that come up in my yard.
   
8. The birds at my feeders. I have several different types in the winter and hummingbirds in the spring and summer. This is another thing my grandmother instilled in me. She would sit for hours and watch the hummingbirds and squirrels.
   
9. The pond at my dad's house. The one I helped dig the summer I learned how to drive the bulldozer (thanks Mr. Author!! the man who turned me loose on one and took up for me with my dad when he found out!! hehe!). It means to much to me to know I helped build that. Plus I stocked it and kept records on it the entire time I was in FFA. My grandmother fished almost everyday after the fish were big enough to catch. Daddy would come home from the woods and she would have several fish in the sink (in water, of course!!) for him to clean. He got tired of that quick, fast, and in a hurry and taught me how to clean the stinking things. UGH!! You know, I miss cleaning fish every day for my grandmother.
   
10. Red fingernail polish. Seriously. My grandmother used to try to lighten my hair b/c it was red and she would not allow me to wear red anything b/c red was a 'whorey' color and only 'floozies' would be caught wearing it. Oh yeah. And you wonder where all my weirdness comes from!!
    

I have been thinking about my grandmother a lot this week—it happens around the first of every year when I have been cooking a lot of stuff using her recipes and when my mind turns to planting a garden (not that I have done one in years but I always think/talk about one every year). She would have been 86 January 30 and loved to go out to the garden with a salt shaker and eat tomatoes off the vine that had been warmed by the sun. She would take a knife out to the pear orchard and eat several while out there picking them and she always told the story about Aunt Lou while we were peeling pears. Aunt Lou was little and they were all peeling pears. Aunt Lou was eating them almost as fast as she could peel them. And, we all know what too many fresh pears can do to the digestive track! Yep. She did not make it to the outhouse in time. The boys (there were 6 boys and 5 girls) were teasing her about it and chasing her around the house. So, she took her underwear off and threw them at the boys. Granny would stop here b/c she was laughing too much to finish the rest of the story so I don't know if they ever stopped teasing her or not!