So, my husband Tim, thinks I need to lighten up my blog topics a bit. He complains my writing is much too serious. Honestly, it’s difficult to avoid sober-mindedness with all the challenges we’ve experienced this year. But, not everything is dark and gloomy. Life on Lazy Bee Farm remains amusing if not a little crazy.
A few years ago, Tim named our ‘little bit of heaven,’ Lazy Bee Farm. This title is a total oxymoron in that bees are never lazy and two acres doesn’t qualify our property as a farm. Nevertheless, it makes an interesting conversation starter and a unique label for our honey and garden produce.
Our home is haven for a myriad of wildlife: bees, birds and butterflies plus cats, dogs and chickens. We never intended to have this many members of the animal kingdom living with us. Most of them either wandered in or friends and family brought them to us.
One of the few felines we actually picked out as a kitten was Blackberry. We brought her home from a friend who always has more cats than she can handle. She’s known as our ‘sweet’ kitty, although my husband often reminds me how she bit the heck out of his hand going to the vet for the first time. He’s never quite forgiven her for that. But, Blackberry is by far the best of the menagerie.
There’s nothing like muting a zoom meeting because of a window fight going on in the adjoining room between the indoor and outdoor cats. I’m sure many of you have apologized for the animals and humans in your household while zooming. Working from home certainly has its challenges these days.
We have three cats who reside indoors and three out in my husband’s workshop. Our property isn’t large enough to contain the type of building he would prefer for his ‘stuff.’ So, he took over our detached 2 1/2 car garage and calls it a workshop. Any rural structure needs cats to keep the rodent population down. The male cats who make his workshop their home are good mousers. Besides this, they’re just plain trouble.
Socrates, the large black male cat, aka Cat Vader, was once feral. In many ways, he still is. He hung around the perimeter of our place for about a year as we set out food and water for him. Then one day, he walked up and rolled over at my feet in the driveway. He was covered in fleas and miserable. We quickly squirted flea medication on his back to rid him of the vermin. Since that moment, he’s been my husband’s shadow. He loves his human but relentlessly terrorizes all the other cats.
We admit our animals are a cause of nonstop commotion though they’re always a source of amusement. Hopefully no one witnessed my husband running out the door in his underwear when our two dogs had the rooster down in the side yard. This dash in his skivvies gave Tim an anxiety attack but saved the rooster for another day.
We’ve talked about adding a few goats and a donkey to our mini-farm. However, we’ll probably hold off for awhile. Our neighbor tolerates our chickens well but it’s unlikely he would appreciate a goat dancing on his Mercedes. We may have to wait until we move someplace with more space and further distance between neighbors before we consider increasing our herd.
Life on Lazy Bee Farm keeps us busy and offers an excellent distraction from all the negativity in our world. Even on our calmest day, it’s impossible to remain serious in this 3 ring circus we call home. Thank goodness for this respite. We all crave a little laughter to lighten our load (if only for a short while) and a place of rest and peace. Even so, this earthly life gives only a hint of God’s promise of restoration awaiting us in our future.
My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely, how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.
Isaiah 32:18-20
