Slaters' Funny Farm

We have completed our first horse show of the season and I must say that I am very proud of my daughter. She took a new horse in and actually done good for the first time with him. She was a little nervous as she has shown her walking horse, Abdul every other year. However, this time out with Jigsaw was a successful day as far as I am concerned. She won a first place, a sixth place, a seventh place, and a fourth. The first was in sloppy showmanship, but she will still take that. She was a hot mess for that let me tell you! She even had the horse to step over the cone. It is one of the classes that she always looks forward too in any show. Her friend also went with her to this open show. She has never shown before and done quite well with a second and third place finish. Her ninth place was not so great but for the first time in the arena, I feel they did accomplish quite a bit. I am sure that they both had fun! The wind was less than desirable, but it could have been worse I guess....

Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana is suffering from another loss of a student. Yesterday, 22 year old Hannah Wilson was found dead in a remote area of Brown County. Mushroom hunters found her body yesterday morning and she was later identified. Hannah had been missing less than 24 hours. The area is less than 20 miles from Indiana University. It is another reminder of the losses that the university has suffered during the last few years. Almost four years ago, Lauren Spierer disappeared after being out with friends during the evening. Several reports say that she was extremely intoxicated and left the apartment of a young man to walk home around 4 a.m. She never made it back to the apartment and has never been heard from again. Her parents have pleaded with the young men to speak up as to exactly what happened that night and they will not. Whether or not they are guilty of something, we truly don't know but it does seem suspicious. A few years ago, another IU student J...

Last night, I attended a benefit dinner for a former classmate of mine. She has been diagnosed with lymphoma and is currently having chemotherapy. Whether that will rid her of the cancer or not, no one truly knows and whether she will remain cancer free or not, no one truly knows either. I am praying that she will be free of this horrible disease once she finishes this treatment. My thoughts are with all who suffer from this horrible and devastating disease. My thoughts are with all those who suffer from illnesses that you can't "see" either. I know many people that are sick but do not look sick. My daughter suffers from Chronic Neurological Lyme Disease and will often be sick, but has been told " you don't look sick" by former employers and friends. We don't need to see illness for someone to be sick. My message for today is that we need to be aware that we truly don't know what others are going through so be nice to one another and offer a help...

Hold on to your hats as the winds are to get ferocious today! We are under a wind advisory today with winds to be around 40 plus miles an hour. That will certainly bring down some of the best trees and spring blooms for sure. I always worry about being without power with winds like that tugging at the lines. I am heading to work in a few minutes and once I get back to the farm, it will be time to do my evening feeding and then I am going to a benefit dinner for a dear friend from high school that is struggling with the effects of chemo due to being diagnosed with lymphoma earlier in the year. It is sad to see her struggle like this, but I know that God is watching over her. The weather man just said that the slight wind we are having at the moment cleans the air out and freshens our world. I guess that is one way to look at it. We can't change the weather so we might as well embrace it. I will just make sure that I hang on to anything that is not fastened onto me today. Have ...

Farm girls love their country music and I am right there in both categories. I was able to watch a large portion of the ACM awards last night and was thrilled to see Luke Bryan win Entertainer of the Year. Being that these awards are given based on votes by the fans, I would say that this was his fans honoring him. He is a talented musician and does a great show each time he takes the stage. One of the most memorable moments of the show was when Garth Brooks took the stage to sing "All American Kid". He honored the American military with the song and members of the military that were at the awards. As he was singing, military members walked the aisles of the venue. Garth's guitar was done in red, white, and blue to resemble the flag. This was a tear jerking moment if there was one in the entire show. Miranda Lambert took the show by storm by having a whopping 8 nominations and winning three of those eight categories. Her album, "Platinum" won Album of the Ye...

Mornings are my absolutely favorite time of the day. As I sit here looking out my window, I see all the wonders that God has given us. I see the neighbors' dog, two of our chickens, a bird eating from the suet cake that I hung this week, the green grass that is looking greener since the showers we had last night, and I see our cat. Actually, we have two cats, but Prince is the one that I see the most. Oreo has been very skiddish lately and I think it is due to the fact that he has been in a cat fight and seems to be a little beat up. I checked him for injuries the other day and put some Furazone cream on his cuts and scrapes. Prince has to be watched closely because he likes to jump up on the birdhouse and get his lunch while they are getting theirs. I keep reminding him that he is not to get the birds from their food. He is such a good cat except for this little glitch. This is my Prince! He was given to me by a sweet lady that had him in an apartment that he did not want to...

Today has been an interesting day on the farm. I added three new ducks to the farm, even though I truly know we do not need them. I seen them and thought that they were really cute at the local flea market. Once I asked a price on them, I knew I would have to take all three even though I only wanted one. I could not separate one from the others. I also started planting plants for the garden today. I have them started in several containers and I also have basil started on my back porch in my flower box. I decided that I will start them now before we actually get the garden ready for plants. I am hoping to be able to sow some wild flower seeds tomorrow in a large area near our driveway. I think that it will be a nice way to add some color to the drive. We have had two decent days of weather so I am sure that tomorrow will bring rain. I am thankful for the dry weather we have had and the chance for some of the rain to end and some of the mud to clear up. I just hope that this week is ...

I was just thinking about trying to begin a third blog but I believe that I should wait as I find it hard to keep up here with this one and my cooking one. However, I do truly believe that I whole new direction that I would like to go with a blog, so who knows what I will do with those ideas. Anyway, I titled this front porch talk because I would like to think that when I write this I am talking with friends and that I am able to discuss most anything that I would like to with you all or y'all depending on where you are from. I personally like to say y'all even though I am from the north. I have family from Virginia and Tennessee and love it there so I am glad to say that I can use words like that. The weather here today is frightful! We are predicted to get about 3-5 inches of snow and it has snowed most of the day. The roads are ridiculous slick and nasty. As long as you go slow, it is possible to get around, but for the most part it is nasty! My husband will be taking me...

The wind is really whistling through the woods today and doing some destruction along the way. Just a little bit ago, I heard a loud crash and knew that something was not right. As I approached the back, I noticed that the horses were scrambling, so I instantly knew that whatever the noise was I needed to check the pasture first. With mud boots on, I began my trek into the field. I did not have to walk far to see that the top of a large tree had blown out and completely smashed one of the round bale feeders in the field. This could prove to be a problem as we have one horse that is somewhat of a bully and does not like to share with the others. That is why we like to keep two feeders there. I would say that our wind gusts are around 50 mph currently and although the temperatures are warm, it does seem to be cooling down some with the wind. I am sure that the evening is going to be quite cooler than some we have recently seen. The only nice thing about the wind is that most times a ...

A fresh start to a new week is what Monday offers. This fence near the sidewalk reminds me of days gone by as well as a fresh start. We all know where we have been in the last week and we all know the struggles that we have had, but as Monday is upon us, we must look to the future and what lies ahead. Last week was a tough week for myself and I am glad it is over. However, I can count some blessings from it as well. I feel that it is always necessary to count our blessings in whatever comes our way. We can choose to focus on the negative or we can be thankful for the positive we have in our lives. I am choosing to look at the positive. If you woke up this morning, you have something to be thankful for. If you have any family with you, you have a second reason to be thankful. If you are in good health, you have a third reason to be thankful. See, it is literally that easy to find ways to be thankful. Often when things bring us down, I feel that is becomes hard to see the positives...

Good Morning to all of you and Happy Easter! Today is the day to celebrate the resurrection of Christ for Christians all over the country. We are greeted with a beautiful sunrise this morning and the signs of a beautiful spring day! This is a sample photo that I found on my computer but I feel that it is such a beautiful sunrise that I should share it with all of you today. It seems that Christians are being persecuted all over the world and the recent attack in Kenya is a prime example, but the Bible tells of this type of persecution in the end of times. I am usually one that does not spend much time thinking about what is to come in forms of things that are spoke of in the book of Revelation, but this attack has really made me think and pray for Christians all over the world. We should never be killed because of our belief in Christ and His message and love. With the day bringing warmth and sunshine, I am sure we will be with the horses some today. It is beginning to get warm...

Faith can mean many things to many different people. Faith to be is believing in something that I can't see or feel, but that I know is real. My faith in Christ is a prime example of that. I believe that God is real and I believe that when we die, our souls go to heaven or hell depending on our trust in God and salvation. Whether you agree with that faith based salvation or not, is your right. I have been raised in a Baptist church that believes in the Bible and preached of this faith. Many verses in the Bible speak of faith and so I am a firm believer that our faith and not our works get us to Heaven. I wonder many times about Heaven and what it truly looks like. I know what I imagine it to look like, but I doubt that my visions are accurate. My concern today about faith is the number of Christians killed in Kenya this week due to being Christian. The Bible speaks of being asked to deny Christ and being persecuted for not and it seems that this is what has happened this week. ...

Today is April 1 and that means that today is a day known for pranks, at least in the United States. Known as April's Fools Day, it is a day that people play pranks on their friends and family and then get to laugh and say April's Fools. I am sure that there is a long history behind the day, but I don't care to share that today. I enjoy writing but do not want to be technical today as my computer is literally running out the door at the moment- April's Fools! My computer is not running out the door but I gotcha didn't I? Pranks can be fun and as long as the person being pranked is not mad, it can be fun for both parties involved. I am actually taking part in a monthly challenge by another writer and for today, we are to write about this day and pranks. You can read more about this challenge here: http://challengeyourwriting.blogspot.com/p/april.html  . Literally, she has made a list of items that she challenges us to write about each day of the month. I am hopin...