Hobby Farm?

As I waited for my turn to check out at the local Albertsons, I flipped through one of those magazines in the stand so as not to begin tapping my foot and stare a scream at the lady in front of me. Have you ever caught yourself doing that? You know, when the cranky-mean voice in your head is screaming, "Are you serious? You have 20 items in a 10 item express lane, with coupons to boot?!!Your killing me!!" But your careful that your stare doesn't give it away, right? Well, I was about to lose it, so I grabbed a magazine. But that's not what this post is about.

I picked up a magazine titled," The Hobby Farm".Looking through it I saw very clean, very happy,very clean,color coordinated, clean "farmers" on new, clean, shiny clean farm equipment.People who farm for fun and profit. I said fun and PROFIT.Yeah, right.
Our Hobby Farm
O.k., we have
two horses,

one pig ,

two turkeys that will be the center piece for that special feast coming up--don't cringe at me;do YOU know where your turkey has been? I do.,

I don't know how many chickens,



four useless dogs
and one very stupid cat. Stupid cat is not pictured. Note shredded screen door. You see what I'm dealing with here? Stupid cat.

Our little farm (12.5 acres) is fun, especially when the sun is shining and there are fresh veggies to glean from the little pitiful garden I created. Or the times I climb up on my old horse for a ride. But this time of the year, when the pasture is a mud pit and I suddenly discover that there is a leak in my boot,
and it's dark out at 4:00pm and I have to trudge out to feed with a flashlight when it's raining pitch forks (one of many G'ma sayings that I'm trying to incorporate into my daily conversations) it's not what I call fun.
I Must Be a Millionare
And the profit thing?What?!! O.k., so maybe I sell a dozen eggs for 4 dollars. However, I feed about one bag every two weeks at 15 dollars a bag.Not to mention that the few hens that are laying have now decided to hide their eggs from me.
I know that I did this to myself, so I can't blame any one else!In May I picked up two cute turkeys because, after all, our 12 year old never had this experience.Poor thing.And now these two godzilla birds devour a bag of feed a week and scare the poop out of me when they squeeze themselves out of the coop to eat!!I am avoiding the day that we have to do the deed...

But yet I wouldn't trade it for a spec. house in town. Yuck.

I love hearing my Rocky whinny a good morning to me ;watch our son tear up the back acreage on his ATV; hear the squack of a pheasant smart enough to elude the hunters, and pause to enjoy the sun rising over the pasture next door while the fog still lays sleeping on the ground.

O.k., I'll keep my hobbies.