The beekeeper

Why this picture? For ever since I was a very young child this place has always had a calming effect on me. I can remember when I would land at the ranch the first thing I would want to do is go and see this place and the last thing I would want to do when leaving was go and see this place. It would have to sustain me another nine months until school let out and I was back. When I take people out to visit the ranch this is usually the first place I show them. I can visualize the Indians on their beautiful paint horses gliding through the valley. It is an image so ingrained that I sometimes wonder if I was there. So the question is... What is your reality? Have you ever had a dream only to wake up and wonder, was that real? Have you ever been somewhere and experienced Deja-vu? Have you ever met someone and been absolutely convinced that you had met them before? If you have answered yes to any or all of the questions you are not alone and no, you are not crazy. It is simply a question of reality. So lets get meat and potatoes on this and not airy fairy and talk about your reality. Your reality is what you make it so I suggest to start off the memorial day weekend with a clear head and good thoughts. If your husband starts yelling at you because you burned the eggs, smile and lovingly hand him his plate. Don't get pulled into his anger. When your neighbor yells at you because your dog pooped on their lawn and you forgot to pick it up. Ask them if there is anything else you can do to help them out. When you accidentally cut someone off and you get the finger smile and wave back. Even if you are boiling inside, stop, breathe, count, 1,2,3,  put a smile on your face and see what happens. You will find that if you don't immediately react something will shift inside of you. You won't be so angry, so quick to jump back and lash out. You will find that many times you will pull the sour puss out of their funk. Isn't that a lot nicer? Isn't that a better way to start off your three-day weekend. Memorial day weekend has come to be know as the unofficial beginning of summer. Summer is a time of laughter, vacations, fun so have fun and don't start it off fighting. As the old saying goes, make love not war. Just think if we all paused, took a breath when someone started to go off on us maybe the world would be a little kinder, a little gentler. My mama always use to say you get more bees with honey than with vinegar so this weekend when people are rushing about and tempers start to flair just be thinking of ways to catch more bees. Be a beekeeper.

What is the color of your sky?

Where's the picture? You tell me. Where's the picture? What is your picture? What color is your sky? Is is bright and sunny or dark and gloomy? Do you even know? Do you take time out to check in with yourself? To see how you are really feeling. What is really going on. Sometimes you can get so busy checking in, seeing how everyone else is doing, the boss, husband, girlfriend, son, sister, friend, dog walker that we forget to check in with ourselves. So close your eyes. Well, wait a second. I am just prepping you for you need to get your instructions first. But seriously, how many of you really closed your eyes? I am going to want you to in a minute for you are going to take 3 minutes to do a simple but informative exercise. This is your 3 minutes. And no matter what goes on in your day you had these 3 minutes. For some of you this will be a first. What are you going to do with these three minutes you ask? Feel. Yes, feel, I want you to close your eyes and just feel. FEEL? What do you mean? Feel, don't try to do anything or be anything just be quiet and listen to yourself. Some of you may like what you are feeling and some of you are going to come unglued. Whatever it is just accept it. Don't fight it. Now, after you have done this I want to add one last piece to the puzzle, an essential piece, and that is I want you to paint your own picture. See it clearly. Feel it... That's right... So what is the color of your sky? What color would you like it to be? It may be a pale blue today, empty with no clouds but that doesn't mean that tomorrow it won't be a vibrant blue with pregnant, dancing clouds all around.

Becoming a Tourist

Now it is the end of the day and Esteban and I are smiling. We just had a nice ride, the weather was beautiful and nobody got thrown off their horses so all in all life is good. Life is always good even when it is bad. This is how we must try to look at things. We really must look for the good in everything. The more we look for the good, the more good we will see. The more we look for the garbage, the more dirt and grime we will see. It is a simple formula but not such an easy one to follow. It is always easier to find fault, to find the bad, to point fingers. Why do you think we love to go on vacations so much? Is it because we like to escape from our daily routine? We get to sleep in. We aren't attached to our blackberries, I-Pad's, computer's? Maybe. Or maybe what it really boils down to is that we are tourists. And what do tourists do? They look to find the good in everything. They are there to enjoy, have a good time, get a tan. They aren't dissecting and tearing everything apart. So let us all try and have some of that tourist energy when we have our heads buried in our computers rushing to beat a deadline. When we are with our significant others and they are doing something that is so annoying you could scream, stop... take a breath... and remember you are a tourist. You look for the good. Or lets really step it up and now you are at the doctor's office and you have been given some news, really, really bad news. Now you ask how can I be a tourist in this situation? How can you not be? It has been proven that people with a positive mind and outlook can overcome the most difficult of situations. My own grandmother was given 6 months to live over 40 years ago. Everyone was terrified for she had the C. What did she do? She lived another 25 years and proved the doctor's wrong. How did she do it? Again, she chose to see the good in everything and by doing so all was good. She created her own reality. Was it a miracle? Yes it was. What miracle are you going to create today?

Why check the farm?

Where on earth did you come up with the idea for Check the Farm? This is what people are asking me. I say "Where do I come with any idea's really?" But now there is a Check the Farm. We have given birth so to speak so lets be simple and concise and I will explain how it all came to be. Okay, facebookers, raise your hands. How many hours do you spend a day reading about your friends, searching for new friends and AHA playing that game, the most popular game on the web, Farmville? There are farmville fan clubs, groups, pages, and the list goes on and on. With a point and a click, voila, you can till your garden, feed the chickens and raise your barn. How fascinating that so many people are interested in farm life. Well maybe these same people might like to see a glimpse of "real farm life" sprinkled with a dash.... This is where youtube comes into play. Sprinkled with a dash of humor. How many of you love to watch funny cat videos? Inspiring dog videos? Or simply goofy videos all together? Sign me up. I will always re post or forward an e-mail of a video that either makes me laugh or cry. Isn't it nice to be sitting at your desk working hard and receive a video about a cat playing the piano A.K.A. "keyboard cat" that lets you escape for awhile before getting back to the daily grind? And the last ingredient, an essential one I might add is the farm itself. If you are going to do a show and call it check the farm you need a farm. This is where my family and friends were able to step up to the plate and give a hand. Now this has been the icing on the cake for I get to spend more time with them and I also get to be outdoors in nature which is always good for the soul. Have you ever seen an article written that advises you to stay out of nature for it could be dangerous to your health and overall mental well being? So farmville, youtube and my friends and family's farms and there you have it tada... check the farm. But what about the website, the editing, the promoting, setting up a company, the filming, etc., etc. Aaah well, Esteban and I have never done a web series so we just jumped in and said let have fun, hopefully make people laugh and at the same time learn a thing or two about farm life and most importantly TRY. Try something new. You may not be an expert but remember experts weren't born with the letter E etched on their forehead's. They worked it. We are working at it. We are a work in progress. Aren't we all a work in progress? How many of you don't try something new for you are afraid you won't be any good, people will judge you or you will FAIL. How can you fail if you try. So try. When I was a little girl my father used to say "Can't never did and can always tried" So be a can and see what you can do. See what is hidden inside of you. You never know until you try.

A horse is a horse, of course of course.

So I just came back from the ranch and I spent time with one of my favorite beings. Is he not perfection??? When I arrived he ran over to the fence like he usually does. I climbed in and rubbed my hands all over him. Mmm, he smells good. The other horses started to come around but he kept shooing them away, all except for his girlfriend, who he always lets get some sugar too. So the three of us were having one dandy of a time until a neighbor pulls up, one who is allergic to horses. Allergic to horses? What a curse! Thank you God for not giving me that one. Anyway, I climb out and go and do the neighborly thing which is visit. Mind you, I have known this man since I was born so we need not exchange false pleasantries but get right down to it. A pick-up drives by and we both wave, not knowing the person but that is what you do when you are in the country. We gibber-jabber for 10-15 minutes while my paint, my beautiful paint waits patiently by the fence watching me. All the other horses have gone back to grazing but not him. He waits. Patiently. Steadfastly. Giving my friend the evil eye as if to say gitte up and gitte out. My friend even comments on how he has his eyes glued on me, saying "I think he really likes you." Of course that does it and I cut the conversation short for I want to just be with my one and only, my paint. My friend leaves and I climb back in and sit down on the ground with my camera and shoot some video of my beautiful boy. He nibbles on my feet and hair and I laugh and giggle like a school girl. When was the last time I felt like that? What is about this horse that makes me so happy? And then it hits me like a bullet. The happiest moments in my life have been spent with horses. My earliest childhood memories are with my horses. And the flip side is that my most painful childhood memory is saying goodbye to some of them... Another bullet shoots out. HAPPINESS. Cha-ching. When was the last time you were blissfully happy? Now, as I roll around in the dirt talking to, I know... But he understands me and I understand him and how many people can you truly say that about? So for awhile, today, I tasted bliss. I can still smell the sweet perfumed aroma of my paint. A smell that is close to heaven. So what is your bliss? When is the last time you tasted a bit of heaven? Do yourself a favor and go out and grab it. I woke up this morning not knowing I would but I will tell you I am a lot happier for it. And tonight, when I put my head on my pillow I will have a fabulous fresh image to hold onto and cherish and all because I spent some time with a horse. Not just any horse mind you but that is what did it. I didn't win the lottery. I didn't receive some fabulous news. And no I didn't climb on the scale this morning and was miraculously 5 pounds lighter. All I had to do was a simple thing like spend time with a horse. Isn't always the simpliest things that make us the happiest?