But I Don't Wanna Be a Rat!

Those of you that know me, or if you have read my blog for any extended period of time, know that I have an aversion to town. I mean it can become a real problem. At some point and time we need to buy groceries. I just do not function well in an urban environment. Seems to me that everyone is running around at warped speed and most of them are running in circles. Reminds me of one of those rodent wheels. DD's hamster just scurries for hours at a time on her wheel and when she steps off, she's right where she started, albeit, she got a good workout.

I can't do that. When I get pulled (I usually dig my heels in real deep) into the rat race, it makes me dizzy. My natural instinct is to flee back to my dirt road. A good friend of mine and I call it 'circling the wagons'. It's a protective reaction to a potential attack. Hey, it worked for the pioneers...sometimes.

Yesterday I was literally thrown onto a wheel that was already spinning at top speed. Almost instantaneously, every weekend in April and May was filled up. I know that it's probably not a big deal to most of you, but I had to stop and regroup and remember to breath.

Last weekend we had the shooting sports team out.
Add to that:

A bull sale in Kansas
Another weekend with the 4-Hers out here and a horse sale
And then add ANOTHER weekend for shooting
Piano Recital (need to find clothes for a daughter whose entire wardrobe consists of jeans and
western shirts whith a t-shirt thrown in there for good measure. Her footwear consists of 3
pair of boots.)
State 4-H Shooting Competition (had to buy the kids sneakers for this the other day because the only thing they own is boots. They NEVER wear sneakers)
Baby Shower
Branding and cooking for a crew for at least 2 weeks in May

Now let me clarify that these are all things we have chosen to do, so taken individually, they make me happy. Alas, they seem to have accumulated into one big heap. I don't want to even think about the things that will be added to this that I am not even aware of yet.

So, while I was on the verge of hyperventilating yesterday evening, the good Lord gave me this:

DD and DH pointed out the window, DD ran out into the yard with her camera, and DH said I was missing the light. So I grabbed my camera and ran out into the pasture to stalk the horses:

And to get things back into perspective:

I am especially proud of the fact that these are straight out of the camera ~ no editing, with the exception of adding the copyright to the photo. Can I say I LOVE my camera!
As I stood there in wonder and awe, with tears in my eyes, I felt this complete peace and comfort surround me. I'm so glad that He is in charge.