It is almost the middle of August and as I look out my window, I see lush green fields and lots of flourishing trees. We have had so much rain that everything is green and the grass is still growing like crazy. Having lots of rain is great, except that my zucchini did not do so well with it. My garden has been a bit of a disappointment, though we are still eating tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers. We enjoyed the presence of our guinea couple until first one, then the other disappeared. They are wonderful creatures that are voracious eaters of bugs and slugs, and they were great to have in the garden. We raised our little guineas from day-old keets, but had no idea how hard they are to keep alive when they are that little. Out of 15, we ended up with 2. They could fly over our garden fence, and liked to perch and roost on the tall garden gate. But one stormy morning we awoke to find only the female guinea was left, with her mate nowhere to be found. A week or so after that and she followed the girls into the woods, and then when they tried to catch her to take her back home, she flew up into a tree and over into the neighboring , thickly wooded property. Then she disappeared. We were sad and frustrated!
Abigail had her new top-bar hive this Spring and was anxious to get started with a new package of bees. When the bees arrived, they settled in and seemed to be doing well. We did everything we knew to do, and Abigail took very good care of her bees. But the first queen seemed to disappear and so we ordered a second one. That one floundered as well and so eventually the hive just failed. This also was very frustrating. We don’t know what is hindering the wellness of the bees, but wonder if it is due to chemical use by neighbors or even people within a few miles. This is another instance where you think it should be simple enough to establish a hive of bees.
So as this summer has been a very cool and wet one, and maybe not so good for the garden, it has been a wonderful one for the grass, the trees and the wild fruits such as the elderberry trees and the wild muscadine vines. These are flourishing with all the moisture we have had, and now I just need to learn how to harvest and process the elderberry and make it into jam, syrup, or, dare I even try, wine? And, I have a lot of jalapeno and cayenne peppers which I am determined to make into some kind of hot sauce. And though the summer is already winding down, and our home school year is about to get under way, the children have been busy learning so much through film school, being taught by our friend Matt who is staying with us while he and my daughter Amanda are working on a project. The days are full, the nights are full and really there is never a dull moment. Whoever said the days of summer were lazy?
I love living in the country for a myriad of reasons. We are surrounded by fields and trees and we can get out into the sunshine and fresh air whenever we want. My children can ride their bikes on our long driveway, play in the dirt or make mud pies, run loose in the garden and pick blueberries or strawberries off the plant and eat them right there. We can go fishing or hunting or hang out with the chickens. We can walk on the trails or take a 2 mile run down the road that was paved only 7 years ago. Our place had a pool when we bought it 8 years ago, and all of the children have learned to swim well (little Rebecca is still learning). We are fully equipped with all the electronic devices like computers, TVs and cell phones, but sometimes the internet gets a bit overwhelmed and I can’t guarantee you will get cell reception if you visit us. Matt has to go up the road a mile to a church parking lot to sit and make calls from time to time because his cell provider is not one that gets ANY reception out here. We don’t really watch much TV, except for children’s cartoons (that would be Rebecca, Beth and Ben) sometimes, and news and sports and maybe the TCM movie channel! Which leads me to the title of my post. Recently I read of Rebeca Seitz, a mom and businesswoman who was watching Good Morning America not long ago. One of the commercials that came on at 8′ 0 something in the morning depicted a nude couple in a sex scene for the show Betrayal, which is an ABC network show. The problem with this is that it came on a COMMERCIAL during a morning show in the summertime. Most children are up by then, as was the case with Mrs. Seitz’s children. Her 8 year old son got an eyeful of activity he does not need to be seeing or thinking about at his tender age. So she decided enough was enough. “I am not going into that darkness without a very loud, very public, foot-stomping, loud-voiced, fist-raising, steely-eyed, FIGHT,” says Mrs. Seitz who went on to file a complaint with the FCC, among other things, as well writing about it on her blog. Please check out her blog. I applaud her for taking a stand and rising up for the sake of her children. Can you imagine what this world would be like if mothers everywhere rose up and did the same?