A DAY ON THE FARM

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Spring is finally here! Eden and I both took off all week for Spring Break. I stayed here in Oxford to get some things done and Eden and Nicky went to the farm. To celebrate Spring, I decided to take Abby and go spend Friday night and Saturday at the farm. She wasn't thrilled with the idea, and moaned and groaned and tried to come up with other things that she wanted to do. But I wasn't budging and once she realized it, she asked if Hannah could go too since it was "going to be sooooo boring!"

We got to Prairie around 7 pm. Nicky was there when we got there, but headed out soon after with Little Reuben to Little Reuben's aunt's house. Eden had his usual Eden-style meal prepared. Steaks, beans, salad, crab meat and ice cream.

After supper we were going to watch TV, but for some reason the television wouldn't change channels. Instead of the usual 5 channels, there was only one. I figured Abby and Hannah would have a nervous breakdown. They, however, showed much resourcefulness and fetched the Sweeney Todd Soundtrack and proceeded to put on a performance. They have both seen the movie numerous times, had been to the play at the Ford Center and knew every word to every song. They sang and danced for hours. It was very entertaining and I haven't laughed so hard in a while.

Nicky got in around 10:30 and we headed to bed. The bunkhouse walls are far from soundproof and I had forgotten to bring my sound machine. I could hear every sound on the Prairie. Buster and Duke couldn't decide if they wanted in or out so they would scratch on the door until someone got up to open it for them, usually me. Big Henry had tied up with a skunk earlier, so he wasn't allowed inside, and he wasn't happy about it. He barked and howled a little extra to punish us. And the bed squeaked and Eden snored. All in all it was a miserable night and I was glad to see daylight.

The next morning Nicky wanted to go to a kid something or other at Southside Baptist Church with Little Reuben. He was supposed to ride a bus they sent out, but missed it so we had to take him. On the way we stopped to visit with Murphee Evans and took a tour of the swanky guest digs he has built in the back of his new shop. When we left Murph's we dropped Nicky off at the church and walked through the church cemetary. We then made the downtown rounds of the Co-op, Mattox Feed Mill, Lann Hardware, the antique store and I had to check out Em's children's store and the flower shop. I got to see and visit with lots of folks.

Mary and Ferrel brought soup and cornbread for lunch and visited for a while. The kids rode horses and the girls learned to drive everything on the place; the 1950 8-N tractor, the old blue Datsun pick-up, also known as Eden's Gator. Then they drove 150 miles in the Van, through the pastures and around the field roads. They had all the windows down and the radio blaring. You would have thought they were riding the strip at Ft. Walton Beach. It took me back to the days when Leslie and Kristie Summerford did the same thing when they first learned to drive and weren't yet legal.

I went down to the farm house and got up in the attic. I found all Leslie's dresses that her Grandmommy Pope made her when she was a baby and toddler, that I thought were long gone. They are still in perfect shape for Caroline and by Leslie's reaction when she saw them you would have thought they were hundred dollar dresses. I also found Baker and Beau's crib bedding and it looked great too. I didn't know I still had any of it and have already bought nursery bedding, but Beverly hasn't gotten any yet and I'm thrilled that she can use it. I found a redheaded Cabbage Patch Doll that came from I don't know where. Leslie's Lolly Lee was blond and Baker's Bert and Beau's Abe were as bald as cue balls. Anyway, I brought her home, along with various other baby and doll clothes, strollers and such that I'm sure will be used and played with many more times. I also found boxes of old, old pictures of Eden's family members, old letters, genealogy records, scrapbooks and tons of other stuff that had mysteriously ended up in our attic when Grandmother Baker died and her house was cleaned out. I didn't have a clue who most of the people in the pictures were, but I called Mary and she came back out and we went through them all. It's a Treasure Trove of family history that I now have in my possession in Oxford.

I got everything loaded up that I wanted to take back to Oxford and then we headed home. I had intended to leave around 3:30 or 4:00 but it was closer to 6:00. We were worn out. It had been a full day, but it was a good day. After a supper of left over tacos and a soak in the hot tub, I was ready for my bed.