View from the Front Porch - Page 144 of 176 - Award-winning Author Judythe Morgan

15 08, 2014

A Tale of Birds and Bees – Miller Farm Friday

By judythemorgan|2014-08-15T06:00:47-05:00August 15th, 2014|Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A blog to life with Beekeeper Brian on our wedding anniversary

By Chicken Wrangler Sara

Twenty-seven years ago today, Beekeeper Brian married Chicken Wrangler Sara. At the time they were just Brian and Sara and no one would have ever been able to predict where their lives would go.

They were married in Houston and lived in a second floor apartment near downtown. Brian worked part time in a bank and went to school while Sara taught elementary school music. There were no chickens, dogs, lizards, bees or living creatures of any kind sharing the apartment. It was very quiet.

Then they moved to Denton where Brian could pursue his Masters degree. While in Denton, they purchased their first home but still had no chickens, dogs, lizards or bees – at least not on purpose. The quiet continued until the birth of their first child.

For the next 20 years, there would be no quiet. Soon there were two girls, but still no animals.

Their next home was in Canton – home of the world’s largest flea market. Life was simple, even after a third child was born – a boy.

After six months of simple, the Miller family moved to Mexico City, Mexico to a fourth floor apartment in a building with no elevators. Sara has vowed to never have stairs in her house again. Life was slightly more complicated, but still included no animals. Brian did woodworking while Sara helped with Bible Studies. The kids played, as they would have wherever they lived.

Two years later they returned to the US and have lived in Bryan for the past 15 years. This is where life has become interesting. It all started with one dog – Marv. He was soon joined by another dog – Sugar. They lived outside.

When Rachel was in kindergarten, her teacher gave her a guinea pig. The whole family was enamored and before long they were breeding and showing guinea pigs (which fall into the rabbit category). Gradually the guinea pigs died off and were replaced by a Leopard Gecko named Casey.

In true Miller fashion, Brian built an incubator and began a breeding colony of leopard geckos. The Millers don’t do things half-heartedly. The reptile period also included a bearded dragon named “B”. After a while, the geckos and incubator went to a graduate student and B finally died.

The dachshunds came next. Brian worked with a woman who bred dachshunds and before long there were four living at the Miller house. Life at the Miller’s was definitely not quiet.

Then began the chicken phase. Brian put a fence in the middle of the back yard to keep the dogs and chickens separate. Over the next five years, Miller Farm has provided much entertainment leading to the Chicken Wrangler Sara blog.

The bees started as a hive in a tree in the front yard. While most people would call an exterminator, Brian researched and decided this was the perfect time to realize his dream of keeping bees. His dedication to his craft has earned him the title Beekeeper Brian.

There has never been a dull moment in the Miller House. Even as the children go off to college, there is plenty of activity. Beekeeper Brian is a renaissance man who gives the same devotion to everything he does – including his marriage. After 27 years, life is just as exciting and we have much to anticipate.

I love you, Beekeeper Brian, and I can’t wait to see what you do next.

13 08, 2014

Procrastination – One Word Wednesday

By judythemorgan|2014-08-13T06:00:51-05:00August 13th, 2014|one word Wednesday|0 Comments

Procrastination is the act or habit of putting off or delaying something. A clever enemy of everyone, not just writers.

I’m not sure whether procrastination is a deliberate act or subconscious, but, according to Wayne Dyer, “Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.”

Author of The War of Art, Steven Pressfield, calls procrastination a form of resistance. He believes creative types face lots of resistance and offers inspiration to overcome that resistance. Words from his little book have gotten me over more than one bumpy writing slowdown.

I believe his idea of overcoming resistance applies to everyone plagued by the habit of procrastination.

Even if you’re not be a writer, procrastination can hold you back and prevent you from doing something you should be doing.

Goethe said, “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it. Begin it now.”

Writing is hard and solitary. Those two truths stall many writers. Procrastination wins.

I refuse to let procrastination to win. I get up every morning, put my butt in the chair, and W-R-I-T-E.

Note, I didn’t say when I feel like writing or whether I think what I write is worthy of a Pulitzer. I sit at the computer and write. EVERY DAY.

Does procrastination stall your dream?

I suggest following Franklin D. Roosevelt’s advice so beautifully depicted in Edie Melson’s graphic?

11 08, 2014

Foray for Mushrooms

By judythemorgan|2014-08-11T06:00:51-05:00August 11th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

Options for summer outings in our little corner of the Rio Grande National Forest are plentiful. There’s something different and fun every weekend. Don’t believe me, check out our South Fork website.

Last weekend we joined the fun on the 14th annual Mushroom Foray.

What’s a Mushroom Foray you ask?

I wondered myself knowing foray is to raid and plunder. Surely, that wasn’t the intent.

I contacted the Visitor Center for information and learned the Mushroom Foray is a simple adventure into the forest to learn to identify edible mushrooms.

And, if you check Dictionary.com, you’ll find that venturing into something new is a less used meaning of the word.

So off we went into the forest on one of the many Rio Grande Forest Service trails. We stopped at three different elevations to find different species of mushrooms.

At the first stop, we gathered our paper sacks and hiked up the hill into the woods. My husband and I were a little fearful that we’d be the only ones of the twenty folks on the foray that didn’t find specimens, but we soldiered on.

Our fears were found less for we quickly located a mushroom by a fallen log and prepared to extract the bloom from its habitat. I dutifully made notes of the location on the sack and carefully dug the mushroom then dropped it in the sack. My husband, meantime, kept searching.

We found six different varieties of mushrooms and proudly dumped our cache for identification along with the mushrooms others had collected. Alas, only one of our finds was an edible variety.

On our third and last stop, we ate our sack lunch then started searching again. More sure this time of what to look for, we were careful to dig only the ones we thought were edible.

In the picture below, the large white mushroom was the star of the pickings. It was the biggest example for the day of an edible mushroom…and it was ours.

The day provided a truly fun foray and an educational adventure. Now, if we are ever stranded in the forest, we won’t starve. We know what mushrooms we can eat.

Although my husband isn’t so sure eating a mushroom is better than starving. Me, I love the fungus blooms.

8 08, 2014

New Chicks – Miller Farm Friday

By judythemorgan|2014-08-08T06:00:15-05:00August 8th, 2014|Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Guest Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

We hatched more chicks last week.

Twenty-one of them hatched all on their own. There was one, however, who just couldn’t seem to get out of his shell.

The normal process is for the chicks to “pip” or poke a hole in the shell then they “zip” a line all the way around the shell. Once the line is complete, they can “pop” off the top of the shell and make their entrance into the world.

This chick had pipped and partially zipped. We waited 24 hours and there was still no progress.

We could hear him cheeping so we knew he was still alive. Rachel gently removed the egg and carefully helped the chick out. He was in the shell upside down so he couldn’t finish zipping and push his way out.

We let him dry and put him with the other chicks in the brooder. He was a little uncoordinated. The other chicks were not particularly welcoming and he protested loudly in his new home. After a few hours, he was accepted and now it is hard to tell which one he is.

I named him Leo after the lion in the book Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus, illustrated by Jose Aruego.

I enjoy watching the chicks. They sleep with their heads down on the wire. It makes me a little nervous because they look dead.

So I hit the top of the brooder and wake them up. They are not happy.I apologize and tell them I’m just “chicken” on them.

I want to introduce them to the Miller sense of humor while they are still young.

6 08, 2014

Un-stereotyping – One Word Wednesday

By judythemorgan|2014-08-06T06:00:34-05:00August 6th, 2014|one word Wednesday|4 Comments

I’m in the process of developing characters for two new love stories, and I’m wrestling with creating people who will be real to my readers.

At the same time, I’ve discovered I fell into the stereotyping pit in developing my fictional hero and heroine.

In the next novella of the Fitzpatrick Family series, my preacher’s daughter heroine is any parent’s nightmare.

In the final book of my military romance series about starting over, my retired Army colonel hero is a tough old bird unwilling to show vulnerability.

Of course, the characters can be exactly that way, but Holly Gerth’s blog got me to thinking. Do they have to be?

Too often (and too quickly), we lump people into categories because of a common characteristic or trait rather than think about their story.

I know from personal acquaintances the stereotypes I created are not necessarily true. Army officers can be compassionate and alpha at the same time. All preachers’ kids are not rebellious.

As a writer, I was being sloppy with my characterization so I started over and interviewed both characters, one at a time, again.

I discovered some amazing things that un-stereotyped them both.

Things that altered the plots of their stories.

Things that will make both novels more interesting.

Whether writing or dealing with people in our everyday world, stereotyping is the easy way, the lazy way.

A trap we shouldn’t fall into. Wouldn’t you agree?

4 08, 2014

The Scoop on the Ice Cream Cone

By judythemorgan|2014-08-04T06:00:21-05:00August 4th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|4 Comments

Last month was National Ice Cream Month. Did you know?

I didn’t either until I read Kovel’s Newsletter about ice cream-related memorabilia. Though I’m not in the antiques business full time anymore I often assist friends and neighbors with estate liquidatons so I read Kovel’s to keep up with trends and prices.

One of the articles gave the origins of the waffle cone.

Italo Marchiony, an 1896 New York City ice cream pushcart vendor, wanted to stop customers from walking away with his serving dishes and invented the edible cone. He patented the special mold for waffle cups with sloping sides in 1903.

A different account claims a 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair ice cream vendor ran out of paper dishes and made a deal with a neighboring vendor of “zalabia,” a waffle-like pastry. The combine effort of rolling up the waffles to hold ice cream was a big hit with fair goers.

Entrepreneur W.W. Turnbull saw fairgoers enjoying ice cream out of the rolled waffles. Three years later, he invented an ice cream cone vending machine. His Turnbull Cone & Machine Company of Cincinnati, which relocated to Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1918, became one of the country’s largest ice cream cone producers.

Turnbull Cone’s motto: “Eat a cone every day. You’ll feel better in every way.” I would agree!

SOURCE: Kovels.com http://bit.ly/1rTyJiC

This is a “Turnbull’s Crisp Clean Cones” soda fountain ice cream cone dispenser from about 1920.

A light bulb on the inside keeps cones warm and crispy. Push the levers on the outside to release the bottom cone down the chute.

The vintage machine sold for $960 at an auction in Iowa.

The idea of edible cones exploded in popularity after the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and somewhere along the way ice cream businesses like Dairy Queen entered the picture for ice cream lovers.

For those of you living where there are no DQs, Texans call the distinctive sign the Texas stop sign.

I promise my vehicle certainly stops far too often. But only to confirm Mr. Turnbull’s motto, of course.

1 08, 2014

Inspiration and Destruction – Miller Farm Friday

By judythemorgan|2014-08-01T06:00:48-05:00August 1st, 2014|Guest blogger, Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A guest blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Inspired by our recent vacation in Colorado, I decided to do something about our flower beds. They had become unrecognizable.

I really hadn’t noticed until we spent time at my parents house where they had just completed some wonderful landscaping.

Just because there weren’t beautiful mountains surrounding our house, that didn’t mean we couldn’t have other kinds of beauty – or at least some order.

I chose a small planter-type bed at the front porch and began. It had rained several times during the week so the ground was nice and soft and there was a cool front keeping the temperatures within reason.

Our neighbors had dwarf yaupon holly bushes they didn’t want so I moved them into our flower bed to replace the ones that had died. It was a long day but well worth it.

What do you think?

I was so excited about the results I decided to tackle the bed in front of the newly weeded bed next. It was a two day project.

As I pulled weeds, and pulled weeds, and pulled weeds, I uncovered several different types of insects — spiders, ants, snails, and roly-poly bugs. I even found a small lizard.

I felt somewhat guilty about destroying their habitat and hoped no one contacted the IPS (Insect Preservation Society). I figured I could justify the process as home improvement for bugs.

Our neighbors had gotten a trailer full from the city and had used all they needed. They were to thrilled to have their trailer emptied.

I thought the weeding would be the hardest part until I started moving mulch. I lost count of the number of wheelbarrows full of mulch I hauled across the yard. Once again the result was well worth the effort.

Today I am staying inside and resting the muscles I didn’t know I had that have hurt since Sunday.

Hopefully by Saturday I’ll be ready to tackle the next bed.

30 07, 2014

Guest Book – One Word Wednesday

By judythemorgan|2014-07-30T06:00:35-05:00July 30th, 2014|one word Wednesday|0 Comments

Bet you immediately thought about a guest book at a wedding or funeral.

There are those, but that’s not the guest book I mean.

I’m talking about guest books like the one that lives on the chest in our entry.

Our smiling faces are first thing to greet all guests to our home, but everyone who visits us is asked to sign our guest book before leaving.

Beside our smiles, Irish guests hear cead mile failte, an Irish greeting that means “A hundred thousand welcomes.”

Of course, we don’t limit cead mile failte welcomes to Irish only. As you can see in the picture, the plaque is there for all who wish to read.

This is actually our second guest book. The first book ran out of pages before we left Houston.

Interesting thing about guest books…

I rarely look back at the guest book from our wedding and have never looked over the attendees who signed the funeral books from my parent’s services.

However, I do go through our home guest books periodically. And, I smile from fond memories of time spent with friends.

Have you visited someone and signed their guest book? Do you have a guest book for you home?

If not, and you’re interested in starting to use a guest book, there are some great ideas on Pinterest. Most of the ideas are for wedding guest books, but are easily adapted for home guest books.

28 07, 2014

Four Lessons from My Canine Pals

By judythemorgan|2021-07-17T09:27:43-05:00July 28th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

Our Old English sheepdog came to us nine years ago at age nine weeks. Our bond was instant.

He’s been my best friend and trusty companion ever since. He’s constantly by my side. Sleeping in the keyhole of my desk does get a bit crowded sometimes. He didn’t stay eleven pounds for very long.

When Toby was five, Buster joined our family. (He’s stayed at eleven pounds.)

We inherited the little Maltese from my daughter and, since the dogs had spent time together at family gatherings, we didn’t have issues when Buster came to live with us permanently.

Well, not major issues. There is the problem of rawhide bones.

Toby will NOT share and Buster constantly steals the well-chewed and moist pieces. If Toby catches him, there’s gnarling and snapping, but never ever any contact. It’s as though Toby knows he could hurt the little dog.

When Toby realizes a bone has been stolen, he asks me to return his property. (Yep, Toby and I talk to one another.)

Then Buster, with his Napoleonic complex, goes after his much bigger brother as though to eat him alive…again Toby ignores him and settles with his repossessed bone.

Buster and Toby have bonded and rely on one another after four years. Watching the two dogs together has taught me some important lessons.

Be Loyal (but not to a fault)

Dogs are loyal. That’s what they do, who they are. We’ve all seen the pictures and read stories like the heartwarming story of the Labrador Retriever who famously laid down next to the coffin of his US soldier human.

Loyalty can be a huge asset, but my canine boys have taught me blind loyalty is foolish.

Walking is our ritual. Three times a day we hike around the area. I always do the early morning sunrise walk, but if I’m on deadline or absorbed in writing, those noontime and evening walks aren’t going to happen. They might prefer my company, but necessity dictates they have to go with whoever is available.

That can happen in our human lives too. Loyalty is definitely an asset, but often we have to do what it takes to get the job done.

Trust your instincts.

I see this principle often when I walk the dogs. Both will react if they deem someone or some animal we meet along our way as threatening.

Toby is allowed to determine our routes. Sometimes we go the short way, sometimes we walk for five miles, and sometimes we don’t leave the porch.

I trust him. There might be a bear or coyote lurking that I can’t see.

In life, we have to trust instincts too. Sure, it’s important to take time to listen to others’ input. But in the end, we should heed our gut instincts.

Know what you want and be super persistent about securing it.

Dogs know persistence pays.

Consider the last time your dog sat beside you through an entire meal, gazing up with Bambi eyes? Did you cave and toss a bite, impressed by his determination and patience?

Buster and Toby recline by my chair at mealtime like bookends. One on my left, one on my right. They don’t beg unless ice cream or pizza is involved. Then Toby sits in that perfect sit he never seemed to manage in dog obedience class and Buster, not to be ignored, jumps up on the edge of my chair.

I cave.

The scenario reminds me how very, very important dogged persistence can be. We should not give up on our goals.

There might be setbacks or defeats. Poor Toby and Buster don’t always get to lick the ice cream bowl especially if company’s here. Seeing a dog lick a bowl humans use tends to freak some people out. But hey, that’s what the sani-wash option on the dishwasher is for.

Even if we fail, persistence helps us learn what to do better next time or what techniques or approaches work, and what don’t.

Last, and probably the most significant, thing…

Go outside and play.

Writing is a solitary occupation. I tend to spend hour upon hour at my laptop. For Toby and Buster, it’s boring.

With technology penetrating every portion of our lives and jobs, it’s easy to be online and working 24-7. We forget the importance of refreshing our minds and body.

After a while, Toby will nudge my elbow and Buster will whine – not a pretty sound or sight, but effective – until I give up and push away from the computer, iPad, or iPhone.

I never regret spending time with them. I return renewed and I’m not imagining the effect research suggests exercise can actually improve productivity.

What about you do you have a trusted canine companion? What lessons have you learned from your dog?

25 07, 2014

Frizz, the Second – Miller Farm Friday

By judythemorgan|2014-07-25T06:00:24-05:00July 25th, 2014|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A guest blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

One of our most famous chickens is Frizz – a Cochin bantam who looks like she stuck her beak in a light socket.

She is a small bird who makes up for her size with attitude.

She and Samson, a bantam rooster who has feathered feet, have lived with the big birds for quite some time.

This spring, we moved them into the bantam side. We then incubated Frizz’s eggs in hopes of duplicating her unique look.

We had success:

Frizz the Second is a bit more timid than her mother, but then she is still young.

We have several friends who are now keeping chickens. One has asked about purchasing bantams from us.

Rachel was willing to let Frizz the Second go. I am not.

So we are hatching more eggs. We’ll see what comes out.

Home

Be Loyal (but not to a fault)

Trust your instincts.

Know what you want and be super persistent about securing it.

Go outside and play.