New Life Spring Time in North Dakota

Spring is in full bloom here in ND.   I have talked a lot in the past blogs about how I really love the newness of spring.   It really is my favorite part the year.   This year here in ND has been a really nice experience even though it is so far behind SC and the east coast I’m used too.   

This spring what has made a big impact was seeing process of baby geese being brought into the world.   It was so fun to watch the geese making their nests and then seeing that they laid eggs in them.   How the spouses were so protective on the mother goose and nest.   I was able to interact with this pair in a really unexpected way.   The pair were friendly enough that I was able to sit right next to the nest.  Up until her babies hatched I visited her often.   She would show off her eggs like a proud mother. 

When the babies hatched they were so adorable.  I had a great time taking photos of them.   It is just cool seeing new life making its way in the world!

One of the other things I really enjoy is the tree in bloom.   The pink colors are just so wonderful.  It just makes me smile.   One of the thing I miss from my old job was the traveling up and down the east coast.   It always seemed to give a extended spring time.   So this year I tried to take full advantage of spring, well and after the winter I was ready to see some green too.

Here is a few photos that I have captured over the last weeks.

Can we afford to be judgmental?

It seems in today’s times it’s fashionable to be so judgmental and to pick a radical political side.   Not too long ago in the past that we as people could come to a common agreements and meet in the middle on subjects.    We really see this in politics and religion today and it makes me sad.   

As one of the great countries we still are knowingly discriminating on all kinds of citizen’s.    If you’re gay people are not serving them food all in the name of religious freedom.   The homeless in your community that you walk by and look down on in disgust and think horrible things about because they don’t have a place to call home..    What about the immigrant worker just trying to make a new life for their family living in fear of being deported.    

I is heartbreaking that North Dakota were I am currently living just voted down the bill SB2279 which would have amended the law to add sexual orientation to the law of things to you can’t discriminate against   North Dakota is one of the states that is growing the fastest and yet they choose to stay in the dark ages.  .  It is sad in today’s age I can be terminated from my job or not rented a house because of who my life partner is here in North Dakota and the legislators are okay with that.  How is that serving all the people in the community?

That brings me back to the just treating people in a kind and respectful way because it’s just the right thing to do.

Spurred Butterfly Pea

Wednesday I was driving up our long driveway and I saw this cool flower out of my corner on my eye.   Christa and I got out of the car and went to take a look and see.   Not being a South Carolina native I had to take a stroll through the internet to find what it was.  Centrosema Virginianum or Spurred Butterfly Pea the common name it goes by.Not being a flower expert by any means it was fun to read about it.   This particular flower interesting because it  is a hermaphrodite.  It is also a perennial so we will get to enjoy it next year as well!

Connections

I have been trying to gain control of my photographs that I have been taking and saving on the computer.   I have been saving them but not going through them and putting some sort of order, so the last few days I have been going through all of them.   I came across this photo yesterday, I think it is a  Northern Mockingbird that I had the pleasure of coming across in late spring.  

It was one of those stressful days and I thought a walk with the camera would do me some good.   It was about a mile into the walk and I heard this bird singing.   As I walk closer I thought I would snap a few shots of it.   It took notice of me and seemed like it was posing for me.   We eyed each other up for a bit as I caught a few more shots.    As I started to move on down the road to continue the walk it flew in front of me and landed on a phone line and waited for me to catch up.   It looked down and me and just started to chatter at me like I was its new best friend.   I looked up and our eyes connected and it was like we had this instant connection even though we couldn't understand each other’s language.    We enjoyed each other’s company for about 5 minutes before parting ways.

Re Birthday

 My favorite day is here again, Yay!   Rebirth day as I call it, really is just a marker of a point in my life.   It is point in life to mark the growth that has come over the years.   Yet a few years back it was a goal that seemed so out of reach and unobtainable and now it is reality.  

I don’t always talk about this part of my life much because it really personal and close to my heart.   For the non transgender people though they seem to like to focus on this part of life and really ask the most pressing and personal questions they can think of.   Many articles as of late have been written about what NOT to as a transgender person.    

Yesterday a good friend of mine posted on Facebook  OK - for those who are Trans*, it's Write 1 Line of your Story Today. If you had to sum up in one line something you would want to say to the entire world - what would it be.

So today in my reflection of over the last few years I was trying to think of what my one line is to sum up my experience.   Being a person of not many word I thought this should be easy to do.   It is 10pm now and I just couldn't get it down to one line,   here is a few words that come to mind though.

Inter peace ,  Freedom,  overwhelming happiness,  Joy  calmness, gratitude,  quietness of the heart,  genuine , normal,   set fee,   Serenity, blessed   authentic.

I really have a hard time summing up how I feel in words but I can always do that in my photography.   This photo I took the other day says it all for me.

     

Missing Dog

Happy 4^th !

I had a interesting thing happen today, I was gardening and a gentlemen pulled up our long driveway.   He was looking for his dog Scooter.   The dog had jumped out of his car when he was buying some produce at a stand up the road.  Some people had seen the dog running in the woods behind our house. 

The name reminded me of our dog that we had growing up.  Kind of a funny thing was my brother and I named our dog before knowing the gender.   We thought Scooter was a cool name for a dog and later found out that she was a girl.  But Scooter stuck with her though.  

I really have fond memories of her though; she was a constant through my childhood that was such a great thing as I think back on it.   We moved several times growing up and she would always be there wagging her tail to give some love!   She was always there to be my friend to play with until I made some new friends in the neighborhoods we would move to.

We would go to trips to the Oregon coast and she would just love the coast.   When we would get 20 miles or so to the coast she would always perk up and get all excited.  Somehow she could smell the ocean, we would crack the window a bit and she would stick her nose out and just love the smell.    When we would take walk on the beach she would just run and run and run.   She love running in the water and chasing the birds.   She would be so wore out from the walks on the beach for sure.

I normally don’t think about my childhood and hardly ever talk about it either.

It is interesting how things can trigger happy memories from childhood.   It did make me smile as I finish working in my garden.  

Scooter at the beach 

Scooter in her older years

Relentless Reality of the past year

  

It is interesting how reality of life can be relentless it seems at times.   Over the last few months for me it seems like life has just been piling on problem after problem.   I find that a good way for me to sometimes unwind and get out of myself and reflect on life is to take a trip to New Hope Pa.   It is a special place for me and represents many beginning and ending parts of my life over the last few years. 

 

I got to into New Hope and had a late breakfast.   I’m not really a breakfast person but it really hit the spot.   I continued the day by talking a walk on the tow paths there in town.   I like to walk over on the NJ side of the river because there is this abandon old train car that I love to read the graffiti on.   I have written about this train car in the past in August 2012.   I find it so interesting to see the new things that people have written.    I also looked at the phrase that someone had written a while back that I found so meaningful to my life, it is fading pretty bad.  I suspect that it may not be there the next time that I get back to see it.    It is kind of how life is for me though, something that is meaningful and good seem to fade out as new things if life come in.   Just how this train car is people are always putting on new graffiti covering the old or filling in were things are fading out. 

After looking at the train car I continued on my walk pondering life and taking photos of the world.   I really find that I can just lose myself of all my problems when I’m out taking photos.   I don’t get to do this as much as I would like to, funny how work gets in the way of things.

I got to spend the last part of the day meeting up with Sara at my 2nd Home..   As usual we had a great time and great conversation.    It was a great way to end the day and a great way to start the new year out as well.

Bittersweet day

Today was a bittersweet day for me.   I went to pick up a few remaining things in my old car and get the license plate.   I really felt like I was saying goodbye to a great friend, Tina says that I'm just a sappy old lady and too sentimental.

About 2 weeks ago the insurance company totaled out my Jetta L   A little over a month ago while driving home from work in Baltimore I hit a deer about 125 miles from home at 2am.   This deer was pretty big (10 point) and it hit so hard that the airbag went off.  The car did all the safety things that Volkswagen say it will do.   It shut off the engine, unlocked the doors, turned on the 4 way flashers, turned on the dome lights and cracked open the windows.   It is one of those things you really don’t think about all the safety features until you need them.   I was lucky and didn’t get injured in the accident, the deer wasn’t so lucky though.  

I normally don’t get to attached to things but I had really grown fond of my Jetta,  it got great fuel economy and in the 107,000 miles I put on it in 3 years I only had to replace 2 tires and a battery.   The reliability has just been great!  It is funny too when I first got it I really didn’t care for the color, and solely got it for the fuel economy.  The sales person said that after driving it a while you will really come to love it and in the end I did.

I was talking with my youngest today and we were talking about some of the interesting things that the car has seen and done.    One of her cool memories was last year for the last day of school I picked her up from school and I had brought Pat (my chicken) for meet her.   Pat road to and from that day on the emergency brake handle happy as could be.  Christa thought that it was the coolest thing too.

In my former job my Jetta was a working office.   I had a inverter wired up on the back trunk and had a laser printer in the trunk where I would print up paperwork for the aircraft that I would be handling that day.   I used to drive her out on the ramp next to the airplane on many different air force bases.   With the big trunk I carried everything I needed to be able to do my job and still have room.   I can't count how many hours I sat in it awaiting the plane to depart.  She transported many crew as well to and from the aircraft.

She was there through 2 major surgeries that I had; I still to this day remember each trip back from the hospital and home.   At that time we were living in Summerville and both trips were 12 hour rides and they were the 2 most painful drives home I have done. 

Over the last 5 months I have been traveling back and forth between Rock Hill and Baltimore and she has kept me safe when I have taken naps in rest areas in my travels as well.

So today I said goodbye to my old Jetta as the tears of sadness came out.   I wanted s something to remember her by and all the good time I had with her.   As I was leaving the wrecking yard I pried off the VW emblem off the trunk.  I hung it from the rear view mirror today of  her replacement.  I got a 2011 red Jetta with the exact same package as the last one and it too has the same diesel engine.   I am looking forward to all the new memories that this car and I will get to share.   If she is anything like the last one I am not going to be disappointed at all!

   

The passing of Henrietta

We had a sad day yesterday.   Tina got off work and came home and was tending to the babies, feeding and watering them.   They do the usual when she opens the door the all jump out and graze in the yard.   They just love it and the dogs love to play with them too.   When Tina went to put the back in their pen she noticed that she didn't see one of hers Henrietta.   The searched all over and didn’t find her, she finally looked in their roost and found her in the corner dead.  It just broke Tina's heart!   She was such a nice chicken and very affectionate.   She will be missed!   Here is a few photos of her over her fairly short life.

traveling experiences over the last few months.

Today I made it back home for my weekend around 6am this morning.   Currently this has been my crazy schedule,  I drive up on Monday morning to work and stay up there for the week and then leave to come home on Friday night after work and get home early in the am on Saturdays.   I have been doing this for a little over 2 months now, I am finally getting used to it I think.  

I have had a few interesting situation over these last few months at some hotels and though I would share a few with you.   

To try to keep cost down I started to stay at a Super 8 motel.   I started to stay there mostly because of the cost.  The rooms were sure not anything to be excited about by any means but for the most part it was quiet.   However one night I was coming back to the room on night and stand just outside next to my room was this guy with his shirt off smoking.    I went into my room and latter on that night he was outside smoking and talking on the phone and with a person that was with him and he was for sure part of the KKK.   Oh my gosh, I was freaking scared!   I was sure happy to know that they left the next day. 

My next experience was even scarier.   I saw the cute hotel that had pretty reasonable weekly rates and it looked nice from the outside so I thought I would book it for a week and try it out.  I drove up Sunday night and got in at around 2am on Monday morning and checked in.   I unpacked the car and got into the room that was marginal at best.   However the price was right though.   As I was unloading the car 2 guys walked by and I didn't think too much of it.   This room was on the bottom floor and had a window in the bathroom area with privacy glass to you couldn't see through it.   I happen to look up and I saw someone peering through the window.  That freaked me out and I turned the light out and shut the door to the bathroom.    Next thing I know someone was banging on the door and blocking the peephole.  Told them to go way, but they persistent and kept banging on the door.  I started to calling the front desk and while I was talking to the front desk clerk they started to pushed the window in trying to get in.   The front desk clerk scared them away!   I keep some tools in the car so I grabbed a hammer and knife that I slept with all week.    That night is one of the few times in my life that I can truly say I was scared.  I will never go back to that hotel for sure.

Those two bad experiences prompted me to continue to find better places to stay.  This brings me to trying Airbnb.com   My 1^st experience I really didn't know what to expect in the booking process and how things work but it was really an easy site to use.   The first home I stayed at was so cool experience.  They welcomed me in and I was made to feel so welcome there.   The first night we talked and shared life’s experiences and it was such a cool experience.  In the morning I love to have coffee and conversation before work was such a great way to start the day.   I really enjoyed that week.

The next 2 weeks I tried a different place and again I was taken aback at how welcoming my hosts were.   They made me feel so at home and like a part of the family.   This last week they made me dinner every day.  It was such a cool experience.   I will be staying a few weeks next month with them again and am so looking forward to it.   They are cool people and I am hoping that I will be able to cook them some dinners.  

What I have really learned from these experiences is that I really am more of a people person than I ever thought and that having a good conversation and learning about someone’s experiences in life is very important to me.   

Unrealistic Expectations

I was talking to a friend yesterday and he was asking me how I was doing in my new job.   I said that I was pretty discouraged in that there was so much that need to be done to make it a proper running facility.   He looked at me and asked how long have you been at this job, I was like well right around 7 weeks.   He smiled at me and said don't you think it unrealistic to think you can change it around in that time.    He was so right and I needed those few words of wisdom!  

I have to admit I also had expectations that things would just fall into place as well for our family.   They have but not in the ways I thought though.   Brenna is doing very well with her school and very happy.  Christa is doing very well in her school too.  Her school is very wonderful and she is fitting in well this year.  Tina is doing very well in her job as well.   So for the family things are fitting in to place so much better than the last few years.    My expectations of moving the family up to a new state just for my job is very realistic.   So it looks like it’s going to be commuting for a while longer for me.  

I do feel blessed that I have a job.   It’s in the aviation field, challenging and pays ok, so I can't ask for much more at this point.   

Fresh Eggs

One of our babies is laying eggs! 

When I was home on the weekend she had just started.   They are so cute and small.   We are not 100% sure which one it is but Brenna’s one is a lot smaller than the others so we think she is the one laying them.

I cooked one of the eggs over the weekend when I was home.   It was the best tasting egg I have had.  I have heard from many people that there is no comparison to store bought eggs and it is so true.     Over the weekend I had to add a nesting box for her to lay them in.    This was one of those things that I had been putting off over the last few months.      When I was building their new addition to their coop I got bit so many times on my feet by ants.   When I had moved their cage I had put it on an anthill and didn't know it until I was building.     I think I ended up with close to 20 bites on each foot.   The chickens sure love eating them though.   

Brynnes ramblings

The other day I was talking to a friend and we were talking about being open to talking with people.   I had to confess that I am really not good with being open and sharing what I think.   What I really noticed though is I am very open to sharing what I am feeling here on my blog page though.   Maybe it’s because I am not face to face.   I have always been one to keep my relationships with people at a arms length distance.  I have always been afraid that if they got to know me they would I guess not like me.  Maybe that’s why I am so guarded in sharing or talking one on one with people.   So I have decided that I am going to make an effort into changing that area in my life.

The other day I was really thinking of how I missed working my last job.   It is so interesting I remember when I first started traveling I really was apprehensive.    I was pretty sure that I was not going to like all the traveling and being away from home.   After a few months I really started to like the traveling.   As I look back on it I met the coolest people and made some of my best friends through the traveling.   I think that’s what I really miss about not working my last job.    There still is that part of me that feels lost because I still have not found a job yet.   It is funny how we define ourselves a lot by the job we work.   It is forcing me to have to redefine myself a little.   Sometimes it is hard to take a good hard honest look at ourselves.  My may not like what we see.

Our babies are getting pretty big.   The sure have not been enjoying the hot rainy weather that we have been having lately.   Tonight they were enjoying the cooler evening weather after I moved their coop to fresh grass. 

After all the rain we have had the last few days I finally was able to mow the yard that so badly needed it.  People probably think Im crazy when they drive by and see me smiling while I mow.   I really enjoy the mower and it just puts me in a happy place when I mow.

Finding the peace once again.

It has been a little bit sense my last posting.   The chickens have gotten big.   They are no longer our little babies although I still call them my babies.    I struggled to find the right design for the outside coop for them.  Because of this I procrastinated until it was time to get them outside.   I went to the hardware store and go a bunch of 2 X 4’s and chicken wire and set out to make them a new home.   I intended on building something small enough to move around easily so they could be on fresh grass every few days. However I ended up with something that we could walk in easy so the family could interact with the babies.   So it is a lot heavier than I anticipated, but it fits for everyone’s needs though.  In another few months the babies should be laying some fresh eggs for us, I can’t wait!

My baby Pat

Today I was chatting with a good friend on Facebook today and she really brought to light something I have lost sight of the last few months.   She had just recently has gone through a similar situation that I had been through.  What she reminded me was the true peace and happiness of the that situation.   It got me thinking, over the last few months I have really let life take all over that happiness and joy that I once had.   It is interesting how easy it is to be caught up in life and its problems.   I am so glad I talked with her so I could put my life back into prospective.

New mower

 On Monday the new mower that I purchases was delivered to our house.   I had been researching them for a while and finally settled on the one that I wanted and got it while it was on sale and got free delivery to top it off.   I decided to get a Sears Craftsman mower because of the price as well as the last mower I had in Summerville before we move really was very reliable.   I had it for 2 years and I only had one small part that I had to replace.

Our new yard that we have is a lot bigger than the yard we had in Summerville so I chose to step up to a 46” mower with automatic transmission and it also has the tight turning radius as well.

About 4 hours after it was delivered I couldn't resist the temptation to try it out on our lawn.   I have to admit I love it.   The way it rides and cuts and turns is so much better than my old riding mower.   

  

Just as I was almost finished the happiness came to a sudden stop.   I was down at the bottom end of the yard and it suddenly stopped moving.  As hard as I tried to get it to go forward or reverse it just wouldn't go.   I noticed that there was a small plastic fan that was laying on the ground behind the mower.   I shut the engine down and pushed it up the house.  I was mad for sure only having it a few hours and then it stop working!   I got on the internet to find a phone number to call the Sears warranty, I found that they had a online area to chat with someone.   I was shock and happy that they were able to schedule a repair person to come out the next day.   The repair person came out the next morning and took a look at it and knew exactly what had happened.   He pulled out the battery and box to expose were the fan had broken off.   The fan is supposed to help cool the transmission but more importantly it is designed to also keep the drive belt from jumping off the pulley.    He thinks that either during shipping or at the factory the belt got stuck between the pulley and the fan, he said that this was the 2^nd time is a week that they have seen this happen on our area.   He put the belt back on so that it is able to drive while the new parts are on order.   I was very happy with the service that he gave; he even walked me through some of the special futures that the sales person didn't show me.  It makes me glad that I bought it from Sears.  

Peeps in the house

We are off to a new adventure.   Yesterday we went to the local farm store and purchased 4 baby chickens.   We each picked one out that we thought was cute and brought them to their new home.

The girls and I had made a coop prior to that.  I under estimated the time it would take to make it by a few hours.   The last few days I had been researching on how to make them and what would work best for us.  With them being as young they still have about 5 weeks before we can put them outside.   Because of this I wanted to make a coop suitable for using inside but yet also work for the outside when they are old enough as well.   We went to the hardware store and gathered our supplies and set off to construct it.   The girls were big help holding the wood as I sawed it to helping hold the boards together as I nailed them.   We had purchased a roll of chicken wire and that was sure time consuming attaching to to the 2 x 4’s, but we did it!   I’m sure it was quite a sight 3 ladies jamming out to the car stereo on the back patio putting it together.   In the future we will need to make a house to attach to it for the nesting boxes.  We will have a few weeks to make that though, it will give us some time to better prepare.

Now we need to name the Girls.

Church and social justice

This last weekend Tina and I joined Holy Covenant Church in Charlotte NC.   We have truly found our church home.   What I really like about this church is that it is very biblical based and also very active in social justice issues.  I am finding that social justice issues really matter to me in life now.

Photo take by Debbie Davis

 Recently I have chosen to become involved with Scout for Equality.  I am going to be a Council Organizer.   It has been about 22 years sense I have really had much to do with the Boy Scouts.     I am hoping that Scouts for Equality and I will be able to change the anti LGBT position that the Boy Scouts of America has chosen to take.  As I have written in past posts I have pretty strong views about how the BSA can make a very positive change in a boy’s life.  All boys should have a opportunity to experience what the BSA can offer.    If you too would like to help make a change please check out Scouts for Equality.

Road Trip

We had a wonderful weekend at my 2nd Home. J   We left Rock Hill Friday morning and got up to New Hope pretty late in the evening.   Like usual pulling up the driveway was like pulling up to home.  This is the 1^st time that I have seen snow on the ground there though.   It was just a light dusting but very pretty.

Saturday was a special day for Christa because it was her birthday.  We got a wonderful salted caramel cake, it tasted so good!  

One of the other reasons was we also needed to make plans for Brenna’s wedding in December.   We are going to have all family that is coming to the wedding stay there, as well as we are going to do the wedding there too.  

On Sunday we took Brenna to Virginia Beach to spend her spring break with Monty her fiance.   We got a late start so when we finally got back to New Hope it was close to 1 am in the morning.  We were dragging Monday morning for sure.

In total we drove a little over 2000 miles this long weekend.   The only bad thing that happened this weekend was I broke off a 1/3 of my tooth.   I had been babying it until we got insurance so I could get a crown on it.   

Would you rather be right or have a relationship?

This last week has been pretty hectic.  We have been searching for a new car for Tina and out to get the best deal for the money.  We have test driven several and came close to buying on the weekend.   But the dealership and I couldn't come to an agreement on the price.  

I explored the idea of going back to school to finish my degree.   If I was to continue I would need 7 classes left to graduate.   I feel like it is a good time to finish it only because I have not found a job as of yet.   However is sure isn't a good time for it financially though.    I still have not made up my mind as of yet but today I am leaning on not continuing though.

On Sunday we went to church that we are thinking may be our new church home.   When we were in the new member’s inquiry class, the pastor made an interesting comment that really hit home for me.

She was explaining about how the UCC churches when through a time of struggle were some churches didn't want to be all inclusive like some were.   The two sides couldn't really come to term with each other.  At one of their yearly meetings one of the ministers gave a sermon entitled “Would you rather be right or have a relationship”.    

I really find this to be really true in my life.  In the past I always would rather be right and didn't care if a relationship would suffer.    But I am finding now that I am becoming more interested in a relationship then being right.    I have a few toxic relationships in my life currently and am wondering about maybe focusing in on just the relationship and not being right.   I think partially on my side of the relationship I have been not so open because I was more worried about being right on a few issues that I clearly believed to be wronged.    So I am thinking that maybe I will try a new approach to these relationships.

Couponing

Over the last month I have been perfecting my couponing skills.   I have to say that I was one of those people that made fun of the people walking around in the store with a book or file folder bulging with coupons.  

With me not working I thought maybe I could save some money and try the coupon thing out.  Going into it right off the bat I was very skeptical to say the least.  I started by clipping some coupons out of the Sunday papers.   My very 1^st shopping trip using them was really disappointing, I did save a little but it really brought my attention to the fact that I needed to really study up on the rules that the store had on the coupons.  I think that I may have saved 10% or so.    With a little reading up on how each store handles the coupons I have doing a lot better 4 weeks later.   This week I dropped our food cost to a 3^rd of what we normally spend.   What really shocked me is that what I was buying name brand products as well.  I am truly starting to be a believer in couponing!    As a beginner I still have so much to learn so I will be interested to see how much I will be able to save down the line.