Book Excerpt: Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam (May-Day)

Written by LeAnn R. Ralph


Fromrepparttar book: Give Me a Home Whererepparttar 110875 Dairy Cows Roam (trade paperback; Sept. 2004) LeAnn R. Ralph http://ruralroute2.com

~ 5 ~ May-Day!

The school bus had long since disappeared overrepparttar 110876 last hill towardrepparttar 110877 main road one afternoon when I set my books onrepparttar 110878 kitchen table and hurried intorepparttar 110879 living room to talk to my mother.

Mom was sitting in her favorite easy chair byrepparttar 110880 picture window, and her crutches were laid neatly onrepparttar 110881 floor next torepparttar 110882 chair where she could reach them.

Outsiderepparttar 110883 window,repparttar 110884 air was so clear everything shimmered and sparkled. The fence posts. The plum trees. The lilacs. But even thoughrepparttar 110885 sun was shining andrepparttar 110886 grass was as green asrepparttar 110887 bottle of food coloring inrepparttar 110888 kitchen cupboard, a chilly wind blew out ofrepparttar 110889 west. I would never tell her so, but I was glad my mother had insisted I put on my red button-down sweater before I left for school this morning.

“Mom?” I said. “Is it all right if I ride my bike?”

As I waited for her to answer my question, she looked up fromrepparttar 110890 newspaper and peered at me through her black-rimmed reading glasses.

“You won’t have much time before supper,” she said. “Why don’t you go out and find Dad instead?”

Since there were no other children inrepparttar 110891 family for me to play with, and no neighbor children close by, going outside to see Dad was even more fun than riding my bike.

There was only one problem.

“Isn’t he inrepparttar 110892 field someplace?” I asked.

Forrepparttar 110893 past month, Dad had been plowing, disking and planting. He often didn’t arrive home until it was time to putrepparttar 110894 cows inrepparttar 110895 barn and feed them. If Dad was out inrepparttar 110896 field, then he would be too busy to talk to me.

My mother shook her head. “He’s finished withrepparttar 110897 fieldwork. He came in for coffee this afternoon forrepparttar 110898 first time in I don’t know how long.”

“Yipee!” I said.

Mom smiled and went back to readingrepparttar 110899 newspaper.

A little while later after I had changed out of my school clothes and had put on my denim chore coat, I openedrepparttar 110900 porch door and saw our old, battered, green pickup truck backed up byrepparttar 110901 granary.

The driveway made a circle pastrepparttar 110902 buildings, and inrepparttar 110903 middle satrepparttar 110904 garage, a round, wooden grain bin, andrepparttar 110905 red gasoline barrel shaded by a large silver maple. Another silver maple grew inrepparttar 110906 front lawn, and a row of silver maples linedrepparttar 110907 lawn in back ofrepparttar 110908 house. One time Mom had told merepparttar 110909 silver maples were planted by my great-grandfather after he homesteadedrepparttar 110910 farm inrepparttar 110911 late 1800s.

The granary, which had little windows inrepparttar 110912 peak nearrepparttar 110913 roof that looked like a square tipped on end, stood acrossrepparttar 110914 driveway fromrepparttar 110915 gas barrel. The position ofrepparttar 110916 pickup truck told me that Dad was insiderepparttar 110917 granary, loading oats into burlap bags, and that he planned to go into town tomorrow to grind feed. About once a week he loadedrepparttar 110918 truck and made a trip torepparttar 110919 feed mill.

I stood onrepparttar 110920 porch and watched as Dad lifted a burlap bag of oats intorepparttar 110921 back ofrepparttar 110922 truck. My father made it look as thoughrepparttar 110923 bag of oats weighed no more than a ten-pound bag of sugar, but I knew better. A bag of oats weighed about a hundred pounds. Dad had put one on a scale once so I could see how much it weighed.

As my father disappeared intorepparttar 110924 granary again, I smiled to myself, happy inrepparttar 110925 knowledge that I knew right where he was, so I wouldn’t have to wander aroundrepparttar 110926 buildings, yelling for him.

I sat down onrepparttar 110927 porch steps. All afternoon,repparttar 110928 concrete steps had been soaking up sunshine, and beneathrepparttar 110929 seat of my jeans,repparttar 110930 top step felt almost hot. Dandelions filledrepparttar 110931 lawn, as if someone had scattered handfuls of gold coins, and big, white clouds that looked like giant cotton balls floated acrossrepparttar 110932 sky, pushed byrepparttar 110933 wind.

Only a few days of school remained, and I could hardly wait for summer vacation to begin. We usually got out of schoolrepparttar 110934 third week of May if we didn’t have too many snow days to make up. And onrepparttar 110935 last day of school, we always had a picnic. Everybody took their plates outside, and we sat onrepparttar 110936 grass instead of eating inrepparttar 110937 cafeteria.

I wasn’t looking forward torepparttar 110938 picnic quite as much as I did other years, though. Last year onrepparttar 110939 last day of school, I had no more than settled down with my plate when a garter snake had slithered out between my feet. The mere thought that I had almost sat on a snake still made my stomach do flip-flops.

As I sat there thinking aboutrepparttar 110940 school picnic, one ofrepparttar 110941 barn cats rose to her feet, arched her back and stretched, and then climbedrepparttar 110942 steps to sit beside me. She had been sprawled inrepparttar 110943 grass, sunning herself, and beneath my hand, her brown tabby fur felt warm and soft.

In a couple of minutes,repparttar 110944 cat went back to sunning herself, and I headed forrepparttar 110945 rope-and-board swing hanging fromrepparttar 110946 clothesline poles. While cloud shadows slipped acrossrepparttar 110947 fields, I swung higher and higher, my arms wrapped aroundrepparttar 110948 thick rope tied overrepparttar 110949 crosspiece. The rope had come from an extra coil stored inrepparttar 110950 haymow. Dad usedrepparttar 110951 same kind of rope for lettingrepparttar 110952 big door down so he could put hay intorepparttar 110953 barn duringrepparttar 110954 summer.

When I had gone as high as I could go, I sat quietly whilerepparttar 110955 swing moved slower and slower and slower. More puffy clouds drifted acrossrepparttar 110956 sun, and inrepparttar 110957 field behindrepparttar 110958 barn, clumps of alfalfa rippled inrepparttar 110959 cold breeze. The thought crossed my mind that maybe I should have put on a stocking cap. But then reason prevailed. It was May, after all.

I hopped out ofrepparttar 110960 swing and strolled towardrepparttar 110961 granary just as Dad brought another bag of oats and heaved it intorepparttar 110962 truck.

The maple trees aroundrepparttar 110963 lawn were now covered with green leaves, and as I passed beneathrepparttar 110964 maple tree byrepparttar 110965 gas barrel, I was close enough torepparttar 110966 truck to seerepparttar 110967 crack inrepparttar 110968 upholstery on top ofrepparttar 110969 seat behindrepparttar 110970 steering wheel.

I had no more than lifted my foot to take another step towardrepparttar 110971 truck when I noticed something out ofrepparttar 110972 corner of my eye.

I looked down.

And there, coiled inrepparttar 110973 grass by my feet, wasrepparttar 110974 biggest snake I had ever seen.

I had come within inches of stepping on it.

The snake watched me with beady black eyes—and then its forked tongue flickered in my direction.

Before I had time to think, I drew a deep breath…turned…and took off forrepparttar 110975 house.

As I raced pastrepparttar 110976 garage, I became aware of someone screaming. Blood curdling screams that were enough to makerepparttar 110977 hair stand up onrepparttar 110978 back of my neck.

Fun & Healthy Halloween Treats

Written by Sherri Allen


It's almost time for Halloween. Little ghosts and goblins will be running through neighborhoods acrossrepparttar country, going door-to-door, calling outrepparttar 110874 same three words, "trick or treat!" Of course, they'll be hoping for and expecting treats. This year, instead of handing outrepparttar 110875 usual candy treats, consider trying an alternative. Here are some Halloween treatsrepparttar 110876 children will enjoy that won't leave them bouncing offrepparttar 110877 walls:

* Small bags of pretzels or chips

* Mini-bags of microwave popcorn

* Fruit-Roll Ups

* Fruit juice snacks

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
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