Lehman’s Country Life

There are two kinds of cat people in our neighborhood. First, are the cowboys who believe cats were created for the sole purpose of controlling the spread of mice in barns and woodpiles. Period. Second, are the animal lovers who feel bad for the critters who are out there fighting, scrounging and multiplying. An animal-lover’s heartstrings pull every time she sees the inbreeding that leads to death, neurotic behavior or diseased kittens.

Nine-year-old Brigit falls into the second category. And that’s why we are now taking care of three abandoned mama cats. (We only had two mommies at last writing, but they are multiplying!) Little did we realize how much cat food, cat litter and poop scooping this project was going to require! And there’s heartache too.
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

My daughter’s science project looks at the exponential numbers involved when a single feral cat gets pregnant producing up to twenty kittens in a year. Then the kittens produce kittens and the colony expands. We have trapped two mommies and the drama has begun.

But the gift of life is still a breathtaking wonder to behold!

The cat Brigit calls Spot, gave birth to five babies. By the time we checked on her in the barn cage, one kitten had been shoved away. It was cold and limp. Lifeless. Brigit didn’t want to touch it. Death is a fearful thing. But I gently eased the body of the little Calico out of the cage and rubbed it.

If only it weren’t so cold. If only I could rub it back into life.

As I massaged the little fur ball it began to move, ever so slightly. All we knew for sure was that it wasn’t dead—yet! That was enough to change everything. Nine-year-old Brigit hopped on her bike to get help from a neighbor who is an expert on cats.
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

Our neighbor is 96 years old and she still goes for a walk several times each week. Very slowly she makes her way along the pasture fence between our properties. Then she turns around and goes home, carefully avoiding the ruts in the dirt road.  I have gone out to greet her only occasionally.

A simple hello always means a commitment to thirty minutes, or more, of conversation. I know that’s not much in the larger scheme of things. And, it means so much to older people when you give them the gift of time. But these days life seems to be all a rush and time is a precious commodity. Often my husband reminds me that I’m not keeping up with everything I have committed to do. I get stingy.

That’s why I’m pleased to share what I’ve learned about another gift we can give each other. It’s the gift of Story. Yes, it takes time. But it’s fun too and it fuels the imagination. Here’s how I learned about it.
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

My daughter just finished a book called The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs. In the story a boy is challenged to search out the Wonders in his small, seemingly-boring town. Like the boy in the story, it reminded me of how often I overlook the things that can inspire awe in the daily routines of life. But Brigit, age 9, was willing to take the novel character’s challenge. Within two days she wrote down The Seven Wonders of Brigit Brown.

Her Wonders began nine years ago with a twenty-four hour plane trip. She was born in Vietnam and had appeared in dreams for three years before her birth. I was living in Florida with my husband and young son. I flew around the world to bring her home when she was only 4½ months old.
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

By Jurgen Haver

Editors Note: Jurgen Haver is the husband of Judith Costello, one of Lehman’s Country Life long time contributors.

Just this week I read the results of three research studies. The first said the average child spends 45 hours a week in the digital world (cell phone, TV, games, texting, computer). Next was a study that concluded cell phones and e-mails help children socialize better. The last one was convinced that all of these digital tools were changing the way young people’s brains actually work and was probably not a good thing.

So, as I often do, I went out and talked to my animals about it. You can trust animals, you know. Here’s what I learned:
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

By Jurgen Haver

Editors Note: Jurgen Haver is the husband of Judith Costello, one of Lehman’s Country Life long time contributors.

I went to New York as a young man, with dreams of becoming the next great American novelist! Living in the big city, I noticed something about what makes people “real”.

At that time, I was hanging around people who thought of themselves as “cultured”. At literary gatherings and art shows the conversation always seemed to revolve around which authority you could quote. Nothing was said about what they personally believed. It was always a quoting contest. “So-and-so recently said…”
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

Our neighbor is 96 years old and she still goes for a walk several times each week. Very slowly she makes her way along the pasture fence between our properties. Then she turns around and goes home, carefully avoiding the ruts in the dirt road.  I have gone out to greet her only occasionally.

A simple hello always means a commitment to thirty minutes, or more, of conversation. I know that’s not much in the larger scheme of things. And, it means so much to older people when you give them the gift of time. But these days life seems to be all a rush and time is a precious commodity. Often my husband reminds me that I’m not keeping up with everything I have committed to do. I get stingy.

That’s why I’m pleased to share what I’ve learned about another gift we can give each other. It’s the gift of Story. Yes, it takes time. But it’s fun too and it fuels the imagination. Here’s how I learned about it.
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

Have I ever mentioned that we call our place “Sagging Acres”? The fences are sagging, the barn roof is sagging, the horse’s back is sagging and the adult humans’ energy is sagging. There is so much work to do here it makes me tired just thinking about it! I read stories about single women who build their own houses and maintain huge pieces of property and…well, it is unimaginable to me!So when we experienced some recent problems, we learned a big lesson. We are never alone. And God intended for us to work together.

I was gone for a short vacation with the children when Jurgen, my husband, fell. He was in the backyard feeding the dogs and stumbled on something. He hit his head on the wall of the house and lost consciousness. The day had been a rainy one, so we didn’t expect anyone to be dropping by.
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

It took 36 hours. That’s an eternity for a child. Or for a hatchling. And that’s the reason the new member of our family got her special name. Our new duckling is called “Milagro”-the Spanish word for “miracle”-because she had a lot of trouble making her entrance into the world. She didn’t give up, even though we almost gave up on her.

Milagro’s story begins, as all births do, with her mother. The mallard sat on a nest of nine eggs for two weeks. She only came off her bed of straw for brief moments to eat and drink. And the whole time she was away she called out loudly, “Leave me alone you ducks, chickens and humans! Can’t you see I’m in a hurry?” And looking back toward the nest she would cry out, “Don’t worry babies. I’m coming right back.”

But then one day she left the nest without any conversation. Two hours later she was still quietly foraging for food. It appeared to the children, who were eager for any excuse to claim the eggs, that the momma duck had abandoned them.
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

Koda, our blue and brown-eyed Heeler/Australian Shepherd, used to go outside to play with Bear, our lovable mutt. Bear may have the head of a Chow, but he has none of the testy qualities of that breed. The two dogs would run and play for awhile and then Koda would be ready to come inside to resume her role as a pampered indoor dog. When our big Bear comes inside to spend the night in the back room, Koda expresses her presumed superiority. She nips him and tries to make sure he cannot move anywhere else in the house except to go directly to his room. I noticed recently that this herding behavior was becoming increasingly hostile. Koda was pulling out Bear’s hair. And all he did in response was cry.

Then a strange thing happened.
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites