The Corsicana trip

The Corsicana trip was as good as it gets. The weather was chilly but beautiful and it's that time of year where you have to be prepared for any and all temperatures. For instance, when I got up Saturday I had to dress warmly for the morning....sweats, Uggs and multi-top layers. As the day went on I changed into shorts and a t shirt. Then in the late afternoon it was time to transition to capris and a long sleeve shirt. As the sun went down, I had to go back to the morning attire to be able to sit outside at night. Sounds exhausting right? It wasn't. That was the most stressful part of my day.

There was much to do while we were there such as cookies and pastries and banana splits got eaten, the pastures got mowed....twice, broken pipes got fixed....one by car light and flashlight......Olivia has some brute strength and just snapped a pipe off! Well, it was rusted through BUT she did snatch it. There were six dogs to be watched and bathed every night. Four of the six that came from the city dove into the pond as if they loved to get dirty; but the one country dog, Dottie, put nary a toe in the water. She refused to get even the slightest bit dirty. I do believe she was not comfortable in her country roots. BUT, thanks to a neighbor, 5 hens and a rooster have taken up residence in one of Gran's chicken pens and Dottie was VERY interested in each and every one of them. She kept vigil at the pen for long periods of time and we all knew that if given the chance, she would be having multi-chicken sandwiches for supper. It's possible that while Dottie lived on the country roads of Corsicana, there might have been the occasional farmer that came up missing a chicken or 2. She may have been a bit disappointed at the lack of poultry in her diet this week, but the rest of us are glad to report that all chickens were accounted for when we left.

And let me just say I LOVE checking for eggs. I had to really make myself not go 6 or 8 times every day because there's just something so exciting about going to look in the nest and finding an egg! It's like searching for Easter eggs but the eggs are really easy to find and contained in a confined space. It's the best of both worlds really. You get to go check for the "prize" of an egg and if you want to whip up an omelet after you found your egg......you can! I will say that some of us in the group felt there was not enough degrees of separation between the chicken's.......how do I say this gently......dispensing of the egg and us actually eating it. But Olivia, Owen and I bravely ate some and Owen even tried frying and poaching eggs by campfire. And he's still alive. We gathered about 15 eggs in 6 days. I consider it a miracle of epic proportions. If I ever have my own chickens, I'm really gonna need about 30 to 50 chickens so that every time I go check for eggs, I will be assured of finding one. I think that's called stacking the deck; but it's what I want.

Another excellent part of this trip was every afternoon we all piled in the car and rode around the back country roads in search of the perfect thing....whatever that was....like the lonesome soldier, the black and white paint horse that ran with us as we sped down the dirt road, a turtle, a wild turkey, an owl and of course the never elusive but always beautiful Texas Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes. We saw roadrunners and scissor tail flycatchers and lots of horses that need to become ours. I have tons of pictures and will post the evidence to confirm most of what was seen.

We drove into town on Saturday afternoon to take photos and to look at all the lovely houses on all the lovely streets and discovered a prom photo op just around the corner from the courthouse. And none of us would have believed it if we hadn't seen with our many eyes that somewhere in this world they really do make super bright orange tuxedos. Sadly we have no picture but we may have some video. It was not a good look for the guy. That's a discussion for a whole other day......why why why do the teenagers go for the hideous outfits for prom? It's just very disconcerting.

Maisy's first trip to Corsicana was well documented by Emma Garvin. I really only have two pictures of Caitlin to remind me that she was even there but strangely enough I have no less than 4oo pictures of Maisy. But Maisy loved the pond and was very willing to pose for her many photos.

We had bonfires and smores and Carrie melted her Uggs and there was enough wind to blow the hair off your head. Addy spent much time chained up because she has a mind of her own and a very loud bark as well. She never saw a cow or horse or chicken she didn't love to bark at. And when she was forced to get clean every night, she had an attitude that would make any teenager proud. And even though she fluffed up quite beautifully, it took her no time at all to get dirty the next day. If it's possible, she did it on purpose and then looked back with a satisfactory smug, "See I told you it wouldn't last," look on her face.

Bessie's lovely pink azalea was blooming in the front yard and it's amazing that even though that plant gets absolutely no tender loving care, it blooms much more beautifully than mine in my yard. But as with each and every Corsicana trip they all must come to an end and so it did. If I could still be there I would be. But there is a graduation soon to come and some planning of it to do. Summer is quickly coming upon us and hopefully there will be many trips to make there then. We shall see. I will remain hopeful.