Woooss at 14 Deg F, trade value for illusion

From TFmetals--a great post by someone else

After writing the above, I realized that many of you will believe that I am not sane. Too bad, so sad...
I thought everything would fall apart 2008. I never dreamed that taxpayer $ would be used to bail out the criminals.
And so I sit on a little farm growing older, trying to stack and plan for who knows what.
There are little gems that occur that light up my life, and somehow put this whole crazy world in perspective.
Here is one such gem.
Last Summer I bought lots of alfalfa. It's beginning to look like I bought too much. It does not keep its nutritional value very well past the first year, so I began a little experiment.
It is bitterly cold here. Yesterday it was 14 degrees in the milking room. I nearly went on strike. Then I remembered that having milk during the winter is one of my "prepare accordingly " goals, so I quit complaining and got the job done.
Every morning I let the goats out into the snow so they are not confined to their stalls all day. I begin by putting six piles of alfalfa on the ground for them to eat. Then something occurred that made me change my ways.
A beautiful little deer started showing up to eat. She was by herself, small and very beautiful. She was not the emaciated deer I have spoken of earlier. The goats welcomed her, and began to share their alfalfa with her. So she stayed. All day, for days on end. I began to put out a separate pile for her, seven piles in all.
Two days ago I went out to call my goats. It was dusk and time to come in, get warm, get milked, and bed down for the night. As I called they came running, ears flopping, tails wagging. Along with the goats came the pretty deer. She stopped at the door, and slowly looked around the opening to see what was going on. It was a Kodak moment. Six goats with waggy tails and a deer who wanted to be part of the goat herd.
Last night I realized why she was always alone. She brought someone with her. I gasped in wonder at the sight. Standing out with her in the snow was a beautiful 3 prong buck. He was less than twenty feet from me as I entered the goat's area of the barn. He was beautiful!!!
I have never been so close to a buck like him. He saw me and began to run. Pretty Brown Eyes (my name for the doe) just kept right on eating as if nothing strange was happening, so he did too!
This is how I keep sane in a world run by psycho/sociopaths. I allow myself to pause and experience the wonder that is all about me. The falling snow. The magpies as they chatter looking for food. The light dancing off the snow. Warm milk as it fills the milk pail...
We all have a choice, and for me, I choose to see the wonder that is all about me.
I don't know how else to keep a spirit of joy in a world that is doing everything possible to take away our joy and ruin our spirit of hope.