Tuesday, April 19, 2011

A Mountain Lion. A Baby Deer...Ballet Shoes.

Yes, a Mountain Lion, Cougar whatever you would like to call it. Some call it a Panther. Our oldest daughter Lea, saw the creature last week mid morning. Wow. Mr. B had just told the girls there was a Panther in the area and his ranch hand tells us there are more than one....enough of them.

Lea was strolling-tootling along whatever sounds good and she heard a pig's squeal, most likely a wild pig, and a scuffle was heard in the woods next to us....then. Then. Then Lea sees the back of a muscular very large cat, a lioness type animal walking away. Not a bob-cat mind you, but a very large lioness type of animal.

Lea comes in in her white sunglasses and pink feminine t-shirt and nonchalantly tells us what she saw. Never underestimate us girls for our toughness at times. It's strange; hurt our feelings? We get pretty upset. A mountain lion? We are amused. ; )

The next day, Mr. B's right hand man came over with a hunting gun for us to borrow, it was funny in a way. He's a tough guy but a softie on the inside, he proudly carries photos of his grandbabies and wife in his cell phone. He tells us he likes the house here, he's a nice guy, a hoot in his dryness. He looked over at my formal table and my little butler statue holding apple shaped salt and pepper shakers next to an unhung Thomas Kinkade picture. He had been telling us to shoot the lion if it came on our property and call him so he could see it. Our dining set was bought for a price of a mere single chair from one of my husband's clients, it's a beautiful Ernest Hemingway table set that had been sitting at a doctor's ranch, I presume not used? As Mr. B's right hand man studied the table, the butler statue and the surroundings I know what he was thinking in the theatre of his mind...(It's funny) He looked back around at us with serious soldier eyes and dryly says, "You're living in the country now."

I could have said, "Yes, we've lived here before", but instead Marianna and I smiled Southern Bellish and nodded our heads. : )

That day my mind was filled with thoughts from the old movies, "Giant" and "The Snows of Kilamanjaro". Thoughts of the characters Elizabeth Taylor and Ava Gardner played in those movies were very vivid that day in the theatre of my mind.


Our Home Whispers an Interesting Story

I later walked through the house in the dining and den and it really does speak a funny story. A fancy dining table covered in a green table cloth with a hunting gun on top it. My Baby Becca's (She's 17 but still my baby) her ballet pointe shoes in the corner (she takes from a Holy Spirit filled ballet teacher in a blatantly Christian studio) the shoes laying atop a laptop on the rustic floor next to my grandfather's old Wurlitzer piano that survived a fire years ago in the 40s....

The Lord sure has a sense of humor...Yes He does. : ) I wonder what He must think when He sees what is in the theatre of people's minds, the preconceived notions and what He knows to be true and truth, the real story behind the scenes....

A Baby Deer.

Speaking of creatures...Speaking of my baby Becca. She was jogging on the property several days ago, What did she see? A wobbling long legged little creature coming towards her. It was a baby deer! He suddenly stopped and Becca walked slowly towards it, the little creature was frightened and ran into the forest. Is that not the sweetest thing?

The Great Divide

I've noticed lately, there are two kinds of people that come to this house and our sweet land here. One kind walks in and gapes and smiles from ear to ear loving this land, this place....One young lady told her friend how wonderful it was here....She shares how wonderful of a feeling it is, how life stops in such a good way here. Another youngish man smiles ear to ear telling us similar sentiments.


...But in-between the sweet, uplifting comments and sweet souls and kindred spirits there tends to be a mountain lion.
They look at us with disdain for various reasons, maybe they have a pet habit or rather unrepented sin of manipulation and control. Their many times velvet claws are quiet and smooth. They would like for us to abandon our principles and convictions in so many ways. They can be worse than a mountain lion or any snake... Evil I tell you. Evil. It's amazing how some think they can be in other's business, their cowardly hearts so full of insecurities and many times a love of the worldly, seeming to hate the sweet things of the Lord as they speak of church in the next breath.

I read this, this morning in my devotional, Streams in the Desert

An excerpt:

Cowardice
will come and say, "You must retreat to the world's ways of acting. It is too difficult for you to continue living the part of a Christian. Abandon your principles." Yet no matter how much Satan may pressure me to follow his course, I cannot, for I am a child of God. The Lord's divine decree has commanded me to go from "Strength to strength" (Ps. 84:7) Therefore I will, and neither death nor hell will turn me from my course. And if for a season He calls me to "stand firm," I will acknowledge it as time to renew my strength for greater strides in the future.




I'm enjoying God's creation but do hope to get into the swing of things and get settled a bit better. Looking forward to sweet fellowship with new friends and getting together with old ones. We have several friends who live in this very area, it's been fun for the girls and us too, touring a friend's vegetable garden seeing their sweet cow. Girls meeting up with their nice friends here, riding together to events. Neat. Very neat. I like it. : )


Pray for us as we settle, still working on our well water, the satellite internet is glitchy so I'm not online quite as much so perhaps that may explain my extended absences.

Miss everyone. A hug.

~The Last Child in the Woods... ~Amelia







3 comments:

Unknown said...

"you're living in the country now"...ho, ho, ho! I guess you better get out your pipe and smoke that awhile ; )
A mountain lion is scary though. We saw one at a zoo last year and it was watching my son - like, my little boy was skipping back and forth in front of the enclosure and the lion was just watching him...it wasn't long before Dad said, "lets move away from here and go see the monkeys now!"

Hope you meet all sweet friends and see the mountain lions only afar off!

The Coderlambian said...

Well, I just found your blog...love reading your story and your return to the country! Mountain lion and all! Look forward to reading more of your adventures with the Lord!

Cass Griffin said...

There are two things from this post that stand out to me right off the bat: 1) Lea's nonchalance at a mountain lion. 2) the fact that Mr. B sees it fit to leave a gun with four ladies....this tells me of a lot of innerstrength and rational thinking. ;) I don't think I'd leave me with a gun. :)

I know the "look" and backhanded comments you get from people...you're probably halfway used to it because us homeschoolers get it a lot. ;) I even got one of those almost disdainful glares from a lady at my new church when we were talking about dressing modestly. Can you imagine getting flack about modesty IN A CHURCH? :/
My friend Mike lives in the old section of town with 3 acres that in spite of its location- it seems very remote....this upcoming weekend we're (with his daddy) planting about 1/2 an acre of vegetables and two grape arbors. ;) A few weekends back I helped his dad with some potatoes and onions. I love it. I love that we can do productive, wholesome activities together and that I'm learning about sustainability at the same time. :)
Hugs to you. I hope you get settled in and that your internet kinks get straightened out soon! :)

Love & Hugs to you all. Cass