Most of the time I really love how quaint and relaxed Tiny Town is. Most of the time the laid back attitude of the inhabitants reminds me that I need to take a deep breath and embrace a slower way of life. Most of the time. However, I really have to say that I HATE how that spills over into their driving habits!

When there is a posted Speed Limit sign in the City, we always went 5 over that speed limit because you are supposed to round up. If you didn’t, you were practically edged off the road. Here in Tiny Town, it’s fully acceptable to not only go the exact posted Speed Limit, but you are actually ENCOURAGED to go 5 UNDER the speed limit!!!!

Yes, that’s 5 UNDER!

Every day I have to take Little Bird to kindergarten and while, yes, I made the decision to take her kitty corner across the valley to a different school because their program is better suited to Bird’s current skill set, I genuinely don’t understand why we have to endure the logic impotence that is so rampant here!

Most days, the journey from our house to kindergarten takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes. In the City, that was typical and nothing to be bothered about. Here in Tiny Town, that 10-15 minutes can easily turn into 20-25 if we are having to come to a complete standstill in the center of town while we wait for a herd of goats to cross the street. FREAKING GOATS!

Today, I just about lost it. I left with plenty of time to get to the school and everyone decided they were out for a little mosey while I’m Cruella De Vil-ing my way down the street following them at 5-10 mph UNDER the speed limit. When that speed limit is already 25, you can imagine the veins in my forehead bulging…

Looking around and practicing my deep breathing techniques, I spied half the population of Tiny Town just sitting around on lawn chairs in parking lots, parks and on the bloody street sidewalks! Old folks having themselves a little tipple while catching up on the latest gossip. Farmer Joe and Rancher Ron popping a Bud at 11 am on a Thursday just for the fun of it.

This place is about to make me lose my ever lovin’ mind! Seriously y’all, I just can’t even sometimes.

One of the most beautiful things about living out in Tiny Town is all the animals you get to have access to. We are surrounded constantly by horses, cows, pigs, dogs, cats, birds, chickens, deer, goats, sheep, insects, rodents, etc. The list trails on forever. It’s incredible the amount of wildlife that lives among the houses out here. Our favorite, by far, is the horses.

July 4th in Tiny Town, USA doesn’t have a big parade or firework show, they don’t even really do much in the way of celebrating as many of the residents will go out of the valley into the Big City to party. I am used to throwing a giant shindig every year that includes my famous hot dog bar, games, crafts for the kids, etc. Since we’d only moved a month before this, I didn’t feel like I could throw our annual bash and I was severely disappointed with the lack of festive activities for Independence Day.

My mom made a last minute decision to drive 4.5 hours to celebrate with us for a couple days and before she arrived, we went out and started a new tradition: horseback riding!

I’m finding that trying to incorporate traditions from my old life in the City to life out here in Tiny Town is harder and more frequent than I expected. I really anticipated it going more smoothly than it has, but alas…

New traditions are grand though and I’m excited to see if we can continue going out to the horses and spending time doing that over the 4th. Then, we’ll come back and do our big party thing. We just have to tweek things sometimes.

How often do you realize that in your life?

I heard once on a movie the line: “We are all just one small tweek away from getting everything we want out of life.”

I’m hoping that rings true for Tiny Town.

Mourning is difficult for most people and I would never negate that. However, mourning seems to creep down in the very marrow of my bones and ache in there for what seems to be an unusually long time. My husband knows this and, even in his mourning of our Gru, he wanted to help make the time I spent mourning as short as possible.

His suggestion was to get a new kitten right away. My suggestion to his suggestion isn’t polite enough for public viewing.

BUT, that Friday after losing Gru, in walks the hubby after work with a new kitten.

Meet Ollie.

The people we got him from were living in their car and said that they had had him for a few weeks and that he’d been abandoned by his mother. He’d been surviving on the people food that they were eating. I have no clue how he survived, to be honest.

When I took him into the vet the following week to estimate age, de-worm, get shots, the usual new kitty procedures, the vet approximated his age to be about 5-6 weeks old.

And while it still hurts to miss Gru-so so so much- I hurt far less now because I had to distract myself with training this new kitten and keeping track of him and teaching him to eat kitten food instead of climbing our legs like tree trunks to eat off our plates. It was refocusing the energy spent on mourning into something positive and beneficial. So, while I felt guilt at “replacing” Gru so quickly, I’m coming to understand that we didn’t really replace him, we just fast forwarded the healing process a bit. And that’s ok.

So, for anyone out there having just lost a pet and considering taking a while to get another, DON’T. It doesn’t do you or your family (or even other pets) any good to wait for a mourning period to pass. Your pet knew of your love and will be waiting for you in the next life we all go to after this one. Go, get that new pet, and love again. It’s ok.

Sorry for being MIA, it’s been tough to want to write the bad and ugly things of Tiny Town, but I knew I needed to get back on track here and that the bad was going to be part of this experience.

On a beautiful June morning (couple months ago), I woke up to texts coming into my phone. The Bird was out in the living room watching cartoons and eating her breakfast (yes, even at 5 she can do that herself). Several minutes later (approximately 15) I realized that I hadn’t heard the Bird let the cat in from his nightly hunting expedition. I thought that was odd. He normally gets let in in the mornings and comes in to wake me up, meowing loudly to tell me all about his adventures as he jumps on the bed for cuddles. That morning, he hadn’t done it.

I got up and went to the front door to let the dogs out and let Gru (the cat) in. He wasn’t at the door. Of course, my instincts kicked in because cats are creatures of habit. I attached the dogs to their leashes and stood up to look out into the front yard and road beyond, when suddenly I spied a familiar looking lump of fur laying in the road right in front of the house…

My heart sank and all the blood drained from my head.

My sweet Gru.

I immediately shut the door and tried to hold back the sobs as I informed my daughter that I needed to run outside for a few minutes but that I’d be back and under NO circumstances was she allowed to come outside. I could barely hold back the hysteria in my voice and she catches on easily. She started asking questions and I told her that she just had to stay put.

I ran out to the road and sure enough…. my sweet kitty was flayed open like a fish, insides all visible almost like a window had been cut into his side. He wasn’t moving, he was already gone, but it had JUST happened. The blood hadn’t congealed yet. The flies had just barely started to swarm.

I lost it, y’all.

I knew that if I’d just gotten up instead of sitting there answering my texts and looking at my stupid phone that I would have called him early enough to avoid it. But, instead, I made that fatal mistake of being distracted. And it cost me my crazy, sweet, loving, wild jungle cat.

I sat there crying, not knowing what to do. I called my husband who had gone out at about 5 am on a boys fishing trip with his brothers, father and grandpa and asked what I needed to do. He couldn’t help me, he was on a boat miles and miles away. He said that I needed to get Gru moved off the road and that was all that needed done.

I’m a city girl, people. Cats are people too. Not only could I not desecrate his poor feline body (for fear that all his guts would come pouring out of his body cavity in the moving process) but I also couldn’t get myself to do anything other than sit in the middle of the road, sobbing and petting my dead cat’s head.

I finally called my mother in law who came over and not only buried him properly, but also held me while I mourned. My poor baby.

This is the ugly side of living in the country. People fly down our road going about 55-60 mph, not caring about barn cats that run across the road, all day every day. They had no clue that the cat they hit wasn’t a barn cat, but a pet. They had no clue that I’d be the one to miss his quirky little personality. No clue that there would be a 5 year old little girl in tears because the kitty who was supposed to be around until she was college age had gone to heaven.

It has taken this long to write this because even now, months later, I cry just thinking about it. We made a lot of sacrifices to move out here and I’ve been accepting of them all, up until this point. And I don’t know how to bear this one.

In Tiny Town every year, they have a festival celebrating what used to be the most important tree grown in this valley. The government came in several years past and began to dictate where said tree could be grown and so production began to slow in the valley. However, Tiny Town still celebrates the festival because we are big on tradition out here in the sticks!

For about four days, there are fun things to do like a Hog Calling Contest, a Cherry Pit Spit contest, a children’s parade (where the kids actually make their own floats and/or costumes and parade through town), a full grown parade and a carnival with rides in the center park. Coming from the Big City, I wasn’t sure what to expect for Festival this year.

My mom had come to town to visit and see what kind of mess I’d gotten us into by moving out of “civilization” and we decided that we’d spend one full day at the carnival.

There were several rides, lots of little carnival games and many vendors. The food was terrible, the drinks were either warm from no ice or tasted/smelled like sulfur, and the costs were astronomical. That being said, the kids all loved it and the parents still seemed to be happy to be out enjoying the festivities. Seeing as this is the one big celebration Tiny Town has each year, it makes sense.

The next day, Husby’s family joined ours and my mother for the annual parade where all the businesses in town had a float. One of the Husby’s brothers and his family luckily live in town also and were able to sit right there with us. My Bird absolutely loves her cousins. They are best friends actually.

While we watched, the people on the floats would go by and a person from the float would jump off and run into the crowd for a quick chat or hug for someone in the audience. There was cat calling from the crowd to the people on the floats, jokes made and general fun filled harassment. It was a spectacular sight! Everyone knows everyone and the overall feeling of contented familiarity spread through all the participants. What an amazing experience!

Definitely one of the best days spent in Tiny Town so far!

One of the biggest reasons we moved to Tiny Town, USA, probably THE biggest, is that this is where the Husby is from. He grew up just about a mile south of where we are living. Throughout the valley, everyone knows our last name because our family has been here for generations now.

Grandpa (the Husby’s grandfather on his dad’s side) was born here in Tiny Town a little over 80 years ago and when he was a young teen, he met a beautiful girl. When he was 18 and she was 16, they married and immediately started having children. From this union came four boys, all before Grandma was 20. Grandpa worked for the mill here in the valley- always a hard worker, always a laborer of some kind, and always teaching his sons to work hard and that family was the most important thing, after God, in the world.

The boys grew and three of the four moved away to start new lives elsewhere. Only one has remained in the valley… the Husby’s Dad. Dad married Mom and had four children of their own before they bought Dad’s old Elementary school and turned the school into their home. After buying the school, they proceeded to have seven more children. My Husby was number three in that 11.

My brothers and sisters in law have all scattered as well, most ending up within our home state somewhere, but we do have one lone ranger clear across the country, living on the coast like he’s cool… or something. 🙂

What I have noticed about my Husby’s family, however, is one main theme-even though one might leave for awhile, somehow they never get far or never STAY far away. Even the cool one, he’ll be back some day. That’s what happened to my Husby, me and the Bird. He moved to the other side of the state for school, met me, we decided to make our home in my hometown and then fate intervened.

We are so happy to be here. It’s such a blessing. I had to drive over the hill and into the capital yesterday and I’ll tell you what… it hasn’t taken long for me to acclimate to the slower pace of life! People were scurrying this way and that, some dressed to the nines just to go into Costco, and most glued to their cell phones instead of looking around. It was like watching real life from outside of it. That’s the only descriptor I can think of. Kind of a weird feeling though, wow!

Anyway, moral of the story is that sometimes we look outside ourselves and our origins to find what the meaning of our lives are. However, no matter where you look, where you venture to, where life takes you, you should always be able to come home again. You should always be able to rely on your family (or your Husby’s family) to envelop you when you are home. If you don’t have that, I hope you’re able to find it.

I have a quote in vinyl on a tile I keep as decoration in my home at all times. It reads: “Home is not a Place, It’s a Feeling”. I believe that. Here is a photo of our little home:

As you leave our state capital with all its frenzied excitement, you find yourself driving along a barren desert highway, dotted with occasional cattle grazing. You begin to wonder if you’ve lost your way and if you are sure you know what exactly your destination is.

Driving, driving, driving out to the middle of no where that is sure to make any city slicker’s mouth run dry and palms to sweat.

Where are you? Did you take a wrong turn? Are you going to be attacked by mole people at any moment? You’re pretty sure the cow you just passed will use his razor sharp teeth to tear the flesh from your skull if you end up without gas or a blown tire on the side of the road!

But, hark! You see some small hills ahead with a tiny divide through which you must drive your car…

You glance at the clock on the dash to realize that you’ve been driving along said road for approximately 45 minutes and you wonder if there is even electricty, running water, civilation as you know it out here. Suddenly, the hills part and you are met with THIS:

Your breath catches at the beauty. The stunning brilliance that is a valley full of people living off the land God provided for them. It’s small, yes, and about 10 years behind whatever is popular in coastal cities, oh yes; but it’s warm and welcoming and feels like home. The air is clearer, the sun shines brighter and somehow, tinkling on the breeze, you hear the tender lilt of birdsong.

Have you stepped into another world? Yes. It’s a tiny pocket of humanity outside normal society, untouched and unmarred by current events. The people here just are. No pretentions, no expectations (other than when you plant a seed or feed a baby, it grows), no judgements.

Drive on in, sit on down and take a load off! You’re welcome to stay as long as you want! These folks will give you a cool glass of spring well water, a piece pie like their grandmother’s made before them, and a meal where if you are hungry after, it’ll be your own fault! These folks will even give you the shirt of their sweaty, hard working backs if you need it!

Welcome to Tiny Town!

One of the major (and I do mean MAAAAJOR) downsides to suddenly uprooting your city life and dumping it haphazardly into the country is having to get used to different kinds of wildlife. And by that, I mean bugs. All. The. Freaking. BUGS!!

Don’t get me wrong, I grew up with hobo spiders, brown recluse spiders, earwigs, flies, wasps, bees, etc. I know how to deal with those types of things. Over here in Tiny Town, we moved into a home that was mostly vacant (aka Bug Bachelor Pad) and there are different species of bugs than I ever even knew existed!

I step out onto my cute little front porch and am inundated by gnats, all kinds of spiders (big and small), earwigs, etc.

But the other day… I met my match.

Have you ever seen or experienced a bald faced hornet? Have you ever wondered what Satan looked like with wings? Yea, they are pretty much the same thing.

My Bird and I were sitting on our front porch the other day while our two dogs (a Yorkie and a Maltese Poodle (can I get an amen for city dogs?!)) ran about the front yard sniffing all the glorious things they would attempt to roll in later and I glanced up into the eves of our rental home. I spied, amongest all the cobwebs and bird poo needing to be cleaned off the surface, a small greyish papery looking orb:

To be honest, it was pretty awesome because it looked exactly like all those black and white pictures you’ve seen of Jupiter, complete with the Red Dot! Only this was a White Dot.

As my Bird and I watched, Satan emerged from said orb and took flight. I swear to you people, from the deepest recesses of my being, without any sort of exaggeration, I truly believe I saw his eyes turn red as he kick started his wings into action!

He was HUGE and had the body shape of a wasp but was all black from where I could see (with the exception of the glowing red eyes from Hell). I watched cautiously so as not to frighten my Bird but as soon as it was out of sight, I grabbed the Bird by the arm, called for the dogs and we went into the house immediately.

After asking my Father In Law, my Husby, a family friend and my trusty sidekick (Google), I was able to narrow it down to being the Bald Faced Hornet.

I can’t even.

Go and google about them if you dare, but be prepared to find yourself with nightmares later. Suffice to say, they are big, they are aggressive, a lot of people are severely allergic but don’t know until AFTER the sting has sent you to the hospital, and the sting won’t kill them so they can continue to sting you until YOU DIE!

Seriously… I can’t even.

That evening, I decided (after having the nest taken care of and evicting the tenant aka Satan) to mow our giant front lawn. In our previous home in the City, we would mow later because that’s when it was nice and cooled off. Tiny Town, I’m finding, would be best mowed in the mornings.

Alas, I digress. So, I mow while the Husby is evicting Satan and my Bird is riding her bike in our long driveway and I realize that I will most likely get some mosquito bites while doing so but I’m fairly covered with longer sleeves and capris and don’t think much of it.

Cut to this morning:

Those are just the ones on the outsides of my legs. The little vampires were somehow able to suck my blood THROUGH my capris and shirt. I have extreme quantities of mosquito bites on my arms, thighs, feet, wrists, butt cheeks, and back. (Kid you not, on my flipping back, y’all! It’s nigh unto impossible to scratch the middle of your back yourself!)

Needless to say, I underestimated the bugs. There are so, so, so many bugs.

*sigh* So now, this Mermaid Out of Water must add: Get Rid of Bugs to her list of Things to Do. Also maybe getting an Exorcist over here to eliminate any other Satan wannabees… (lol, see what I did there… wannaBEES)

Wish me luck!

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

Our first night in Tiny Town was similar to many of those spent visiting with the Hub’s family, only this time, we were headed back to our own house to go to sleep. We’d had long day of packing the giant Uhaul and driving across the state (several multiples of hours long) and were all exhausted.

As we drove, I began to realize that I suffer from night blindness in a very real way! Without other headlights or street lamps to guide my way, I struggled to find my new home! Once we pulled into the driveway and exited the vehicle, I looked up and to my astonishment… there are actually stars up there! The most you could see from our house in the City were a few of the very biggest and most pronounced planets and stars but they had to be really aggressive to make it through the haze and glare coming from the city life below.

I pulled the Hubs beside me a pointed to the heavens and exclaimed, “Dear, I really think there are more stars here!” Of course he laughed, wouldn’t you?

The next night, we had gone back to my in-laws to celebrate the Hubs’ birthday and I had to run out to our vehicle to get something. When I turned around and shut the van door, I was startled to see something move on the ground. I couldn’t tell what it was because it was dark and it blended so well into the gravel in my in-law’s driveway. When I looked closer, it was an actual frog/toad! I’m not sure where it came from or why it felt necessary to leap (literally) out and scare me, but he did! Shocked and utterly delighted, I watched as he hopped across the rest of the drive and into darkness once more on what I am certain was a very froggy adventure.

Upon returning to the festivities, I exclaimed to my husband what I’d just seen and he just smiled at me and said, “Yes dear, we have them down the road at our house too!” He thought nothing of it! But, in the City, the closest I ever came to seeing an actual amphibian in nature was going into PetCo or PetSmart and viewing them through glass! Astonishing! I wish I’d had my phone with me to capture a real photo of the little bug eyed hopper! Alas, here you are, straight from Google instead:

I shall endeavor to remember my phone in the future!

Edit:

I remembered my phone and captured this shot the other night at OUR house!

PS. I’ve been told they are toads (not frogs) because of how large they are and that they are prevalent this time of year over here in Tiny Town!