Living a rural lifestyle provides a simplicity and a grounding that would be impossible to achieve in the city. Even though I am immersed in technology;with my computer and iPhone, Twitter and Facebook at home, and fight with computerized medical records and digital radiology at work; living on our little "patch of green" up here in the hills can take me away from all the wifi voodoo that we have all become too dependent upon. Life here is a constant reminder that there are things that cannot be controlled by modern day electronic gizmos.
We are feeding horses and cows, waiting for calves to drop, cleaning up branches and pine cones from a windstorm, starting seeds in the greenhouse, and busy with other Spring chores. The chores never end, but they cycle with the seasons and the weather. The seasons and the weather control much of our activities here, especially in their extremes; like five feet of snow, or fifty mile per hour winds, or one hundred degree heat and a well going dry.
There's no app for that, or any of the activities and events that we wake up to every day. I am just fine with that, too. It reminds me every day that I have very little control over anything in life. It reminds me that I am but a speck in this big universe, but that other living things depend on me being responsible. I am brought closer to God when I am surrounded by the beauty of His creation. I am able to appreciate the life around me that is new and different every day. Geese overhead in the morning, as I sip my coffee while filling the stock water tanks. Quail and turkey that hatch and grow through the summer months. Moose, mamas and babies, that wander out of the woods , and an occasional big bull that has been known to jump the pasture fence and cause panic with the horses. There is a herd of elk that migrate through every few weeks, now with some new babies running along side. Coyote songs at night, with a wolf howl now and then, as well. Listening to them on a clear night while pointing out the constellations to the kids is a gift. iTunes can't hold a candle their music.
We have beautiful sunrises and sunsets that we actually see. We feel the wind or rain or cold, because we have to go out into it. We get dirty working in the soil in the garden, the dirt in the fields, or the manure in the barn. We sit by a fire in the fire pit with friends and family, warmed by the flames and the companionship, roasting marshmallows after a barbecue.
I go into the real world to work and shop, the world ruled by technology and gadgets and plastic cards. I hurry home. I do marvel at it all, and I think I'm pretty savvy with downloads and blogs and tweets and photoshopping, but if it all disappeared tomorrow, I'd do just fine. I'd have a pitchfork and a shovel, my horse and my saddle, the stars and coyote serenade.
This is a wonderful life.
