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Almost two years ago, I wrote a post called This Post is Stunning. Many of you may not have read that because it’s so old. Check it out, for context on this post.
Chicken, contemplating the meaning of life.
This rooster is stunning. Even though he doesn’t belong on my porch.
Yesterday, there was a veritable invasion on the porch. For the past couple of weeks, one rooster in particular has been hopping up to the porch every day. A Dominecker. Just him. He’d come eat some dog food then hop back away. I figured he was keeping the whole thing a big secret. I mean, what chicken in his right mind would share his dog food gold mine?
Maybe he didn’t share. Maybe the others just sneaked around and followed him. But yesterday, there were chickens all over the place.
And yet they were all so stunning.
I had to force myself to chase their stunningly fluffy butts off the porch and lock the porch gates.
Straggler.
They took their fluffy butts down to the goat yard where they were….
….just as stunning.
And speaking of creatures with fluffy butts.
(Not you, Boomer!)
The ducks.
They’re trying to kill me.
I love how ducks walk in a line. They are so stunning.
They stick together, near obsessively. They are creatures of habit. In the mornings, they come out of the chicken house and head for the goat yard. They hang out there for awhile then in the afternoon they head for the hill behind the house, up into the woods.
They do mysterious things there. Hold meetings. Enter secret portals into other worlds. All sorts of secret spy stuff. Then in the evenings, after dark, they come home to the chicken house.
Only the other night? They didn’t come home.
I’ve lost ducks before. Once a duck disappears, they don’t reappear. When a duck is gone, a duck is gone.
And all six were gone.
I mourned.
I gave them up for lost.
I looked for them anyway, and called to them, and hoped.
But I knew they were gone.
The second night, I got ready to shut the chickens up and I heard a low chorus I knew very well.
A chorus of ducks, quacking quietly to each other in the still darkness.
My ducks who had disappeared had reappeared.
I forgave them immediately. I can’t help it. I love my ducks. They’re stunning. Every day with them is a gift. I gave them bread in the morning and begged them not to run away again.
Coco has been re-relegated to the goat yard. She’s depressed.
She’d gotten pretty excited about Spice opening the door several times a day, and she and Boomer got a set of playing cards and were setting up for business at the dining room table. Between the dogs and the chickens, something had to give.
I mean, I have ten cats in the house, isn’t that enough????
I’m in love with this little brown duck, by the way.
She’s stunning.
I also think there’s something terribly stunning about Jack’s giant velvety head.
That head is every bit as soft as it looks. And he nuzzles. I love how donkeys nuzzle.
Annabelle is stunning. Even when she’s too busy to talk to me.
They are all stunning.
And I am stunned that these gorgeous, sweet, funny, demanding animals are part of my day, every day. I’m lucky to live on a farm. I’ve wanted to live on a farm all my life. I never really thought I would. (When you live in the suburbs, the notion of living on a farm sounds like an unattainable dream. How do you get there? Answer: you take the first step and then the next and then the next….)
But there are so many ways to live the simple, stunning life, and a farm is only one part of it and not absolutely necessary. I look back now and realize how many ways I could have lived more simply, and more stunningly, in the suburbs. It’s not where you live but how you live. It’s a lesson I am still learning, every day.
They help me learn it.
I want to thank you all for what you did yesterday. More than one person asked me in the comments if I could feel the love. YES. I don’t have the words to express it. Yesterday was surreal in some ways. I just want to tell you that you are STUNNING. And THANK YOU. (And if you can possibly stand it, please vote again today. You can vote every day until the voting closes–November 6.)
Posted by Suzanne McMinn on October 30, 2009THANK YOU. I LOVE YOU!
I CAN’T BELIEVE THE BBB CONTEST IS OVER AND PI DIDN’T WIN ONE!!!!! WHERE CAN I PURCHASE ONE?? - 
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Stunning post Suzanne. I love the pictures of all your animals – puts a smile on my face for this Friday morning.
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Cece
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I too, have always wanted to live on a farm. You are living my dream and it is good to know someone is doing exactly right with that dream. I seriously doubt I will ever achieve my goal as I am getting on in years now and am stuck up north in a place I never thought I would be again.
I spent years preparing for the day I would be able to find my little farm. I learned to sew, quilt, plant, harvest, can, freeze and dry my fruits and veggies. I even took a couple of creative writing classes and a children’s book writing camp along the way. These are all things that have helped me grow over the years.
It isn’t easy, the life you have chosen. It wasn’t easy to give up that dream. Maybe I haven’t really given it up yet, as I am still on my quest to learn everything I can to be self reliant. I guess what I am trying to say to you is that although I am not living my own dream right now, I am, through your writings and pictures. Your blog has touched me in a way no other blog has.
Yes, Lady Suzanne, you are STUNNING. In ways you don’t even know. You shine like a star in the heavens.
My heart may be pining for my home in North Florida, but it has found a second home here. Thank you for giving me hope again. May God bless you and your children and keep you safe in these troubled times.
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As a retired farmer,I am not sure about a farm,perhaps you should rename to “Stringtown Zoo\”
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I looove this blog.
I could not believe how far ahead you were when I came home from work yesterday and checked the standing. Stunning is the right word for all the support coming you way.
Not really surprising though. It is making us all feel good to be able to help you for a change.
When you put something beautiful out into the universe (your blog) it comes back to you tenfold.
Voted again today!
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Oh, and I already have spicy pinto beans bubbling on the stove this morning!
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It is raining love on Walton West Va this morning! I couldnt wait to check the voting this morning and watch the number increase as I cast my vote–I felt so powerful! All of us know you a winner. How special you are to us. You and your Family and critters are part of our life.
Thank you Suzanne.
JOJO
Ohio
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Got you on Facebook and Twitter!
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Voting for you is the least I can do to thank you for this blog. Voting for your from every computer I have and work at, and putting you on my facebook, and telling everyone I know to visit your blog and vote for you!
I have to tell you that one of my favorite posts was Ornery Angel. I really like it when you write about things like that! Thank you!
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I absolutely love the first pic of the rooster on the porch!!
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Vote early, vote often. Suzanne deserves this chance.
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Voted for you again Suzanne! Hubby will vote when he gets home from work. We’re pulling for ya!
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Keep posting about the animals, especially the ducks. I have ducks as well and I just love them. After a day in the trenches, they calm me down. And keep posting “vote for me”
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are those tears in Boomer’s eye? His feelings hurt cause he doesn’t have a fluffy butt??
This post will have me laughing all day long! Thanks Suzanne!!
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I think that rooster picture at the top should be submitted to a contest, too. It is really beautiful!
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Do you still have the pigs?
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By the way, that was a simply stunning post…
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Take Care and again, best wishes…
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Blessings from Ohio…
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Your chickens look so happy. I have always loved chickens, I grew up with chickens. I love watching them scratch in the yard and do their little chicken singing as they go about their day.
Deb
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GORGEOUS animals, Suzanne.
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p.s. I didn’t know I could vote every day, so I’ll just bop on over there and vote today…and tomorrow…and the next day…
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I can’t speak to anyone else’s reason for voting for you, but I vote for you because I think you’re a perfect fit for the job.
I enjoy reading your blog – it’s one of only a few I try to visit every day. No one pays me to come here. I don’t know you. Yet you manage to draw me back again and again to read what you’ve written.
And shoot, yes, I know how hard it is to ask for votes. I’m involved in a contest whose grand prize is enough money to modestly remodel my horrible kitchen. And I almost cry every time someone votes for me, but it still ties me in knots to ask. So I know.
But you should ask anyway, because you’re right for the gig, and it’ll be a life-changing experience for you and your children (because, to begin with, it’s life-changing not to worry about money every day…and then there are the future possibilities that become that much nearer…).
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