BFF...A Tribute To Friends

     With Britney's graduation this past weekend, and her sadness of leaving friends, I got to thinking about my more recent friends as well as my old friends from grade school, high school and college.  Britney has been with her room mate Alissa for four years of college.  Here is an early picture, some of their travels with cross country and one from this weekend.

     Some of my friendships have remained over the years while others have not. It isn't that we are no longer friends...it's that we no longer have time to communicate very much...except the yearly Christmas card maybe.
   "A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need." Proverbs 17:17.  Looking back at my friendships, I see that some were temporary, but monumental in helping me at the time.  I  wish I had spent more time with most of my friends.  But, the more friends we have, the less time we have for each of them.  I have discovered the same holds true for our pets.  It is wonderful to experience how our animals befriend us and each other.  I have three chickens that follow me around quite often.  Betty, Babe and Flopsie are always curious as to what I am up to and hopeful there might be some food available from me.

In this photo of the chickens when they were younger, you can see they would eat clover right from my hand.  They would also let me pet them.

Amiga has grown to trust and respect me more and more as our friendship and experiences together grow. The same holds true for Courtney + Zorro. 

And then it is neat to see how close Amiga and Zorro are....
inseparable almost....which is not always a good thing.

The barn cats are good friends with each other.

And they and Abbey really like our dog Kaysha.

Even the chickens seem to like to be together and with the cow and horses.

And the cow is drawn to the horses.

 

     With animal friendships, one might question it's mental rather than physical needs, but I know they draw strength and comfort from these emotional bonds.  I guess we all need each other for companionship, love and comfort.  Just remember, friendship should be a give not a take experience.  In Romans 12:10, God tells us to "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves."

     Ann, a good friend and cohort, who started teaching at NCHS the same year as I did, has decided not to continue with part time teaching next year. She has bigger and better plans.  So I am feeling nostalgic about her leaving and will miss her and the good times we have had while teaching at NCHS.  We have shared this cubicle for the past two years. 

     Tuesday's trip to the vet in Gibson City  pleasantly surprised me at how well it went. The horses handled the 50 min drive quite well, and they did great during the exam and getting all their shots.
                                                                                      The drive home
was uneventful as well.  Later Tue. evening I heard a cat scream out back on the  west side of the house.  I went out on the deck to listen and look and called for the barn cats. Nothing... then I heard claws on the tree and the familiar decent of a cat from way up in the Chinese Elm by our deck.  I looked in the direction of the noise and saw a large tan cat. (Think this is the animal I had come across one night a few weeks ago that I thought might be a fox.) It came down and ran off as I yelled at it.  I continued calling for the barn kitties.... still nothing.  I started to go get the dog who was now standing just inside the kitchen door when I heard more claws on the tree way up.  Calling for the kitties, I soon saw Sis descending from quite high up in the tree, and a bit later Bro came out from under the deck. Maybe it's good these two friends split up and ran in two different directions.

     Wednesday afternoon we took the horses to Marj's so Cortney could try out her new saddle.  She had to borrow a girth and stir-ups.  The good news
is that the saddle
seems to fit okay.  Both horses were lethargic...but especially Zorro.  The Strangles vaccine they were given in their nose had really wiped them out.  Zorro also had a bump on his back thigh from one of the shots. We walked them around in the arena so Courtney could get a good feel of the saddle. Eventually Zorro started limping. The hip where he got a shot yesterday was hurting him. The poor boy just wasn't up to his usual self so we didn't ride very long.  It is so nice of our new friend Marj to help us out with all of this saddle stuff.

     Thursday we loaded up our horses once again and went back to Marj's.  We had our ridding lesson right after Joe had a private lesson.  This time 
                                                     we were going to have our lesson bare
back.  Zorro was still limping so Courtney rode Vinnie instead and she and Marj gave Zorro some Bute and put some gel on his bump.  What fun it was to ride bareback.  It took a lot more leg, because we were practicing moving, steering, and stopping them with just our legs and hips....while using as little reign as possible.  We did some balancing exercises as well.  We learned lots and had much fun. Once home we tended to Zorro.  Needing to keep him in to rest his leg, I decided to keep Amiga stalled for the night as well. These two equine friends are so much more relaxed when they can be near each other.

     Friday morning in an attempt to keep Zorro from over-doing it on his leg, I put him in the round pen for some good grass eating.  But a little storm blew in after a bit so I had to move him back in to a stall.  I put him in Amiga's and then left his open for her to come and go off the paddock since more rain was in the forecast.  I only had to give 1 final exam at school, so it was an easy day.  And I left all my grading there since it was going to
be a busy
weekend. Once back home I started to plant flowers in the pots Joe had snagged at the recycle center.  But another storm cut me short.  It eventually blew over and I got more planting and some weeding accomplished before dark.

     Saturday morning we headed to Greenville for Britney's graduation weekend.  We went garage sale-ing together before our big lunch and then went out to the field station to enjoy a walk in the country after lunch. Joe and Britney went for a run while I hung out in the beautiful garden at Charstreuse' Bed & Breakfast we were staying at. It was a block from campus, so was very handy.

Britney had her cutting of the ivy ceremony

     Then we went to dinner with her roommate and her parents.  That night we had another nice walk through town as Britney reminisced about the places we went by and the people who have impacted her life in Greenville.

     Sunday morning I was back out in the garden being serenaded by many various birds. Britney came over to join us for a great breakfast at the B&B.  We went to her church and met her friends there.  Then it was back to her house to load up some last minute stuff. We had a light picnic lunch at the B&B and then headed to the staging field for the graduation ceremony.  I went in to the hot gym fairly early and sat with Alissa's parents, whom we have become friends with through the girl's connection as room mates for 4 years. The ceremony was relatively quick but with the 90 degree heat, 3,000 people and no air conditioning....it was warm. After that we went to Patriots Park for a picnic dinner with all the senior cross country graduates.

     After too much good eating, Joe and I headed home.  Britney stayed for a slumber party with the girls, for one last celebration of their friendship.  They just don't want this to come to an end.  It is time for them to say good bye to Greenville, and head out into the world..  They will "Make New Friends" but they will always "Keep The Old" I am sure.