Country Mom

I recently moved back to the country with my family after living in the city for 30 years. I have twin boys who are 10 and they are having a blast playing in the great outdoors, going fishing and swimming in the lake.

Having grown up in the country, I knew that life’s tempo is slower and that this type of lifestyle is very different, but I forgot what it is like living in close proximity to critters! We live in an unincorporated area with no fences, leash laws or other restrictions, except for the burn ban and water rationing. The beautiful blonde Labrador, Dusty, that lives next door has chewed items the boys left in our yard including shoes, clothing and a cell phone (we got it back, still works). Dusty recently took a pair of eyeglasses out of a cup-holder in our golf cart, and chewed them beyond repair. We have holes in the yard dug by armadillos and the deer and rabbits are eating plants, flowers and grass.

Last Saturday morning we awoke to discover the seat cushion was missing from our new outdoor furniture. We looked all over the house and the two acre property and could not locate it. We went to our neighbors asking if they had seen the cushion with no luck.

Later that day, my husband was coming home from the store and found Sally, the neighbors pot-belly pig, on the patio trying to scoot the other seat cushion off the porch with her nose! Carl snapped a photo of her making her get away:

After a long search, the missing cushion was found about 500 feet from the front porch shoved back in a nest of bushes! We are having ham for dinner tonight! (Just kidding. My neighbor fixed the fence and we have locked down the cushions.)

It may be wild and crazy with so many creatures, but it’s fun to have my sons experience part of their childhood as I did.

Shelly Garrison is a Communications & Image Zone Manager for Texas Health Resources and Mom of two twin boys.