More on perspective changing

Living on a farm makes one rethink many things. Before we got involved with farm animals on a day to day basis (when we lived in Duluth), we lived in a small house in the suburbs. I was then (as I am now) a stay at-home mom. Our house was kept pretty clean, the only real dirt brought in was by the children and the dog, and it was easily handled. I remember being somewhat pie-eyed when we first began taking lessons at our friend Cynthia's house, and her buddy Leigh Ann teasing me about it, saying "still not used to the dirt that comes with farm life yet, eh?"

Fast forward five years to farm life here in Kentucky, and it's a whole different ballgame. Dirt is just a part of living on a farm, especially in this area of the Bluegrass, where it doesn't snow much, and mud becomes a whole season in and of itself. Rubber boots are mandatory now, each one of us has at least one pair, plus the shorter rubber shoes for when we're not walking in the deep mud of the pastures. It doesn't snow much here, so when we get precipitation, it's Mud Time.

Despite my efforts, dirt comes in the house. Mud in Kentucky laughs at the idea of a doormat.
We have whole separate sets of clothing in which we do chores, so that when we go to town we're not wearing mud, or blood, or feces of some sort (owning animals means you invariably have one or more on you at any given time.) I remember when we had babies in Saskatoon, I prayed for carpeting over our hardwood floor. Now we have carpeting, and I'm thinking of ripping it all up and just going to hardwood (Cynthia, I know you're smiling, you with the glorious tile floors in Duluth.) I had to purchase a Dyson vacuum just for animals in order to truly get the carpets clean in this house (the Great Dane and three indoor cats don't help, I suppose.)

But all in all, one does become more tolerant of good clean dirt. It's almost impossible to keep out, and unless I want to spend my entire day cleaning (I'm not that kind of girl, Martha does not live here), it's going to be here if you come to visit. Just how farm life is. Keeping baby chicks in the basement over the winter doesn't help either, they tend to shed as they feather-in, and chicken dust floats all over the place. It's part of the price we pay for being here and living this wonderful life.