Our "Two" Lives

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way." -Charles Dickens

One of the things Matt and I loved at the ranch is being outdoors. Both of us are the outdoorsy type. This living in town thing is not really our first choice. We have often thought "when we make our next move closer to Tulsa, we'd love to buy a house in the country."

This would be perfect except, I'm guessing it would be a little tough with younger children. PLUS, I think we go to Wal-Mart 5 times a week. On second thought, we might save some money.

Anyways, I have been looking through old CD's that have my ranch pictures on them.

I put the quote from Tale of Two Cities because that quote sums up our experience.

One of the biggest things we miss about the country is fishing. We love love love to fish. The closest place from Bartlesville to fish is Pawhuska.

You have to look hard to see my little perch. "At least I'm catching something," is what I always thought.

I was fishing alone and had to use my foot to show how long this fish was so Matt would believe me.

I know that these bass aren't the biggest, but they were the biggest ones I caught. Matt has me beat in the 'big fish' category.There were a few apple trees around. In the evenings, I would pick the yucky apples up from the ground and take them out near the ponds we fished. I'd dumped tons of apples and in the mornings not a core, stem, or a peel would remain.

A small track.

A rare find. The praying mantis.

I found one on the front window of my house last week. It's rare to see them, but I have seen quite a few lately.

I had two hummingbird feeders. I think I fed all the hummingbirds in Lincoln county. I would have to refill two feeders once to twice a week. They were fun to watch.

Another rare find. Probably rarer than the mantis...

The elusive zipper spider.

The boys had planted some tomato plants and this little chica made her web between the T-posts. We would find bugs and toss them into her web and she would go to town on them. It was exciting. I'm slightly weird though. She'd 'run' after the bug and wrap it up like a wrangler.

Her victim.

Although leaving was the most painful and the most God-doubting moment I've ever had in my life; to date. It was the right thing. Even though it happened slightly different than I had imagined.