A couple of days ago, I rose early.  My reward, when I went to the porch, was to get to enjoy this lovely sunrise:

It got me thinking about a saying that I've had for years, a saying that my daughter once told me was the most valuable thing I taught her when she was growing up:  "No matter what, the sun WILL come up in the morning."  And, if it doesn't, of course, we have much worse problems than whatever happens to be troubling us in the immediate moment. 

With all of the angst and trauma and wailing and moaning and gnashing of teeth that's going on in the media (and elsewhere) these days about The State Of The Real Estate Market, I think we could all stand to take a deep breath, stand back, look at history and the Big Picture, and remind ourselves (and our clients) of that fact.  Really, things may appear dark, but the sun does, inevitably, always, come up in the morning. 

It's summer here in Central Texas, grass is growing (well, it's struggling due to the lack of rain for the past month or so, but there's still forage for the critters), animals are eating, we're not having to feed any hay. 

But that's now.  Living in the country, we need to look ahead to winter way before it's here.  A few days ago, taking advantage of the dry weather (every vice has its virtues, and vice versa), lots of people in the area, including us, were having their hay cut and baled. 

When we first moved out here, and for several years thereafter, we weed-killed and fertilized, and we had our hay put up in square bales.  I will never forget that first year, when the three of us (husband Phil, daughter Jess, and I) were putting the hay in the barn, 500 bales, 3 days, 108 degree weather.  

About 3 years ago, with it being just the two of us at home now, we decided to try round bales.  We had them baled smaller than usual, to make them easier to handle.  We got 20 bales that first year, and with the tractor, they were put up in an hour and a half instead of the 3 days we usually had to schedule. 

We gave the field a rest for a couple of years, due to first drought, then flood.  Last year we decided to try something different.  Instead of weedkiller and chemical fertilizers, we decided to try a more natural approach, using liquid compost extract applied by Sustainable Growth, Texas.  It's applied in the same way, the cost is very close to the same if not a little bit less, and we noticed almost immediately that the grass was growing in thicker. 

When we baled last week, we got 28 round bales off of the same field that had produced 20 in past.   That's enough of an improvement to make the argument for continuing with the liquid compost, which is better for the soil, the plants, and the animals (including us).  

Our planning for the coming winter, then, started last fall, when we chose the treatment for the field.  Now, we have more than enough hay to see our critters through the winter (and, for that matter, this August, which is another time when we like to give the grass as much of a rest as possible).  It's just another good feeling of life lived in the country.

As those who have been around a while may know, my new name, after frying two hard drives (and making an external backup hard drive not work) within five months, is "Dances on Hard Drives".  So you can imagine my chagrin when I went to turn on my computer yesterday morning, the computer that had been functioning perfectly well the night before when I shut it down, and nothing happened.  It wouldn't even TRY to turn on!  Thoughts of terminal embarrassment (never mind lost data) went flitting through my mind. 

I had floor duty, on top of that, and an appointment right after that.  I quickly packed up my computer and headed to Friendly Computers in Georgetown, Texas.  I'd first met the owners at a Schmoozoo gathering (Schmoozoo being a social/business networking group then active in Georgetown), and we hit it off.  They'd not been able (nor had anyone else) to resuscitate my last hard drive, or recover the data, as I had well and truly destroyed that one, but I had confidence, and I needed this fixed in a hurry! 

Dropping it off at 9:00 a.m. on the dot, making my way through the long line of new I-Phone seekers stretching around the corner of the shopping center (ATT being right around the corner), I went on to the office, trying not to worry. 

Mid-afternoon, on my way to my appointment, I called to see how things were going.  The phone was answered by Dana, of Bill & Dana, owners of Friendly Computers in Georgetown.  She kindly took the phone and walked in to see what the status was, and informed me that she could see my computer, its guts were hanging out, and they were working on it.  She promised to call me with the results of the operation.

A bit later, she called with the reassuring words that it had been nothing more than a power supply.  They closed at 6:00 p.m.  Following my appointment, stuck in rush hour traffic going about 5 mph, wanting desperately - nay, NEEDING to get my computer back that evening (can you say addict?), I called.  Dana talked me down and assured me they'd still be there when I arrived, even if I was a bit late.  (This is FRIENDLY computers, after all.)

I actually managed to arrive a few minutes before 6:00.  Friendly conversation, a Hershey's dark chocolate kiss wrapped in purple (their signature color), some friendly conversation, and my computer and I were on my way (with a lovely glass of flowers from Dana's garden that she insisted I take home with me since I'd had such a rough day). 

Friendly Computers is a lifesaver - AND a sanity saver.   Kudoes to them for the work they did on my computer's brain - and mine.  And they have an adorable vehicle. (Yes, they will do onsite work.)