This is part of Readerbuzz’s Sunday Salon.
I tried to distract myself from the stress of life this week by choosing a documentary to watch, but I’m not sure my stress was relieved watching a farming couple almost crumble under stress. Truthfully, the documentary, The Biggest Little Farm, which I found on Hulu this time (see, it’s not always Amazon), has both bitter and sweet moments and was nicely put together.
The documentary follows the journey of a couple who starts a diverse farm in a fairly deserted area of California. Under the guidance of a consultant, they not only plant diverse crops but also begin raising various livestock, including sheep and chickens and one fat, pregnant pig. The couple started the farm to give their rescue dog a place to roam and soon learn their family dream will cost them a lot of pain, emotionally, physically and financially. There is a lot of bad (coyotes come to visit; there are other unexpected challenges) but there is also a lot of good (a booming egg business for one).
The documentary is also beautifully photographed, probably because one of the subjects of it started out as a wildlife videographer. After wiping my tears over that one (both from a little sadness and a lot of sweetness), I turned to comfort reading via one of The Cat Who books by Lillian Jackson Braun. I load one of Braun’s books into my Kindle anytime the outside world or my world gets too overwhelming (which seems to be often lately, honestly).
Right now I am reading The Cat Who Lived High. According to the description on Good Reads: “The colorful Casablanca apartment building is in danger of demolition–but not if Jim Qwilleran can help it. He’s determined to restore the building to its original grandeur. So he moves in with Koko and Yum Yum–and discovers that the Casablanca is steeped in history…and mystery. In Qwill’s very apartment, a glamorous art dealer met an untimely fate, and the veteran journalist and his crime-solving cats are about to reach new heights in detection as the evidence builds up…and the Casablanca threatens to crumble down around them!”
I like the predictability of the Cat Who books. I don’t always know who committed the crime but I know what the pattern will be to solve it. Qwill’s mustache is going to quiver and hum, alerting him to something that has gone amiss, but he’s still going to walk himself right into something questionable and his cat KoKo is going to help solve the crime with his uncanny ability to feel (and signal Qwill) when something is off. Also, a few women will fall all over the retired crime reporter and he will return some of that affection but he’s going to back away from the woman, choosing instead the comfort of the reserved librarian Polly Duncan from the small town of Pickax.
Some readers may find this routine stale after a few books, but in a world where the news and life is unpredictable, I welcome that familiar routine. There are two things that don’t change in my world: God and the plot devices of Lillian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who books and I like it that way.
Other news in the book world is that my mom, who I share a Kindle account with, has recommended I read a new-to-is author, Chris Fabry, so I plan to start one of his this week. I’ll probably start with Looking Into You, which Mom said is a good one and is available through Kindle Unlimited. Fabry, according to his site, has written 81 books, mainly in the Christian fiction drama. I’m looking forward to seeing what he has to offer in capturing my attention.
In other news, it is no secret that we are way beyond ready to sell our current house and get out of Dodge, so to speak. This week house showings slowed down, which was a welcome respite, partially because I’m burned out on holding showings and getting no one to buy and partially because our son came down with a cold this week and was fairly miserable.
On top of his cold, he choked on steak this weekend and almost died. My husband says I’m being dramatic but when one hears “oh my, God,” and runs into the dining room to see their husband giving their son the Heimlich maneuver, and then their son throws up the steak caught in his throat, one feels they can say their husband saved their son’s life.
My husband was cool as a cucumber and I was a blubbering mess after it was all over, which was actually in less than a minute but felt like forever. I guess it just hit me what could have happened and it shook me up pretty bad. I didn’t bug my son to eat his veggies for dinner like I usually do that night.
We are enjoying some warmer weather this weekend and expect to have it through part of this week before the temps crash again. The cold temperatures really wreak havoc on my muscles, dry skin, and ears/sinuses so this respite has been very welcome. We were so excited to have temperatures in the 50s we flung our windows open and simply put on a sweater if we felt chilly.
The warmer weather also helped my son’s sinuses issues from the cold, another reason we were happy to have it.
So how about you? How is the weather where you are? What are you reading or watching or up to? Let me know in the comments.
Boondock Ramblings 
Oh yes, that was such a scary situation! Thank God your husband was there to help! Our 11 year old son had just learned the Heimlich at school, when he had to practice it on our your 6 year old son who choked on a piece of candy while we were driving in our car! Needless to say we pulled over, and this Mama was a puddling mess too. I’m glad to know I’m not the only Mom who collapses after the danger is past! I’m continuing to pray for the right buyer for your house, and for you all to feel better!
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Thank you for the prayers, Bettie. I have been shook up for a couple days after it all as well. I keep going in his room to check on him and hug him. I’m so glad that even though he is 13, he still lets me do that.
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How scary!! Thank goodness your husband was there and calm. I would have freaked out, too. It’s been really warm here, too. I’m not complaining because I love it! 😀
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Our warmer weather went away today! Sniff. And now I have a milder version of my son’s cold. But..it is winter in the North so not much I can do!
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“The Biggest Little Farm” has chickens! Yay for chickens! 🙂
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Yes! They ended up falling for the chickens and one time I cried was over a chicken. 😭😭
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Chickens are amazing. Each of mine has her own personality, and each of them has me “wrapped around their littlest feather”!
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I have some friends who had chickens for awhile and they were just so fun to watch. A fox got a bunch of them but she still kept a few wandering around the property and it was just normal to see them sitting on your car when you’d come out.
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So glad your son is okay! I’ve never read any of The Cat books, but I’ll have to! You do make them sound fun 🙂
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That is so frightening, I would have been very upset too if that had happened with my son. So happy your husband saved his life, because you are right, he did. I am reading a holiday romance novel I pulled out of our library up north when we were there. It is so quiet at Our Little Red House with no computer, phone or cable so we do a lot of reading. I pulled a small book off one of our many shelves up there and started reading. Got so involved that I brought the book back with me to the city. It is called Her Holiday Family by Winnie Griggs, it’s an inspirational historical romance. I may be dropping it off for one of my aunts when finished because she loves Christian romance books. It’s a cute story about a bunch of orphan children and a widow and man that is in charge of the orphans. Nothing else going on over here in Arizona, except it isn’t that cold here but then it never is. I am still trying to finish large furniture pieces that I am redoing and our master bedroom. Oh, one of our little baby chicks got taken (eaten) by something, but I don’t know if it was a cat or fox. Weird but there are reports of raccoons and foxes in this neighborhood. We live around golf courses that have little lakes, and mountains all around this city. We have to be careful of wildlife even here in the city. Hope your son gets better and the temps stay warm for you too. Have a great week.
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That book sounds good.. I will have to look it up. I’m so sorry about the chick! that’s so sad. I’m afraid our warm respite has faded back into cold and that I may have my son’s cold, but he is luckily a lot better. My husband seems to be battling it now too. Hopefully it will be short lived as my son’s was fairly short lived, luckily.
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That is so scary!! Thank goodness your husband acted so quickly. I would have been a mess too! And I agree, it was probably ok to skip veggies that night.
I LOVED the Biggest Little Farm too!!! We watched it not that long ago and I fell in love with that movie, that family, that farm, that whole story. And cried as well, at happy parts and not so happy ones.
I hope that you both start feeling better soon! I have been running my humidifier non-stop this winter honestly. I felt like I am just sticking it out here in the living room and leaving it going. I have no idea if it is helping us but I feel like it is. 🙂
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I’m glad he acted fast too! Crazy stuff. I am feeling a little worse today but fighting against it going into the full blown illness my son and husband had. I keep saying “I am not sick!” I’m hosing my nose out with saline spray and rubbing Thieves oil all over me and drinking a lot of tea. I hope it helps!
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Lol! You sound like me! I try everything to ward it off! Tea with honey, chicken noodle soup, anything I can throw at it! Lol. Get some rest and drink water too! 🙂
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Wow, how scary!! I’m glad your son’s okay. We’ve been having warm weather here too, which I’m enjoying.
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Our warm weather just ended I’m afraid. Back to temps in the 30s and my sinuses are paying for it, but such is winter in the north.
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When my sons were six and nine, they were chasing each other around the house and my six-year-old pushed his arm through the glass on the front door. I rushed him to the emergency room, and they gave him over twenty stitches, in several different spots, and he felt good enough to go to Cub Scouts that evening. It was one of the most awful experiences of my life.
I’m finishing up a few of my self-described mood-boosting books (I’m pretty sure that your cat mystery books would qualify). I hope to read more of these throughout the year. My reading had taken a ridiculously serious highway a few years ago, and I decided I needed to exit and travel down a country lane for a while.
So glad your husband knew how to handle that situation.
Have a good week.
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Yikes! That sounds terrifying! I had a friend do something similar and I don’t think she was playing when it happened. it was just a fluke..the glass just shattered when she reached out to stop the door. I don’t remember how old we were when it happened. I wasn’t there but heard about it later.
I have been looking at your feel good book list to see what I can choose for myself actually 🙂
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I read all the Cat Who books when I was younger. Have a good week. My weekly update
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Wow…I’m sorry for what happened to your boy but so glad he’s ok! I suppose he will be chewing steak very carefully from now on!
I’m enjoying the warm up too. It was about -10 celsius today which according to google would be 14 degrees farenheit…so warm enough to go out and do something. My boys and I went skating. I was feeling so extremely tired and lazy beforehand and didn’t want to go, but then when we did it was just wonderful!
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Yes, I think he will be more careful, that’s for sure.
And I think 14 would still be too cold for me! In fact, I know it would!
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It’s fine if you have really warm clothes…I dress like I’m going into outer space 😊
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That’s how I would have to dress for sure. I didn’t used to be such a wimp but the older I get, the more I hate the cold. And the extreme heat. I’m a bit of a mess 😛
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Sounds like a good movie and book! So glad your husband was able to do the Heimlich maneuver! I had to do that for my daughter when she was 7 years old. She was choking on popcorn. Scary. I pray your son heals fast! God bless you all!
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Thank you. It was scary!
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The weather where I am is about the same as where you are. 😉 One of the books I’m reading is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and I’ve been journaling a passage or two from each chapter over the past week and am going to be doing so again this week. It’s been a good way to get back into it. Watching? I think I’ve already shared all that with you via Hangouts. As for what I’m up to, 5-foot-7-inches, as usual. At least I’m not shrinking.
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Ha. Ha. You’re so funny.
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