We all have a list of favorite things that comfort us. I'm referring to little everyday things that my put a smile on your face, refresh your soul or simply polish the shine on your sense of well-being. My list is too long to record here. There are so many things that have the potential to lift us up. And, new ones get added all of the time. Right? There were several that qualified as comforters for me this past week.

How about you? How were you blessed with different flavors of comfort in recent days? Sometimes, we get so caught up in the daily hub-bub of life that we forget to take time to count our blessings. That, in and of itself, is a comforting habit well worth developing.

Now that the weather is user-friendly, Michele & I have been anxious to explore new "junk hunting" sites. A ranching friend invited us out to his place to do that very thing and we siezed the opportunity. Hop in the pickup if you want to come along.

At last count, we have nine newborn calves. We're just entering calving season and pretty soon, there will be baby beefs snuggled under every sagebrush at the ranch. When we ride to check on the mother cows and their babies, the latter can be hard to find. Just yesterday, I had a heck of a time finding a new calf here at home where we keep the first-calf heifers. But, while I was looking for the little dickens, I did find something else ... a treasure!

Curse not the month of bluster and tumbling bonnets, for it takes a blast of many trumpets to loosen winter's claws of ice. Ancient Jews held a festival in March in which trumpets owned the air. A jubilant chorus of brass marked the end of a season and the beginning of a new one. Indeed, there is something victorious sounding in the blowing of a horn!

Greetings farmgirls! Spring hasn't sprung in our part of the country yet and I have a raging case of spring fever (an annual occurance). I have pansies on the brain ... among other things. This time of year, I always wonder if perhaps the greenhouses have any in stock yet. I should know better by now, but that doesn't stop feverish visions.  I'm afflicted with both spring fever and cabin fever, so, I've been trying to maintain a good mindset by doing a variety of indoor things. If you're a feverish farmgirl too, c'mon in, have a spot of tea & sit a spell.  

My husband and I began our own 'flip this house' project over a year ago. Needless to say, the flip hasn't hasn't happened yet. "Flip" is a cute, quick word. We need a different word for what we're doing to transform our house. A slower word. But, it is going to happen. When you've lived in a place for awhile, there comes a time when not just one thing needs attention, but nearly everything you look at either needs to be freshened in some manner, replaced or repaired. We Are There. So, over the past year, I've been idea idea hunting and planning. C'mon in and let me bounce some ideas off of you. I'd sure appreciate it.

"A good heart is better than all the heads in the world."                 ~ Edward Bulwer Lytton

I really did try to write about something other than "lovey-dovey" (what with Valentine's Day right around the corner), but the 1965 hit song by Jackie DeShannon was right. It was right back then and acutely true today ... "What the world needs now is love ... love sweet love." 

I fear that one of America's oldest forms of social recreation may be fading into the mist of history. I hope I'm wrong. In winter, fresh air is just as important to the body & mind as it is at any other time of the year. And, in this farmgirl's opinion, we need to get out and breathe it in deeply ... skates or no skates.

"If I ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to paying attention, than to any other talent."   ~ Isaac Newton

Some words are little and don't have much personality. Other words may be of medium character and they too need the assist of words with more dimension if they hope to amount to anything. Then, there are words that need a lot of room. They are the giants. Words that can change the landscape, change lives, change borders, medicine, books, culture, the way we look at things and even at ourselves. "Discover" is such a word.

I hope that my next statement is as true for you as it has been for our family: Blessings in 2011 far outnumbered the trials. We also have two new family members. In fact, when I was looking around at our growing clan while at my sister's home on Christmas day, I marveled at that fact. We were all there, no one missing and with two new additions (and rumor has it, another on the horizon). My sister told me that Dad got a little misty over it; that and the fact that all of his loved ones are happy. Years in the past haven't always read that way and I know the future won't either ... but ... as for Christmas 2011, it was one of the very best. 2011 was indeed a good one in many ways. I can't help but look back over my shoulder before moving on toward 2012. Care to join me for a farmgirl year in review? At the end, please offer up the highlights of your year in the comments section.