There is nothing inspirational in this post. You can read yesterday’s post for that.  Pure embarrassment today, a day in the Life Beyond the Picket Fence.

Yep, that’s our dog.  We don’t need to buy doggie toys here on the boy farm because she finds things like a baseball player’s “cup” for a toy. We haven’t had a baseball player in our house for at least two years, so I’m thinking Doggie Woggie found this item in a pile of outgrown clothes in the basement. I thought the sight was funny, but Baby Girl didn’t.  She rolled in last night from Virginia with a girl-friend who brought her home, who spent the night at our house.  “Welcome to our beautiful home, and meet our doggie who plays with a baseball cup” was not the greeting college co-ed expected to give her friend.  She thinks it’s bad enough she has to tell her friend there’s goat’s milk on her cereal.

But that’s typical here on the Back Forty.

We’re used to Amish guys asking for kitchen knives to gut road-kill deer.

We’re used to burying furry friends.

We’re used to duct-taping animals for various reasons (that’s another story).

We’re used to dead rats near the deck and carcasses drug through the yard from very proud dogs.

Possum skeletons hang from the fence in the woods behind my house.  I guess they are “trophies” by hunters.  Who knew?

As a townie-wife of a farmer, I’m never shocked anymore.

As a woman from a family of all girls raising boys, I’ve learned to laugh at a lot of things.

Like “cups” drug across the floor, smelly shoes, and moldy practice clothes.

I’m still learning rules of engagement when it comes to manhood.

But for today, I’m glad my dog and a cup gave me a laugh.

Maybe a smile for you, too.

Have a great weekend.