babybloomr

Photo by Madi Taff

Photo by Madi Taff

Photo by Tori Taff

Photo by Madi Taff

Photo by Tori Taff

Photo by Tori Taff

Photo by Madi Taff

Photo by Charlotte Taff

Photo by Madi Taff

Photo by Madi Taff

I thought I’d wrap up my Country Girl at Heart Bed and Breakfast odyssey with some photos of the farm itself.

These first couple of pictures are from their website, because they were better than the ones we took with all THREE of our cameras– probably because we were focusing more on the animals than the architecture! The setting is so beautiful. This used to be an Amish farm, and as you approach the property what you see in the front is part the original farmhouse, and the back part of the house is the addition.

** The front porch:

**Darlene had a small produce stand set up in the front yard with watermelons and tomatoes right out of her garden and a charming little sign that said:

**And speaking of eggs…  gathering them with Charlotte was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip!

**Those fancy-schmancy chickens produce some very colorful eggs. LOOK how gorgeous:

**Herbs drying in the barn.

**Of course for the girls and I, it’s all about playing with the farm animals. And yes, I’m basically allergic to everything with fur or feathers, thanks for asking, and no, it doesn’t remotely slow me down from manhandling every living creature I can get to hold still. Which is another way of saying if you spend any time around me and pets of any kind, you will find yourself saying,”Gesundheit!” a lot and handing me wads of Kleenex while I blow my nose. Which is every bit as attractive as it sounds.

Russ, as usual, basically tried to just ignore that entire aspect of the farm visit. Bless his heart, after living with us for this long you gotta give him credit for at least making a token effort to fake an interested smile and say, “Yeah, that’s great” when we hold up some member of the animal kingdom for him to admire. He doesn’t hate animals– it’s more like they just don’t really register with him. But I don’t let that deter me. I just keep pointing out irresistibly cute ones because I just know that one day a rainbow is going to suddenly appear over his head and he’s going slap himself on the forehead and say, “OH MY GOSH, I totally get it now, animals are just the best things ever! Let’s go get three more small yappy dogs!”

(What do you call people who think like that…? Oh yeah. Delusional. And I am their queen.)

Anyway. Here are some of the farm animals we stalked.

**My personal favorites:

**Darlene’s youngest daughter won some 4-H prizes with these handsome fellows:

**Charlotte loves her some barn cats.

**Madi, on the other hand, was all about the dogs.

**Especially this one. Totally pugalicious.

**(Russ’ caption here should be, “I’ll give you $50 to stop sniffing my foot.”)

**OK, see this guy? He is like the Brad Pitt of roosters. Seriously. If you are a chicken, this is what you are striving to look like.

**He’s also kind of a jerk. He’s very rough with the hens, and he’s even been known to actually charge at Darlene! She told me all about it– said she kicked him and he came at her again and she kicked him again and he came at her again and she kicked him again and … back and forth, like TWENTY times! OK, nobody said he was smart, just handsome. Which is the only reason he’s managed to avoid the stewpot thus far, according to Darlene.  Cocky little bugger.

**Madi was blissfully unaware of all of this, and like so many females before her, her head was turned by his studly appearance. She was sure they had something special.

**She pictured their future together. She trusted him completely.

**Riiiiiiight up until the moment he betrayed her:

Needless to say, Madi broke off their engagement.

She also totally wants a rematch.

** I’ll leave you with one of those cheerful, uplifting religious billboards the rural South is so famous for– I’m just trying to be a blessing, ya’ll!

(Madi hopes that dang rooster can read.)