Tacking This Saddle With Hope

I’m home sick again.

Dad bought an old saddle at an auction and gave it to me to restore. He told the kids about when I lived at home and we used to fix and redo old saddles.

Bug is so excited. Of course she wants to help clean it up and keep it.

I know Dad was hoping we could have done that this weekend, but realized we didn’t have all the supplies in the old tack cupboard, so I brought the saddle back with me to work on. I’ll be seeing Dad in a few weeks, and we can finish it together.

Dad’s doing well, but I miss those things we did together: fixing saddles, going to farm auctions, caring for the farm animals. Dad is always rescuing an animal or two from the auction.

Remember Buttons the goat? There are now over a dozen goats on the farm. Bug couldn’t wait to go and visit them over this past weekend. She even gained a new follower who we have affectionately named ‘Lumpy.” And yes, Lumpy is another one of Dad’s auction finds.

It’s one of the many things I love about my dad, he’s always saving and restoring things. Which is where I guess I get the part of me that never wants to give up hope and always has to try. But I’d rather try to fix something, or help someone, or even rescue and bring an animal back to health, then watch it tossed away or left for dead.

I guess it really is true. You can take a girl from the farm, but you can’t take the farm from the girl. I’m adding this line to my site as my personal motto.

It’s no wonder I’m home sick.

But I’m holding onto hope that somehow, someway, I’ll find balance to get this farm girl out of the city and closer to home. In the meantime, I’ve decided to there is no harm in changing a few things where I am at in attempt to bringing a small piece of the farm to me.

Starting with this saddle restoration.