{"id":3907,"date":"2015-06-13T00:14:46","date_gmt":"2015-06-13T04:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/?p=3907"},"modified":"2015-06-13T00:14:46","modified_gmt":"2015-06-13T04:14:46","slug":"cooped-up-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/?p=3907","title":{"rendered":"Cooped up joy."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSC_0061-Edit\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are countless things of precious splendor in this life.\u00a0 But there are three secrets to finding those simple joys.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Recognize them<\/li>\n
  2. Appreciate them<\/li>\n
  3. Spend some time with them<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For me, I am pretty darn good at numbers 1 and 2.\u00a0 But when it comes to number 3\u2026 I really suck.<\/p>\n

    But tonight was different.<\/p>\n

    I am typically on the move.\u00a0 I stay busy with this and busy with that.\u00a0 My brand new awesome Dick-Tracy-Apple-Watch tells me that I stand about 15 hours a day.\u00a0 Most of that on-my-feet-time is moving this way and that.\u00a0 And\u2026 tonight was much the same\u2026at first.<\/p>\n

    I had a boatload of things I wanted to get done.\u00a0 A big one on the list was to construct a new \u201cchicken coop\u201d in the garage for the young New Hampshires. For those of you out of the loop on the Chicken Scoop\u2026 we have 15 Orpingtons who are older by about 4 weeks. We also have 4 New Hamphshires. \u00a0 All of them poop.\u00a0 But…. Once the New Hampshires\u2026 Imogene, Eloise, Bernice, and Dorothy\u2026. get a little older\u2026 we will put them all together.\u00a0 Until then, the little foursome live in the garage.<\/p>\n

    So tonight, I worked and worked, ply and bending chicken fence.\u00a0 Shaping\u2026 molding.\u00a0 Building a little gate.\u00a0 Then I cleaned things up, and a couple of hours later, the task was complete.<\/p>\n

    On to the next item on the list.<\/p>\n

    But wait.\u00a0 The garage door was open.\u00a0 The coop was all done, and a gentle breeze was easing its way into the garage.\u00a0 Thunder rolled in the distance, as the storms had moved in.\u00a0 A gentle rain was falling…. in the pitch black of night.<\/p>\n

    And those four little chickens.\u00a0 They did not fear the sky.\u00a0 They did not think it would fall.\u00a0 Instead\u2026 they were running and playing and enjoying their new little wabbley, yet awesome, coop.<\/p>\n

    So I took my queue from them.\u00a0 I grabbed an ice-cold soda, pulled up a stool, felt the mist of rain in the air\u2026. and I simply sat and watched those chickens.<\/p>\n

    It was fulfilling.\u00a0 It was beautiful.\u00a0 It was one of those wonderfully simple joys in life.<\/p>\n

    I could see numbers 1 and 2 readily.\u00a0 But this time\u2026. I found number 3.\u00a0 I can\u2019t begin to tell you how good it felt.\u00a0 And now I know.<\/p>\n

    Perhaps that is one thing that will make the world a slightly better place.\u00a0 If everyone could make the effort\u2026\u2026 in Finding Number Three.\u00a0 Taking the time… any time…. to enjoy the simple joys of life.<\/p>\n

    If you want to be happy, be.<\/span>\u00a0 —\u00a0 Leo Tolstoy<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    There are countless things of precious splendor in this life.\u00a0 But there are three secrets to finding those simple joys. Recognize them Appreciate them Spend some time with them For me, I am pretty darn good at numbers 1 and 2.\u00a0 But when it comes to number 3\u2026 I really suck. But tonight was different. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nowyouseeit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3907"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3910,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3907\/revisions\/3910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}