View From the Back Forty

I love the song "Renegades" by X Ambassadors, I pretend that they wrote the song for our little family of renegades.  Now, I'm not completely delusional, I know that they did not write that song for a family of farmers in the middle of Nebraska.  But listening to the song makes me think about our lifestyle and how it is vastly different than most families.  And how we are not living all that different than our pioneer ancestors, other than the glut of technology that we have, you know other than that we are the same right?   This week National Agriculture day was celebrated.  This made me curious to know a little more about the number of farmers in the United States.  There was some good news and some not- so- great news about the farming forecast, at least according to the 2012 census.  I’m assuming the 2016 census isn’t available yet, but please correct me if I didn’t find it in my research.  By research I mean google search, lets be real people. My little re

I. Am. A. Runner.  I am not a fast runner, and I don’t win races.  But I am a runner.  I have completed 9 half marathons, 1 marathon, and many other small races.  I hope to increase my half marathon count by two more this year.  After finishing my last half marathon. I hear people say all the time that the only time they would run is to run away from something.  While I get that sentiment, I like to run through things.  I started running shortly after our oldest son was born.  A friend asked me to run a 5K, and I knew that I would have to practice a little to even be able to finish.  The next year the same friend asked if I would run a half marathon, I ran it not having a clue what I was doing.  After the race I thought I would never do that again, but I have been hooked on running ever since.  I have also struggled, at times, with my place in the running world knowing I am not likely to win a race in my running career, until I can out last my competitors (maybe).  So why