Chapter Eight of Sierra’s Story — With a humorous confession from Shellie

June 16, 2021

All Things Southern, blog, radio podcasts

Chapter Eight of Sierra’s Story — With a humorous confession from Shellie

I hope y’all are enjoying Sierra’s Story. For newcomers to this podcast, I’m dropping one chapter a week this summer as a gift to my readers and podcast listeners! We’ll go back to regular programming in the Fall. For now, I do hope you’ll find the earlier chapters, catch up, and walk with us the rest of the way. In Chapter Eight we hear Charles Carpenter lay his cards on the table. He isn’t going anywhere. Now, what? We also meet Sierra’s mom. Their mother/daughter bond is a strange one. What’s that about? And about mother and daughter relationships…That heart to heart between Sierra and Lollie. It sounds like Sierra is talking to her younger self more than she’s talking to her teenage daughter. Tell me more, right? Join us as the story continues to unfold.

Find Chapter Seven wherever you like to listen to your podcasts, or just click here. https://belleofallthingssouthern.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Tempter_ChapterEight.mp3

(Go to ShellieT.com to see the pics referenced below. THX!)

Hey friends, let’s chat…I hope this finds you and yours well. We’ve had more than our share of rain in the last couple of weeks. (We’re talking eight inches and there is more in the forecast.) Our beautiful bean crop is taking it on the chin along with many of our area farmers and friends. Everyone is trying to cut ditches and keep pumps running to get the water off as quickly as possible. Yes, it’s tough to see a thriving young crop go underwater and stay underwater for days. But. God. We know our Provider and He is faithful. The Beloved Farmer and I have seen many a farming season together. In the good and the bad, we praise Him, and trust His hand.

And with that, I think I’ll switch gears.

Our Shiloh has NHOI, Novice Horse Owner Issues. Allow me to wade into this with some backstory. We’ve all bad haircuts over the years. Amen? It might have been from a faithful hairdresser or a newly recommended stylist. Or perhaps it was from a family member who loved you dearly but wasn’t so good with the scissors. I’m thinking about you Grandma Stone, God rest your sweet soul.

One summer my sisters and I were visiting our grandparents in Natchez, MS when we began to complain about being too hot, a condition we attributed to our long hair. To our delight, Grandma promptly grabbed her trusty scissors and cut our pony tails off on the spot. Whack. Whack. Whack. Three girls, three cuts, problem solved. Who cares about trims being even? Mama. Mama cared a lot.

Years later I was a newlywed with long hair yet again. I remember mentioning to my beloved farmer early one morning that I was going for a trim that day, only I fell in love with some pictures in a glamour magazine while waiting for my turn in the chair. I was going for a cute and sassy bob with bangs, but something clearly got lost in translation.

Later that evening Phil came home from work. He was walking down the hall and calling for me when he turned the corner and came face to face with one extremely irritable Cleopatra.

“Don’t say a word,” I said. “Not one word.”

Which brings me back to poor Shiloh and his novice horse owner issues. The poor baby can’t say a word about his new haircut if he wanted to, nary a word…

I meant well. I did. I thought I would trim his mane and bangs to give them a healthier appearance. Only I didn’t get his bangs even the first time. (I know it is called a forelock, but they’re bangs to me.). So, I trimmed a little bit more on one side. And then I didn’t think the other side was even, so I intended to trim a bit more there. But Shiloh moved rather quickly and made me botch that one even higher. I mean, I had to trim the other side the same length to match it, right? I thought so, too.

Shiloh, Milton, and Buttercup coming in for supper:

People. The haircut is sad. It is very sad. I was hoping Shiloh wouldn’t notice, being a horse and all, but I asked Phil when he came home for lunch the next day how Shiloh was doing and he said, “He’s okay, but he didn’t want to come out of the stall. I think he was afraid Milton and Buttercup would make fun of him.”

Shiloh giving me side-eye: