April Showers!

 April Showers!

 

Guess what is coming down out there! Lovely rain drops accompanied by thunder and lightning. Both dogs have on their Thunder Shirts. Thompson is curled up at my feet under the desk, and Sylvia is cuddled down on the couch. Yours truly took a nap earlier and had a big black dog lying next to me. Woke up to hear strange sounds. Sylvia had crawled under the bed. Poor baby. Storms really freak her out.

 

The yard around the back and to the sides is pitted with fox holes dug out by the resident Marine brigade of feathered furies. Think this must be grub season out there. One entire area about ten feet across is totally mushy from being dug up and re-dug several times over. Guessing that the lawn mower is going to have a dickens of a time in those places where the hens have remolded the ground.

 

Unfortunately, two trees that Jenn helped me plant have died. One tree made it simply because it was at the end of the grey water wash line, but there was no way to haul water to the other two successfully. They were half price, but that does not negate the fact that it takes lots of water to establish good roots and keep them going. Oh, such is life and growing things.

 

Speaking of growing things: my nephew Danny Pollard says that about one more batch of chickens is all it is going to take to bankrupt him. He had to pay a $9K gas bill this winter for one batch, and now he does not have that little cushion of cash in case of another disaster. We may all have to start raising our own critters or go vegetarian. Have killed and dressed pullets—little roosters mostly—before, but would rather never do it again. Jenn feels like we all need to stock up on canned chicken and tuna at this rate. Not sure how long that would last, however. Have ground wheat and barley to make my own bread, but even that can be pretty expensive if the grains are not easily available. But Dave’s Killer Bread with all those seeds in it could break a person’s budget in a hurry. That white stuff that stores call bread is just so much goo with a tiny crust in my personal opinion.

 

Got the invitation to my cousin’s 90^th birthday in the mail the other day. Forgot to tell Jennifer, so sent her a message today. Will have to find a dog, hen, and house sitter for that weekend. Getting down there should be interesting, too. Sterling can just haul off and go to Alabama when he feels like it at nearly 77, but at not quite 74, this ol’ gal does not feel quite that adventurous. Something will work out.

 

Have just been sitting still and reading quite a bit. Other than making some food, my activities have not included much in the way of house-keeping. Maria is supposed to come Wednesday, so maybe the dogs and the old woman can stay out of her way long enough to let her get things organized again. Jennifer did some really good organizing while she was here, so now it is not quite as difficult to get things cleaned up. But still, putting clean sheets on the beds is one of those stretch and reach combinations that can be avoided for a little longer. Don’t really expect to have anyone staying the night for a while, but still want the back bedroom to be ready for a guest. My bed gets straightened every day, but it will need clean sheets by Wednesday. Oh well.

 

We have mentioned before that common sense does not really seem all that common. My friend Connie Cooke has asked me to pray for her sister and her situation. Without going into it, let us just ask that sensible solutions occur more readily than not. With all the crud that is going on across the seas in other countries—not that ours is not just as much of a mess—let us pray that the violence against just plain people be stopped. Shootings here in the U.S. are horrible, but at least we are not aware of any mass graves being created to cover up atrocities. May God give this world peace.

 

Rest well, my friends, and know that joy is available just as much as love itself. And yes, you are loved.