Since I Last Wrote…

Pardon my absence in the blogging world, but a lot has been going on in our neck of the woods.  Lately, there just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done!

Since I last wrote, Ed climbed up on top of the house to fix a leak in our tin roof.  I asked for prayers, concerning his safety, and God answered those prayers.  Thankfully, Ed made it up and down the ladder, and added sealant to the troubled area, without incident.  I was pleased to see that he tied a safety rope around himself, and anchored it to his beloved tractor 🙂  We’ll have to wait for the next rain shower to see if his work was successful.  Keep your fingers crossed, it’s supposed to rain in a day or two.  In fact, we could be getting some stormy weather this afternoon.

Since I last wrote, Ed and I have been spending a lot of time tending to our sick hen.  We think she has a problem with her crop, which is where her food goes after it’s eaten.  Have you ever seen a chicken vomit?  It’s not a pretty sight!  All weekend, Ed would massage her crop every few hours, in an attempt to get the food to work its way out.  We also gave her oil on her tongue, from a dropper, following the massage. (Who knew chickens have tongues?)  The oil was an attempt to soften anything that might be blocking her crop.

Sick sister, not feeling very well

 ‘Sick sister’ is looking pretty sorry, so I’m not sure our attempts have been helpful.  She’s still drinking water, but has only eaten  about 1/2 of a teaspoon of food in four days.  I keep thinking each day might be her last, but she keeps hanging in there.

Hooray!  With the exception of repainting the floor, our porch is finally finished.  Since I last wrote, Ed re-did one side of the step rails, cut off both of the lower front posts, and painted them white!  At first, we didn’t notice the step rails were uneven, but one side was a bit higher than the other when the contractor finished.  Some people wouldn’t have bothered evening up the posts, but we’re not those people!  Ed unhooked the rail from one post, dug up the post, then evened it up with the other side!  That is why Ed’s a ‘do-it-yourselfer’–he likes things done right.

 

 our newly finished porch (with Jo Jo coming down the steps!)

Ed and I are enjoying our covered porch, but  believe me when I tell you– our pets are really enjoying it!  Just so you know, last night, we had three cats, two dogs, and a sick chicken sleeping on our newly covered front porch!  Yes, we live in the country–and you can call us ‘rednecks’ if you like…    I make no apologies, this is just how we roll sometimes!  (at least the chicken was in cage, and not roosting on the rails!) 

Since I last wrote, Ed and I attended our granddaughter, Madison’s, dance recital.  The show was enjoyable, but some of the people in the audience were not!  Ed and I arrived at the auditorium over an hour early, on Saturday afternoon, just to stand in line.  This was necessary to assure a decent seat for the show!

Our seats were about six rows back, center stage, which would have been great except for a couple of our neighbors…  First of all, there was the unruly four-year-old boy sitting to the right of me, who couldn’t be still!  Not only couldn’t he be still, but he kept playing with his grandfather’s walking cane!  I had a couple of ‘near misses’ to the head, before they finally got up and moved.  Thank goodness!

Unfortunately, the two ladies in front of me didn’t move!   Every time their child/grandchild’s class would perform a dance, the ladies would stick their arms up in the air and start recording!  My view looked like this during that time:

my view of the recital, at times

Now, I understand that people want to capture special moments, but this was just a bit distracting to those of us seated behind the ones who are doing the recording!  Recording with the iPad was a bit over the top, don’t you think?  At one point, I just watched the show on the screen of the iPad!

Last, but not least, since I last wrote, we’ve discovered that deer have been visiting our garden!  Ed found numerous foot prints among our plants.  We made a scarecrow and put our life-sized doll out in the garden again. (see middle of garden, at the far end)  I also scattered some dog hair clippings around.  Hopefully, this will help deter our visitors!

Our garden is just drying out from the Easter weekend weather, but now we’re expecting two more days of rain, along with a cold front!  It’s not turning out to be a good spring for gardening, but we keep trying 🙂  If the good Lord is willing, we’ll soon be eating fresh garden peas.  Some of our lettuce is almost ready, too.

That’s about it for what’s been happening around here, since I last wrote.  So how are things in your neck of the woods?