Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Spring at my house

Psalm 24:1  The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.

The years go by, and I'm getting older.  Sixty years old is just around the corner.  A couple of my grown sons think I should sell my country place and move into the city where life will be less complicated and it will eventually be easier to "take care of me."  I counter that they are not taking into account that although I might be older, I live the life of a younger person, with young children still living with me.  Imagine poor Luke living on a city lot.  As my son Gage used to say when we would visit relatives, "You can't even hit a baseball without it landing in someone else's yard!"

This week, the warm weather makes us realize that spring has sprung.  And with spring, comes "a few of my favorite things..."
And makes it very plain the reason I never, ever want to move away from my little place...


I walked that pasture with an empty feed sack, making sure it was free of trash.  Then I mowed it.  For the entire 12 years I have lived here, it's looked horrible.  Some of the men of the house (mainly the ones that want me to sell) would not let me mow it with the riding lawn mower.  But they grew up and moved away, and I can talk Max into anything, so he taught me how to use it and for days, I mowed.  I have discovered that being on a roaring riding lawn mower is one of the most relaxing things you can do!  Add children running through the grass while you mow and it's a paradise.  I am so PLEASED with how it looks now!


And the bulbs Mary Susannah and I have planted are beginning to bloom.  She and I have decided to plant these all over, more and more every year.  It will be so pretty eventually and smell so good!!


It wouldn't be spring without a new litter of kittens.  This momma cat didn't have much luck last year; her kittens kept disappearing and the one that was left was wild, and eventually disappeared too.  So this time I put her in the breezeway.  She and the kitties are safe and the kids can tame them.  Which they are very willing to do.  Baby kittens = happy, happy children!


Today, I walked out to feed the bunnies and found three baby's on the ground.  This silly momma bunny had shunned her nesting box and given birth in the space behind it, which caused the babies to fall through the wire mesh.  I quickly gathered up the babies and all the hair I could find and put them in the box.  One baby was covered with ants and didn't make it.  The other two are lively, so maybe she will take care of them.  Hopefully, we will be seeing more baby bunnies in the next weeks.  They are all bred and fixed up with nesting boxes in a nice shelter...I will give daily pep talks about the importance of USING the nesting boxes.  I hope they listen!!


Baby chicks are hatching like crazy, much to my little ones delight.  Having a strong 8 year old son is quite a plus these days: he and I backed the truck up to an old empty water trough, loaded it up while Tommy and Selah sat in the truck bed and pulled on it, then we unloaded it in my "bird shed."  The baby chicks that have hatched and dried so far are settled.  We took 23 out of the incubator this morning, and we have lots and lots more hatching.  My only problem is trying to convince my children that it is NOT good for the baby chicks for us to open the incubator door and "check" on the progress every 30 minutes or so.  I am thinking of borrowing Cynthia's "beats" headphones and playing music really loud into my ears so I won't hear them beg anymore.  I could just walk around shaking my head to the beat of the music, because I know they will be asking me every time I see their mouths moving...

And those turkeys and geese whose pictures I showed you a blog or two back?  Well, they are getting BIG!!  And smelly....I will be so glad when I can move them outdoors!!



Last, but not least, sweet son Max surprised me one day with a raised garden bed.  I haven't gotten much in it yet, but I'm trying.  I hope to finish it up this weekend.  I am terrible with gardens, but maybe I can do it this time.  I even ordered those 'grow boxes' you can see on the left to try and keep my watermelon plants alive.  I could live on watermelon alone in the summer!


So yes, I know, my house needs a LOT of work, but I love it.  I mean, I dearly love it.  I can't imagine ever moving from here.  And I especially can't imagine moving when spring rolls around!

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