A Month of Catch-up!

Back again, with apologies - again.

As you might guess, it's been a busy month.  The last post I did was just after De's foot surgery.  I took one week off work, and after that kind of had a juggling act going.  Between doing the cooking, a bit of cleaning, helping with ice packs, hot drinks, cold drinks, some extra goings on at the 'day job', the garden, the chickens, the pets, Church obligations, and family obligations, and trying to get my SUV out of the body shop I was consumed.

Just to get caught up:

• First - After about 5 weeks De is out of the post-surgery boot and doing reasonable well.  She is still quite sore, especially after spending time on her feet.  She goes back to work tomorrow (she's a Teacher's Aid at the local Elementary School) and I am praying it goes well for her.
• Something like week after De got out her boot. Daughter #1 rolled her ankle at work.  She's now in an identical boot with was first thought to be a high ankle sprain.  After two painful days and another trip to the Doc they found a hairline fracture in foot bone.
• The little chicks we had last time I posted - Grew up!  They are 9 weeks old now.  The darker one, which we are guessing is a pullet, is a Golden Polish-Easter Egger cross.  The lighter one, which we believe is a cockerel, is a Golden Polish - Buff Orpington cross.  As soon we are sure the one is a cockerel, Fred the Rooster - who has been rather ill-mannered lately - will be off to "freezer camp".  There now resides a sizable stick next to our front door known as the "Fred Stick".  He seems to know better than to give me a hard time, but women and children have about a 25% chance of having Fred try to bully them.  I can hear the crock pot calling his name louder and louder every time he misbehaves.

The "Kids" up on a perch in the run.

• The garden, weeds and all, is doing pretty well:

The peas are done now, but we got plenty for fresh eating.

The helpers approved of the my efforts and left the peas alone.

The pole beans went from this...

... to this.  And they are VERY easy to pick in from the vertical trellises!

As always, there is someone there to help us out.

And we got a pretty decent first picking!  Those are 5 gallon buckets.

• Mark, once again, got smarter and not necessarily happier.

Our tomato plants are huge!

Our tomatoes are doing great but seemed to getting bug eaten as soon as they turn red.  To make a long story short, I discovered the culprits are not bugs.  It seems the 'chicken helpers' are helping themselves.  By the end of the week they'll be a fence.

• I traded a bunch of unused rebar for a hoop house garage frame.  I need to get it staked down and then I can get the covering on it.

It's a long one-car garage size.  The mower and other things out the barn will live there.

• I need to catch up on everyone else's blog. <Looking forward to that>
• I need to keep up my posts.
• The yard still needs to be mowed. < sigh >
• There is a lot of landscaping that needs some 'love'.  < sigh >
• There is a LOT of work to do at the 'day job'. < double sigh >

BUT...

Despite all the trials and challenges everyone is doing pretty well.  Pretty much everything that needs attention will be there tomorrow.   We are STILL very blessed.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark