Yes, we have a garden!!

Hi Folks!!

We do, in fact, have a working garden!!  As you can see it's a real ugly, unkempt, one (more on that in a bit), but God has blessed our efforts and the harvest is coming in!   

That is one weedy looking garden!!

It has been very hot, very wet, and very humid here in NE Indiana this summer (95F/35C with 90ish %RH) and for the first time in many years, the green beans will likely have a poor showing.  We thought the tomatoes would never start turning red, but they seem to be coming on quickly now and we'll have a good tomato year.  Broccoli did well.  Peppers, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, and egg plant are doing very well.  Beets and sweet potatoes seem to be doing fine.  Cabbage was a total loss as was the brussel sprouts.   Today is the start of canning season for us, so we are "off to the races"!

We have had some hard times this summer, too, in a couple of ways.

On August 5th De's Mom fell in her apartment.  She shattered her shoulder joint, broke her knee cap, some bones in one hand, and maybe her hip.  Her lifelong heavy smoking habit had left her frail, and her kidneys, heart, and lungs could not tolerate the shock of her injuries.  On August 10th, early in the morning, she went to be with Jesus.  De and her other daughter were with her when she died.  Family, Church, and friends all pulled together to get us through this difficult time, and we held her funeral on the 14th.

To complicate matters a bit more, I seem to have developed a new 'thing' over the last few months.  The preliminary diagnosis is lupus, but we may not know for sure until November, which is the earliest available rheumatologist appointment.  I have the usual bone-crushing fatigue, joint and muscle pain, and funky rash across my nose and cheeks that comes and goes, as well as some balance, speech, and cognitive issues. (No stroke - they checked.)   I use a cane pretty much full-time now for balance, when I'm not in the house. (Thus the shoddy looking garden.  Harder to swing my beefy weed whacker when you need to use it to balance some, too.  It can be done, but it's slooowww.)  

Even with all that, we are still blessed.  The outpouring of caring we received when Mom B. passed was amazing.  Everyone has been great in accommodating me and my new limitations - well beyond what they need to.   I'm getting along OK with prayers, rest, and ibuprofen in equal abundance, and I'm praying for a cancellation that allows me to see the rheumatologist soon.  By God's grace I can do most of what I need to do (including the garden) and some of what I want to do.  He provides for what I can't do.  And we have some really good tasting bell peppers and tomatoes!!

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Harvest from a "Weedy" Garden

As you may have noticed by my lack of posts, this has not been the wildly productive season I had hoped it would be.  It's not like there is any one, big disastrous event that kept me away from what I wanted to be doing, but there was a whole string of smaller things that kept me out of the garden and away from the computer when the garden really needed some "love" and the blog really needed some posts.  Some planting happened late and some not at all.  Posts were few and far between.  Mulching the beds, adding compost where needed, tilling up the plots, all the normal early garden maintenance just didn't get done and, as a result, we ended up with the weediest garden we have had in a lot of years.  Your blog posts came and went, occasionally unread. Obviously not "the end of the world as we know it", but still a bit disappointing.  And yet, yesterday De and I went to our weedy garden and picked green beans, harvested tomatoes, carefully plucked egg fruit plant off the spiny stalks, broke off cabbages, and pulled up onions.  And I'm posting again!  Even though the weeds are still everywhere, God has given De and I an abundant increase.

I couldn't help but think, as we were pulling our harvest out from among the weeds how similar the garden this year has been to our life this year.  Our lives, from winter on, have not gone as we had hoped.  There was no single 'big' thing that went bad, but it was a season (or two) full of "weeds": Illnesses major and minor, family and community obligations and challenges, lots of extra work at the 'day job', bad weather when the few 'free times' came along - all "weeds".

Lest I give the impression this has been a season of misery let me assure you we have not been miserable at all.  Frustrated at times perhaps, but never unhappy.  Some work was completed and some was not.  Some hopes were realized, and some were not.  A few goals were reached and many will wait until next year, or perhaps the year after that.  But when we stopped to look, we could see the growth in amongst the weeds.  Children and grandchildren alike are maturing even through, and perhaps because of, the tough times.  The 'day job' seems to be secure for as long as I want to work.  The church is growing, and our small group is growing closer.  De and I are both slowly finding physical healing.  There is produce coming in from the garden.

Through all the 'weeds' we see God's hands not only revealing the growth but providing an abundant increase.  As we sort down through all the 'weedy' things and look carefully, we see not a just a few meager things barely surviving, but an abundant harvest of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and occasionally a beautifully ripened, perfect red tomato. We are blessed.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Musings from the Recliner - Day 1

Out! Sprung! Paroled! Free and Clear!  The docs decided to let me go today, and by late afternoon I’d made it home.  I drove myself there and, with no narcotics in my system at the time, I could also drive myself home.  The trip home was not without a little drama, mind you, but I got home safe and sound none-the-less. 

I’m tired, but doing better.  There are vestiges of the offending cough left, but it’s not a constant thing anymore as long as I'm mostly quiet.  Some of the meds have temporary weakened my voice and I’ve got a kind a sing-song whisper-thing going on.  That will likely be with me for a few weeks.  I’ve got bruises at my IV site, bruises at my “lab draw” site on the other arm, and bruises on my belly where the blood thinner stuff went in.  “Blood thinner stuff” – Lovenox, I think.  Normally I try to be a knowledgeable patient and know every last little thing I’m getting by medical name, along with what it does.  I’m sure I heard them all, but I was on a LOT of stuff.  The nurses and aids were quite efficient and when ‘service’ time came it was kind of like the NASCAR pit crew coming over the wall: BP, temp, O2 level, inject, more IV bags, pills, “Squeeze my fingers”, “Take deep breaths now”, “Can I get you anything?”, ”Get some rest!” (See my Friday “View from the Hospital Bed” for the straight skinny on rest in the hospital.) They did take so good care of me.

I’m looking forward to a night without vitals, labs, injections, therapies, and an IV power-filling me up and urging me into an IV tree ‘skip to my loo’ waltz (I know, I know, “Skip to my Loo” is not a waltz, but I’m trying to be a little genteel here. Just go with the mental the picture.) every 90 minutes.  I think that will go a long ways towards catching me up on sleep.

Normally, it would have been a 30 minute drive home plus the time at the pharmacy to get my meds.  Alas, it was far harder than it needed to be.  I could tell when I got back to the pharmacy counter the folks were having a bad day, it was very busy, they were a more that a bit surly with a current customer, and I’m one more schmuck with a big stack of scripts that need to be filled before I leave the store.  One Rx – naturally, it was the one for the narcotic – was not written quite correctly. Close, very, very close, but not perfect.  Not their fault, but they weren’t in a mood to help me get it worked out.  “You’ll have to take this one back to the hospital.”  I’m getting a bit worn down, but I did. 

The nurses were appalled I get sent back but filled in a little more info, and apologizing for the error, sent me on my way. At the pharmacy the same crew, still savoring their ‘mood’, looked over the paper.  Still not right, “Take it back!” This time I got an accompanying rant from the pharmacist himself about how the DEA was going to put all our butts in jail if he even tried to do anything with this.  So I did. 

Time out for a mother-in-law story: Hang in there, it fits. When one of the family wasn’t feeling so well the comment from Mom was, “You look like you’re not feeling very well.”  All fine and appropriate.  If it was obvious you were feeling really rough it was, “You look you’ve been dragged through a sick cow backwards!”  Now if you really weren’t all that bad off before, listening to that little description alone was enough to get you there.  (End of detour.)

By this time I was starting to look like, well, I’d been ‘dragged through a sick cow backwards’ and the nurses at the hospital got fired up.  One of them picked up the phone to the pharmacy and by the time she was done I started to feel a little bad for the ranting pharmacist. She made a small change to the script and I was on my way, hoping the third time was the charm.

When I got there the first surly pharmacy tech was quietly working away on someone else’s order, the pharmacist came over as soon as I walked up to look things over and, with his blessing, the paper was whisked off to the front of the cue.  10 minutes later I’m finally on my way home.

So here I sit, comfortable in my recliner, very glad to be home.  I thank God for modern medicine, caring nurses, and even surly pharmacists.  It’s good to be home and I feel blessed to be here. 

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

The View from the Hospital Bed

I was actually hoping to avoid this.  Those of you who are regular followers know I've been struggling to deal with a lingering cough since mid-December.   I've been making regular trips in to see the doc, getting stronger and stronger meds, and still not getting it beat down.  It became clear yesterday, to both the doc and me, that I wasn't going to win this one without a a change in plan.  So yesterday I became one of the honored, temporary, live-in guests of the local medical establishment.  I'm a card carrying member of the Most Royal Order of the Knights of Pneumonia (as if there really is such a thing) so I've done all this before and kind of knew it was coming.  I packed a bag with most of the essentials before going in for my re-evaluation.  Pajamas, skivies, my own toiletries, cell phone charger, Kindle, MP3 player, my "I'm not Dead Yet" Monty Python t-shirt....  Yeah,  I've done this before.

Being in the hospital is always an adventure and this time is no exception.  After a little confusion during check-in (the orginal paperwork indicating I had a condition pretty much confined to toddlers) I began what I hoped to be a two night stay ,at most.  More on that in a bit.  

During my last extended hospital stay I wrote a mostly humorous email for friends and co-workers about the adventures of life as a patient - The View from the Hospital Bed - mostly out of boredom.  Upon informing my friends and co-workers about my new, temporary domicile I started immediately getting inquires as to whether I was going to revive the genre.  How could I say 'no' to that?  I had De bring in my laptop and off we go!

It should first be noted, that if you're coming to a hospital to rest, you're far better off trying to nap at a high school basketball game.  It's far quieter, it's usually obvious who is supposed to be in charge, and things pretty much run to a schedule. One does NOT come to hospital to rest.   You come to a hospital to be poked, drugged, tested, pumped up, bled off, re-drugged, re-tested, listen to machines twitter back and forth to one another - all night, have various body parts removed, repaired, or replaced, and eventually sent home tired but in better shape than when you came.  Vitals are taken and recorded - all night, IV bags are pumped in and replaced - all night, breathing treatments come and go - all night.  You get my drift.  You gotta have your head right going in.  Everyone is better off that way.

It should go without saying there's not a lot to do in the hospital.   This is somewhat by design, but I've always been a bit of a rebel.   There is, of course, the adjustable hospital bed that can provide some amusement.  Unfortunately once you get past "Look at me! I'm an astronaut", "Look at me! I'm in an elevator!", and "Look at me! I'm..... um... a 'V'!" the fun kind of wears off.  All that takes less than two minutes so ya gotta start getting creative.  There are skills to be learned that do help occupy the time.  First and foremost is "The IV Tree Waltz".  If you want any sort of independence you have to convince the nurses pretty quickly that you're easily capably of getting up, unplugging your IV tree pump, skipping in perfect coordination to the loo, (Think 'Lawrence Welk', not 'Dancing with the Stars' here), then reassembling the whole thing on your return. This is key to hospital happiness. 

I am blessed here with the care that is shown.  The nurses are great, the aids are great, the docs are great (I have two doing the tag-team thing), but the best are the are the respiratory therapist.  They are a fountain of information.  "The folks remodeling the rooms below have only hammer-drilled all the way up through the floors up here a few times, and mostly in the ICU.  You should be fine."  Mealtimes, what the drugs are for, what's good and what to avoid on the meal menus: Ask the therapists.  Knowledge is power, or so it is said.

Days and nights are pretty structured.  It goes much like this:

Labs and vitals, skip to my loo. 
Shots and pills, skip to my loo. 
Treatments, CAT scans, skip to my loo.  Skip to my loo, my darling.

Did I mention I'm getting a LOT of fluids?  At this moment I'm down to three bags hanging - usually there are four.  I wonder if I'm getting away with something.  Hmmm....

There have been some really good things, too.   Extended text chats with a sister.  An old friend came to see me and we just sat and talked for a couple of hours - something our schedules haven't allowed for a long time.  Catching up on Kindle reading.  A night shift charge nurse taking 5 seconds, as she breezed in to give me some meds, to take my hand and tell me sometime we just have to thank God for slowing the train down once in awhile.

Thanks to modern medicine I'm improving, but I'm going to be here at least into Monday.  That's longer than I hoped by twice, but it's gonna be alright.  You just gotta have your head right going in.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Looking Back, Looking Forward

What a year 2014 has been for us here on the Hoosier Country Homestead!  There have been so many changes.

• Daughter #2 married the love of her life and we got a wonderful son-in-law and two precious granddaughters in the deal.
• That same event made us (essentially) "empty nesters" although, in practice, the kid's bedrooms have rarely been empty.
• Our son found a job that he loves and is turning that corner from a boy to a man.
• Starting with an old 'bus shelter' we put together a chicken coop and, with the help of a niece, now have 13 laying hens and 1 rooster.
• The coop and the barn both got a paint upgrade.  (And everything got a new roof courtesy of an early summer hailstorm.)
• We got a start on the herb garden.
• Oh, and I started a blog: Hoosier Country Home!  "Thank You so much" to everyone who has taken the time to stop by and share in the journey!

So what are the goals for 2015?

• Get fruit trees, berries and grapes in.  We're thinking apples, pears, raspberries and a combination table and winemaking grape.
• Get some additional fencing and shelter in place in preparations for meat chickens in 2016. 
• Get some plantings and other preparations in place for bee hives.  Looking at 2017+ for those.
• Get the barn cleaned out.  There are things that have been in there for 20 years and have not touched in all that time, and we need the barn space for more than long term storage of forgotten items.  We can feel a yard sale coming on!
• Finish the ham radio tower I started two years ago.  It's time to get steel off the ground and in the air! (along with some wire...)

It seems proper to list the things we want to keep doing as we roll into the new year:

• Being good stewards of the land and opportunities God has provided us.
• Fine tuning the garden.  There is always room for improvement and something new.  We want to keep doing learning, canning, preserving and all that goes with it.
• Growing the herb garden.  I'd like to add some medicinal herbs to plantings and start learning how to use them.
• Continue building our skills in making, repairing and re-using.  We have been blessed with so many things. We want to be sure we are really honoring the gifts properly.

A theme of my blog right from the beginning has been that "We are Blessed" and I want to reiterate that as we take stock of the past year and forward to the next.  Again and again God has been faithful to bless us, faithful to challenge us, and faithful to carry us through the hard times.  While I have my list of goals for 2015, I want to recognize God has His own plan for our lives and I pray that we will be open to His plan first.

Regular readers will know I that almost always sign each post with a scripture reference - Col. 1:9-12.  It's a prayer the Apostle Paul offered for the church in Colossi and with each post I offer it as a prayer for my readers.   On this first day of the new year I'll write it out for you from the NIV translation:

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.  And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."

May God bless you and keep you all in 2015.

Mark

Catching Up on Christmas - Time at the Dining Room Table

Another Christmas tradition on the Hoosier Country Homestead is taking time out just to be together.  It's a deliberate thing that doesn't just happen: It's something we "make time for".  As in most homes, I suppose, the dining room table is the center of many of our together-times.  Meals are shared there, business is conducted there, cookies are made there, Bible reading is done there, projects are completed there, games are played there, and puzzles are worked there.  Ours is a bit larger than average at 7'5" x 5'2" so there's plenty of room for everything and everyone.  It's a plate glass top over a hand forged (by a brother-in-law) wrought iron base and wasn't even supposed to be a dining room table when it was started.  The wooden door below the glass was the door to De's room growing up.  That story with all the details will have to wait for another post.

Where much our of living is done.  You can see the start of a 1500 piece puzzle on the right.

 
Part of our family time is working picture puzzles.  Each year we get at least one new 1000+ piece puzzle and work it up.  We usually end up working two or three spread out over a couple of weeks as family comes and goes.  When a puzzle is underway we usually just work around it. When mealtime comes a place mat goes down and we eat over the top of it!  The nice thing about a puzzle is you can work it and talk and laugh and drink your tea, coffee, cocoa or wine all at the same time. Usually two or three can work at once.  You can come and go as you please (or when you need a break), let someone else work the puzzle, or just hang out on the other side of the table.  There are always the jokes that a small pile of pieces "don't go with this puzzle" (they always do) or pieces that are "missing" (usually not, or found under a place mat or on the floor). As with the cookies, it's not the completed puzzle that makes doing it worth-while: Its the time we spend together that makes it special.

Fannie Mae's General Store - Lot's of work in this one!

This year we played games with the girls (which included some work on letters and numbers) at the table.  Age appropriate games with them are such a hoot!

Playing a "matching" game.  Harmony knows where to find the match!

A new tradition (2nd year) is making a molded chocolate Christmas house, although this is actually done around Thanksgiving time.  It's similar to a gingerbread house, only made with chocolate and decorated with candy.  This is De's thing and fits well with her doll house hobby.  You can see a couple of her 1/2 scale houses and part of a castle in the backgrounds.  (There are 50+ dollhouses and room boxes scattered around the house.  You can see her latest project at De-Lightful Minis  )

Somebody is snitching the decorations!

Grandma helps with the 'glue'

Getting the roof just right.

Tada!  The final product!

How wonderful it is to come together and just 'be family'!  These times are so precious to us and are a part of what makes the Christmas holiday so special for all of us.  We are blessed!

Tomorrow:  Happy New Year! And the last of the 'Catching Up' series.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Catching up on Christmas - Cookie Baking!

One of the favorite holiday traditions on the Hoosier Country Homestead is cookie baking.  Each year we pick a day when everyone is home and we bake Christmas cookies.  Usually there are two or three kinds of cookies on the menu, but the 'secret' ingredient is not a special almond extract or red-and-green sprinkles.  It's family.  The only really special thing about the cookies is that making them is a family project.  De and I have done this since the oldest (now 26) was just big enough to stand on a chair and handle her own bit of dough.  This year was special because we got to be part of the very first time the two new granddaughters have had the opportunity to participate.  That made a wonderful tradition even more precious.

I struggled to 'pare down' my collection of pictures.  There are still a lot, so here goes:

The process starts, as one would expect, with mixing the dough.  This year De, Daughter #1 (D1) and the Son (S) handled that part of the job.

There were sugar cookies, a wheat-free Gingerbread, and wheat-free spritz cookies.  With the dough made and chilling, the sugar cookie "production line" was set up on the table and rest of the family was summoned to the task.  Let the fun begin!

The parchment paper is put down, the cookie cutters are set in place, and finally the dough is delivered.  Here D1 and S delivery the 'goods' to D2 and the two granddaughters waiting at the table.

With the dough rolled out its time for the cookie cutting to begin.  What fun it was to see the two young ones all covered  with flour and punching out cookies for the very first time!

De makes sure the "production line" doesn't get backed up and keeps the cookies going in and out of oven.  During baking, the support crew gets to take a break.









Son-in-Law (SIL) and S get a moment to rest while the cookie cutting continues.

You all know how hard the job of "Photo Documentarian" can be :) so I take the opportunity for a quick rest.  This and bath time (Grandma's job) are one of the few times I'm sitting and don't have a little girl or two in my lap - Not that I'm complaining!


Even Zyla decides it's time for little siesta.

With cookies out of oven and cooled the decorating process can begin. Frosting the cookies and getting the right 'sprinkles' on put the finishing touches on the project.









Everyone helps with the frosting chores.  We carefully explain that one of the key tenets of cookie making is that any cookie broken by a real and true accident can be consumed on the spot, but breaking cookies on purpose violates the rules.  I'm not entirely certain this bit of confectionery law was carefully adhered to (by anyone) but we had plenty of cookies when we were done so I guess it all worked out.

With frosting underway it was time to start with the sprinkles!  In the eyes of a child, as well as some 'big kids' you can never have too many sprinkles!

The final tidbit of cookie making jurisprudence is one we had to watch a bit more carefully.  "You can't lick the frosting knife or eat the left-over sprinkles until AFTER the last cookie is done."  I think D2 and SIL would have been fine with the more straightforward "You can't lick the frosting knife or eat the sprinkles.", but once Papa had spoken the former into cookie making law, it was too late to rescind it!

When it was all said and done, we ended up with a nice batch of cookies.  They tasted great and (thankfully) some were sent home with everyone involved.  But the cookies were really just a byproduct: They'll last a few days at most.  The memories of another Christmas spent together laughing, doing, and just enjoying family last a lifetime.  This is the stuff that 'family' is made of, and we are sooo blessed to have been entrusted with this one.  We thank the Lord for what He has given us, and pray we are honoring Him with our care of it.

Col. 1:9-12

Mark

What 'Papa' Learned from Two Little Girls

We had Daughter #2 with our new son-in-law and two granddaughters from Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon.  Daughter #1 is staying a few days with us, too.  It was so nice to see them all again!  I got to spent time with all of them and enjoyed every minute.  There were, however, a few stand-out moments with the young ones where I was reminded of some very important things.

• There are lessons to be learned at the bird feeder, watching blue jays, cardinals, chickadees, finches, woodpeckers, nuthatches and all the other winter visitors come and go.  The different birds may not always get along perfectly, but with a little patience and persistence everyone gets what they need and no one goes without.

• Happiness can be found in the most common of places if we just take the time to find it. A muddy winter chicken yard becomes a place of smiles, laughter, and joy when seen through the wide eyes of a 4 year old.

• There is wonder to be found in common 'indoor' things too.  The older one (six) loves to help Papa make breakfast in the morning.  She's learning to crack open eggs she collected the day before, whisk them up in a bowl, and help stir them in the pan as they cook.  As the liquid concoction begins to turn into the scrambled eggs she's familiar with I hear "Papa look!  I see the eggs!".   It's easy to under-appreciate the joy in "making", even in making something as simple as breakfast.

• All treasures are not necessarily valuables.  Garden tools and a sandy spot on the homestead are far more interesting than any toy on the property.  A handful of stone 'treasures' dug out of the sand and hidden under leaves (guarded by Papa so that Abby the cat and Zyla the dog don't get them) become the precious fruits of a little girl's labor.  No natter how simple, there is joy and satisfaction to be found in that which is earned above that which is given. 

This weekend 'Papa' was reminded that the eyes of a child are the most wonderful lens through which to view life.  We gain much when take the time to see through their eyes and lose much when pass them by.

Matt. 18:3 (NIV)  And He said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

We are so blessed!

Col. 3:9-12

Mark

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, all! 

Ours was a wonderful day spent with our large, extended family! 

As for me:

• I am thankful first and foremost that Jesus Christ thought so much of me that he chose to die on a cross and bring us all salvation.
• I am thankful for the family that has been a constant blessing for 54 years.  The closeness and love we share is a rare gift in a 'me' centered world.
• I am thankful for a Church community that has been an anchor for my parents, De and I, our children, our small group, and many others over the years.  I hope that we have brought to them a small portion of what they have offered to us.
• I am thankful for the blessings of being raised relatively poor on a small farm by Christian parents who to taught me how to work, how to give, how to love, how to discern the things that are important from those that are distractions, how to hunt, how to grow green beans and tomatoes, how to milk a cow by hand, and that it is ok to leave home, but not ok to forget it.
• I am thankful for a job that for 26 years has been interesting, challenging, makes a positive difference in the world, and has provided me the opportunity to provide for a wife and three kids.
• I am thankful for the opportunity to steward a small bit of land and be blessed by the work and by that which it produces.
• I am thankful for a new Christian son-in-law and the two little granddaughters that come with him.
• I am thankful for a country that, despite it's flaws, is still the most free society on earth, and enables me to worship, raise a family, work, and live in relative peace.
• I am thankful for blog friends I have never met face-to-face that have been a source of joy and encouragement.

We are blessed!  May God bless and keep you all.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Lie like a Dog! (Or is it lay??)

So I've been saving these up for awhile just for the entertainment value.  It's our dog Zyla. 

• Some dogs have a pedigree so long they can prove beyond any doubt that "great to the umpteenth power" granddad dog nobly kept the raccoons from raiding Mrs. Noah's chickens while at the same time preserving their miserable lives during an extended family cruise.  Not Zyla, she came from the shelter and we have no clue who daddy, momma, or uncle Fido might be.
• Some dogs have papers so perfect they can make a banking lawyer weep in rapturous delight for a week.  Not Zyla, her parentage is highly questionable at best. She a mix of Black Lab and, ... something. Likely two or three (or four, or five, or ...) somethings, and each of those are likely the result of shoddy backyard fences and low dog morals themselves.
• Some dogs have risen to hypoxic heights of fame for their boundless dedication and heroic efforts to be forever memorialized in story and song: Lassie, Rin-Tin-Tin, Old Yeller, Toto, Benji, Spuds McKenzie, and Scoobie Doo.  Not Zyla.  And who names their dog 'Zyla' anyway? (Hint: We first brought her home as a companion to an older dog who has since passed on named "Angel".  (Get it?  Angel - Zyla, A-Z?  Hrmmph!  Moving on...)
• Some dogs are highly trained and can perfectly execute a seemingly infinite host of jaw-dropping dog skills on command.  Not Zyla, unless you include the commands "breathe", "eat", "sleep", "dig", "go swim in the swamp", "beg for attention", and "get into something".  She's got those down pretty well.  

She's a pretty high energy beast, and likes to keep moving much of the day but when she's done for the day, she's DONE.  I mean eyes rolled back, snoring like a chainsaw, tongue lolling out done.  And then it gets,...  well...   odd.
 

Oh, well.  She's our dog and we love her.  Some things were created for sole purpose a bringing a smile to your face after a hard day for some season in our lives.  I think Zyla falls in that category.  We ARE blessed! 

Good Night, Zyla.  Sweet dog dreams! 

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

I'll say it again...

I am blessed!  What an amazing weekend.  Yesterday I posted the chickens came home, and I'll get to that and the pics later, but I wanted to take a moment to count my blessings:

1. A Church that forms a foundation of a community filled with family and friends. What an amazing thing!  The worship was joyous, the sermon was meaningful, the teaching was good, and the fellowship was encouraging.
2. A Church Small Group with which to share joys and sorrows, celebrations and tears, support and accountability.  Another blessing for which there are no words to describe.
3. A wife who loves and supports the whole homesteading thing.  No cajoling or "selling" here (except maybe the idea of goats in the future.).  What a blessing to have her at my side as we steward and enjoy all the things we've been blessed with.
4. A wonderful family - Two daughters and one son, all grown.  Psalms127:3 talks about children being a gift from the Lord.  De and I were given wonderful gifts.
5. Two young men, one a confirmed son-in-law in-training and an other who is working his way into that into position, that are God-loving Christians who have captured my daughters hearts.  Knowing that my "little girls" are involved with Christian men is immensely satisfying.  To top it off, both are willing and even eager to dig in a help around the homestead.  Between helping to get the coop ready, doing the hard part of getting the mower deck on the tractor, and mowing my large yard, and just being a part of the family they were both a huge blessing this weekend.
6. Family again - A niece who was willing to brood our chickens.  Just one example of the generosity a Christ-center family offers to one another.
7. Land to steward, a comfortable house, a good job, and an endless list of other material blessings.  There's no other way to put it:  I am blessed!

After Church and dinner today we built a make-shift playpen for the chickens to allow them to get outside.  The rest of the roll of hardware cloth and two hog panels.  Its good for supervised excursion only, but we were able to let them out for a couple of hours.  Here's the older granddaughter watching the birds.  De and I both missed getting a video of a hysterically funny moment where she was walking around imitating the chickens.

When we were ready to let the birds out. We just reached in, opened the pop hole and waited.  It didn't take long!  In just a minute the first birds made their first foray onto the Grand Boardwalk.  I did have to eventually shoo two out, but the other 13 found their way out pretty quickly.  They were obviously happy to be out and about.

 The Chicken Veranda was hit, too.  (Or at least I'm choosing to interpret their actions that way.)   It was a hoot to watch them hunting around, scratching, attacking the grass and any bugs unlucky enough to be hanging around in the pen.  They are a very animated bunch.

I was especially amused by the 7 bird communal dust bath.  What a hoot!  Seven birds all trying to get into a space just bigger than a square foot.  Fluffing, throwing dust, rolling around in a way I didn't remember chickens rolling in my childhood. They appear to be just about as happy as a chicken can get.

I think we've made some headway with our mystery bird.  De's research indicates it may be an 'Easter Egger'.  At least that is what the websites she's found seemed to indicate.


There is one other thing we are looking into.  There seems to be one bird, the female Golden Polish that was limping around a bit and might be showing some evidence of being pecked.  Early research shows that putting some Vick's vapor rub (or a generic equivalent) on the bird sometimes helps.  I am interested in other opinions.  How do you all handle birds that are being picked on?

The next stage of our journey is underway!  We are very excited and looking forward to wherever the Lord will lead us as we continue down the homesteading path.

Col. 1:9-12

Mark