Week 21 - Rainy Weather

Well, May is motoring along toward June quite quickly.

I can't recall, and it really doesn't matter, if May is normally a rainy month here in southwest Missouri.  We have had some rain, mostly not enough to really measure, but enough to wet the ground and make it hard to mow!  John had this past week off and he spent it getting the chicken tractor ready for the 26 chicks that have been in the brooder for the last month.  They finally have enough feathers so that they can go outside for the next 8 or so weeks till it's time for them to go to Freezer Camp.  Here is their new home

John put all 25 of those chicks into the large dog kennel we have and transported them out to the tractor yesterday morning...they seem to be acclimating quite well.  Sometime this week, John will open the door to the chicken tractor during the day so they can roam inside the dog run- no, the dog doesn't go in there anymore . It's too hard for him to get back up the stairs to the deck door so he goes out the front and doesn't use the dog run at all.  The chickens now have a 100' by 100' run all to themselves!

This past week John also was able to mow the property for the first time...he found a baby turtle and brought it in to show me...isn't it cute?

We had several days where it rained sometime during the day and then the clouds were blown away by the end of the day....yesterday we had rain start sometime before sunrise...it stopped about 1:00 p.m. and the clouds blew off to the east and the sun came out.  We had some horrific winds and even some hail.  See?

It's only pea - sized but still it came down for about 10 minutes.  My local yarn shop is closed tomorrow while they assess the damage done to the roof by the wind and golf-ball sized hail they got!  

 Then about 6:00 the clouds began to form again while we were out to dinner...this is what we saw on our way home...

That's some wicked looking clouds!  They got so dark and menacing that I was sure we were in for some 'severe weather' but nothing came of it...really, nothing.  No rain, no wind, no hail....NOTHING!  

I had an alarm come on to the washer this morning...not really an alarm, just a light that we'd never seen...Upon research, it means that the washer needs to be self-cleaned.  Evidently this code goes on every 40 washes - for the record, it seems I've  ignored this little light since I bought the machine just about 4 years ago and have done many, many more than 40 loads since then. So, I read the instructions for doing a Self Clean cycle...pressed the buttons and find that the cycle takes 4 hours and 1 minute to complete.  Not a problem except that I hadn't completed the last 3 loads of laundry that MUST be done today so we can all go to work tomorrow in clean clothes.  So, here I sit, waiting for the washer to finish its Self Clean Cycle so I can complete the laundry for today. I will keep better eye on that little light on the washer but will not perform the self clean cycle until I've done the entire week's laundry next time!

Thanks for stopping by!  

Week 20 - Happy Mother's Day

I want to wish every Mother out there a Happy Mother's Day.  Whether by birth or by choice, if you are a Mom - you deserve a wonderful, Happy Day!  

Yesterday, Mom and I came home from a quick trip to WalMart and heard that John was mowing in the dog run. Now, this isn't anything noteworthy, but it was the first time this year that he's been able to mow...it took his DR mower to hack down the foot and a half of grass that had accumulated.  The entire grassy area looks like a mowed hayfield today.  He's leaving it to dry out a bit before he does a proper mow...that will be next week, probably.  In the meantime, we don't need to ask permission from the grass to drive on the circle drive.  

The point of the above was that when I went to look out the bay window to the dog run, I saw this:

Yes, that's Gilligan sunning in Briscoe's water bowl...we'd brought the bowl inside to dry out and kitty decided it would make a nice sun spot!

Thanks for stopping by. 

Week 19 - Lots of Stuff Happenning and One Sad Thing

This past week has gone so quickly!  I can't believe we are at Sunday again already.  

We got tons of rain on Wednesday - almost 2 inches.  The grass is so green and the cows are happily munching away, when their not resting up for Cow Nap Time, that is.

The chicks are growing fast.  We lost one earlier in the week - no idea what happened, John went out one morning to check on them and one was a dead.  So far the rest are thriving.  This isn't my picture, but it's a fair representation of how fast they are growing.

John finally found the shed that he's been looking for for the back deck.  He wants to be able to store all his BBQ items on the deck and not have to shlep out to the garage whenever he need charcoal or a special grilling implement.  

He still needs to put a couple of shelves in there but it's going to make BBQ-ing so much easier for him.  And once he gets the Big Green Egg table completed (maybe in a couple of weeks), the back deck will be a nice place to prepare meals again. 

Our son's family are all members of the Mormon Church.  It is tradition for children to be baptized into the church when they turn 8 years of age.  I make a blanket out of minky fabric and embroider their initial on it to commemorate the occasion.  Our youngest grandson is turning 8 later this month and I spent part of yesterday embroidering his initial on the minky fabric in preparation for making the blanket.  

 It's hard to see since the fabric is white and I'm using white thread but that's an H there.  I've done this for each of my precious grandchildren and H is the next to last one....I'll take it out with me when I go to visit for E's High School graduation at the end of the month. H's baptism is June 2nd. Lucky me, I get to be there for his big day!

Now for the sad thing...my mother's only sibling, Barbara, passed away on Friday nite after a brief illness.  She was 89 years old and had lived a life filled with people and travels and a lot of piss & vinegar!  She was....well, let's just say she was feisty and leave it at that.  She died pain-free and with a belief that she would see her parents again.  Mom  spoke to Aunt Barb every day for the last 4 weeks until this past Tuesday when my aunt could no longer speak.  They were able to mend any broken fences that were left between them.  And for that I am thankful.  Mom is at peace with her sister's passing.  My brother and his wife took care of Aunt Barb's needs outside the assisted care facility for the last 2 years, ever since mom moved here with us.  It made it so much easier on Mom to know that R & M were watching over Aunt Barb.  I know, that's what family is for, but Aunt Barb could be a - well let's just use the word Difficult to describe her and leave it at that.  R & M put up with her changing moods and got done what needed to be done.  

I have taken myself out of Sock Madness 12.  The Round 4 pattern came out on Thursday and it was one that just didn't make me want to knit it. So I decided not to!  I am happy that I made it into Round 4 - much further than my original goal.  And now I can concentrate on other things on my list of things to complete this year.

Thanks for stopping by.