We’re still here

Sunday, May 2

It’s been over a month since I’ve taken the time to sit down and write a blog post. A friend emailed me a couple weeks ago and asked if we were OK. I assured her we were just fine and I appreciated her concern. I’ve been covering for one of the girls at the B&B for the last four weeks. Granted it’s only a few extra hours a week but by the time I get home (some days going from one job to the next) in the evenings I am spent. The only thing I have wanted to do after supper was sit on the couch and read or watch a little TV.

In fact, two weeks ago tomorrow (Monday) I suddenly decided to give my notice at the paper. CountryBoy and I were having coffee that morning and were talking about life in general – things we wanted to do, needed to do, ideas, time, lack of time, and so on, and the conversation awakened something in me. I realized that I was spending more time working for other people than I was making our dreams come true and that our lives had become anything but that simple lifestyle we longed for. It was now chaotic – trying to remember where I needed to be and when, juggling guests, juggling jobs, and even trying to find the time to get groceries and feed for the animals. It was all becoming a bit too much. So, I wrote my resignation that morning and handed it to my boss that afternoon. She was not thrilled but not surprised either knowing all that I had going on and asked if I would work from home. I kept my foot down and said I would only work from home (after May) until my replacement was hired and trained. I knew if I had agreed I would be working from home forever thus defeating the goal of more time to do all that needs to be done ’round here. I am in the process of working on the Grad section that will come out at the end of the month so in my resignation I offered to stay through the month if it was OK with the boss. The Grad section is dreadful and it would not be fair to throw a new person into that right off the bat. We are in the process of interviewing people now so hopefully the perfect candidate will soon come along and I can show them the ropes and be on my way.

I have surprised myself with how well I have handled the whole situation. Usually I get all worked up about leaving a job but this time was different. It was as if I was on auto-pilot and just going through the motions without any emotions. It was actually quite nice. I had also been praying for the right time to leave one of the jobs yet I have also procrastinated. There are a couple of large projects we want to tackle and the extra money would be nice or so I kept telling myself. That Monday morning, however, none of that mattered and the time felt right. I knew I had to just do it before I talked myself out of it. Come June I will have a few more days at home to help with the cabin, cooking, cleaning and gardening. Also on the agenda will be gathering wood for next winter. We ran out before winter was over but we survived. Now that I will be home more we’re going to do our best to be better stocked for next year.

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Spring is here and with that comes a lot of extra work at the farm. My days off quickly fly by leaving me with a few projects done and a whole lot more on the to-do list.

Here are a few things that have kept us busy over the past few weeks…

My clothesline poles looked as if they had come to life with all the moss that was growing on it. I scraped it all off, sanded them down a bit and then spray painted them. They are looking much better now.

I also have been busy starting and baby-sitting seeds…

I’ve got three different types of tomatoes, marigolds, strawberries and green peppers growing in the sunroom/greenhouse. We will wait to plant them until we are sure we are free from any more frosty mornings.

Speaking of frosty mornings, we had an April Fools Day snow…

It was just a light dusting and was gone in a few hours. It was strange seeing trees that had blooms and leaves on them covered in snow.

Speaking of leaves, the grapevines we transplanted are coming to life…

… we are thrilled they survived! And the sour cherry trees were loaded with blossoms this year…

… hopefully we’ll get a few sour cherries to make some jam (if the birds don’t get to them first!).

And although we’ve had lots of dandelions in the yard we have yet to attract a swarm of bees in the hive.

We’ve been making some progress on the garden…

We finished the raised bed by the fence and have filled it with dirt; we’re at the halfway point with laying down the weed barrier; we’ve got the potatoes planted; and we’ve relocated the asparagus into the raised bed. I also purchased and planted a few more.

All in all we are really pleased with the overall look of the garden and the weed barrier has already proved to be an asset as we have been able to walk in the garden even after a good rain.

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LizzieBelle is doing good considering all her ailments. We did have to increase her diuretic last week to three times daily as she began having more coughing spells lately. We have one more day to go then we’ll go back to twice daily and see how it goes.

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On a sad note, we lost our beloved Speckles yesterday. On Friday I noticed that she was not doing well. Upon further inspection I discovered what the problem was. I went back to the farmhouse to get CountryBoy and we donned our gloves and headed back to the paddock. He held her while I pulled a broken egg out of her bum. The smell was horrible and I feared we were too late but I hoped for the best. An egg had broken inside her and it had finally started working its way out. Unfortunately, when that happens the egg yolk and white goes throughout the system and usually has devastating results. She died during the night. I’ve tried to not think about it because she was quite literally the sweetest turkey. I will miss scratching her head and giving her a good rubdown under her wings and listening to her turkey noises. sniff.

Also yesterday, we lost two chickens. They had gotten out somehow (we’re STILL trying to figure out how they are getting out) and one of our guest’s dogs had gotten away from them and had found the two girls that were out and killed them. Two good egg laying chickens gone. I tell you, it was a day I hope to not repeat any time too soon.

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On a better note, we saw another glimpse of God’s artwork the other night…

… it’s moments like this that erase all the difficult parts of life.