I bought a dog kennel and turned it into a chicken coop. Along with that ... I bought four laying hens. We bought a pool and put it on the side of the house because there was no room in the back yard with all the raised gardens. AND .... then the weather dared to get hot. WHAT was I thinking getting all this work to keep up with? All I have been doing is working in the yard, keeping up with everything. Then it or God hit me upside the head and I realized all I was doing was working. I have a job that I am at nine hours a day and when I get home, I start my second job of taking care of all this. No, I do not have acreage or anything but I had squeezed as much as I could in the property I have.
If it sounds like I'm complaining, I am not. If you know me, you know that I am a pretty extreme type A personality and I love being busy. Being busy is one thing, working your fanny off is another. So it began ... down sizing that is. In early spring, my sister and I were sharing the yard(s) work ... since we live across the street from each other, she mowed both yards and I edged and I blew the grass off the sidewalks and driveways for both yards. So with the heat setting in, I found us some a very reasonable yard guy to do the yards. Second was the pepper raised garden. Something like a rabbit, squirrel or bird ate all the leaves off of most of the pepper plants, as well as, half the peppers that were on the plants. I decided I was not going to fight whatever it was that was destroying the plants so I pulled them up and disassembled the raised garden. We shared some of the soil with my sister, smoothed out the remainder, and called it good. We then moved the pool from the side of the house to that area where I can sit on the patio and watch the grand littles and their Mommy's play in the pool.
AND then .... I made the decision to find a new home for the girls (chickens). To be honest, I didn't remember how much a chicken poops. <smile> The girls had the perfect set up in their little dog kennel turned chicken coop that I assembled behind the shed and I fixed them a little yard in front of it using baby gates so they could roam a little. I would let them out every evening and then have to put them up when it got close to bed time. This meant tip-toeing in the chicken yard trying to avoid the poop. It wasn't the poop or the fact that they had not started laying that caused me to find them a new home. It was having to admit that I 'bit off more than I could chew' with the gardens, chickens and trying to keep up with keeping a household running. If I had not tried having the chickens I would not have known that it wasn't for me. Yes, it was an expensive lesson but it was well learned. So the girls went to live in Lone Camp with the sweetest christian lady who has much more room and has about 40 chickens of her own. On her property in Lone Camp, Texas, is First Earth Farms http://www.firstearthfarm.com/, a coop her daughter has developed. The produce and fresh eggs are sold at South Side Urban Market in south Fort Worth ... check out their Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/SouthsideUrbanMarket. Anyway back to the chickens, they have gone to their new home and I have cleaned up the corner in the yard where they lived for a couple of months and I can check that duty off of my list.
Saturday my nephews came over and before they started on the projects they had, they helped me put the shade cloth on the pergola. They did a very good job with the shade cloth and it makes a big difference in the heat factor on the patio ... then they began their projects. My oldest nephew got a great job in Dallas so he is back here for the first time in eight years after going all the way to get his Ph.D. He and his brother are setting up a very nice apartment in Dallas. We are so happy he is back home.
My little pooch, Tootie, is having some issues. Last Tuesday I took her to the vet with her ears and eyes and she was limping or not walking at all. He discovered she has something that is very common in her breed (shih tzu) and she had a yeast infection in her ears. After addressing those issues, he began checking on her limp. Without x-rays that day, he felt like it could be some arthritis and felt the Prednisone he put her on for the inflammation would help. The limping got worse and she began not walking at all. Saturday I took her back and he took x-rays of which didn't show anything too abnormal. After showing me the x-rays, he mentioned doing some blood work which was very expensive. I told him I wanted him to do the blood work because I want to know what's going on. We should know by tomorrow morning if there is something else going on. He gave me some pain pills for her (Tramadol) and they have helped her mobility quite a bit which tells me there is pain somewhere.
So with the heat setting in, I've started sewing. I have always been interested in making quilts and have gathered much information from my friends, Janis and Leslie. I started out with easy things ... like jelly roll quilts. I have made two jelly roll toppers and Saturday cut out my first four-patch squares (196 total squares) and will get them sewn together soon ... maybe today. I plan to quilt them myself on my sewing machine. I've watched several youtube tutorials and I think I can do it. Time will tell.
That's about it for me.... but of course, I have pictures to share. I hope you enjoy.
Top pic the eye condition Tootie has and bottom, my little Tootie laying on the patio.
Oh one other thing to note ... I think I have a mole in my front yard. Something has to be tunneling under ground and killing the grass. I've never seen this before and have never really known a mole to kill the grass, however, the ground at my house is so so so hard he is probably killing the grass trying to tunnel. Here's a picture of my front yard ... note the wheel tracks on the left are from the wagon ... the dead grass spider web looking design is where I think the mole is and here's a picture of a mole that my friend, Cheryl, posted on my FB. (NOTE: I can never get my pictures to line up and do not want to take the time this morning so they are pretty random.)
In closing ... the real work we should all be about is God's work.
Philippians 2:12-13
Lights in the World
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
I hope this post has found everyone in good health and praising God for you blessings.
gkmorrison12@gmail.com
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