The Daily Grind To Plowing Forward...

 Hi friends,

It feels good to get dirt under these nails again. 

I'm so happy to have the biggest majority of my gardening
"planted."

 A few days ago I took all the little fences down in the garden 

so I could get in there and till everything under.  

I say everything; but here and there things like this had to just

stay put.  Something seems to be spending a fair amount of time beneath  this olde Clematis,
don't ya think?  I haven't run into any groundhogs yet; only
a rabbit or two.  

 This year; Myguy  encouraged me to plant less.  

Yeah you heard right.  I listened... and finally  agreed to it- but then , after putting in 

 all the tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, peas, carrots,

onions, sweet peas, cantaloupe, watermelon, zucchini,

yellow squash, and flowers... I still have quite alot of seed left.

We decided to not have a corn patch this year.  

That area is out behind the  48 Chevy pickup truck that gets the bed planted in sunflowers.

The loamy earth out there tempts me so!... 

It's been on my mind alot.
Myguy's right though- sometimes
less can be more in the long run.
(whispering) except for flowers!
More is better always
when it comes to flowers!!!

Mowing the  little acreage up at my Momma's olde homeplace set this heart

on  the  little postage stamp garden there.... 

- I mowed it all and  forced  myself to not look back after chaining
the olde galvanized gate.  The redbud was in full bloom;  her pear tree also.

  This will be my main focus this year.    

I have to laugh at the picture; it really is a little frightening right now.   

What a hot mess huh? 

Maybe it's time to take those white bedrails down.  

I think I'm over it.  There's another peony flower "bed"  behind the shed that you 

can't see in this photo but it will get to stay.  

I like that one alot.  But this crooked one...
it might need to go.  

 Out back further ... I have alot to clean up.

Started to right here... and then of all things; 

I found a nest in these pickets.  

A nest!

I'm hoping it's a little wren.  

A friend of mine was telling me how wrens just love junk.

Well what a perfect spot then. 

We have plenty of that. lol  

 Aside from gardening lately I've discovered how much I love

gelli printing on "black"  cardstock.
All thanks to my friend Cora.  

Does it show I've had a little fun?
Think I  could gelli print til the cows
come home.

:)

 Another thing that's kept me busy is we've also had an injury,
 and I feel partly to blame.

When I get grain in the evening, Gracie and the donks come down to the barn 

while I clank around the tack room and load up a bucket.    Then I hop on the  fourwheeler and Gracie has this thing

where she just loves to run alongside me and it's like we're  racing.  

She bucks and makes a beeline for the front pasture where her feeder is.  

Well... on this particular day... it all started out normal but 

oddly... I beat her to the feeder.  I got off and turned it rightside up... and then here comes

Grace... bleeding and hobbling... 

Ohmygosh.  It was not like that when she was 

at the barn so it happened between here n there.  I got off and walked her beeline and found

nothin.... nothing except brush hogged blackberry stobs in one area. ??? 

It took a good long while to get her back to the barn. 

The next morning Myguy looked at her and she wasn't walking at all.... 

and really acted in pain.  He was afraid she might have broken something in there as well.

Our vet came out... and said he thought she indeed managed to get  stabbed on a stob.  

He gave her a tetanus shot and told me to wash it out every day, and spray 

a medicine in it.  Also..had to crush up

ten pills of antibiodics and one bute in her feed twice a day.. for several days. 

 This is what it looked like the second day.

Poor Gracey.  

She started walking on it again... but it's still really bothering her.

 She ate her grain pretty good even having all that medicine in it.

She's bad about knocking over feeders pawing with her front feet;

so I'd feed her out of a bucket holding it- and that way made sure the donks

didn't get any.  

 Her foot is still totally jacked up.  

He said it would take quite a while to heal.  

I hope and pray it does.

I really thought she might foal... because her bag really looks bigger

and the neighbors stud went through the fence last year- but I think she's went

beyond time now.
It's definitely for the best; especially now.

 Last last week our neighbors went on vacation and asked me to feed their animals.

The day after they left they had a foal born.  A tiny little filly. 

Towards evening I asked Myguy if he wanted to walk across the pastures to their 

place with me to check on it and he said sure.  It was such a beautiful evening!  

 They have a beaver problem on their land and in a few areas they've made it 

pretty boggy.  On our way back we laughed so hard coz everywhere we went we

kept wading through  water.  We were glad we didn't stumble onto any snakes just

waking up.  

 I kicked myself for not getting my phone out faster right "here."

A rabbit ran toward this fallen tree and hopped up on it.  

It was like something right out of Alice in Wonderland.  

By the time I got my phone on camera, the bunny  jumped off the backside.
Can you just picture it?
It was delightful.
A sweet moment I want to remember.  

 It took us awhile to get home because of all the back tracking we had to do

coz of the bogs.  

Everything was so beautiful.
The moon too.  

I love this time of year.  

Color seems to just 

spill.

Looking after my neighbors animals 

for her was good 

for my 

heart.  

Funny how new little moments

no matter how small can 

spark something  

brighter in us.

I've thought of friendship a lot this week.

When you look across the span of your life there are so many

people who come and go.  

And there's a rare few who never leave
and you take with you forever.

While feeding chickens at my neighbors this kitty

kept following me.  They have alot of cats. 

This one was different tho and I recognized something in her.  

Texting a photo of this cat to my friend who was vacationing in Florida I 

asked her, "Is this kitty related to Old Grama Lamour?" 

Nearly two decades ago she had a Momma cat named, "Lamour." 

She wrote back so fast and happily said, 

"She sure is... and in fact I named this one "Lamour" coz 

she looks and acts just like her."

I could tell it made my friend happy that I remembered not only her cat from 

years ago... but her name as well.  

The whole connection made me happy too.  

I looked up what the name "Lamour" means.

It means one who loves and is loved.  

Then there is this other olde girl of hers.  

Shelby.  How could I not love Shelby.
She's so old now and can't hear at all. 

We have a total thing for eachother.  

My friend knows it too and we talk about it often. 

How her dog loves me.  But I love her just as much.  

It's really cool when not only your friend but 

their dog too loves ya. lol
If you're a dog person reading this...
you probably understand.  

On Easter morning I got up at dawn and drove back over to my friends  to do chores.  

It was so peaceful and I thought alot about  Resurrection Sunday.  

Her 3 Mille Fleur roos were roosting right on this park bench.    

As I watched them I thought of Peter denying Christ.  

What he must have felt like afterwards because he really loved Jesus.

I imagined the fear he must have felt... and how sick he had to have been

with himself when he realized what he'd done.    

It's a visual that's stayed with me,
so I made this scripture picture.

Walking into the Sanctuary later that morning,  I was glad to see 

we were having the Lord's supper. 

That's what they call it there; but in my heart

it's Holy Communion.  

Easter Sunday... celebrating my risen Lord.  

"Coming to the table"

giving thanks... reflecting...

remembering....

rejoicing.  

(I want to hold onto that.)  

Well it's late... 

super late actually.

I'll try to blog more often now.

Since I'm only planting one garden this year; 

I oughta have more time! 

The next big thing is to get the garden all newspapered and 

then put straw mulch on top.    

Not fond of doing it; 

but it's worth it in the long run.  

Okay friends thanks for stoppin in...

Sweet dreams,

L