Major UPDATE!

So, I must apologize to you, dear friends and newcomers, for treating you as I do so many of my true-to-life friends...who are miraculously still my friends...I have put you on a back burner, haven't I? In my writing courses I have read that writers tend to do that sort of thing...unintentionally, of course.

I am so sorry. And to make up for it, as I do in 'real' life, I will do as I do in 'real' life and give you a glut of information all at once. You could possibly be here a long time. Like, for hours.

But I'll do my best not to let that happen.

Sorry. I've tried repeatedly to mend my ways but for some reason, I seem to be a bit wired that way.

It doesn't mean I don't love you. Truly, it doesn't. And it doesn't mean I love you, but love myself more, either! What I suspect it means is that I love everybody I come in contact with and therefore, want to spend time with them all and therefore, time becomes a thin line.

I don't like it any more than you do, but there, you have it.

The good news is, I have had hours and sometimes, a full day to spend with old cherished friends this summer, in spite of all the busyness of my summertime life.

In my Christian community, friendships have been ramped-up a bit as well. But just to keep you up to date, since...OH. MY. GOSH...FEBRUARY???!!!???....Okay, I really HAVE put you guys on a back burner, haven't I?

Okay, so let's catch up a little:

Chickens: We got biddies and then were so busy, we forgot exactly when we got them. I thought we (I) put it on the calendar, but I didn't. We thought we got them at the same time as a friend of mine, but we didn't do that either. What it was, was that we got them about the same time as my husband's sister, who is also a friend and so I/we got the two friends mixed up.

THEREFORE, when our one friend's chickens started laying in July, we just knew ours would be any day thereafter, but again, we were wrong because, as we e...ven...tu...al...ly discovered, we didn't actually get them when we thought we did, which you already know.

In fact, we got them about a month later.

So NOW, we're finally getting eggs. Little ones. Lopsided ones. Two or three one day, none the next. It's actually quite excruciating. And to top it off, I think one of them may have become a cannibal...well, not actually a cannibal, but an egg cannibal. I understand that means they may not be getting enough calcium so after I'm done here I'm going to the feed store to get some crushed oyster shells. Yeah, I know you can 'just use crushed egg shells'...but somehow, that seems to defeat the purpose of getting the chickens to not eat their own eggs.

Okay, so...what else?

Oh, yeah...Our business...It's feast or famine. January to March were famine. April we started to come off the fast, spring was feast and summer's been somewhat steady. But not steady enough.

So, I worked for Adoption.com for a while, writing articles about some things I knew about...namely me and some of my own 'adopted kid' experiences. But then, they changed ownership and while their focus remains the same, they way they present that focus has changed with large requirements for picture-taking...anyway, I was hired to write, not take pictures so I had to make a choice and decided the additional time and effort required weren't (for me) worth the amount I was being paid.

I have since been writing in other venues. I still keep three of our grandchildren once a week and two others overnight it here at least once a month. They all love the yard, the chickens, the pond and the trees...but not so much, the bees.

Oh, yeah. That's the other thing we're doing...bees. Mostly Senior Chief is doing the bee thing. It's not that I don't like the bee thing, I do. But I do not have the time...no...that's not right. I do not want to sacrifice the amount of time he does into the art of beekeeping. I look forward to the day we get honey...a real flow, which won't happen until next spring, and then only IF we can keep our bee babies alive through the winter. And that, my dear friends is why I am less impressed than I thought I'd 'bee' with bees. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

On the other hand, I do find the bees fascinating when I can still myself to appreciate them for more than a few moments. And, I am truly glad my husband is so intrigued and challenged by them because we (the world) NEED(s) MORE BEES!

And even now, as I look out over the back yard, I can become entranced watching them fly in what appears to be helter-skelter fashion, in and out of the hive. But if Senior Chief were to remove a lid right now, you would see that on the inside, everything is busy, but orderly...very orderly. In fact they are much, on the inside, as I would like to be...regardless of the chaos outside, all is orderly and calm on the inside. Yes, that's a nice balance to have, it seems. There is much to be learned from their observation and therefore, my husband, at least, is a wiser man as fall approaches than he was as spring approached.

Oh, and then there's our garden...Remember our joys with our Back-to-Eden Garden last year? Well, not so much this year. I'm blaming it on the shade mostly and the bees nextly. That's all I've to say about that.

The other change has been in our church community which is right here, IN our community. It's way too much to write about, but let it suffice to say God drew us to it, so He'll see us through it! Ha!

Senior Chief's mom was sick for a while and that was scary...the kind of scary that probably damages your liver. But she's okay now and steadily improving.

And then, I took on the Chapter Leader responsibility for the local Weston A. Price chapter. Don't even ask...I think I was tricked...

And I also befriended an elderly woman who may join me, very soon, in the creation of my Lamb Puffs dryer balls. If she does, it may take that endeavor to another level. We recently started having her over sometimes with her best friend, an energetic eighty-three old man. Sometimes we go out with them to...dare I say it?....Cracker Barrel! (There, I said it!) It's what they like. They are completely charming and fully coherent...probably because of the era in which they were raised without Cracker Barrels and fast food restaurants.

And so, you can see why I am not the best candidate as a Chapter Leader for the WAPF. Good grief, sometimes I give in so easily...but I think I've said before how I feel about maintaining friendships over maintaining food preferences. Friendships can be stressful but they may be one of God's greatest sources of stress relief as well...as long as we choose wisely those we keep closest. And stress relief is one of the healthiest medicines, one of the healthiest foods, we can dine upon.

Oh, and I also started learning about essential oils.

And I'm starting in the substitute teaching field again...Going through all the paperwork stuff now and should be ready to start around mid-September. Hello, money for Christmas! Don't judge me.

Now, I've spent a lot of time catching up with you. I hope your spring and summer have been glorious. In spite of everything, and I mean everything...mine has been.

To God be the glory...great things HE is doing! :)

Love to you!