Baby chicks! My husband bought an incubator at the flea market. he tried it for the first time this year and it worked!
Same chicks, but now they are bigger.
Spring has come! We have had many spring days in the 60s and 70s. The daffodils have bloomed and now the Irises are starting to bloom. However, here in Oklahoma, nature never gives in easily…it snowed last week! And then had a late freeze and all our corn peeking up about four inches high…froze. The tips of many of the flowers froze as well. And the peach and pear trees were blooming during the freeze so that probably means no or little fruit.
The grass is greening up, though; leaves are growing on the trees, and even the air smells different. We have been doing a lot of work outside. We have a round garden with a large River Birch in it in the front of the house. We have tried different plants, but nothing has done well in that garden, so we decided to just turn it into a rock garden.
Actually, we have been down-sizing on the gardens in the past few years. I love my flowers and like to create flower arrangements, but I am simply tired of weeding. Time to have fewer gardens.
We also took out another garden in the backyard. There was a garden right next to the patio and we are building stairs up the balcony…the garden is now gone and there are stairs there. The plants were moved to a place where there is erosion, so that should help that area.
And I am so excited about the stairs. We have a balcony, but never use it because the only way to get to it is to go upstairs, into one of the bedrooms, and then out the door. That is not practical when we have company.
The balcony has a great view. It overlooks our property, out over the lake, and at night you see all the lights of Oklahoma City. It will be fun to use it.
We also extended the roof by the living room where our fireplace is. We stack wood there every winter and have to cover it with plastic to keep it dry. Now there is a roof. Yay! Another patio for the summer and protection in the winter.
We also brought manure and put it on the vegetable garden. Fito and the children planted strawberries (we lost all our plants in the drought), cabbage, potatoes, onions, corn, carrots, squash, and radishes. He has tomatoes and pepper plants inside to plant when it is a little warmer. (And a late freeze just killed almost all the corn).
He also built a zip line. We used to have one, but the tornado took the tree down. This new one is better. And he just put in permanent poles for volleyball. The older siblings have been coming two to three times a week to eat and to play games or volleyball. We have lots of fun and as the family grows, we have more volleyball players.
Ashley (Matthew’s wife) is expecting and they just found out that they are having a boy. They are so excited. I remember the excitement and joy that Fito and I felt with each pregnancy. There are so many hopes, dreams, and expectations with each one.
There is so much going on, that is why I had not blogged for so long. I hadn’t even made bread for about a month. Cooking had even been ignored (well…I only cooked about 4 times a week). But now I am back to my routine. Sunday, for Easter, I made a Spanish Turkey, a Ham, Mashed Potatoes, Spanish Rice, Beans, Peas, Salsa with Cilantro…there was sliced tomato and shredded lettuce, Spanish Cream, and I had chips, and Croissants, and Bolios (a type of bread…like a small sub).
This is the third time I have done a meal like this. That way if someone wants a traditional meal, they can have it, or if they want a Spanish meal, it is available as well, or if they want to make a turkey or ham sandwich (Bolios or Tortas), they can as well. This also allows me to feed more people with less money.
If you have “filler” foods, such as: chips and salsa, bread, vegetables, rice, and beans, then they eat less meat and you save money. It is actually healthier as well.
I made Apple- Coconut Bread today. I made 21 small loaves. I made the bread while the Geek Squad was here getting us Internet to the whole house. I have tried various routers, combinations of extenders and routers and have never been able to get the Internet to the far end of the house. I should have paid somebody a long time ago to do so.
Now, back to the balcony…have you ever noticed that when you start a project that many times another project evolves from the first project? Well…we finished the stair case up to the balcony and then realized that the door from the upstairs to the balcony was not closing properly.
It turned out that water had been pooling under the door and not only is the frame rotten, but the wood under the floor, under the doorframe, etc. now we have the door ribbed out, the framing ripped out and are going to have to put posts under the balcony while we rip out where it attaches to the house and replace all that wood. We also need to redo how the flashing was done as this created the problem in the first place.
(Sigh) It seems that just about every other project goes the same. You start to fix something and once you tear down a wall or move a cabinet, then you see something else that needs fixing. It used to really bother me, but now I realize that it is just a normal occurrence in the contracting/remodeling world. No house is perfect…time and weather will damagethings….so repair is a constant.
Have you noticed people are the same? We are always in need of repair? Relationships are always tricky and as you remove one wall, another problem or dilemma pops up? Welcome to life. Every single persons will have problems and trials; it is not that we have problems, but how we react to our problems that make us who we are.
It is my prayer that we may always react with courage and patience.
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