Life Is Busy

I’m sure we are busy most days and the days blend together. Niki and her girls have been visiting and Ross stops in a couple times a day. I’ve been taking care of the chickens, the cats and the plants at my sister’s house while they took a much needed little trip. I’m most definitely not a chicken person and the first day, those chickens could tell I wasn’t a chicken person–I made them nervous.

Three days later they’ve decided I’m OK–I bring the food and shut their coop door to protect them from bad things. The chickens can tell time, I’m convinced! The chickens are released from the coop to roam the yard every afternoon at 4:30–in winter, earlier. When I walk over to open the door they are all ready cooing and chattering–let us out, let us out. At 8:30pm, I go over to shut the doors of the coop and every chicken is sitting on the roost, cooing quietly saying, “shut the door, shut the door.” Ann’s chickens are good layers, I’ve gotten at least a dozen eggs every day.

Weed spraying on Barnes Hill just went hi tech–Ross equipped his tractor with a GPS–keeps him on the straight and narrow.

Mom’s new iPhone is working, her data is transferred and I can finish the rest of the Verizon business from home–I hope. It took yet another trip to the Verizon store on Friday but the phone now works and we’ve been practicing!

On the way back from the Verizon store–45 minutes away–Mom and I had a scare. We were on a narrow, winding back road when a Dodge pickup crossed the center line coming halfway over into our lane. I didn’t swerve but I did apply the brakes hard and head for the ditch which wasn’t deep at all, I dropped both passengers tires off the pavement but was able to drive out of the ditch. I had to stop and calm myself refraining but chasing down the moron and giving him a piece of my mind.

On the way to the Verizon store Friday Mom and I had been talking about this exact thing–distracted driving. I have started to really focus on vehicles coming at me on two lane roads–watching for distracted drivers. My Dad taught me to always be aware of my surroundings when driving–look for an escape path–and I usually am doing this as I drive. All those lessons just might have saved our lives yesterday–we were in Mom’s Toyota Camry–no match for a Dodge truck. If you remember when we took this same route on Monday we had to sit and wait for an accident scene to be cleared. We later learned the accident happened as the result of one of the vehicles crossing the center line. A person was killed in that accident.

It’s softball season in the south and every weekend sees Elizabeth on the field for one, two, three, maybe more games. She is going to college with the aid of a softball scholarship. Her mother Niki is my only niece and I adore Niki and her two daughters. They are one of my life’s greatest joys.

Elizabeth is on the left in the sunglasses.

The kildeer sitting on four eggs in the middle of Danny and Ann’s front yard–in the broiling sun for most of the day. Leah and I mowed Saturday–Mom’s yard plus Danny and Ann’s. We mowed around the kildeer. Danny has seen the male fly in to relieve the female and she flew straight to the pond for a drink of water!

Sunday lunch–my brother fried fish, french fries and hush puppies–a most unhealthy meal but oh so delicious! Vicky made baked beans–we dined well! My contribution was this chocolate cake–

And we also had blackberry cobbler!

It’s a hot one in Arkansas today–summer is here. The Cowboy and Emmi went on our yearly trip with the ATV gang to the Pryor Mountains wild horse range–I bet they have a good day.

Danny and Ann’s home–her front porch always looks so southern in the summer time–ferns, porch swings, rocks–southern.

And I finished my scarf–my third knitting project. I am so excited–this was a “learn how to knit different stitches pattern.” I learned the garter, stockinette, basketweave, seed, smooth sand and ribbed stitches. The scarf has mistakes and needs to be blocked but I think it’s beautiful.