Birthday thoughts

Today, I turn 58.  Wow!  I seriously never thought I'd get make it this far...

Not that I ever considered leaving this world.  Thankfully, I'm just not plagued by depression.  I've had my share of sad times, like after my father died. But I've always bounced back to my happy self.

I've had my share of illness and injury.  Yeah, I have Parkinson's disease.  Yeah, I have 3 blown discs in my lower back.  Yeah, I have pain in my joints...

But, I live in a good place with my family that loves me.  I have good friends.  I have sufficient income to meet all my needs.  (And not bragging here, just stating a fact) I have more income than I need.  Our home & land are paid for.  And all the vehicles are too.  No debt hangs over our heads.  Our pantry is full.  Our well never goes dry.  We have good soil, our garden grows well. Our animals are healthy, excepting Peanuts diabetes.

My extended family is large, but distant.  And that's ok.  Modern communication allows me to keep in touch with everyone.

As I sit here sipping my coffee at 5 AM, I feel blessed. Blessed with love.  Blessed with plenty.  Life is good.

My family

Friends

Extended family

 More friends

My home

Back to winter weather

We've had a very mild winter, so far. Last weekend we had heavy rain & very high winds.  Several building in town lost shingles, and a few trees are down.  We didn't have any damage to our property.  Our neighbor to the south had a tree come down near her cabin & garage.

Large tree

Large tree that missed all buildings.

After the windy weather, Joshua and I got the first layer of rubber applied to the Hobbit House.  It's now a nice green color.

And the, winter made it's continued presence known... It snow on Saturday night 3/11. We got about 3 inches.

Cricket in the snow

Bunny tracks

I took these videos Sunday morning.  The dogs really enjoyed the walk.

We canned some venison yesterday.  I started out by removing all the connective tissue from the meat.  After 2 hours, my hands were exhausted.  Josh took over.  He ground the meat, packed the jars & loaded them into the pressure cooker.  This was his first canning experience.  Now he knows exactly what to do.

I finally finished a sweater I started 2 years ago.  I'm not happy with the collar... I've worked on it quite a while, and I may re-do it yet again.  Or I may just put the buttons on and accept it the way it is. Earlier this year I scored a great find, a collection of buttons, at the local flea market.   I remember moving my stash of pewter buttons while I was sorting all the buttons.  Now I can't find them.  Dang.  Anyway, I've put the sweater aside while I search for buttons.

The back of the Fair Isle sweater for me

The front of the sweater.  No buttons.

 
 My next project is a double knit Fair Isle vest.  A new challenge for me.  The vest will be completely reversible. Here's a link to my Ravelry page for this project.  Camilla, a Fair Isle Vest

Spring on the homestead.

It's been rather warm the past few days.  The flowers are really putting on a show!

Pale yellow daffodil with yellow center.

White hellebore.

Purple hellebore.

White daffodils with orange centers.

Yellow daffodils.

We had some VERY high winds on Wednesday, 3/01, early in the morning.  Our dogs woke me up at 3:20.  They were terrified!  The wind sounded like a train coming through the house.  I'd heard that description for a tornado before... but I don't think we actually had a tornado.  Just high wind.  We didn't have any damage to our property.  A large tree fell down next to our neighbor's hunting cabin, no damage to any structures though.  Thankfully.

The tree just missed the cabin & garage.

Big tree

We've made some progress on the Hobbit House.  Joshua worked his buns off, removing clay that fell in over the winter.  John got the tractor out & used the bucket to help.  Sorry, I have no pictures of this activity.  I was busy removing splattered cement from the slab (floor) inside.  Why didn't the men put plastic down to protect the floor before they started adding cement to the dome??  ARRRRRRGH!

Anyway, the french drain is now in.  We should have several warm, dry days next week.  We'll be applying the rubber sealant to the structure.  That should make it waterproof.  Then I can start working on the interior walls.

Pictures of the progress...

French drain installed.

French drain, the black perforated pipe, then covered with gravel.

Scraping the splattered cement to clean up the floor inside.

I finished the boot cuffs I've been working on.  They came out well.  I like them!

We have an unidentified tree blooming in "the pasture".  It also bloomed last year.  We've had several people say  it might be a Bradford Pear. There's no aroma.  It looks like an apple blossom.