Still Here!

Thank you to Willow for popping in & reminding me that I've been out of touch; it's a lovely thing to be missed! All is fine....but do you ever feel like time is seeping out of every seam, a steady dripping away like water from a soaker hose? That's how it feels right now.

--Critters are well and happy! Pip will be a year old this month--impossible to believe! Linda brought Pip & her four siblings home to foster on April 12 last year; they were only 3 or 4 days old. Keeping Pip, which was totally unplanned, was one of the best decisions we've ever made.

She is probably the most loving cat I've ever known, and between us, Linda & I have had some serious lovebugs. Her favorite place is on the couch, laying on both of us; she always wants to be touch us both. She wants petting and kisses, but not in a needy way. She's also a...well, a pip, always looking for mischief. Yeti's plumey tail is a toy, as are Lola's legs. But despite our initial worries about Lola and Pip, it's all worked out.

Chickens--doing well, laying huge eggs; sometimes I look at them and just think ouch! TuTu, Octavia and Julia are glad for the warming temperatures but want to know when there will be grass to forage in!

Bees--we were deeply saddened to discover we'd lost a hive due to mice. Linda had a mouse guard up, but somehow it got pried open enough that mice invaded the hive. This was the original hive, so all the more sad. Two hives survived Winter, and she just got two more last week. This is a tough time of year to get them through, but she's feeding them daily.

Planting! We've begun kale, chard, peas, arugula, spinach, thyme, marigolds, snapdragons. A weekly planting calendar is in place, along with extensive plans on what gets planted where, and when we need to build what; for example, we're not starting tomatoes from seed, but instead will buy them from Catskill Native Nursery in mid-May, so we know that in early May we need to build platforms to set tomato containers on between the rows of our younger grape arbor, and by mid-May will need to build the bean & edamame trellises. We're aiming to turn a chunk of yard into a no-mow zone; this year's biggest effort in that direction will be a huge stretch of sunblower beds! We're looking to bring whimsy and joy into our yard along with functionality and (eventually) easier maintenance.

The endless battle with food--a little over a year ago, on orders from an acupunturist/TCM practitioner, I went on a gluten/sugar/processed food free diet because of chronic hives, and stuck it out successfully for about 5 or 6 months. It didn't affect the hives, which went into a remission this past October and then began rebounding last month. It did cause me to drop 16 lbs and become far less bloated. Eventually I returned to all my bad habits again, and last week stepped on a scale at the doctor's office and felt nauseous at the number. So...it's Monday morning, the first day of a new month, and I've rejoined Weight Watchers (online)--hey, Jennifer Hudson still looks great! It's been successful for me before, and I seem to need the regimentation. Doctor told me I must start exercising, and broke it down to as minimal as possible--10 minutes a day, three times a week to start out. Even I can manage that!

We've had hints of sweet Spring, warm sun and blissed-out birds, grazing deer, geese flying over the house by the hundreds, heading north all at once as if they all got the email at one time. The quince is blushing, the Japanese maple is sporting delicate buds, daffodils are peeking out. The season is pregnant with promise, each day a new discovery, and today I feel optimistic and excited about the days to come.

I've missed all of you, and will be making the rounds of blogs this week; I look forward to catching up! And I'll be back posting at the end of the week to talk about....some very special strawberries. Wishing you a week of joy and anticipation in the season!

Quickie Update

I owe you pictures, but for now:
  Kittens are doing well, except for a little problem with...shall we say 'eliminating'. Even with lots of help, it's still a challenge, but this too shall pass (couldn't resist; I crack myself up sometimes). Vet is pretty sure Bear, Marbles and Stripe are boys, and T-cubed and WC are girls. WC's eyes are half-open, and everyone else is in varying stages of peeking at the world. Linda is a saint, a trooper, and very, very tired.
 Coop is moving along, but we're at that part where, at the end of five hours of work, we stand there with aching muscles and say "Really???!!! That's all we got done today?". We're working on the roof rafters; we wanted a peaked roof and it's tough-going. But we're way ahead of where we were this time last year, so that's good. We decided against chicks. I'm sorry...all those fuzzy chick & kitten photos would have been adorable, but time is not our friend, and five fragile babies in one season is enough. We'll be taking back three of the nine we gave to our neighbors; alas, their daughter has grown fond of Mama, so Mama won't be coming back, but Millie will! Then we'll round up three more laying hens born this year. In an ideal world, we'd find an Australorp or two, and an Ameracauna, but we'll see. There may be a livestock auctionin our future.

  Coop-building  has exacerbated tendonitis in both hands so I can barely knit or spin; heck, yesterday I opened a jar and had shooting pains up my wrist and arm for an hour. I was all the way up to the heel flap on Linda's second sock, got confused and made such a mess of it I couldn't begin to figure out how to undo it. So I pulled it all out & am starting again. Deep and heavy sigh.

  The whole eating thing: it's been interesting! Had a Coke recently for the first time since starting, and it was rather nasty...way too sweet (a thing I've rarely--if ever--said about anything in my life) with distinct chemical overtones. I prefer my half fruit juice/half club soda beverage now. So my palate is most definitely being retrained. I've been told to go wheat & gluten -free for several months, with my late-May birthday as a half-way assessment point. Gluten-free is a struggle. Brown rice pasta is fabulous (who knew?) but can't be eaten cold (geez, talk about al dente!), so I'm despairing the loss of warm-weather pasta salad. Quinoa has become my friend. I miss real bread. But this week did a lunchtime happy dance in my office over a fresh, simple salad of arugula, pea shoots & cress (all from the Farmers' Market), peppers, zukes, tomatoes, chicken & olives, with a homemade balsamic vinagrette. This is a big deal for someone who used to happily eat bad cheeseburgers for lunch. The disappointing thing is that all these changes haven't resolved the hives,which was the whole point.

  The garden is growing, but slowly. We haven't started tomatoes yet, but will be harvesting a mesclun salad soon!

  Lilacs and honeysuckle are blooming, too early. The grapes are flowering before we had the chance to prune. Slow down, please? There are deep cracks from drought, and I worry about the well. There's rain forecasted for Sunday...we need it.

  And I'm ready and longing for those Summer Fridays off (we're closed on Fridays in June & July)...I can taste those three day weekends already. And it appears my beloved is no longer working Saturdays, so we're readjusting to actually being together on the weekends; each one so far (there's been two) is such a gift!!

And that's all, folks!!!