Trying to Catch Up

I wish I could say I was caught up on everything over here, but I just feel like I'm falling farther and farther behind. I'm still having trouble figuring out what is important, and what is urgent. I think I tend to accomplish too many urgent tasks, instead of what is important to get done. This week will be a challenge to discern the difference, and do only what is important. Jim's parents and brother and family will be here for a week, and there is so much to do before they arrive.

This past week is very much a blur in my memory ... I can't even remember all the details! Yesterday I headed southwest with my friend Paulette to do some much needed shopping in Minot, the closest city (about 1-1/2 hours away). Jim, the boys and Mountain Fire Keeper (Steve) headed southeast to help friends with haying. I was thankful to have the opportunity to check out a few garage sales, and was thrilled with my finds. Minot has an air base north of the city, and the families that live off base sure get rid of great stuff! We didn't get home until well after midnight.

Jim sent along a list of items for me to pick up at Menard's, and I quickly discovered how much I don't know about hardware. I was asked to get a box of sheetmetal screws, but had no idea the dozens of variations of them! I was thankful that Paulette had a cell phone and Jim was close enough to the house they were working at to let me know just what type he wanted. It sort of went like that as we went down the list, looking for various items.

Jim and the boys were home about 10, and it was then they discovered some of our Cornish cross chickens thought the grass was greener on the other side of the chicken wire. There was a spot on one side of the chicken tractor where 2 overlapping pieces of chicken wire were not wired together securely enough and 8 chickens managed to get out. Our German Shepherd must have discovered them, and it probably was a fun game to make them run and then catch and shake them. The event must have happened not long before Jim drove up the driveway, as the boys said the chickens were still warm. I was a bit concerned when Andrew related over the phone that Jonathan and Peter were out butchering those chickens. We now have chickens the size of Cornish hens in our freezer. At least they cleaned up before I got home. It could be worse; we could have had raccoon or porcupine in the freezer, waiting to be cooked!

This morning Jonathan took a head count of our Buff Orpington chickens, and discovered that 4 of them were also missing. At least we still have our lone rooster! Time to work on those chicken pens.

Today Steve was over to help Jim set up our irrigation system, complete with pump to bring the lake water up the hill and to the garden areas. After a lot of trial and error they now have it working. We are so thankful for no more hauling of water in a tank on our trailer. We are also very thankful for the lake; what a wonderful source of water for the gardens. The friend they attempted to help with haying (the baler broke down) lost half of his many strawberry plants because their slough dried up and he was unable to properly irrigate without traveling 2 miles to find water. The lack of rain is causing many problems in the state for farmers and anyone with livestock. Since we have been able to keep up with the watering needs, our garden areas look very nice. Well, our sweet corn will be more than "knee high by the 4th of July." Steve's prediction is that if the corn continues to grow at the rate it's growing, we will have corn by the truckload!