Marching out

Ending the month with finished fiber, a full moon – and a total of 245 eggs!

Marching out at . . .

Entering the home stretch

Road trip project

Last weekend we drove to Spokane to see my dad. SO much happened in two short days. First he reconciled with me, then, at the insistent face-to-face urging of a friend, he called his brother and his wife to reconcile with them, too. We ate and talked and cleaned. The house is a mess, and so is he; my very particular father is particular no longer. Dad's decline in just the month since Rick and Brian were there is dramatic; we don't see him lasting more than two or three months, and the oncology nurse confirmed that.

The view from Dad's house

We met his financial guardian; we met the nurse practitioner at his oncologist's office. Dad signed permission for Rick and me to talk to his medical professionals, a POLST form, and designated Rick and me as his medical decision-makers when he no longer can. After we left, his wife flew over for a short visit, and his brother arrives today for a short visit. Important loose ends are now tidied up – with God, with family, and regarding medical details; it was more than we could have hoped for (oh we of little faith!).

A diversionary dart game with Brian in front of the house

There will be a messy avalanche of stuff to deal with after he dies, but I'm choosing not to think much about that because "sufficient to the day is the evil thereof" (Matthew 6:34).

So glad to get back home to my best buddy

Gatsby is the comic sidekick; laughter is good medicine

Thanks for listening. I try to keep this primarily a farm/sheep blog, but as the Yarn Harlot points out, The Blog is community. The older I get, the more I keep between me and God, but outside of that I probably share more of my heart and thoughts with you than I do with anyone else. Now; (mostly) back to our regularly scheduled programming!

The road to Bentley's house

That's it for the family report from . . .

Spring surprise

We awoke to snow this morning! Not completely unheard of, but spring snow is uncommon here.

It was slushy stuff, and was eventually washed away with a cold rain. (In the last photo, I was trying to capture the plum blossoms through the rivulets of rain running down the window, but my camera didn't capture the neat effect my eyes were seeing.)

Red the chicken has a painful condition in both feet; I'm guessing it's bumblefoot even though it doesn't look like the photos I found online. She spends most of her time on the roost, I think because jumping down hurts and she's getting harassed some by other hens. So when I'm out and about, I go in and gently deposit her on the floor of the coop, where she eagerly eats and drinks while I stand watch. The others, not nearly as tame, watch from outside:

Instagram posts made me aware that today is National Puppy Day, so I snapped this shot of visiting pup Gatsby for his family:

Below is a brief video of him playing "soccer." His girl brought him a new ball last weekend. He really likes it, but also likes that pink nubbin of a toy in the photo above. So he'll carry one in his mouth while dribbling the other one all over the house with his front feet. It's pretty cute – and I'm also easily entertained by animal antics.  😁

That's it for now from cold, wet . . .

Throw-back Thursday

Aren't you glad we can't see the future?

Nine years ago I thought this little guy had a lot of attitude. Ha!

The present is all I can handle at . . .

Spring and "winter"

I took these photos yesterday to post for the first day of spring (best laid plans and all that). It was definitely springlike! Today is wet, gray, and colder; we have a fire in the woodstove and it feels good. But today's weather is not the "winter" in my title. It's my dad. He was in the hospital earlier this week and things don't look good. We are preparing to visit him soon, and while I am hoping to be able to tell him I love him and am sorry for the heartbreak the circumstances have caused, I am bracing to be rejected (again) by an angry, bitter, sick man. There will be lots of time for spinning on the drive back and forth . . . and there may be plenty of time for me to spin while there. I have a photo to share for #tbt (throw-back Thursday), but other than that, posting may be slim to none for awhile; we'll see.

That's it for now from . . .

Four photos

Things were not going well at home this morning, so I took myself for a walk. I headed down into the woods where Lance and I used to go, traveling the overgrown track on two feet instead of four for the first time. I also hiked off the (un)beaten path and sat on a boulder for while, and was treated with the company of a Spotted Towhee, two lovely little Bewick's Wrens, and a sparrow – Song or Fox, I think. A pair of vultures flew and perched in the middle distance.

The walk didn't fix anything, but it was good to #getoutside.

That's it for now from . . .

St. Patrick's Day

Blake, this morning:

During an afternoon walk with Gatsby's girl and our Aussies:

Between these shots, we went to church, stayed for potluck, watched it rain. Hope you had a good day, too!

That's it for now from . . .

He ain't heavy; he's my puppy

I was planning to get a lot more done this evening than I did, but someone needed me.

I did take a couple photos earlier today, though. It's definitely spring!

That's it for today from . . .

Sun/drops/smoke/tops

Yesterday's sunrise:

This morning's flowers (biggify for raindrops):

After two warm, sunny days (Rick mowed the lawn and started the burn pile!),

today was a little cooler and rainy – a chance to wear my new Anvard Boot Toppers!

Alas, neither pair of boots with which I planned to wear them would zip up with the added bulk. Waaah! So if anyone has some loose boots (Romi's pattern shows them with cowboy boots) and would use these fraternal twin boot toppers (they really did feel cozy on my often chilly lower legs), they are available. I will mail them to the first person in the U.S. who speaks for them and provides an address. (I haven't washed and blocked them yet, so need to do that.)

In the meantime, I've switched back to spinning. A generous fairy godmother sent me a fibery care package recently, and I couldn't resist this:

It reminds me of Easter, and is a dream to spin.

Question of the day: How come the feral flowers at the front gate bloom better than the ones I've planted near the house?

Oh, and if you're wanting horse news, it's over on my other blog.

That's Tuesday for you at . . .