Technology will make your life easier, they said...

 Oy... I have struggled for 3 days with this blog. Every time I tried to sign in it would shoot me to the other blog and still not let me sign in to post. I am such a technotard... I don't know exactly what I did differently, but I think this is what happened last time too. And being over 3 years ago, I think, I didn't remember then either. And THEN, it tried to make me start a new blog. Well...having none of that, I promise.  lol  I don't know if it has something to do with the "synching" of 4 email accounts (3 are for area business) but I suspect it does. sigh...

  Anyway, here I am. I did something and fixed the problem. For now. Who knows... Steve Jobs I am not. lol

  It has been a busy and frustrating few weeks around here. I have taken on a service position that I may or may not be woefully unprepared for. In spite of it all, I survived the first 3 months of it.  Health issues abound around here (and regionally and nationally, it appears) and we have been struck senseless by it as well. Things appear to be on the upswing, and the weather is getting better too, which can only help. It's getting time to get out back and start cleaning up the garden beds and get to work on the chicken house. If  I am going to buy chicks, I probably need to get on it. I desperately want chickens again.  I really need a garden again. One year without both was a nice break and a tragedy at the same time. I'm seeing news reports that farmers are going to have the worst financial crisis in years due to economic sanctions and weather catastrophes) and that tells me I'd better get back to taking care of business. Prices will go up. Inflated reports of supplies will make everyone panic. I need to not attend that rodeo and the way to do that is produce as much of my own organic food as I can. Gardening and small scale farming gives me a sense of purpose and accomplishment. It's a lot of work, but it's good work. And I am extremely grateful to be able to do it.

  

  And that's pretty much it. I have this ominous feeling that things are going to get worse before they get better. So...I do what I can.

  My son asked me to dehydrate him some pineapple and Aldi's happens to have them on sale so I will probably do that tomorrow. I'm almost out of the pineapple I canned last year too. Today I am on sabbatical (lol) after a 5+ hour there and back road trip to sit on metal folding chairs (which almost kills me) for 6 hours. I'm a hot mess. But the reality is that I have physical structural issues as a result of being hit by an 80,000 lb fork truck in 2001 which crushed my pelvis and busted me up from the waist down. So, really the fact that I can do anything at all is pretty amazing. lol  I do try to keep that in mind when I want to complain too much.

 I need to tear my pantry apart and clean and organize it. See what's in there. See what needs to be tossed.  You know...fun stuff.  lol  I'm debating about cleaning my house today. Needs it but I'm not real motivated...unless my buddy is coming for lunch tomorrow, then I will be. lol  ***OK-- she is.  There you go. ***  Now my life has meaning again and I have a purpose.  (not).  I am slowly getting my house in order though, since I quit working. One room at a time. Little by little. As anyone who has had these nasty bugs going around can tell you, they knock you flat on your ass. No energy, sleeping a lot, and  a cough that sounds like a TB ward. During the 6 months I was working and  the 2 months I was sick, chaos reigned. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

  So, there's the news from Honeysuckle Hill. There have been some good times the past week, out at my beloved La Vista where I made a new friend and enjoyed the company and fine food of that bunch...and of another gathering on a different note, which always nourishes my soul and helps me to grow. 

  Looking forward to getting out the little in-house chicken cage where the babies live until the weather warms up enough to put them outside. (I will never forget the first year we did this because they always have the chicks out way too early around these parts weatherwise, and my husband told someone-- now she's got chickens living in the house!!) The newly remodeled chicken house/area will hopefully be done in time. I have high hopes. I am going to spend some time today researching some building plans and hints for predator proof chicken coops. Imperative that I never have to go thru the heartbreak of losing all my chickens like that again. This old heart of mine can't take it.  Even though I know that alla god's babies gotta eat...and that we're all on the food chain somewhere... still... Rather not lose them again.

  Life is never boring at the Hill. We may not have much, we may not get to travel as much as we'd like. We may look goofy to others, but we're living a simple life that some people only dream of.  And most days...that is enough.