Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Back to the Routine

 We left the house around 6:30 am. Fog being our companion until we got to the freeway. With sadness in my heart, I dropped Roy off at the airport and had plans of having breakfast at the Cracker Barrel close by. Missed the turn so onto Another Broken Egg. Made a quick stop at Ingles. The Feral Fam acted as if I had not fed them at 6:00 am, so I put out another few bowls of food. Checked on HP and then Buddy and sat down at 9:07. That was a lot of cram into those few hours. Happy to be home though, although it is quieter. 

Over the past few days we got so many things taken care of. Roy did yeoman's duty in everything he undertook. Sometimes things that need attention can feel so overwhelming. Friday morning we dropped off cardboard at the landfill and upon leaving Roy said, a trip to NC isn't complete until we make a landfill run. We went to Big Lots and Publix, then returned home. The man who installed our roof came around 4:00 to see about a leak that might have developed and he found the problem and fixed it. When he left we drove around a bit with the day being so beautiful and only in the high 70s. Saturday morning we went to Burnsville to see some photos Roy was interested in. We didn't come away with anything from that particular photographer, but we stumbled upon the Burnsville Farmers Market and he found what he was looking for there. It is a small market but they are trying to expand it. Burnsville was a happening place. After we got home we got to working in the yard. Roy cut branches back that are getting too close to the house and he cleaned the water filter. 

Seems this past year has held so much and one thing that has been startling strange is, the weird dreams I had. Think they call them pandemic dreams. Sunday morning, the last dream is memorable and I knew when I woke up I didn't want to forget it. In this dream I was interviewing a man, deep in Appalachia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I think I was a news reporter and the conversation centered around a field he was working in. Before he could even plant anything, he had to pull all this junk out of the field, old fence posts, metal discards, wire...and I asked the question, isn't it hard to have to do all that pulling out the junk and his response was, you have to find your happy in the hard. I woke up. Happy in the Hard. 

I can think of several situations going on in life right now where the desire to find the happy in the hard has become paramount. Cause, that seems to be the only way for me to progress. There are situations I am not understanding. Finding the happy in your hard is really the joy of the Lord is your strength. Last night dragging the hose across the yard to water plum trees was hard. The evening had not cooled off, I forgot to wear a headband or visor so sweat is pouring into my eyes. While pulling the hose, kinks had to be straightened and as always keeping an eye on walking with balance because there are little dips in the yard can throw one for a loop and definitely a fall. Growing frustrated with the whole process, I almost gave in to the hard to walk away and let the plum trees figure out how they were going to be watered. But, I needed to find my happy in the hard. So usually the first thought is, I couldn't have done this work five years ago. Happy to have good knees now. The work didn't need to be done at full speed, a leisurely pace accomplished the same goal. So the nozzle was set to soak once reaching the trees. Already so close to the road saving another trip, brought the trash cans up to the gate. Since both trees had been watered and Mike the Mower Man doesn't come till Wednesday, I was able to go around the house to turn off the water and today I will reverse the process moving back to the hose stand. 

Junioretta has had her kittens and July 3rd is their birthdate. I could hear them meowing in the straw behind the hydrangea. A few plants over that way need to be watered but didn't want to frighten Junioretta. First litter of kittens I have known where they are, man it was hard working in the yard last night but happy to hear their little meows. 

Boodos has been hanging out in the backyard, yesterday and this morning. He spends most of his time in the garage hidden on a shelf. Probably keeping a low profile because of King Herod. Hopefully, with him feeling more free to be outside, maybe, I sure hope that King Herod has moved on, at least for now. A respite from his presence sends a feeling of calm in the back. I am watching HP and she seems more ready to make a go of it on the outside again. Her front right leg isn't completely 100% so that worries me a bit. I'll really have to find happy in the hard when I let her outside. It seems she and Buddy aren't a possibility mainly on Buddy's part. 

After about 3-4 weeks, Dena and I got caught up on the phone yesterday. Yes, even life in rural America gets quite busy, just not with the same concerns as city life. Dena has had her hands full as well. 

This Sunday we will finally get to Hagar and her story. I find her much more interesting than Sarah but this time around, finding some nuances of Sarah has been encouraging. Sarah and Hagar are much more than flannelgraph characters from the Bible. 

I picked the first ripe blackberry from our blackberry bushes we planted this spring. They will not be yielding a huge harvest but oh that blackberry tasted so good. Wish there had been one when Roy was here. He inspected his apple trees and there will not be a bumper crop of apples this year. The ginger gold tree is leaning again, so we fixed that situation once again. 


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