I'M BACK!! The Truth Is .....

.....since I have to be home for the next 3 (THREE!!!!!) months... mending from knee surgery, I have been looking for some Guinea Hens. Something to make some noise around here.... just too quiet, and I can't stand tv hardly at all .....

I need something ALIVE ........

something that MOVES ..........

( besides Izzy ..... shes quiet )

I had the chickens before, all pretty colors of them, till they got et by the possum. (well ........ now I just have to plug the hole in the chicken fence....)

And those guineas are like watch-dogs and will make lots of noise if someone comes around. Which, no one ..... hardly ...... does...... just sayin'....

AND, just to make them worth their keep ..........they eat TICKS!

So what do ya say??? You know me by now.... I like to have an alternate plan, just to cover my BE-hind..... never know what the gas prices are going to be.... or if Social Security will take a dive...... Yep, alternate plans are good ones. Besides it helps keep me from being down in the dumps because I can't go to Arizona right now. BOO-HOO

So Many Changes ......

I didn't intend this to be happening ..... it just is. My life ...... is changing. After years, and more years of heading in the same direction ......

Doing this home-made, and homegrown ...... home-business ....... homesteading...... Doing as much as we could for ourselves, and trying to help others who wanted to learn to do the same.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now that there is only myself ...... to cook from scratch for ..... to grow a garden for ..... to can for ..... to bake bread for ..... to make cheese for ..... to raise my own meat for,

It just doesn't seem as important ..... or needful ......not even wise ........ to expend all that energy and time for the little bit I use. I have found that too much food goes to waste ...... so I need to change my way of producing, cooking, shopping, and storing. Is it wise to keep a flock of chickens for eggs? .... or a couple dairy goats for milk? ....or some rabbits for meat?

What would I do with more than one tomato, squash, or cucumber plant? ...... or one row of beans , peas, or corn?

How long does it take me to use one jar of apple butter, when I don't always eat a slice of bread every day?

Is it even worth my effort of making my own laundry soap, when I have only 2 loads of laundry most weeks?

So I can see my "just plain country" way of life is taking a new twist of its own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hence, my new blog, "Changing Lanes ....." It will cover my newly-found station in life, pursuits I have had in the recesses of my mind for years ..... thoughts on how widowhood has changed my life ....... and the struggles that go along with it all.

I have enjoyed writing this blog, but as my hubby always reminded me, the only thing constant in life is change. And so I must learn to embrace it .... thankful for each new day. I hope that many of you will follow along with me as I grope my way along this new road. Otherwise I will miss each of you who have been such an important part of my blogging life.

Sincerely,

Sunny

Knitting - Not just for Winter time

It was just a year ago my eldest daughter Tina, the family "Knit Wit", came to visit while I had scopes done on both my knees, and she got me back to knitting , which I hadn't done since being a very young mother. I progressed during the following months from knitting dishcloths, to a shawl, to a tiny hat and leg-warmies for my new grand-daughter, to my very first pair of socks!

I have heard it said the knitting is a great wintertime project. I found it also to be a great project during a time of bereavement. These are the projects I have been working on the last few weeks. My second pair of socks (for when I am out plein air painting in the cold) is now finished....

.... and I am now doing a pair for my youngest daughter. She loved these colors! She also likes her socks short so knitting these should go a little faster than the regular length. I have just turned the heel and picked up the stitches on the sides , ready to do the gusset.

Knitting is such a relaxing project, almost mindless at times once you know the pattern. And such a great reward for the work put into it. The next pair I am planning to make has cable design down the sides. That may prove to be a challenge!

Ecclesiastes 3: A time to mourn....

http://atsunnysplace.blogspot.com/2011/06/ecclesiastes-3-time-to-mourn.html

Some Strange Going's -on

........at the end of our long driveway....

I saw this little Killdeer wandering around, (bottom right) ...


leaving and coming back to the same area.....

On further inspection, I saw she had a nest of 2 eggs on the very edge of our driveway! Concerned that her eggs might get run over I quickly decided on a plan of action. Going to the workshop, I located a couple fence-rods and some bright orange plastic tape. I took the chance of scaring her completely off, and put the posts in the ground at an angle that would keep my dear hubby or the truck driver who delivers rabbit feed, from running over them.

Since then she has laid two more eggs and has been setting her nest, getting off only for short periods of time. She will even stay on the nest as I drive s-l-o-w-l-y by. It is interesting how she fans her tail feathers over her nest and keeps her body toward you as you pass by. Here, she is standing just over her nest....

I am glad she decided to have her nest where she did instead of in the field, because
the next week .......



...... the cultivaters, the fertilizer trucks and the corn planter came in to plant 87 acres of corn!!

Now ..... how did this little bird know to keep her nest out of the field?? Doesn't it remind us of the Lord's loving care for all His creatures? and how much more for his children!

Any strange goings-on at your place this spring??

Happy Mother's Day

I am blessed to have four lovely daughters! They are all so very special, each in their own way.......

These are flowers from my oldest daughter in PA

I love geraniums..... especially pink ones!

Aren't they pretty???

Thank you so much, Tina!

What's in there???

Miss Izzy just has to see whats going on....


Hmmmm.......

Three weeks ago we gave a bucket of eggs to farmer friends, as they were starting an incubator and had room for more eggs. Forty-one of ours hatched out, they kept 10 for their troubles, and gave us 31. Do we need more chickens?????



Not really, but they are so cute!! ....and fuzzy!

There are just all colors!!! Paint-spiration, I call it :)

Stripes, and yellows, and blacks .... and ones with gray butts!

I think this in my favorite!

And Miss Izzy keeps watch. She is checking them out every 5 minutes. She is a little short so we set a brick in front for her to step on so she can ... see..... better. She's such a litle momma!