MORE GUINEAS HATCHING AND HERB DRYING RESTOCK

This Friday morning is another beautiful sunny warm morning.

I got chores done and as I peeped in on the red silkie who is setting on 13 guinea eggs and has been unpredictable and wild all during her 28 or so days of setting I was surprised by 2 little heads that peeked out at me. Well at least she will have something to mother for all her setting time.

Back inside I had breakfast.
And then this Friday feels more like the normal Fridays of many years past as I gathered some baking materials and set about baking caramel, chocolate and pound cakes.
I have a couple customers who need cakes and I am baking all of them today.
Today is a lonely day for us as both #1 son and his family are going to the lake and camping this weekend and daughter and her family are going to help celebrate son-in-love's niece who is graduating high school tomorrow in a drive thru ceremony in Davie county, NC.
This little cutie looks ready to go.

Hubbie is going to cut another dead limb off the mimosa tree that is hanging over the driveway.
I finished my baking and then hubbie came in for a quick lunch.
He went back to his tree cutting and I went to restock my drying rack downstairs with fresh herbs.
I cut more of the oregano, sage, mountain mint and stevia and also added lots of lemon balm that is growing out into the walkway at the back door.

I also added some chives this time. I don't know if they will be okay dried or not but I have tried freezing them and that didn't work well so who knows how they will dry.

The rack is definitely filled to capacity this time around.

I will be looking for lots of things to do with lemon balm this season. Last year I made some great hand moisturizer and I always use it to repel insects.

I also got the sweet potato slips planted in this bath tub where my radishes were after we moved it out in the sun.

I noticed this afternoon that the guinea hen is off her nest down in the pasture and has been with the male guineas in the back yard all afternoon. I checked on the nest and something had gotten all her eggs. Must have been a snake because there weren't any broken shells left in the nest.

Hubbie and I both worked in the garden awhile this evening and I watered all my flowers around the house.

We got chores done and then had a quick supper.

I spent another familiar Friday evening tonight icing cakes and getting 3 caramel cakes ready for delivery tomorrow. The rest will go in the fridge until Tuesday.

I was very tired tonight and felt like I was back in the regular routine but am thankful that this is not an everyday thing right now.

When things do start back up I will have to work into it slowly and get built back up.

Thankful for all the blessings of this day and thankful for the traveling mercies for the kids today as they traveled to their weekend destinations.

God Bless and Good Night

SWIMMING THURSDAY

Up to welcome CA and Addie while daughter takes IR to the pediatric dentist appointment this morning.
I got chores done and then had breakfast. I already have heart burn this morning from probably the big supper hubbie and I ate late last night.
I took an alka seltzer and felt some better.
When daughter and IR got back she said this dentist visit didn't go as well as the one the other day. This dentist picked at the bad tooth and sent IR into a crying frenzy when he hurt her.
He is going to pull the bad tooth next Tuesday and thankfully he said he didn't see anything else that greatly concerned him at this time.
We loaded up IR, RL and CA and headed to the dump / recycle center for out weekly outing with the girls.
Nothing exciting happened today and we stopped by a produce stand on the way home but they didn't have much produce. I guess the storm that came through last week muct have played havoc on the produce farms around the southern states.
There was another  2/10ths inch in the gauge for us from the overnight showers we had.
While we need rain a lot of places are flooded right now with too much rain but that is how it always goes.
After we all ate a good lunch we all headed down to d-in-love's pool for the afternoon. IR surprised us all by getting into the pool and playing with RL and Addie.

And of course CA loves the water and loves to slpash.

Unfortunately as IR was eating an apple a piece must have went into the tender tooth the dentist poked at this morning and she cried and cried with a hurting tooth.
Daughter gave her a dose of Tylenol and put some numbing gel on the tooth and she finally felt better.
We all left at about 5:00 and came home.
Hubbie and I had an early supper. I only had some brown rice and some of my fermented sauerkraut to keep things bland in my stomach as it is still feeling very tender.
We got chores done and then hubbie and I put up cattle panels for the cucumbers to climb and we used the last 2 we have on the row of tomatoes to try this method of tying them up.

We also set these smaller panels in the bathtub where the tomatoes are planted.

We came inside for the evening and relaxed.
I am super tired tonight after fighting a tender stomach all day but thankfully it feels back to normal tonight.
Thankful for the blessings of this day.
God Bless and Good Night

RAINY WEDNESDAY

Hoping these clouds bring more rain than the 1/10th inch we have in the gauge this morning.

After getting chores done and having a quick breakfast hubbie went with me out to the Curb Market to get some paperwork done and make a bank deposit.
The chairman of the board was there and talked about how slow market has been.
I can't blame folks for not getting out because we aren't going anywhere or doing anything in public for safety from this virus that is getting worse everyday.
I got all the work done there and made stops at the bank and mailed an advertising bill on our way out of town.
We stopped at a local produce stand and were fortunately the only customers there and still wore our mask.
They didn't have any more of the corn we have been buying as he said the farmer in Georgia that was growing it got flooded out by Christobal the tropical storm that came ashore in the gulf over the weekend.
We came home and moved the chick brooder out of the basement to the front porch. The dust was getting too bad to leave them in the basement any longer and we won't have to move them in and out on the porch. They will be more apt to get critters trying to get to them out here but I have a camera set up so maybe it would wake us up or scare the critters away.
The rain has started lightly so we had lunch to wait and see what it was going to do.
After we ate hubbie worked on gathering recyclables and trash and I worked on getting the herbs I have been drying in jars.

I am pleased with the first collection of the season.

My hands smelled so wonderful after I finished this but my back muscles told me I had sat in one position too long !!
It seems strange not to have any of the kids around today but RL's other g-ma is with her today while d-in-love works again. Daughter is at home with IR and CA and is keeping EL and BB while Re attends a meeting at her work this afternoon.

Hubbie and I cooked a nice supper tonight of fried chicken thighs, roasted sweet potato and rutabagers and fresh green beans.
We got chores done and settled in for the evening.
It has rained lightly on and off all day only leaving 3/10ths inch in the gauge but we are hoping for some more rain overnight as the cold front moves through our area.
Thankful for all the blessings of this day.
God Bless and Good Night

FIRST DENTIST APPOINTMENT FOR IR

Up to get chores done and have breakfast before daughter arrives with CA and Addie to stay here while she takes IR for her first dentist appointment.
These little chicks are really growing and are happily sleeping in the warm sunshine along with their heat lamp this morning.

I love the colorful reflections of the sunrise caught on the Ring camera this morning.

After we all had breakfast RL came up to play with Addie while d-in-love took g-son to get a haircut.
They played with CA and were very good all morning at entertaining themselves.
I did a coupe loads of laundry from all our winter weather coveralls that can be finally safely put away until next fall.
I also had to listen to a meeting for daughter that she needed info from while she was in the dentist office with IR.
IR was a perfect patient this morning as she got her teeth cleaned and checked out.

She has some cavities and is going to see a pediatric dentist on Thursday to see what can be done with them.
When they got home everyone ate lunch and then they all headed over to Re's pool leaving CA here as it is too hot for her and she can't get in the pool yet.
IR surprised everyone and got in the pool with Re and looked like she was having fun.

Hubbie, CA and I sat out in the covered patio and watched some linemen put up another line along the power poles. It was either cable TV or a phone line because of the location they put it in, well below the power lines.

When everyone came back daughter waited for a customer to call to meet with 3 coconut cakes she had made for him and then they all went home for supper.
Hubbie and i got chores done and did some gardening before calling it a night. It is very nice outside this evening with a breeze and lower upper 70's temps.
No rain for us today, hopefully tomorrow.
The covid virus seems to be getting worse as numbers continue to rise and our state keeps setting records each day for the most cases in 24 hours and even our county keeps having more and more cases and deaths.

I feel sorry for the school officials and other folks who are facing decisions on how to reopen and when.  With cases continuing to rise each day I certainly don't feel safe getting out into the public right now.
God is in control and I know He knows what this is all about but I also know He wants us to use the brains He blessed us with and make the right decisions.
Thankful for a wonderful graceful, loving Savior.
God Bless and Good Night

A NEW SCHEDULE MONDAY and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIF

Beginning a new week with a different schedule once again. D-in-love has to work at school from 9-3 on Mondays and Wednesdays through the summer so RL was here and not  happy with her new mom leaving her for the first time to go to work in several months.
She soon was fine and helped me with the feeding chores this morning and we watered our raised beds again this morning after the 90 degree sunshine of yesterday. Today is much cooler and overcast skies this morning making it feel so good outside.
Back inside we had breakfast and then I got weekly laundry started.
Daughter brought IR and CA over while she ran an errand and then she worked online finishing up her school work for the year. I think she has a couple more days of work before she is officially finished with this year.
RL and IR and I went outside to ride this little tractor and they took turns riding it until the battery died.

I got 2 more loads of laundry done and then we had a good lunch of left over spaghetti and then popsicles outside for dessert.
It feels so good at her today, so different then the past several days. Both girls lazed on the hammocks and relaxed for a long time.

We played up at the trailer playhouse for awhile until d-in-love got off work and daughter finished all her work then they all went home.
Hubbie and I watched the early news and then got chores done. I cleaned the chick brooder box and put in a larger feeder. The chicks are growing fast and feel plump when I lifted them in and out of the box.
I noticed this large Magnolia blossom and another large bud right behind it ready to pop into bloom.

We came inside and ate a light supper and then relaxed for the evening.
Today is a special day as my beautiful newest d-in-love gets another year older. Happy birthday Tif we love you so much and hope this day is a wonderful one.

Thankful for all the blessings of this day.
God Bless and Good Night

FAMILY FILLED SUNDAY

Up to welcome IR and CA this morning while their parents went out to the school to run before the heat sets in for the day.
IR helped me with chores while CA stayed inside with hubbie.

IR and I fed all the chickens and then watered the raised beds before we came inside.
We had a easy meal today of spaghetti , salad and garlic toast.
#1 son's family , daughter's family and Aa and the kids joined us for lunch today. #2 son and Tif are tubing and having an early birthday celebration for Tif today and Re worked last night so she is sleeping.
Two out of three waited patiently for their spaghetti !!

After everyone left hubbie and I cleaned up the kitchen and then while hubbie watched a race on TV and napped I went up and to the garden and trimmed the basil for the first time this season and also cut one bunch each of spearmint and peppermint from the pots in the back yard on the way back to the basement. I hung these in bunches to see if they will dry faster than the herbs I cut last time and put between paper towels in containers on the rack which are not completely dry yet.

I hung a bug guard from a baby swing around these to keep the dust off them.
Hubbie and I got chores done a little early this evening so we could get a fire going and get ready for all the kids to come back for smores tonight.
It was a very warm night after the 90 degree day and the fire was almost too hot to be fun but everyone enjoyed smores on the fire and hotdogs on the grill and the kids had a great time running and playing together.

 IR,CA  and I just like to swig and watch the fire.

It was a really nice evening and everyone had a great time.
Hubbie and I cleaned up and then we relaxed for the evening.
Thankful for the blessings on this different but wonderful Sunday.
God Bless and Good Night