retirement update

Because everyone keeps asking...Bobby's retirement is going quite well.

Most days are like Saturdays...we sleep a little later than before, I do housework, we tend the animals, I do laundry, we take care of errands and business, some days we do yardwork, and some days we find/make time for fun stuff. And we have taken 2 trips to Alabama - one to check on Mom after her surgery and one to see my niece and nephew get baptized, and two short trips here in NC.

That's all I really know to tell you.

I've not started gourmet cooking (and don't plan to), though I did clean/ organize 2/3 of my work room the last two weeks. I never got around to establishing a writing schedule nor getting the wallpaper off the bathroom wall, but that's okay. I'm thinking August might be a good month for that. :)

I will say that in four months, we've only had one week where we both wanted to consistently smack each other upside the head. Personally, I think one week out of sixteen isn't quite bad.

And that, my friends, is how life with a retiree is.

And Bobby's disclaimer: "Why would people think we were going to drive each other crazy? We were both crazy to start with!"

Yes, some things in life just don't change.

14 days and counting

It's happened again.

We have a broody hen.

Not sure how this is all going to pan out, but last Saturday morning, I heeded advice I'd read online, managed to get to the nest while she was off drinking water, and marked the eggs she had under her with a sharpie. So yesterday when she absolutely refused to budge, I took the flat side of the hoe, pushed her fat self off the eggs (blocking her beak from my hand in the process), and grabbed every egg that wasn't marked.

I guess it's because I'm a strange human, but it still baffles me that the girls (the hens) continue to lay eggs in the same nest where the Buff is sitting. We have a ton of nesting boxes in the hen house, and yet they all continue to use the same one. It's just crazy.

So for the next 14 days (when those three eggs should hatch), I guess the hoe will continue to be friend and bear the pecking meant for my hands as I go for eggs. And I don't know what will happen once those eggs hatch. Last year she had two biddies and smothered one of them, but we had her in a different pen with just her and the eggs. This year, not sure how those chicks will survive with all  the hens and the rooster nearby.

Sometimes it seems like I'm constantly either researching something or learning something the hard way.

Meanwhile...two weeks!

the changing of times

One of the plus sides to living in a retired farming community is you get the beauty of open lands without the constant wait of driving behind tractors on the roads. The down side? Its days are numbered.

As farmers retire/die out, families of today simply cannot afford to keep the property. There's a joke in NC's ag family that the only thing tobacco farms are growing today is subdivisions. Though our little community seems to be ammending that. Looks like we're growing schools.

Friends who've been reading my blog know that my extended family sold the 50 acres adjoining our property to the county school system many years ago for an elementary and middle school. Due to politics and such, those schools have yet to be built, though they are now back on the "slate" for around 2020 provided funding goes through.

What has taken us all by surprise though is a high school. Last night the county had a meeting with property owners nearby, and if this fall's bond issue passes, there will be a high school built within a stone's throw from my mother-in-law's house. The goal is to move Garner Magnet's students there in 2017 while their school is renovated, and then no later than 2019 it will open as a brand new high school.

Number one concern among the neighbors was the traffic, not so much the volume but the road and bridge sturdiness (or lack thereof).  And concern number two?  Hunting and the "way of life".  While we're not as redneck as duck dynasty, we're not too far off.  Number three was an increase in crime, which is already more than we care for in this area.  And there was a big discussion of property values and what three schools would do.  It was almost like a discussion between two mindsets... people from the big city who think having lots of traffic and business and busyness are wonderful things that would raise your property value, and country folks who value privacy, quietness, and a rural setting and don't want their propery values raised any more as our taxes are already high enough.  I'm not sure either side was comprehending the other, though as a whole I think most of the meeting was very cordial.

I'm not a big fan of bonds. I'd prefer not to have three schools within 2 miles of my house.  But I also recognize the importance of education and that schools have to go somewhere. It's not a change I welcome, but I don't think it's a change I can realistically campaign against. Some neighbors are already talking of selling if the bond passes. I guess I feel that no matter where you go, things are eventually going to encroach upon you.  As long as we're not annexed by the town of Garner, I'm okay. I'm not ready to give up my chickens or geese.  And if that starts being bantered about, then I might have to get my small flock of miniature cows, donkeys, and goats just to make sure everything is grandfathered in or to give us a fighting chance to stay "country."

Come what may, life won't be dull.

air...

We're back at that in-between stage in NC where the temps hover right around the temp on the AC thermostat, so we've had open windows and fans running the last few days. At night...I really like it. Day time, I can't tell a whole lot of difference.

It's been a busy week.  Thursday was the Raleigh Sewing & Quilt Expo (more on that next week), and almost every day the last week has involved some type of design stuff for our church's upcoming Family Fun Fest. Just two more contacts and printing of posters, and hopefully all my pre-event work will be done until 2 weeks! Hooray!  And today, I've been cleaning some and finalizing a few things before we head to Benson for the Southern Gospel Singing Competition. Bobby hasn't been in several years and has always wanted to go, so we're headed that direction today. 

Happy weekend! :)

very troubled

I know the media is outraged over the investigation into reporters, and are also mentioning the whole IRS scandal of targeting tea-party activitists, but what bothers me on a personal level is their lack of reporting on how the sandal targeted religious groups. We have three North Carolina based religious organizations that have been severely audited and threatened by the IRS...because they paid for ads supporting Amendment One. Yes. You read that correctly. The Biblical Recorder, Samartian's Purse, and the Billy Graham Organization all three either publicly stated, purchased ads in the newspaper and on television last May when our state was hashing out the issue of gay marriage. Things got very ugly by both sides, though the media almost never reported the numerous accounts of vandalism on churches nor the death threats on pastors who dared to speak out. And now? There's been documented proof that organizations who have been true to their values since day one of forming are now being harasses for standing by those very same values.  The more I read, the more I realize how it's not just a North Carolina-based issue. Focus on the Family had a branch that endured the same scrutiny, and pro-life groups were asked about their teachings, from whether or not they boycotted Planned Parenthood to if they taught women and girls about contraceptives.

And now? A branch of the IRS will be overseeing the upcoming healthcare task force. It gravely concerns me that a branch of government who not only violates the law (its illegal to ask the questions they've asked religious groups, as well as illegal to require them to submit membership rosters, much less to distribute those rosters to other opposing organizations, which they've done) and targets faith-based groups will be the same people in charge of deciding whether or not religious organizations can be exempt from providing abortions for their employees. We are seeing our fundamental rights stripped away from us before our very eyes, and the outpouring of outrage and consternation is simply not there. Our nation is headed down a very dangerous path, and seems either unwilling or unable to stop it.

I hope if I ever post on this topic again, it will be about the positive changes happening. I fear this post topic won't be my last.

the storm

Wow. It seems strange to blog about two storms so close together. Even though Tropical Storm Andrea brought us a lot of rain, it brought us very little wind.

Today, in the space of ten minutes, wind gusts blew down trees, branches, the lid off our mailbox (but didn't harm the bird feeder), and sent the geese and goslings scrambling to the house while the chickens headed out toward the field. It was both scary and exciting to watch. Unlike the hurricanes we've had in the past, there wasn't a whole lot of noise with this quickly passing storm.

 2/3 (of what was left) of the Bradford Pear came down. This time I think Bobby is in agreement we cut down the remainder.

 

 Pine limbs down at the pond.

 

Not the best photo, but it does a goodjob of showing how fast the wind was blowing. The pecan tree on the left was almost blown double. Thankful this happened in June and not October when the nuts are beginning to ripen! It will be interesting to see how much fruit remained on the fruit trees.

 

And that's it. While we had small rounds of showers the rest of the evening with some thunder and lightning, the worst of the storm was the black cloud and the 10-15 minutes of wind. After that it was calm (and everyone was driving around checking out all the damage in the neighborhood...that always reminds me of China).

 

Meanwhile, my thoughts and prayers are with a couple from college who live in Colorado and had been told to be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice. I can't even begin to imagine.

dis-gust-ing

Yesterday afternoon, while cutting grass, I passed a very strange branch. I stopped to look at. It was very much shaped like a branch, but its coloring...that was the color of a black snake. But even though the head & neck was up in the air, I couldn't distinguish its head. And then I realized why. I rode the mower on up to the house, got Bobby, my camera, and the gun, and we slowly made our way back toward the pond. The head was no longer up in the air, but you can still get the very disgusting idea:

It's in the process of eating a frog. You can't tell it so much here, but when it was up in the air, the frogs' back legs were sticking out, which made it look like a branch. Sadly, I missed the snake, and it made it back to the pond. I'm not sure I really saved the frog, though. It semi-hopped when Buster pawed at it, and I didn't see a front leg. I don't know if the snake pulled it off (Bobby says I probably shot the frog instead of the snake) or what happened. I'm secretly hoping I did hit the snake, even if it wasn't enough of a hit to kill it immediately.  I really don't care to see this thing in my hen house later this summer. And yes, now I'm very leary of cutting near the pond and the edge of the woods.