Wind & more wind

Well, we have finally had some beautiful days..........still cool at night. Then along came today. Once again the winds have gotten up around 50 mph. Willie & I were gone this afternoon & when we returned I have quite a few problems to deal with.

The smallest one is, the top off the well house that Dennis made has blown off. It is quite heavy, so it didn't blow far........but it will take both of us to get it back on the well house & tied down.

The next one is the tin roof on the barn. I'm having some people to come work on it sometime within the next week or two. I had planned on them working on it to repair the holes, but now part of it seems to be trying to fly off...........not good. I hope it stays up there until I can have it fixed.

The last & worst problem is about 1/3 of the male alpaca loafing shed has fallen in. Not good. Luckily no alpaca were in that part of the area (praise God), but they are in the area tonight. I know it is really old & now I know how much work it needs............a lot. That was totally unexpected.

I hope the winds die down tomorrow, but I think it is suppose to blow all weekend. The only positive thing is that it is warm. I think we got up to 75 this afternoon!!!

lots of things to do though, the garden, the flowers, the lawn...........the field........on and on.

Spring headed to Summer

Well, perhaps the snake situation is better. I took 4 of them & drove them about 10 miles away about 3 weeks ago. Then Jamie decided that she needed to deal with them the same way she deals with mice. So she actually killed two of them. Now I just need to hope & pray that we never see a rattler as I'm sure she would go after it also.............which would not be good. No more snakes in the house that I have found. I'm extremely happy about that!!

Today I actually got the lawn mower out & mowed the back yard. Due to the snow & how it melts slower in the back yard, the north area gets green & long. So today I mowed. The front yard needs water, so Willie got the hoses out for me & tomorrow I need to get some water going.

We've had some wild wind lately, but at least it has finally warmed up & is running between 65 & 70 during the day. Summer is coming!!

Spring in the Valley

Spring has for sure arrived ---------- which means the wind is blowing & blowing. It has been blowing off & on for about a week now. But it has blown without stopping for the last 36 hours. I'm really tired of the wind.

Last week I decided we needed to get the hay in the hay shed. The last of it was covered with an extremely long tarp that had been pulled back & over & around. So Friday I had Willie get out & help me remove the tarp & move hay. Such fun. Between Friday morning & Saturday morning we moved 70 bales of hay. Luckily I used the pickup. Unluckily the battery was dead on the pickup. Luckily I know how to use the battery charger & got it working again. Luckily also the tarp was tied down to the back of the stack of hay pretty well. We left the tarp out Friday afternoon & night. Saturday morning we moved the tarp into the garage. Someday soon, when the wind stops blowing we will get it folded up. That is a challenge in & of itself to start with. Then moving it back in will be the next challenge...........but we did it last year, so it will happen this year.

The paw prints in the snow I do believe belong to a cat. A cat ran out of the hay barn last Friday morning..............so I think we now have a cat, we just don't see much of it. I'm leaving out a little cat food every day, but not much. I still want the mice caught if at all possible.

One more snake in the house last week. It was trying to climb up the side part of the new blinds that is attached to the frame of the window. I've had some problems with the side part & the white plastic come off the glue that is stuck to the magnetic strip. So this snake is trying to climb up the glued magnetic strip!!! What fun that was pulling the snake off the glue............ at least maybe he has learned something & will not return!!

I'm off to bed, the wind is now blowing at 36 mph from the south west. It is a balmy 48 degrees outside (nice, really nice for 10:30 at night). But be aware that there is still 2 feet of snow on the north side of the house.............it's about 2 feet high, by 4 feet wide by the length of the house. I'm hoping it will melt before May!!!

Paw prints in the snow

Well it was interesting when I went out on Saturday to feed the animals & start shoveling snow. There were paw prints in various places. I saw them around the barn, in the front area, near the hay stack...........but I couldn't tell what kind of prints they were. The debate was between a fox, a skunk, a cat or a dog. They were not big enough for a dog & there are no loose small dogs in the area. I haven't seen a cat around here for about a month. The skunk & fox I have seen in the last week.....................so I'm thinking a fox.

Wish I knew. I saw the fox this morning. so pretty. I know that there will be baby foxes sometime soon this Spring & hope they do ok.

My special son

Well, I wanted to give a quick update on my new son. I do not like to post a lot of specifics sometimes because you just never know who is reading, etc. But I will say his name is Chinsinsi. We have been "catching up" on so many things. Plus because he was only 6 or so when I first started being his sponsor there were things that I didn't tell him about me, or perhaps I told him & he forgot. It has been a long time. Plus there were so many years that we were not in touch.

It has been a wonderful time of getting to know him & his family again. I'm continually praising God for his goodness and am so thankful for being able to be in touch with him again.

Spring Snow

Well here it is almost Spring...................The snow was entirely melted off of the back yard & most of the field this morning. About 11 am the snow started, the wind blew & the snow hasn't quit. Luckily the wind has!! In some spots I have about 30 inches of snow & in other spots only about 1 inch. We'll see what we end up with by tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is my fiber meeting in the afternoon, so we'll see how many people are able to make it out.

The cap was blown off the top of the pipe coming up from my wood stove pipe this afternoon............ so I need to get that fixed tomorrow or Monday. Such fun. An well, another day another adventure.

Amazing Happenings

Way back in about 1985 my first husband John, & I decided to sponsor a little boy through our churches missionary effort. He was a pastor's son in Africa through the Nazarene Missionary sponsorship program. When Dennis died in 1987 I chose to continue to sponsor this young man. He was 7 years old then. I continued through his high school experience. I cannot remember for sure the last time I heard from him, but I think the sponsorship continued until around 18 & then I received a letter later. We wrote letters back & forth all through his schooling. All communication was through the World Mission office & that was the only way to reach him.

This morning I received a major surprise. I had a facebook message asking me to accept this young man as a friend!! What a shock. He found me. I've also found where he tried to reach me via Skype. It was a "thrilling morning" to be able to respond to him via facebook & say "YES" I am your friend & I am who you are looking for. It was wonderful to hear back from him.

I have found another "son" of mine. He is married & has a son himself. He is a pastor & is also working at one of the theological colleges in Africa. I am so thrilled by all of this. Technology has truly changed the world in a very short time. God is good.