Sizzlin' Chickens

Today is an update of the urban farm we live in. Hopefully the pictures of my garden and chickens will load today! My little garden is busy growing beautiful sunflowers, fennel, green beans- both standard bush and some interesting Hopi beans. The Hopis have much smaller leaves, almost look like a pretty flower bush- with tiny blue/purple flowers. They are setting beans on now, small but firm. I can't wait to try them as green beans, and they can also be dried for later. fun!

The tomatoes and peppers are rocking- I'm picking mild peppers now, and eagerly watching the tomatoes for the least sign of red in there. I sprayed fish emulsion on everything last week, and now the cantaloupe, watermelons and cucumbers are looking much stronger. We've eaten beets and radishes for a while, and the fennel seeds look ready to pick. I left the fennel from last year in the ground, and this year they are setting seeds like crazy! Fennel is good for stomach distress, so I plan to save the seeds for more plantings, and also for my food storage.

The chickens are doing a good job of keeping the bugs down, but I can't let them in the garden to pick bugs- they'll eat all the good stuff too! They love beet greens, swiss chard and beans. I let them out daily, and they catch everything that wanders outside of the fence- at least I hope so.

Even though fibromyalgia slows me down and keeps me from doing many of the things I enjoy, I refuse to allow it to suck the life out of me. I know many people are dealing with much more serious health issues, and my heart goes out to them. Mine isn't cancer, I'm not fighting for my physical life exactly- fibro won't kill me, but it certainly colors everything I do. The choice really, is how to balance my energy to the best advantage. Sometimes I blow it all on a big project, and then I'm in bed for days. Most of the time I carefully consider the things I want to do, then plan how much to do per day so as not to 'hit the wall'. Most of the past 20 years I've fought it, pushing through the pain and fatigue, determined not to be affected by it's symptoms. My wise friends keep telling me to stop fighting, find acceptance and embrace who I am now, not wish I was still the person of 20 years ago. Honestly, that is much more difficult for me, but I'm adjusting my perception of myself, and I practice acceptance every day. I am always, always grateful for the blessings in my life- especially my family and friends, but also for the health I have, our great country, my home and community. I'm grateful for the little things, listening to the birds sing in the mornings, the flowers, the sunsets. Life is good, albeit painful! The pain just reminds me that I'm still here, and I'm happy to get up every day.

Simmering Summer

We've had a great week! Heather flew in 6/26, and we had lots of fun that weekend. All the kids were here for a BBQ on Sunday, along with Megann, Taylor, and our friends Peter and Kathy, from Florida. Peter makes the most amazing Hungarian marinated meats! Monday Heather and I went to Phoenix for a couple days- hotter than Hadies, but we stayed at the Papago Inn and Resort, which is a neat little hotel. It was built in the 60's, I think, and still has a very retro feel. The courtyard is so lovely, full of vines, trees, an aviary and a pool. The staff is really friendly and the beds were fantastic! It was only $50 a night, and so worth the price.

We celebrated Heather's birthday this week, then had another get-together on the 4th. Just the kids, and we were able to watch the fireworks from our front yard. I am so grateful to live in this wonderful country! God Bless America, and the men and women that serve and protect us.

I was able to attend the mini-reunion of our high school class, it was great fun. There were about 15 of us there plus a few family members. We met at Goldwater Lake, and spent a great 3-4 hours just catching up and hanging out. Julie Hutchins Kyer and I went up together, then she took me for a ride on her new scooter! We went for a spin around the Prescott plaza- during the 4th of July it's full of people, artwork, crafts and all kinds of booths. I didn't have time to actually wander the plaza, but it was fun to be downtown for a few minutes and enjoy the energy.

Such a Slacker!!

Boy, I've been a bit of a slacker lately, at least in writing the blog. I went to Mom's for a week, took her to the doctor to get her thyroid meds back in sync and just visit a little. She's feeling a little better, but still had a bit of the cough she's had for a couple months. It was getting hot in Maricopa, and the plan was for her to go to St Johns for the summer. I was hoping she'd wait for Debbie to come down on Wednesday, but the heat was motivation to leave earlier, so by the time I left on Saturday she thought she'd leave Monday. Then, on Sunday morning, she got stung by a scorpion, in bed! Several times, 2-3 times on the index finger she was using to flick away whatever was crawling, and twice more on the shoulder. Talk about freaky! She's OK, but was in a lot of pain for several days, with plenty of nausea to make things worse. Hap checked on her Sunday evening, and Debbie and Kim left Monday evening to get her. They drove the motorhome up to St John's for her, so now she's out of the heat. She's doing fine now, thank heavens.

Last week the weather changed, and I couldn't move for most of it. Between the bucking barometer and being tired from the trip- I was flat on my back for days. Oh well, like Annie says- Tomorrow, tomorrow, there's always tomorrow!

Jared's been working for David, and adjusting to the heat. He seems to enjoy the work and spending time with Nic and David. Heather is coming into town the end of June, can't wait to have the family together for a while!

Chillin'

Gina is a big basketball fan, and of course Nic, Jared and David are happy to join in. I'm watching too, more or less. The Suns are a fighting team, and it's been fun to watch them in the playoffs. Brutal at times, Steve Nash keeps getting beat up, but just keeps playing hard and winning games. Tonight we're watching Boston beat Orlando. Oh well,there's really not much else on Friday nights.....

This week has been great, having Jared home. He's helped me in the garden, and gone on several jobs with David and Nic. His little dog Rocky is settling in with Cara, and Chica is gradually getting used to the newcomer. She had a seizure yesterday though, but that's not surprising. She tends to have seizures when a new dog first comes around, then once she gets used to them she's fine.

The wind has been awful! There have already been several fires along I-17 freeway, and with no rain and lots of wind, I expect it to get worse. The flowers were beautiful this spring though, and I'm so glad we had lots of rain last winter. All in all, life is good right now.

Thank you Veterans for your service to our country, and God Bless America!

Bliss

We are all home! I flew in last Wednesday, spent the night in Phoenix and had lunch with my old friend Emma Jo. I haven't seen her in some time, so that was really great. I stopped by St. Francis cemetery and had them help me find my great-grandfather William Pike's grave. We finally found it, but there is no headstone. That makes me sad, but now that I know where he is, I plan to ask my sibs and cousins to help change that, and put a headstone there. He's been invisible for 80 years, it's time to honor his memory a little.

David and Jared drove cross country with a U-haul trailer and a puppy, but they had a really good trip. They were dodging tornadoes throughout the midwest, but the Lord was with them and they had no problems... Until they hit the Arizona border on Sunday, and nearly got blown off the road by the wind. The freeway was shut down between Winslow and Flagstaff, but they were able to take highway 87 south and come in from Camp Verde, so at least they didn't get stuck. Good thing, because I-40 was closed down from 10:30 am to 7 pm~

Right now we are watching the Suns play LA, hopefully they'll win. Nic, Gina and Jared are all hanging out watching the game with us, sheer bliss for a mom. The only one missing is Heather. She's lonesome out in NH all by herself, but she loves her job and it's just not time for her to leave there yet.