Well, Tom is taking tomorrow off to work on the boat.  I hope it warms up a little more.  We are to have sun for the next week, so I'm sure that the boat will go in.  There is a lot more to do here too.  We lost more pines out back during one of the wet, soggy, windy storms.   We knew they were going to go, but weren't sure if they would take out the pig pen fencing or not.

  Guess we know now...not.  There is so much to burn but the wood is still wet. Stuff that is down, and trees that still need to come down that are dead.  Maybe another day or two and Tom can get it going.  Every time we tried the last few weekends, the wind picked up.

We have to much to burn to take a chance.  The barn is only a little sided.

We did that last fall.  But to buy the metal for that or for the roof of the house....roof first, I say.    I also have some wrought iron fencing that I temporarily put up.

I don't know if this is a good place for it or not. It is a corner, so it limits it  to where it can go. 
After such a long winter, a feral cat that  hung around last year that was dubbed "chubby"  showed up on our porch looking very bad and hungry.  It didn't take long for him to let you touch him.  I only feed him on the porch.  He is not fixed so he can not be ours. 
He does need some medical attention though.  He looks like he really had a rough couple of months.  I don't know where he stayed all winter or how he ate. 
Something got him though.   I finally was able to get close enough to take a soaked paper towel and get his cheek clean.  Then I got whatever that hunk was yanked off.  It was fur.  Matted down from the seeping wound.

  A day later, it looks much better and doesn't appear infected.  I was worried it would warm up and then the open sore would bring bad problems.  I hope to get some kind of antiseptic on it to be safe.  I told Jess that if she insists on having him hang around, she has to pay the big vet bill.   I can't have it passing something on to our cats!

The sun is finally out, and the temperatures are bearable. Sam is loving the sunshine.

  To take advantage of the stove still going, I made the morning of catching up on my baking. I made enough bread to last through the end of the month I think.  I made four small loaves and two regular sized.  We don't eat as much unless we have a family dinner, so I should be set.
I also made use of the oven by making two dozen rolls.  One dozen I experimented with and added finely chopped onion on top mixed with melted butter just before putting in the oven.  I took the two canisters of rolls Jess bought to long ago and baked those.  One was crescents that I laid flat and added pepperoni before rolling up, the other were cinnamon rolls.  I put all those in the freezer too.  I managed to make sugar cookies, one bag in the freezer, the other I added a giant chocolate melt left from Christmas cookies.
After all the clean up and regular housework, I headed outside for two and a half hours for yard work.  I had made a new list for the year, and started in on that.  I cleared around one of the bird bushes in the front yard, attempted to fix the driveway where people run all over the grass,

and weeded two of the many gardens I have  made.  I am happy to see the weeds are staying at bay up by the water well garden.

There are a few strawberry plants that made it through too.

Thought I better move the chickens over to the summer house too since we should be ordering the meat birds soon.

Happy 47th Anniversary Mom and Dad!
Enjoy your gift card for an  ice cream treat!

Feeling miserable, I had the nursery on Sunday.   I was so glad the kids were few and well behaved!
Jess had a field trip this week.  Work paid for her to go get a food certification through a class that was being offered.  This way she can be the head honcho at the food court at the track this year.
I had finally got Bennie to come and do the horses.  It had been six months.  They were bad, but not as bad as they could have been.  They will grow faster now that summer is coming, so I made two more appointments to guarantee that they get done on time.  I know they won't be worn down like they should because Jessalyn doesn't ride hardly at all.
It's going to be a little scary to ride in the woods now.  Our friend up the way had a rabid coon come out and attack three of her horses.   Two had rabies shots, the other did not.  They gave it boosters and it will be quarantined for 6 months to the property.  Then a few miles west of here over the line, a guy she rides with had his two labs out and they were attacked by another rabid coon.
I told Tom they have a mobile clinic coming the end of the month, and I would like to order shots online for the cats.  I know horses should be done too.   I hope I don't see wild things!

We had the grandkids sleep over at the spur of the moment last night.  We hadn't seen them since February! Tom had off Friday so we did our running around in the afternoon.  It was so cold!   They didn't come until way after dinner time.  It didn't leave much time to do anything at night.   We played a game or two and then had strawberry shortcake for snack.   Noah didn't like it so he had a popcicle I had made with gummy bears in it.
He did much better sleeping this time.  Even though he got up at 3, I sent him back to bed with a few books to read.  He wasn't happy, but I told him he could even sit up in the rocker if he wanted.  Just stay in there until others got up.  Three hours later, we were up getting breakfast.  He didn't seem so upset then.  He was ready to go!
I made bacon and waffles while Tom did the barn and the kids made their beds and got dressed.  We played a minion trouble game of Jess' and they played with the legos and Lily even played with some of the dolls in the bedroom.  Before we knew it, Ken was here to pick them up.  I gave him a quick haircut and they left.  In the snow!   It snowed all night!  I am very tired of snow!
not so awake













and then awake!

This is no April fools. 
After having everyone here for Easter dinner, a casual dinner, it took me most of the night to clean up.
Then Monday morning I felt the repercussions of the walk we took.  By noon I called Tom and told him I was SICK.  Very SICK.   It had felt like I was hit with an old fashioned, heavy duty clothes iron.  All over my body.  Everywhere.   It took me down for 4 days.  I went to bed when he came home on Monday and didn't really eat for four days.   I had him bring me 100% cranberry juice to drink because I knew that would be good for my kidneys since I didn't want to eat or drink anything.   This being the 5th day, I am feeling better.  Now it is settling into my nose and chest.  Not to bad though.  I can handle that.

Easter time!
Becky ask if we would like to go to her church for Easter, meaning they had a service the night before.  It was nice, it was a good message,but it is an impersonal church.   I feel like you could worship and praise there, but I can't foresee VBS or small groups.  Even though we knew many members that started there,  I feel like you could get passed over easily. Just like Ken and Sabrina's big church.  To me, it feels like you go but you are alone to worship.
Now  you head on over to our church.  I still wanted to go Sunday morning.  How can  you have Easter if you don't celebrate as church Easter morning?  Sigh.  WHAT????? No Easter message at our church.   No celebration songs.  Just a continuation of what was being taught throughout the month.
BUT
Coming home we celebrated with a nice casual meal. I miss the grandkids not being here though. Tommy had brought out candy thinking they were here.   The weather was great.  We ate and then afterwards there was shooting of course, and we took a walk down the road and back.   Felt great at the time.... Sabrina had Ken cut some maple to make a cross for her house.  Bigger than I thought, but she wanted to put it in her home to put prayer requests on.  Kind of a neat idea.
Everyone started leaving, but Tom and Ken wanted to go see the dock they put in.  First time I saw it.  The guys did a really good job!
Tom pre-made sections at work and hauled them down to the lake in his truck.   Jake met him there and they started putting it in.  He had brought his canoe so they could get right out there in the water.  He ended up with using his waders and the water was right there at the top.  Ken came down after he finished work up that saturday and helped finish up.  Afterwards, Jake and Ken made use of his canoe and went out fishing for the afternoon.  It was cold, but that didn't stop them!