I haven't been on my blog for over a year ~ it has been a very busy year here. Our daughter & her boys are still living with us and each day is a test of patience & stamina for all of us. It's hard having two families living under one tiny roof but somehow we're making it work. It's not without its trying times, though. The boys are growing like weeds and are busy with school, sports, special school events and their friends. They're great kids but they wish that they had their own place and I feel badly that they don't. We try to give them their space but this is a small house (meant for hubby & I to downsize and live simply and uncluttered with things). Now, the house is full of toys, electronics, sports equipment and animals ~ we have 2 dogs and the boys brought 3 cats and 2 hamsters with them. We have chickens and bunnies living outside, too. I am sure that when the good weather arrives and the boys are outside more, we'll all feel like we have room to breathe.
The year has been a difficult one ~ we lost my Dad in August (15 days before his 90th birthday). I miss him so much ~ he was an anchor for our family. My mother lives on her own in an apartment off my brother's home and that has its own problems. Another example of family strife when there are two families under one roof. With age, my mother has become extremely forgetful and confused and it's sometimes very frustrating trying to deal with her daily. She lives about 10 minutes from us so, whenever she has a problem with her tv remote, her phone, her coffeemaker, etc., she calls me. I don't mind but it seems that it is a daily or every other day occurrence. I am constantly changing my plans to accommodate these problems that are "life altering" to my mother. To top things off, my mother's little dog passed away 2 weeks ago & it almost sent her over the edge. She had the little guy for almost 14 years and he was her constant companion. I was able to find her a puppy similar to her dog and she can pick her up in 3 weeks. Whew!!!!!!!
Now on to happier things. Spring is only 30 days away (even though we have had several heavy Nor'easters here in recent weeks. We have about 18" of snow on the ground, very cold temperatures and gusty winds here today and it looks like Spring will never melt what we have. I am so looking forward to planting my vegetable gardens and putting in some new fruit trees. I have been working on a garden plan and I have a list of seeds that I will be ordering soon. We also plan to order more chickens since predators have taken several over the winter and our rooster died mysteriously this fall. I loved that big guy so I am ordering one just like him and I will pretend that he never left.
I mentioned that we have bunnies now ~ we bought 4 for the youngest grandkids in May and there was one litter born in the summer. We have lost several bunnies and we're at 8 now. It seems that one of the original bunnies is extremely aggressive. I caught her chasing and biting two other bunnies on two separate occasions so we've had to keep her separate from the others. When the good weather arrives, I will build a fenced area for them so that they can kick up their heels and have some fun (keeping the bad bunny separate from the others, of course). They have a large pen that is all fenced in from predators (it's almost fully enclosed in clear plastic to keep out wind & cold). This is where they've spent the winter ~ it's connected to a bunny hutch so that they can sleep inside at night.
They've been doing well throughout the extremely cold weather that we've had in January and February & we keep a good eye on them. We did bring the smaller ones in for a few days during a cold snap in January.
Well, that's about it for now, friends ~ I have laundry to catch up on and Rice Krispies treats to make for the grandkids for after school. Enjoy your day ~ I hope I can get back to post on my blog again soon. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment