First Fruits

Today was yard cleanup day from all the debris left by the storm last week. We lost a big limb from a walnut tree on Thursday during the storm and then on Saturday night another bigger section of the same tree came down as well. It was apparently loud enough to wake the neighbor lady who thought it was one of their big ones and was out looking around until she discovered it was ours.

Ethan has been out the past two evenings after work using the little electric chainsaw to cut up what he can. Today we hauled all of that stuff out of the way and cleaned up what was on the ground. We now are waiting for Ken's heavy duty chainsaw (which is being repaired from the last tree we cut down) to be able to finish the big chunks that are still out there. I presume we should finish off the tree as it is lopsided now. It wouldn't hurt anything falling the direction it's going, but it would go into the neighbor's back yard.

While I was out hauling branches I discovered the black raspberries are ripening, so after finishing up with the brush I thought I would pick a few berries. There are tons of them but of course they are deep into the thicket being heavily protected by the mosquito army! I had pants and a long sleeved shirt on, but not nearly enough mosquito spray to adequately protect me. I finally quit when I got a nasty bite by my eye, but I'll be back out on Thursday to try again. I'm going to freeze what I picked today and hope that in about three pickings I'll have enough to make a pie! The red raspberries are just now coming on so I picked a few of those, too. Yum!

Can we file a claim for this?

Thursday started out as another really hot, incredibly humid day. This whole week has been unseasonably warm and muggy. We haven't strayed much from the air conditioned car, house, or pool! Ken's been sick and in bed for part of it so not too much has been happening around here....until Thursday afternoon! A sudden, out of the blue storm popped up and incredible winds and rain started in late afternoon. I was on the phone with my dad and suddenly there was a lot of popping and odd sounds on the phone so we quickly concluded our conversation.

Within a 1/2 hour the sky was almost completely cloudless. Moments later we discovered we had lost half of a big walnut tree at the back edge of our property. That's not that big a deal because walnut trees are a dime a dozen around here. The problem is the half that fell landed across Ken's two trailers and hydraulic lift that are stored out back!. Upon investigation it seems the lift took the hit, since it's the tallest. The hitch of the lift was on a brick and the brick was driven 6" into the ground by the force of the branch. Ethan had 1/2 day off work Friday and worked at cutting up a lot of the smaller debris and tomorrow (now that Ken's feeling better) the big section has to come off the lift. Then Ken can fully determine if there is any major damage to the lift.

Posted are pictures of the fallen tree and another of the pesky groundhog that has caused so much damage to Ken's truck wiring! We have yet to figure out a way to relocate him/her......!

In Sickness and in Health

So today started out normal for a Wednesday. I try to get my errands done mid-week if possible. Ken and Alex were up early to get a jump on the day as it was due to get so hot. Ken went down to the school to check on some work going on there while Al got up and going. At 6:30 I got a call from my mother-in-law who was sick in bed and needed some medication. Ken was going into town before me so he agreed to be the one to get it.

They got a little later start than the 7am expected start time. I heard Ken put the recliner back and saw him resting a bit. I figured maybe he was up late last night and was just tired. Eventually they got going with jugs of water and all their supplies. I puttered about getting ready.

About 45 minutes later I heard the door open and shut. That's odd. Mariah is still sleeping, the older boys are gone to work (Josh went in at 4am!) and Ken and Al are gone. I headed down to check it out and Ken was on the couch covered with blankets. Seems he got a sudden case of the chills and completely lost all energy. He didn't even think he could get upstairs to bed.

I left home with Alex in charge of tending to the sick patient. When I returned several hours later Ken had a fever of 102, body aches, and a case of the "backdoor trots"! Seems he has picked up a case of the flu.

Now I have to think of all the things he's touched in the last 24 hours so that I can clean and disinfect them! I know germs die fairly quickly on surfaces, but I would still feel better knowing things were clean.

Keep Ken and his mom, Teresa, in your thoughts and prayers for speedy recoveries of their ailments.

If a Woodchuck could chuck....

Take a couple adult groundhogs, a few babies, add a F350 truck parked for a few days in their habitat and what do you get? One unhappy Ken!!! They apparently have taken a liking to the insulation under the hood and have sampled some of the wiring leading to the "check engine" light coming on a few days ago when Ken used it. Grrrr. Sight in the scope folks! Time for target practice!!

Twenty-four and Counting....

Yes, twenty-four years ago today, on a beautiful, sunny, Sunday morning, I married my best friend. It's been quite a ride since then with many of the usual (and some UNusual!) ups and downs that come with being married. Thankfully there have been more "ups" than there have been "downs"! We promised to love, honor, and cherish each other and I can say that Ken has done a wonderful job of fulfilling that promise.

So what are we up to on this special day? Well, it is the younger kids last day of school so we are headed to school this morning for the awards assembly, and then Mariah is having a friend over to spend the day and sleep over. She and said friend play in their first softball game tonight so we will be cheering them on! Not too romantic or exciting, but this is exactly what we want to be doing on this year's anniversary.

Happy anniversary, Ken. I love you.