Before the Storm on Sunday

This morning at church, our pastor spoke about our coming together weekly at church, to celebrate as a family.  He encouraged us to sit down with our families frequently, and break bread, or share dinner... as a means of keeping lines of communication open. 

I told Keith when I got home that this is what we have been doing in the last six months... our Christmas party with his family... then our brunch and celebration in February, and dinner with his daughters and their families two weeks ago.  We are going to keep doing this every other month, because frankly, it's too easy to lose track of each other in this fast world of ours. 

This afternoon I spent a couple of hours with my side of the family...

You can see from Paiton's hair (center) that it was blowing VERY hard during their game.  The coaches in this league run on the field during the games.  

Jax scored 4 times, and two more assists.  

I am so proud, because he and Paiton are two of the smallest on the team... but he dives into the middle of the crowd, gets the ball, and drives it on down the field, using both feet to kick, JUST AS HIS DAD DID! 

We laugh so hard while watching, but we are so happy with their efforts. 

Big Brother Jake also had a game, and scored a goal for his team, so it was a great afternoon's fun. 

Then I came home to do chores... 

Ranger gets overheated walking around in the pasture... so had a cool drink from the chicken waterer I was filling. 

Here's the front on the barn.  See the window in the upper left?  There is one on the right, too... but KEITH COVERED IT UP.  As he said to me this morning... "You tell me how to do stuff 1000 times.... and then when I actually DO do something wrong, you don't bring it up!".  I laughed and told him I thought he had a reason for closing the window on that side!  He is going to cut it out. 

Here is the inside.  The divider in the middle was put in to separate our pony and mini while they ate, years ago.  

You see a gap at the back... that will be sealed with cement, and the gap on the right, out of camera view... will also be sealed with cement.  I'll be cleaning out the interior and rebedding it with fresh straw. 

The dutch door.... it is not quite finished, but will be shortly. 

Every three days, I bucket out the pool and throw the water on the fruit tree just outside the picture to the left.  Then I clean the pool out and re-fill it.  It takes about 20 minutes, and gives me a chance to sit and watch the poultry and make sure everyone is okay.   Tonight, a little hen that has not been going out is out... and I will go back out after the rain stops (for indeed, it's storming right now) and make sure she got back in. 

However, I'm digressing. 

I did not tell you but yesterday, as I brought the two new ducks home, I had to leave windows open in the car because they were reeking.  The place I got them from ...though I have known this lady for many years, she does not care about the comfort of her animals.  The water that IS there is nasty and full of mud, and not filled every day.  Yesterday while I was there for less than ten minutes, I watched a Sebastopol goose throwing himself against a wet spot on the ground, trying to clean himself.  The two new ducks had nasty mud hanging off their breasts and bottoms... dried and sticky.  I did not write about the goose last night because it upset me so badly. 

The water you see above was only clean for about five minutes... you can see already that Cinnamon and Spice are shoveling dirt into it... but it is WATER, not sludge.  

And this is what happened: 

A glorious, glorious swim, with much diving and preening. 

And the two new ducks got in on the fun, too.  

I am almost sure the paler duck is a purebred Khaki Campbell... but maybe not. 

It takes so little effort on our parts to give a good life to our animals... that it hurts me very badly to see people who just don't care, and whose animals are neglected and wanting. 

I took two short videos so I could show Keith, but of course, cannot get them to embed on the blog. 

I am watching the straw and hay put into these henyards turn into compost little by little.  I hope by this fall I can rake it up, put it on the compost heaps, and then start all over again.  Today I put some straw under the deck, so the hens could work it, and the ducks use it as bedding at night.  

Tomorrow I'll show you the tomatoes transplanted last week... they are going gangbusters! 

That's it for a cloudy Sunday from Calamity Acres.