Susan's Blog From the farm, from the home, and from the heart. . . August 1, 2008 Needing some time to contemplate the universe I promised myself, that today, which is Sunday, I would take the day off. You know-do nothing, relax and, as Tom would say, "contemplate the universe." Yesterday, I started out tired from working late at my nursing job and waking up with the birds that sing so nicely in my flower garden. But their whistles and calls seemed louder than usual. I began puttering around with my cup of coffee and making mental notes of the things to do. Tom was off to help our son, Nathan, who was moving out of a house into another. Tom was putting in a toilet, repairing light fixtures and switches so Nathan can rent the house out. I was left alone to pick the garden, feed and water the chickens and steer, can the sauerkraut and pickles, do laundry, bake cookies (now that's a must!), do some shopping and research art deco on the internet for, hopefully, a future glass client. Now, the Lord says we can do all things for He strengthens us. I must confess, however, sometimes I get tried of doing ALL things. Don't you? Ha! Yes, yes, I'm joking around here, but I do enjoy when it rains so I get a day off from the garden! Today, I came home from church to quickly pick the garden before it rained! So, I guess I cheated. I have cucumbers soaking in cold water to pickle. Lettuce and cabbage soaking in vinegar water. I rinsed off the eggplant, pole beans and zucchini already and they are in the refrigerator. There's ONE rippening tomato and one green tomato to fry for Tom. Oh, I forgot (Not really), I was supposed to take the day off. When Tom came home yesterday, I said, " You know, we are not lazy people. But you know, there are a lot of people that work a lot harder than we do." I bet you are one of them and my hat is off to you. If I were you, I would pray for help, a better job, a more helpful spouse, or a day to sit back and contemplate the universe. Change something in your life to make it easier for YOU. You can, just do it! Yesterday, I fed the steer cucumbers and this morning I ripped out three cucumber plants. Just don't mention this to Tom. Be a slave to no man or vegetable! Relax and enjoy the rest of YOUR day. I will........... just as soon as I figure out what to do with all the cukes in my sink! DONE DIGGING DEEP DUNG DEAR! July 1, 2008 By Susan Shanklin Oh, my what a beautiful day today-upper 80's with a breeze. Tom put in the air conditioners yesterday. Since we have the hot water heat with the big old cast iron registers, we have no duct work to have central air. Now, that doesn't break my heart because I'm a window, fresh air person and I don't like to be shut up (in more ways than one, ha). BUT if it's hot, hot and humid I'm the first one to turn on the AC! Yesterday, was a nice day here, too. A perfect day to clean out the smoke house/broiler chicken coop. Donned with face mask and shovel, I cleaned out a month's worth of chicken poop. I try to keep the coop very clean but this year the chickens were so, so freakish that one broke a wing bone trying to escape the gentle farm lady when she was cleaning, so she just decided to add layers of shavings until they were grown. Well, let me tell you, that may have seemed to be a good idea but just adding stuff over dirty stuff just doesn't work. I spend a lot of sweating, eyes-and-lung-burning time shoveling that chicken dirt out into the wheel barrow. As a rule of thumb, take care the the dirt on a regular basis and life will be a lot more enjoyable! Those birds are now in the freezer, weighing between eight and nine pounds dressed. Since they were bigger than we would have liked them to be, we asked to have them cut in pieces and bagged in two separate bags. Yes, we have our chicken butchered somewhere else. It's called outsourcing, I believe. Tom asked me if it was worth the money we paid to have them butchered by someone else, instead of the hearty Shanklin's doing it themselves. Please, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out! We had one bird that lost it's leg power and couldn't walk anymore, so Tom strung it up on my beloved clothes line to you know what. The chicken jerked around and such and hung there dripping into a bucket, while I boiled water to dunk the chicken in so I could pluck the feathers. I then soaked it in ice water and picked the missed feathers and pin feather out in my KITCHEN sink. YES!, it was worth the money we spent on processing. I do love my Tom. You know I do. In between the gardening, stained glass and helping Tom, I have returned to nursing part time. Only thing is I'm there so much it feels like "more-than-enough" time. Ha! When I'm at work and it's very stressful, I soothe my soul, and longingly look out the window, and dream of my little farm. I believe it says in the Good Book to be content in what ever state you're in. Yes, I'm content looking out the window and praying for a way of escape!