Is This Week Over Yet?

I knew this was going to be a busy week, but I didn't think it would last this long.

I know, usually I'm complaining that time goes by too fast. And although time this week is certainly not lagging, it does seem as if it should be more than just Wednesday.

Our weather has been alternating rain and sun but has kept things outside too wet to work on those tasks. So efforts have been on remodeling and other inside projects along with getting the last of the seedlings started.

A friend commented today that she saw a blossom on a wild strawberry plant. Granted, the wild ones typically bear fruit a bit earlier than domestic strawberries, but it's still mighty early to be seeing blossoms up here.

In the summer we have one of our hummingbird feeders hanging right outside the window over the kitchen sink. I'm not totally sure he wasn't hallucinating, but Papa Pea thinks he saw one of the little guys zoom past today as he was filling a bucket of water at the sink. If this is true, it means their arrival is a full two weeks early in our neck of the woods this year.

We lost our last Light Sussex laying hen day before yesterday to a hawk. We ordered the Light Sussex as chicks last year and it was the first time we've had this particular breed. I really liked the looks of them, they're a dual purpose breed, are excellent foragers, are docile and friendly and tend to go broody. This gal was sitting on a nest of twelve eggs when she ventured outside for a little exercise and fresh air . . . sadly just at the wrong time.

Out of the twelve Light Sussex birds we got, only four were hens. One we lost early last summer and then three more, including this last one, have been picked off by hawks. They say light-colored birds are more likely to be easy prey and in our case, this has proven to be true. Dang.

We've had lots of little decisions to make having to do with the remodeling this week and a couple of small glitches have popped up. One glitch which wasn't such a little one is that we don't have enough of the fake brick material to finish the area behind the wood stove. S-c-r-e-e-c-h! That's the sound of progress coming to a halt.

We can go no farther on the living room until we finish the brick wall. It has to be done before the tile goes on the floor under the stove. Before the stove gets set back in place and reinstalled. Before the flooring can be laid on the rest of the floor. Before we have a soft piece of furniture on which to plant our weary butts at the end of the day. There's no place that handles this particular product anywhere close to us. We had to order what we got from the factory 350 miles away. Gotta figure out what to do now.

As we frequently say to each other (several times a day it seems), "If this is the biggest problem we have, we have no problems."

Right now, both of us are really tired and need a vacation. Ha! That's not going to happen, so we'll settle for a good night's sleep tonight. Tomorrow is a new day and we'll wake ready to whip our weight in wildcats!