Can you believe I started my last post with this phrase?
"In an effort to blog more frequently,"
Wow! Who am I kidding? That was just setting myself up for failure. The last of May was busy. We had 2 funerals and David had rotator cuff surgery on his left shoulder, and we took care of the neighbor's cows.............
Yup! That's my retired hog farmer throwing out corn for COWS!
And, honestly, he wasn't very good at it. He didn't call them or honk the horn when he arrived at the different fields to let them know he was there, and he didn't count them. I explained that if the neighbor wrote down how many cows and calves were in each field, he was probably supposed to count them. Well, none of them died and all were accounted for when the neighbor returned. The dog, however, had gotten shut in their garage as they were leaving on vacation. My farmer wondered why he never ate or drank anything. Never fear, the dog survived. But the neighbor did have some cleanup to do in the garage. And my farmer didn't bother to water the flowers until the last day. I think they survived too.
Immediately after that, we traveled to Iowa with Sarah to stay with my sister. Sarah got to see Jackson and Carmyn's house. Then we traveled on to Omaha for my uncle's funeral. It was a very nice funeral and it was the first time all five cousins had been together since Jeff and Brenda's wedding (their daughters are in college now). My uncle had restored my grandpa's old Ford pickup and it was parked outside the church at the funeral. We decided it was the best place for our group photo.
And then we added our kiddos (those who were there) into the mix............
And then then whole Barber clan in attendance............
This was followed by David's cousin's funeral and then David's surgery. We go for a follow up appointment this week, and then he will probably be starting the long road of physical therapy.
He's not allowed to drive for some time (although he has driven himself across the road a couple of times). I did drive him over to the farm a couple of days after surgery so that he could pet a tractor.
Ok, actually he was downloading some data he needed to do the paperwork to take to the farm office to report acres. He's also been doing a lot of sleeping, so he fits right in with the rest of the household.
\Honestly, there's not a whole lot he can do. He can pick black and red raspberries though. We have had a bumper crop of raspberries.
And some cherries. After last year's crop of 7 gallons of cherries, I was thankful for the 3 quarts we got this year. I made some cherry syrup and a couple of jars of raspberry syrup and put the rest of the juice in the freezer for jelly later.
I have been in the sewing room a little. I don't have much to show for it though. I have been quilting a lot for others and have been doing some deconstructing of things to make them "new" again.
I did spend a morning at a you pick flower patch. This was a gift certificate from one of my piano students. It was so much more fun that the yard work I have been doing here. I have been running the yard rake, weed eating, tilling and planting more garden and I have the sore muscles to show for it. (And new dog food dishes since I had a little trouble parking the zero turn mower.............however, the next evening, I was totally wishing for a zero turn garden tiller!)
Here is my bouquet..............from 3 different angles so that you can enjoy all the pretty flowers. I wish you could smell them too!
Well, I don't know when I'll get back here again. It's my bookwork week at the community center, doctor's appointment in Columbia, and yardwork (there are 6 bags of mulch in my future), and our quilt retreat is at the end of the week. I really need to get my projects ready for that. Oh, and my farmer would really like to attend a land auction on the courthouse steps on Tuesday.............and I'm the chauffer.
Christi
