from the library

For this moment I'm sitting at the public library, sipping a white mocha through straws because half of my face is still numb from my dentist appointment earlier.  One son is at work.  The other son is getting his football gear issued and fitted.  I don't like to come to the library to spend time with technology when there are so many flesh and blood books eagerly waiting on the shelves but today as I walked the rows of books, fingertips tickling book spines, I felt the urge to visit my little blog. 

The girls (my 5 chickens) were cooped up all day on Sunday so when I let them out on Monday morning they squawked and flapped wings for a little while to vent the pent up energy.  The have their big girl voices now, sounding like real chickens rather than peeping chicks.  And they are big...so big. 

One chicken, our Braveheart, who earned her name from day one when she was kind of a bully, is still living up to her name.  She is a dominate personality, even standing off against Charlie.  This chicken may be bound for the roasting pan as I just don't want to put up with a hen that will nip at people, which she does.  I have surprised myself with this willingness to butcher one of the girls.  It's sort of liberating.

I harvested most of my peas today, enlisting Austin to help me shell them.  We ended up with a few cups of perfect, sweet, large peas which I froze in two batches.  The lettuce was ripped out of the garden also.  It was always bitter but more recently it went to seed which makes it even more bitter, inedible.  In it's place I planted some Swiss Chard.

My Charlie is almost 100% again.  His incision is healing from the inside out and he's medication free.  He got to go to the park with us yesterday where he sniffed the wind and accompanied me on a bit of a walk.  I feel as though our bond took on a new level during this plight.  Maybe I sound crazy.  There is just something more when he looks at me, a deeper understanding and trust.

I wish I had more time to just write.  There is always so much bubbling below the surface, like a flow of lava just underground.  But it takes time to carve away the dirt and rocks, a careful process that I am rarely able to give myself fully to.

Today is no different.