Coming back

It's time to get back to blogging. I've been very negligent of it since being on facebook.

It's spring! Today I did some more trash clean-up behind the garage and worked in the garden some. The ground is still too wet, and in some places still frozen, to work the soil, but I'm trying to clean things up and get ready.

This is going to be a busy summer. We have got to find a better way to grow and store garden produce so that we can actually live off the vegetables instead of having them rot on us. :( We tried storing the pumpkins in the barn last fall, but before I could get them processed, they froze. And the tomatoes didn't ripen before frost, partly because of not having much sun, and partly because I planted them too close together.

We're getting the living room redone this year, and installing our new woodstove! The woodstove was a gift from some friends. They had gotten a couple of new ones, so when they heard we wanted to go with wood heat they offered us their old one. We offered to pay for it, but they wouldn't let us.

So another thing to do this year is get wood in. And fence in the back third of the property so that the chickens and ducks don't migrate to the neighbours'. And dig a trench to drain the area we hope to fence in. And get my raised beds ready to actually use. And do a major clutter cleaning inside the house.

And go on a trip! We are going to Maranatha again this July, and then to a family reunion of sorts. My brother, his new wife, his two sons, and their adopted Papua New Guinea son are coming to the States for a visit. I've never met Johanna, so this is going to be a special time for all of us.

I'm also going to get a preview of what life without Sarah will be like someday when she leaves home. She is going to be spending a couple of months with my parents, from mid-April till mid-July. This is going to be fun for her, and I'm glad for her sake, but we are going to miss her.

On the days when we are totally bored and there's not much else to do, we will fit in some school work. That probably won't happen much, but I'm thinking we're going to have to do some sort of year-round schooling just to get a year's worth done in a year.

The four youngest have been trying to recover from colds. I let them go outside today since it was so warm and sunny, but I think at least Sam will be staying home from church tomorrow.

And now it's time to start supper.