Housecleaning (mostly) sorted

Guests are arriving tomorrow for the upcoming week, beloveds dear to my heart. Since I'm the type who (deep) cleans prior to visitors, the last few days have been steeped in, well, cleaning.

LOL! Not sure why I have always done it this way, but it works and I'm too old to change. I'm feeling weary tonight, but other than making one bed TOMORROW, the house is looking good. Hopefully I'll sleep well, I've certainly earned a decent rest.

Little Owl Chicken from a year ago. She looks so YOUNG!

From where I'm seated I can see six chickens scratching at the ground. It's six p.m. and in another hour and fifteen minutes those hens will be heading to the coop, climbing up the roost steps, then settling on the wall. Cami Chicken has lost her tail feathers, but not as aggressively as Ruthie and Gigi, who both appeared like someone had chopped off their backsides! Cami is also acting slightly cowed, Ruthie picking on her in the mornings while they eat breakfast. Pecking orders exist, let me say, but currently Cami is unbothered as she pokes at the dirt, searching for any final treats of the evening.

Sunlight bathes just the tops of our tallest trees, but it is three months past the solstice, a few days since the autumn equinox, which I meant to write about, yet was too busy mopping the kitchen. However, I pondered it, as we've been receiving some sunny days and clear evenings, the moon making a glorious appearance last night in the southeastern sky. It's not cold yet, I'm currently wearing capri pants and a t-shirt! But it's not those lengthy summer days of weeks ago, now being a transitional time that allows for bright skies hedged by an altered sun angle. Chickens not waking until well after seven fifteen in the morning, then twelve hours later they're ready for bed. And usually a couple of hours later I'm snuggling under the covers, joining those chickies in dreamland.

I had all kinds of plans for this quilt top, made a year ago, but it still remains in the closet, neatly folded, awaiting its moment in the sewing sun.

This time last year the hens were big pullets, not free ranging, merely hanging out in the run, which to them was HUGE. I had just spent a couple of days in hospital for a fairly violent attack of diverticulitis. Was learning a new way of living, in that I gave up dairy (including lactose free dairy), red meat, ibuprofen, and the very rare alcoholic beverage. All those are bad for one's intestines, if diverticulosis is an issue. I've lost about ten pounds, yay! I've not suffered from knee pain, probably due to the casein in dairy no longer troubling me. Which is great since I can't take Advil anymore, ahem. I do miss a good burger, but I haven't had any flare-ups, WHEW! And the absence of dairy as well as knee and hip aggravation is WONDERFUL. If you suffer from sore joints, try taking all dairy out of your diet and see if it makes any difference.

The last twelve months have FLOWN, in a chicken sort of way, hehehe. I have done some writing (like two novels, which is pretty marvelous), made some quilts (like two finished cozies and about six quilt tops begging for a finish), learned plenty about keeping hens (and there is still more knowledge to acquire), and turned sixty years old. Turning sixty was fine; I kinda had my meltdown when fifty-eight hit, the whole two times twenty-nine debacle. Yet if I thought the output to joy ratio was altered back then, dude! It's even less now, in that I do far less than two years ago and find plentiful joy in what I can manage. Like housecleaning, LOL. It's a process of days, doing a little here, a little there, finding a little more over yonder, a lot like revising a novel. No matter how times you read it, there's always something to tidy. Like hand-sewing a quilt top and while it's nice and all, if I could redo it, oh my goodness I so badly would! But it's far too late for that and like I said, it's a fine example of EPP, not terrible or anything. And I need to let it go because, well, there's nothing to be done now other than finish the backing, then baste it, then stitch it together. Because I'm sixty and a half nearbouts and time's still slipping through my fingers.

Hens from a year ago, my goodness they have changed so much! And take up more space along the wall, lol.

I think it's time to wrap up this post, which has been meandering here and there. Not sure when I'll get back to the blog this week, but if something important emerges, I'll see what I can do. Mostly I plan to hang out with those dearhearts, swapping stories, playing cards, drinking tea and coffee. Enjoying our lovely autumnal weather here on the North Coast. Reveling in the gift of beloveds as we watch the hens traipse all over. Deer too, hopefully few foxes. They act like vegans, ignoring the hens, but I don't trust them as far as I could throw them. And since I don't plan on throwing any critters, well....

Well's a deep subject and why's even deeper. Have a lovely rest of the weekend and we'll chat more soon.