Where does the time go?

Even if it has been upper 80s and feels like hot, sticky summer :-)

Dewey left last might to head to the job site in Indianapolis then straight over to Illinois for his BILs funeral tomorrow afternoon. Bill, his older sister's husband, was killed in a semi truck accident last week. His truck left the off-ramp and flipped, killing him instantly. Prayers would be appreciated as they walk thru this season. Deb is beside herself and still hysterical as you would expect :( She has always been a wife. She has no idea what to do :( Thank The Lord they have a good church family!
Have you ever considered what will happen when your spouse dies? Not in some warped, morbid way, just plain thinking ahead. I'm sure we'd continue on, that's just what happens, but day to day stuff...insurance, finances, etc. Inevitable, sure...and it's not like I'm concerned about never being with him again...I know where he's going :) but still...how do you plan for that sort of emptiness? Can you?

The children and I were able to go back thru and till the garden area again before the storms ran thru here this afternoon. We are ready to plant now! We put some leftover field fencing around it to keep the dogs from mashing the clay back down. I'm excited....looks like some decent soil finally, with all the barnyard and barn stall goodies worked in :)

I was also able to move a couple of the solar lights to another area. They aren't fancy at all, Dewey just wired an on/off switch to some of those outdoor motion-sensor lights that are solar powered and we use them as indoor lighting. I found I needed some lighting in an area we hadn't really directed them toward, so I moved the solar piece to another location and fished the wire thru the window. Worked perfect to put light where I needed, but still gives light in the main living area. These lights are working out very nicely! Sure beats the heat of oil lamps in the summer, not to mention the savings on the electric bill :)

About the time we finished all these tasks, the winds picked up and we had quite a few strong gusts straight out of the south. They were strong enough to flip up, fold in half, and sail over the fence our calf hut! Now mind you, this isn't exactly a sturdy structure to begin with, but I sure wasn't expecting this! We penned off a corner of the pasture near the fence here at the house for the calf. For his 'house' we did what we've always done for temporary shelter for animals...arched a couple of cattle panels, wired them together, covered down the back, as well as over top and sides, with a large tarp, and secured it with several bungee cords and/or rope and voilà....calf hut. We can hang a heat lamp in there, watered, etc. Works great...unless of course you didn't really plan for a full frontal assault from the wind gusting 40-50 mph. It literally flipped it upwards, folded one panel back over the other, and flipped it over the fence into the dog run! Ugh! That baby's anchored down now....we tethered the front open end to cinder blocks! If it goes again, Woody the calf can just move inside the house with us!

I'm planning to get the meat order done at the butcher in another week. Probably just 200# each ground beef and stewing chunks. I might get 50# of sausage to have on hand for when Dewey gets home time, but that's about it. I'll get ground turkey later, and we'll butcher chickens. I'm hoping the heat levels back to something more truly spring-like so I can get the majority of the meat canned up, but I'm not very hopeful. These temps have gone berserk lately and it's only April...what hope do I have for May, let alone real summer?

My sewing list is still, well, a list. I have several things cut, but sewing hasn't been working as readily as I had hoped. I'll blame it on Dewey being home. With him gone so much out of state working, I wasn't about to spend his home time tethered between an ironing board and sewing machine despite the pending nakedness if I don't get busy!  But, he'll be working for the next couple weeks, so it's crunch time now! No excuses anymore....unless it dries up for planting the garden :) I mean, what use are clothes if we starve to death....right?