Day Sixty

So I have this sister.  She is extremely capable, we have that in common.  She is here visiting me as I mentioned yesterday, with her two grandbabies in tow.  My new chicken coop is just that, new.  The chickens will show you if you have any design flaws and this group found a slick little opening between the gate and the post that liberates them into my fenced vegetable garden where they feast on the pepper plants.  Also, the tricky door I put on the chicken coop needed to have a couple of other screws added for more stability as it is loosening up with use.  So there we are today cutting chicken wire, using straw bales for work benches, screw gun, pliers, lengths of wire all spread out.  We're working away and the granddaughter gets tired of her tiara and hands it over to her "grandmama", who doesn't miss a beat, just puts it on and keeps working.  Can't put it down in the chicken poop, right?  The little four year old girl has her baby doll outside with us, dragging her through the straw, trying to convince the chickens to eat out of her hand and visiting with us non-stop.  "Grandmama, that one black and white chicken wants to eat me and bite me and scratch me and that's really not good so I stand on the hay!" "Aunt Kim, did you see that black chicken?  That one black chicken trusts me, look!  LOOK, Aunt Kim!"  Then the grandson has a total melt down because he is hot and wants to go in the house and watch a movie and we want him to stay outside with us and play.  Well, the poor kid had a big day and was exhausted.   He had a total meltdown right in the front yard and stomped up to the porch to sit down and really howl so we'd be sure to know just how miserable he was.  He sat down on a chair, screamed for about 30 seconds and fell fast asleep.  Of course it was in the mid 90s and my sister and I  had sweat just pouring off of us.  Fun day.  It sure brought back memories.  I used to have four of them all around me, helping me with everything I ever did in the yard; chatting, laughing, fighting with each other, someone always got squirted with the hose, invariably someone shed a tear or two, someone bled, someone got reprimanded, etc.  And amazingly, almost miraculously, we built a beautiful place out of a barren chunk of desert.  Fun to remember, raising my kids has been such an adventure, I've loved it all.

Today I let go of the following:

1.  A printed rayon tank top I bought to wear to my cousin's wedding a couple of summers ago - way too big now
2.  A blouse I bought at the same time to go with the tank - same problem
3.  Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
4.  An old picture frame - no glass
5.  A necktie