Trials by Life

Finally I'm back at my long ignored blog. My family was hit hard by Father Time's scythe with the passing of my mother Wanda Mae in January of 2012. As I mentioned in the March of 2013 post, my brother Sid, with a bit of help from both me and his son Luke, got the Browne House ready for sale. To our surprise the housing market in Bellevue was on the upswing and the house sold in only a couple of weeks in the Fall of 2012. I thought this is was great, now I can simply grieve for the loss of Mom.

New Year's Eve, December 31st, 2012, Sue and I were getting ready for the evening meal when Sue checked our phone for voice messages. As Sue listened to a message I heard her cry "Oh no" and bend her knees a little as if to collapse. She turned to me to say that my son Collin was in a Phoenix Hospital, the victim of a head-on automobile accident. I listened to the message - they needed permission for surgery. I immediately called, talked to the Nurse and said yes to the surgery. The news was not good, but it could have been so much worse; broken and fractured bones but no head injury and no damage to internal organs. After talking to the nurse I called Collin's mom and his sister Sasha, who resides in the LA area in California. My daughter sort of took charge from the get go and she and her mother met in Phoenix on January1st.

I arrived on January 4th, having cleared my calendar so I could make the long stay in Phoenix to provide in-home care until Collin was able to do most things for himself. Collin's Mom took charge of getting some groceries,  bedding, pillows and other such items a hospital bed, set up at home, would need. Collin was in the hospital a good week and a half. He was restless and tired; one does not get much rest in a hospital. I stayed with Collin from January 4th until February 14th. Collin recovered very quickly considering his damage. Before I left, Collin was able to move about with a walking cast and even drive a car for short distances.

After getting home I tried to update this blog but my mind was just too distracted. My brother Sid had told me, while I was still in Phoenix that my sister Becky's cancer had returned. She had told him she was tired of the fight and would not seek further treatment. Near the middle of March 2013, Sue and I visited my sister Becky at her care facility in Yakima WA. My daughter Sasha flew up from So. Cal. and Sid's son Luke and family joined us for a farewell gathering. Becky passed on March 21st, 2013 at the age of 62. My brother Sid and I are now the only two of our family of five still going. I'm not sure if we'll ever really be a peace with it.

Our wonderful little foothills homestead was rocked this past Spring when a young Mt Lion was able to kill our remaining 4 hens. It's now very quiet around here. After I make a few security upgrades to the coop area we'll get some more hens and start over. Life goes on, even if a bit more somber. The month of June 2013 was spent dealing tent caterpillars and that was not fun. I built more raised garden beds over the summer and this past Fall I started clearing more ground to extend the open space around the homestead. We're now just about one full year since my last post. Outside there is still snow on the ground from a late February/March snow storm which dropped some 30 inches on us in a week's time. The seed catalogs have been arriving so Spring must be coming soon - I can hardly wait.

Gosh, it's been a year since my last posting. So much has taken place. My Brother Sidney took on the responsibility as executor of our Mother's estate. Over the remainder of 2012 I helped him get our old home ready to sell. We had some help form other family members, it was a slow and bitter-sweet process.

Roaring In Like a Lion

Ah, it's March, almost the Ides of March so I'm glad my name is not Julius. Sue and I are so ready for Spring to arrive. There a few tantalizing hints. The Daffodils and Jonquils are up a few inches. The Indian Plum & wild red current shrubs have swollen buds. On the other hand, it's still cold with mixed rain & snow. We lost power this morning about 11:45 a.m. and it was not back on until around 5:30 p.m.  The NOAA forecast is for winds in the early morning hours, lasting maybe until 1 p.m.

Last week we were visited by one of the local Coyotes. Fortunately he/she did not stay around to scope-out our hens. I hung around the coop for awhile just to make sure. My makeshift cover for the coop's safety zone has worked as well as I would like - so, this Spring I'll be putting on a metal roof. The hens will stay a bit dryer and we hope, the eggs stay a bit cleaner. Oh, by the way, the hens finally started laying eggs again, after about 6 weeks of in-action. Several of the "girls" were moulting and we think that was the prime reason for the egg stopage.

Foothills Nor'easter

The beauty of our 16 or so, inches of snow, was blasted in the middle of the night by an East-Northeast wind, roaring out of Canada. Fortunately our power stayed on during the night and all the next day, until 4:50 pm that is, when the power went out. It had been such a wonderful day, sitting near the wood stove, reading a Tony Hillerman novel, Dance Hall of the Dead. The power loss occurred right when I was about to put a baking dish, full of homemade granola, into the oven. Sue was out loading up the firewood boxes and tending to our Hens. The "Girls" were having no part of the wind as they hung out in and around their coop. One of our local wild birds was much braver, a Blackcap Chickadee worked over some Blackeyed Susan seed-heads and then took a break on a grapevine.

The good news came fifteen or twenty minutes after the power outage, the power came back on. Sue and I were not sure  it would stay on, so we shoveled a path from our garage to the pump-house. We did this so I could drag our generator there, to use in case the power went out again. It's so nice to have running water when the power is off. One worries less about the water lines freezing when the water flows and there is power for the pump-house heater. My fingers got so cold I had to take my gloves off a few times, so I could put my hands into my pants pockets to warm them up. We did get the pathway cleared and the generator is now at the pump-house. I also got the granola baked and Sue, moments ago, put the finishing touches on a sweet-potato pie, oh yum! She is now making her famous vegetable soup.

By the way, Sue makes great pies. The crust is often made with some whole wheat pastry flour and butter, gosh is it good. The pictures are  of a Hubbard Squash pie and a mixed Berry pie she made a year or so ago. As you can tell, we do not go hungry at our place, and it's so much fun growing a good portion of the food we're now eating. As the NE Wind blows outside, I'm already thinking about the Spring Planting. ~ John

Snow New Year

The New Year came and most of my family gathered at my mother's home to support each other because my mother passed away. Family traveled from near and far to visit with mother during her last days and hours. My mother, Wanda Mae McDonald-Browne let her spirit take flight at 9:10 pm on Sunday, January 8th, 2012. She had a good long life and was ready to go, so the sadness I feel is for the loss of a kind and generous woman, interesting talks and her wise council, which we'll no longer be able to share over her kitchen table. My brother Sidney, sister Rebecca and I had wonderful parents who gave us so many practical skills but more importantly, they nurtured our minds to be creative in thought and curious about who we are and why we are here. I'll do a proper tribute to my mother in a later post.

The snow has returned to the foothills and this time in force. It started the morning of January 16th and snowed off and on, all day. 

The evening of the 17th,  Sue and I removed the Christmas ornaments from our Christmas Tree, which we left decorated due to my mother's illness and passing. We played Christmas music, Christmas with the Academy, as the ornaments were returned to their respective boxes. The tree was put out next to the South-side stairs and all this time the snow was falling. After the last of the fir needles were swept away, Sue put some Christmas Lights on the South-facing window ledge, along with three colored glass

birds. Christmas was over but we still have our Winter Lights to add cheer until Winter gives way to Spring.

As we awoke on Wednesday, January 18th, we saw that it had indeed snowed all night and was still snowing. It was at least 12 inches deep now and piling up fast. Sue and I came to the realization that we were not going to be able to get out of our driveway if this snow kepted up, and it did. I finally had to let my Masonic Brothers know that I would not likely be attending the Thursday evening meeting.

By mid afternoon our backyard table was piled high with snow. You can compare the two photos and see how the snow added up. The snow slowed down around 2 pm and a bit of sun tried to peek in. Sue went for a walk and I went out around  3:30 pm to clear pathways. When Sue got back she brought in more firewood and then fed the "Girls." Our girls were having none of this snow stuff, they mostly hung out in their coop and told stories or played a game of cards, I should think. After dark I took a few more photos to show what our place looks like in the cold of a Foothills Winter Night.

Thanks for visting ~ John

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Tis the Holiday Season and in keeping with spending our $$ locally Sue and I have been annually cutting our Christmas tree at a local tree farm. Unlike those folks who put up a tree right after Thanksgiving and often take it down a few days after Christmas Day or the day after New Year's Day, we have a different plan. Back in the day, you know, when Christmas was less commercial and a bit more of a religious observance, Christmas was more than two weeks long.

Several years ago, in part due to slower economic times, but more out of a desire to put our Christmas back into the spiritual sphere by de-emphasizing gift-giving, Sue and I started breaking our old habits. One thing we did was to limit the number of and cost of individual presents.  After a few years we radically changed the gift-giving to our Grandchildren, we now have six. No longer do we give toys or clothes -  because with clothes its too hard to get the sizes right, the kids growth so fast. As for toys, they already get so many from their own parents and the "other" grandparents, it seemed to us the value of an individual toy was lost shortly after the next present was opened. What we did was to start buying EE Savings Bonds for each grandchild, one for each birthday and one for each Christmas. So far this system is working pretty well, for us anyway.

A number of years ago my daughter Sasha, I think it was her anyway, gave me a very nice book for Christmas, 'One Hundred Saints'. I learned from this book that December 6th used to be the official feast day for St. Nicholas, who we all know now as Santa Claus. It occurred to me that the Christmas Season ought to start with a nice dinner on December 6th. I even penned a short work on how St. Nicholas became Santa Claus which I read the evening of December 6th. The next event in our season is to cut our own Christmas Tree.

Christmas Tree cutting, for us,  takes place about mid-December. Cutting our own tree gives us the freshest tree, which we want to last through January 6th, Epiphany. By our

system the Christmas Holiday lasts one full month. Though we are not Church-goers, Sue and I observe the Advent Sundays and Sue reads the Advent Calendar. On Christmas Eve we read the Nativity Story and watch a Christmas movie. We do give a few gifts, a good proportion of which are food treats, but some may be DVDs, books, CDs and this year I sent a Teaching Company Course, it was a 12 lecture course and it was on sale - I referred to it as "food for the mind."

Christmas at Berryridge Farm is truly a season and it gets more fun each year.

Snow Falling on Berryridge Farm

We had a little dusting of snow a week or two ago but Thursday evening, November 17th, the first real snow fell. I was in town at a Masonic Lodge meeting and returned home to find almost four inches of snow had already collected on the back door porch. There had been no snow falling in town, nor any until I was well into the foothills, but six or seven miles from home the flakes were coming down. The real accumulation came at the four mile from home mark.

The timing was perfect because earlier in the day I had taken the Ford Escort to the tire place that we use and had the studded snow tires put on. Our little Escort is a very good snow-mobile when the snow is less that 8 inches deep, its not a very good snowplow however. The arrival of snow is not a big deal, unless of course it drops more than 8 inches, then we just don't plan to go anywhere. Three of our neighbors have tractors with bucket loaders and they often keep the road open for all of us to use.

The "Girls" (our Hens) actually do OK in the snow. We take them warm water when their water dispenser freezes. Last Winter, it was only a few times I hooked up a heater (60 watt light-bulb) to stave-off serious cold (single-digit numbers like 3 deg F). The girls are not thrilled about the snow or frozen ground because they like to scratch the earth and so frozen ground really slows them down. So what do they do, they just hang out as best they can. Only a week ago or so Susan saw a Bobcat pacing back and forth next to our Girls pen - so we have been more careful to lock the girls in for the night.

Just recently, our nearest neighbor Tina, got some Hens of her own, four I think. She has an interesting coop, sort of a Gypsy Coop. Since she has a horse and her sons visit frequently with their dogs we hope her hens are safe from the local Bobcat and the Coyotes we often hear after dark.

During the past five days we've had several vists from Jack Frost. I took a turn around the yard to photograph the jewel-like quality the leaves take on when covered in frost. Who knows, one of the photos may end up on the Christmas Card we send or in the Berryridge Farm Star Christmas newsletter.

Sue is working hard to get a Christmas short story finished in time to publish before Christmas. I've been looking for a snow scene to use as part of the cover. This is an Irish story so Sue would like a scene of an Irish Cottage or village, at night, when its snowing - Dreamstime has some good snow stuff but nothing that fits what we'd like - I may have to improvise.

I'll close for now. Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave your comments, questions and suggestions. Grand John