5/27/2007

Sunday Morning

Good morning! I'm the first one up this morning and oh how I love to rise early on Sunday mornings. The quiet stillness inside the house is like a peaceful blanket. Not even the dogs are stirring this morning. Outside is something else entirely. With all the trees around the cabin and on the mountainside, birds of every kind reside here in the warmer months. Today, they are all singing their individual songs and together they sound like a choir singing the glory of God. The air has a slight chill, the sky is a bit overcast, and the sounds of the birds seem to be coming from everywhere. I'm reminded that God is a provider of abundance. Instead of making one type of bird to suffice ... He fills the Sky with so much variety that man has to make lists to identify them all. Our little hummingbirds are back again this year. Of all the bird kingdom ... they are the clowns. Every summer they keep me smiling with their funny actions as they play. They are very social creatures and often will fly up in front of us & hover about eye level for a few seconds as if to say Hi. When I am slow to fill the hummingbird feeder, they will buzz my head repeatedly to remind me. Once the feeder is full and back in place, they settle right down to their normal routine. Their feeder hangs outside my kitchen window, so no matter what I'm doing, their presence reminds me to lighten up.
The Spring/Summer season has begun and with it comes the fast pace of switching the business from snowplowing to lawn care. Wow, it seems that no matter how prepared you think you are ... somethings going to happen. The Mountain Man maintains his old equipment almost religiously, but as soon as the snow melted and the grass began to grow ... we have had nothing but headaches with equipment repairs. He is his own repairman, so we've spent several nights in the shop working until 1:00 - 2:00a.m.. Then up early the next morning to start another day. Anyone who is self-employed knows the rule of equipment - when you really need it, it's going to break, belch, or just lay down and play dead.
The weather here has been absolutely wonderful here this week. The temps have been up in the 80's & 90's. PRAISE GOD! Now that the threat of frost is finally past, the rush is on to get the gardens planted. (Around here, gardens generally don't go in until Memorial Day.) I planted the herbs this week. It was so wonderful to be working the dirt again. I sectioned off a portion of the garden for the herbs, and after a very challenging day, we now have around 10 different herbs in the ground and ready to go. I used to think that herbs we for the fancy folks that cooked gourmet foods. But, I've found that even with our simple way of eating, herbs add so much to simple meat & potato meals. Red potatoes coated with oil,sprinkled with rosemary, and baked in a shallow pan are so good! Chives are my favorite of all the herbs. They have a mild onion flavor. The Mountain Man can't eat onions, so I sprinkle the food with chives and we get the flavor without him getting the physical effects of the onion. Chives are very easy to grow, harvest, and preserve. It grows just about anywhere, you trim it like grass, chop the blades into small pieces, and I just put them on a paper towel to air dry. Every now and then I walk by & and stir the pieces around, and after a few days the pieces can be put into an herb container, plastic bag, etc. and used as needed. A small patch of chives can be harvested and used for a year or more. A little bit goes a long way. More on herbs later, right now I hear the birds through the open window and and dogs stirring downstairs, so it's time to get outside & start a new day.

May the Lord bless you.