Busy as a bee

"Steady as a clock, busy as a bee and cheerful as a cricket" ~Martha Washington

The past couple of days have been noisy and busy with the house full to capacity.  The kids came home from school last Thursday and didn’t return until Wednesday.  #1, Sir T and Baby O (love being a Grandma!)  arrived Friday evening and didn’t leave until Wednesday night and the man had a three day weekend.

The weather was disgustingly hot and humid but thankfully is back to normal.

A couple of things got checked off the To Do List… The lawn was mowed, a shed came down and was hauled to the burn pile, about 1/3 of the garden was weeded and tilled and a storage trailer completely cleaned out.  But since all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, there were three separate fishing trips to the river, some swimming, some gallivanting with friends, and a family baseball game.

And if that wasn’t enough to tuck into one weekend there was some other excitement.  In the wizard of Oz it goes, lions and tigers and bears Oh My!  Well around these parts it has been… turtles, snakes and bears Oh My!

A box turtle seems to have made my lawn his/her home.  We have carried it up into the woods and yet it returns each time.  So we have to be careful when mowing so as not to run him over.  Snakes on the other hand I don’t mind running over.  And snake skins abounded this weekend, several in the yards and a big one by the river.  But I would prefer to see the skins instead of the live water snakes while fishing or the rattle snake on the road below the barn.

And yet all of these are tame compared to the bear.  #1 daughter was outside with Baby O on her hip when she saw our cat scrunched down as if stalking something.  She walked over to see what he was getting ready to pounce on and less than 100 feet away was a bear.  She came running in and we went to make sure the bear would

leave the baby chicks, ducks, turkeys and geese alone and not make a meal of them.  

WHAT?!?!?

Mr. Bear calmly walked up the hill into the woods behind the house.  He was a big bear, on all fours he would have measured hip high on me.   

So things are slowly returning to as “normal” as things can be around here.  #2 son starts his new job tonight, #2 daughter is continuing to babysit several days/nights each week.  They only have eight days left before summer vacation and “normal” will take on a whole new meaning.

But it is 45 degrees now and rain is due so I am heading to the garden to get something constructive done.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.