I’m two steps behind myself.  (I’m like Bergen Hawkeye in this picture – a sort of blur.)

I’m fiercely fighting getting sick.  I’ve pretty much told myself, “No.  You do not have the time to allow that to happen.”  And so I am applying and diffusing oils as if I am true believer and I am gargling salt water and drinking tea overflowing with honey and downing multiple glasses of grape juice and drinking tons of water and trying to go to bed on time and swallowing whatever elderberry/echinacea/grapefruit seed oil/vitamin D/you name it fruit or capital letter vitamin is in the cabinet.

I think it’s mostly working.  I’m still standing and school is still being taught and everything here smells like tea tree and lavender and peppermint eucalyptus.

It’s a busy week, as so many are of late.

On these weeks, planned and prepared blog posts are just harder to come by.

So rambling is what you get.  Tune in next week if you need something more coherent.

Ryder’s dream came true this weekend – and today.  He’s been making a bare path around our chicken coop for ages.  You’d think our chickens would know that safety lies within the fence.  Within the fence, for the love, you chickens.

But no.  They escaped and Ryder rejoiced.

I stood in the yard, staring at the bent fence where the chickens escaped to what they thought was freedom, but for real and for certain was death.

I said out loud, “Oh chickens.  Why would you leave the safety of the fence when DEATH is on the other side?  Death!”

And Hannah said, “Yeah.  That’s a sermon.”

Bergen and Mosely buried one chicken today.  They buried it around what is apparently now officially our Death Tree.  I cannot even recall how many sad little creatures are buried beneath that tree — a kitten who fell to her untimely death from our front porch one summer, a bird, goat(s), other chickens.  Now that I make that list I feel sort of weird about that section of our yard.

Have you ever played that car game (or waiting in line game) called Fortunately/Unfortunately?

You just take turns saying ridiculous things back and forth.  Like this:

Fortunately, our dryer did arrive, many thanks to the generous men who gave up a portion of their Saturday afternoon to deliver it to our house.  Unfortunately, the electrical connection to the dryer seems rathe burned and an absolute fire hazard.  Fortunately, our house didn’t have to burn down for us to learn that the electrical outlet is damaged.  Unfortunately, we still have no working dryer.  Fortunately, Berg was able to mostly repair the clothesline to a useable state.  Unfortunately, the clothes I left on the line yesterday were rained on during the night. Fortunately, Hannah miraculously offered to take our clothes to the laundromat for us today.  Unfortunately, the electrician hasn’t come out to the house yet.  Fortunately, the sun is supposed to shine again by mid-week.

See how the game works?

Usually you end up making up stories to play the game, but this time it was all true.

The moral of that story, however, is – can you even believe how amazing our friends are?  I mean, can you??

With all that bit of rambling, I’m going to sign off.  I’m hoping for sunshine for all us, a slower week than Monday was, appliances that run when you want them to and friends that treat you like family.

Also.  Let’s play Fortunately/Unfortunately in the comments sections today.

_____________________________