That last wonderful rain we received has brought spring to our land. When I walked under one of the oak trees in the pasture, I heard the sound of hundreds of bees buzzing. In spite of my rather haphazard beekeeping experiences, I love the sound of bees at work. There is still not much grass coming up. The ground cover will have to do until we get a really good rain. We still need a really good frog-strangler rain to help this drought ravaged area. I see many dry tanks in the area that need to be filled. I don’t even want to think about the large number of trees that will have to be taken down or cut up because they are already down.

Russ and I attended the One Act Play’s Fish Fry on Sunday. I was pleased to see there was a really good turnout. Jeffrey Bates cooked the fish; he is one fine fish cooker! Mrs. Hall and all the parents associated with the play were there serving and taking care of their guests. I’m sure they were pleased to see such a wonderful response from the community.

Bill moved his cows to another pasture for a while since there was not enough grass here to sustain his cows. They will come back once the grass grows a little. The Finches are here squabbling over the feeders. I noticed we have a great crop of Cardinals as well. They are all busy making nests. The Bluebirds have taken up residence in the birdhouse, so I guess we’ll have a new family in the yard. Glen is not chasing the birds anymore so I don’t have to protect them from his puppy antics. Now that the cows are away, I can also relax and enjoy my walks around the pasture. As my sister put it, ranchers don‘t like to hear about dogs chasing their cows. In his defense, I have to say he has the cows well trained. They don’t run far at all. They stop and bunch almost immediately. The last time he rounded them up it took less than 10 seconds. Glen is doing much better these days. He comes when he is called, and except for eating manure, he listens well. He does not have the ball game down at all. He won’t bring it back, and when he does return with it; he wants to play tug with you. For those of you who have seen him up close, those are some awfully big teeth in his mouth. I am not inclined to try to retrieve a ball from his mouth. We’ll just have to work on the ball trick. He’s been off his feed the last few days, but I think it is because of those good Hibler’s bones. I’m hoping they will stop some of his yard chewing. Russ was a little stressed Friday. We ordered some new roses and he was planting them. As we stepped back to examine our handiwork, Glen reached in and tried to uproot the new rose. Needless to say Russ was not a happy camper. We have had to rope them off until they can take root. I did take the extra precaution of sprinkling them liberally with Cayenne Pepper.

My sister Dee and I had a great week. We spent several days cleaning up the pecan grove and one day working on my sewing room. Both my sisters are very talented, I was not gifted with their kind of talents. I saw Dee off Thursday. She is headed back to Florida and a variety show. I am proud to say all of us sing well. We don’t sing as well as my Aunt Virginia. She was a coloratura soprano. She was invited to Italy to study under the masters, but decided to stay home and get married. In truth, it was a talent wasted on mundane living. Oh well, not everyone wants to be an opera star.

I am working on my sewing room. It will not be a work of art, but it will be unique. I am using one of the rooms in the old house. I suspect it will be a challenge to keep out the critters and bugs. Just working on the walls was a hoot. The studs are all crooked, there are holes in the walls, the boards don’t meet, and the roof has no ceiling. In other words it is a mess. In my eyes, it will be my own little world. I don’t have to have anything really fancy. I just love the challenge. Russ helped me with the cutting, but he can’t see past the rot and decay. I will have to work my magic by myself. He is a trooper to have helped as much as he did. I may not be able to accomplish what I have in my mind, but I will give it my best.Fortunately, I am not a perfectionist like him.

School is back in session. The kids are not ready and neither are the teachers, but time and the school schedule waits for no one. We are going to be crunching lessons to accomplish meeting the STAAR testing beginning in April. I truly hope we do well this year. We worked hard to bring our TAKS scores up, only to have TEA make tougher tests for our little ones. I hate it for the kids, and I’m not too happy about the stress put on the teachers.

I hear there was a big birthday celebration for Pearl Cantrell, she is a spry 105. She told me dancing keeps her young. I don’t know if that is true, but it sure seems to help her. Happy birthday Miss Pearl. George and Donna Hill are recovering from the crud. Louis Hyman is still recovering from her broken foot. Her kids are doing a super job of tending to their Mama. Donna Taylor told me her house is progressing well. I can attest to the fact that home building is extremely stressful. A few years ago several of us were building homes and it was a hot topic of discussion at school. I do love my home now that it is built. Vicki Overstreet lost her father this past weekend. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her. We have many more on the prayer list needing our covering and the Lord’s healing.

Please pray for our government, our legislators and our President. Pray for the new pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He has inherited a church facing grave issues. Russ has decided to have a home study of the faith of our Founding Fathers. Several people have said they will attend. He will be using the David Barton Wall Builders Series. It should prove to be very interesting. May God bless and protect our precious soldiers and may He bless America.