Ironic isn't it............

I just read tired, tired, tired and posted it even though it was written last spring.  I definitely wish I was dealing with that problem now.

Hurricane Harvey came to visit the Texas coast.  We were graced with a personal visit from him like so many others.  Our little tiny house took on several feet of water while everything else on the property got close to 4'.

We're facing a long road ahead.  I'm not sure why I've decided to write about it.  Maybe I need the process to be documented to help me get thru this.  There are days I am strong and days I want to give up.

Please know that we are blessed and much better off then many others.  It doesn't matter what your losses are or who you are, it's a tough road for all of us to travel.

This was the first trip we made.  We had 3 trips planned but it came up too fast.  This is our neighbors property.  The white between the houses is greens bayou. I was up and down Saturday night.  When I saw the bulletin that Lake Conroe was opening their flood gates, I knew we were screwed.  And it wasn't just low income people like us, our VP lived in a subdivision north of us that has never flooded, but did this time.   

Wednesday we returned but it was bitter sweet.

 My little house looked okay but didn't do okay.

 Second trip out was horrible.  I was ready to give up after the first trip to safety.  Rick said we had to go back one more time.  Even in the one ton going back the truck was swamped.  We got back to the Honda CRV and the other 3 dogs.  I panicked, the water was rising so fast.  We left without the last 3 girls (dogs).  I'm trying to kiss the one ton's ass so I can follow his wake. The road had a river flowing over it.   At the worst part I could feel the car slipping and I just prayed.  I was wearing a life jacket with my window down.  Praying that if the car was swept away I could climb out and survive.

 We left Sunday before noon.  This is Wednesday.  We cried for 3 days for abandoning the 3 girls and I take responsibility for that.  I was selfish and scared.

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Wednesday the water finally receded so we could get to the house.  The girls survived.  I don't think I have ever cried that much.  I was behind hubby in a car.  We pulled into our little lane.  He stopped to move boards in the lane that might have nails.  I saw a flash on our driveway and honked my horn at him.  He jumped in the truck and hauled ass to our house.  Mama was at the gate, and when he asked where her baby was, she led him to the garage.  We found her baby in the rafters of the garage.    Our old girl who belonged to daddy was outside the yard.  We don't know how she got out.  The fence is 4' so maybe she floated out or panicked and climbed out.  

Everything is a mess but all of us survived.  That's all that matters.

This will be a long process back to normal.  

Tired, Tired, Tired

Lordy, I am feeling my age lately.  Working on the old house, keeping up basics at our home, and working 40 hours a week has just about knocked me to my knees.  But we are still hanging there.  We just keep focusing on the light at the end of the tunnel.  

 We have to pick the tomatoes before they are ripe. The birds and bugs destroy them if we wait for them to ripen.

This is our second batch of dill pickles.  Plus I'm trying to dry some herbs for the winter.  Like I said, it's crazy around here.

 Molly is not much help protecting the tomatoes but she does chase the squirrels.

 I didn't get hardly any figs last year due to the squirrels eating them.

Not this year.  I think I've already frozen about 30 pounds.  I don't have any time to can them now so in the freezer they go.

Wow, May is almost gone.........

   This last month has been so busy.  We've been working hard at both places, old house and new house. Currently meals have become a chore instead of fun.  I got hubby to find my old rotisserie and cooked two chickens Sunday.

The first one was lemon garlic seasoned.  The second one was seasoned salt with cajun seasoning.

We'll eat on one for a couple of days and then freeze the rest for future meals. Since we have so much to do at the old house, we're both trying to do more after work during the week at the current house. That makes meal preparation a chore.
     I'm a worrier.  I wake up at night worrying about things.  I can't seem to learn to shut it off.  My beautiful silver leaf maple died in the back yard of our old house.  Rick was determined he could get it down by himself.  Great, another thing I have to worry about.  The old house is in a subdivision so we have multiple options to damage other people's fences, houses, and yards besides our own.  Our son was available and able to help.  Of course the chain saw quit working right at the beginning so they were reduced to using the pole saw to do their cutting.

Our first house had a huge silver leaf maple in the front yard.  It survived a major hurricane and made me love it even more.  When we bought this house we were very poor.  I stumbled on a clearance sale in the fall at home depot and found a tiny silver leaf maple.  Even on clearance it was a little expensive for my budget.

I don't know what happened but it only lived 20 years.

Sadly we said goodbye.  And the boys got it down without any damage anywhere.

In case you didn't notice them in the last picture, look at these gorgeous elephant ears.  Every trip I've been transplanting some to my current house.  I love these things.  I think they are bigger now than my original plantings.

I just wanted to share pictures of the youngest girls.  The brindle is Mama, she's a little over 2 yrs.  The beautiful grey girl is her daughter Molly, a little over a year old.  Spot is the white dog in front and Jack is hiding under the bench.  Each dog has a story.  Moma showed up at work and then became pregnant.  I intended to shelter her until she had her puppies and then take them to a shelter.  Guess who didn't follow thru.  Spot was rescued by my son on a freeway.  Jack is another pup that showed up our work.  Hubby and I work for the same company so we seem to be a magnet for homeless dogs.  I'll get pics of the older girls and share their story next time.

Time to get ready for work tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by.

I love my house.  Once we finish replacing the windows I want to get the outside painted.  I'm thinking a medium to dark gray with crisp white trim.  The front door would be a gorgeous lime green or orange now.  But by the time we get the windows done, I will probably have a new favorite color.  

We have replaced 6 out of 12 windows. The windows were the old crank open windows.  In the picture the one on the left is replaced.  The one on the right is an old picture window.  The middle is plain glass with a roll out window on each side.  I've priced picture windows and just can't see spending that money.  We decided to replace it with 2 windows.  We know once we are gone our kids won't live here.  It'll be sold and the new owners will bulldoze the house.  We're just trying to make it comfortable for us in our retirement without spending a lot of money.  

We're also working on our old house and getting it ready for sale.  I forgot to take a before picture.  But from the load on the trailer you can see how much Rick cut from just the front yard.

We had thought we had it sold to a family member but after a couple of years they decided it wasn't for them.  We're okay with it, but it puts us in a scramble to get it back in shape to put on the market.

I loved it but when I had the opportunity to move back to my childhood home and have 1 1/2 acres  and "NOT" be in a subdivision, I never looked back.  I've probably have said this before but moving from 1700 sq ft with a two car garage to 840 sq ft with sheds was a little hard. Going from 4 bedrooms wasn't that bad.  But going from 2 baths to 1 has really been hard.

When we got home from working at the old house Rick made us a late lunch.

My Plate

Rick's.

He made shrimp and oyster Po Boys.  I love Nola but I had never had a PO Boy there.  Rick did back in his trucking days.  So being the good cook he is, it came out great.  I couldn't eat all of mine but it was so good.  

Great Weekend

We took a couple of days off and worked with a little play on the side.

 After working hard I started taking pics.

The fig we planted about 10 yrs ago was our largest producer until the squirrels discovered figs.   Our rescue dog Mama has a pup, we named Molly, who chases squirrels.  My hope is that this year I will actually get a few figs.  I won't tell you about a couple of weeks ago when Molly went after a squirrel by trying to climb a crepe myrtle tree.  Yep, I won't.  I had nightmares of broke legs.  

Our few green beans are hanging in there.  Our land is low and the recent rainy years have turned our garden area into a mini pond.

Hubby discovered a mulberry bush at the property line.  He took a cutting and I hope to have 2 new fruit trees in the coming years.  The fruit is red and sweet.  But from what I read, it can be black, red, or white.  Since these are sweet and red, maybe that is it.  

This is Miss Molly.  She adores her Mama first and me second.  She is sleeping on my foot.

I brought Moma (approx 1 yr old) home March 2016 with the intention of letting her give birth in a nice place and then taking her and her pups to the shelter.  One pup was still born and the other was Molly.  I couldn't do it.  Those two are the phrase "two peas in a pod".  I can't get a pic of the two of them together.  They just won't stay still.  Molly is taller and longer than her Moma.  While Molly is not brave, Moma has already protected us from an intruder a few months ago.

Lazy Day...we wish

7 of my 8 grape plants survived.  They are putting on leaves.  One had ants around it.  I dusted them but I guess it wasn't soon enough.  The blackberries are starting to bloom.  Hubby has been moving them from the back of the garden to a fence closer to the house.  Last year we had a bunch but picking them required rubber boots and a lot of effort.  We'll finish transplanting this year and then mow the rest.   

Rosemary and oregano survived the winter in pots outside.  I love herbs.  As much as I love smelling them my favorite one will always be dill.  My favorite garden smell are the tomato plants.  I brush against them just so I can smell them.

My lone apple tree looks great even after Rick's massive pruning once the frost had it's fun. I hope we can get a few apples this year.   My first lady bug of the year was on this tree today.

Last but not least Rick is enjoying picking his onions.  We were trying not to pull them before we had good bulbs but the constant  rain is a threat and we don't want to lose them to rot in the ground before they have nice size bulbs. It's become a waiting game.

 2012 and 2013 we were going through a drought and had to water here constantly.  We moved here in 2014 and have dealt with flooding since then.  We remind ourselves that we are blessed to be in a major city with this much land to have a hobby farm.  The location may suck a little but I could never drive an hour to work every day just to live in a suburb.  And you are still not in the country.  

Rick wants chickens but it's hard to keep up with what we have since we work full time.  They'll just have to wait until we or "he" retires.

Hope your work week is a good one.  Easter is around the corner.  😍