You know your life is way too busy when you don’t even have time to brush your teeth.  I have found in the past few weeks that half the morning is gone before I get that fur ball feeling in my  mouth like something has crawled in there and died and I know I have forgotten to brush and floss.  I barely run a brush through my hair.  I am beginning to act and look like some backwoods woman. Soon I’ll be smoking a corncob pipe and using snuff.  I have let my hair grow long and I wear the same pair of pants more than two days in a row.

  It’s all because I have become a chicken keeper.  Something happens to your psyche when you take care of chickens every day.  I find myself talking to them in chicken language and spending more time with them than I do the dogs.  Bonnie and Belle are beginning to resent them and growl at them every chance they get.  I have been taking care of Freedom, who has a bad leg and she takes a lot of my time, hand feeding her, cleaning her box, taking her outside for fresh air, returning her to her box at night.

   I have been painting molding around our new back door, planting a new flower bed, trying to finish some sewing projects, and what with the house cleaning, laundry, cooking, etc., etc. I keep very busy.  I just finished a James Bible study also.  I really don’t know how I did anything when I was working.   I thought retirement was supposed to be more relaxing.

   We went to an auction a couple of weeks ago and there were several boxes of old books.  In one of them was this old book written the same year the Titanic went down.  When I was a girl growing up on the farm, there was a bookcase at the head of the stairs that had a book about the Titanic.  I use to sit on the stairs and read it and wonder about the people who were on that boat.   The book disappeared after Mom and Dad passed away and I have always wished I had gotten it.  I think this is the same book.  Anyway, the first box of books went for thirty-five dollars which was much more than I wanted to pay so when the bidding began on the box with this book I thought I probably wouldn’t get it, but it sold for only five dollars and we got it!  There were several nice books in the box.  There is a very old edition of Swiss Family Robinson.

  This was the captain of the ship.  He went down with the ship.  In the most recent movie about the Titanic the people on the ship were portrayed as panicking and screaming and running about.  People who were actually there said it was eerily quiet and people were orderly and not scrambling to get on the lifeboats.  In fact, up until the very last many thought it was only a drill.

  Here is a picture of the Titanic comparing its size to other things such as the great pyramids and the Washington monument.  Impressive. No wonder people thought she was unsinkable.

  As the ship was going down, the people on the lifeboats heard the ones left on the ship singing this song.  The cries and yelling did not start until the ship went down and people fell into the freezing waters.  How horrible it must have been sitting in a lifeboat and hearing those screams.  Many lost their lives that night.

 David and I were sitting outside on the swing when we saw this amazing sight.  There were about eleven turkey vultures soaring above us seeming to be playing in the wind currents.  They did this for quite a while until they flew away.

  Our snowball bush is especially pretty this year.  Years ago, David’s grandmother had a huge snowball bush in her backyard.  She gave me a sapling from off of it and these flowers are from it.  David pruned it pretty heavily last year and I was afraid we wouldn’t have flowers, but its branches are bending down from them.

  This picture was taken of it at night with no flash.  It looks like the flowers are shining.

  Now, since it is Mother’s Day, I will give you some flowers and other pretties from my garden.

  Yes, even dandelions are pretty.

  A new Echinacea that will have a completely green flower.

  This is the only snail that is welcome in my garden.

  The new flower bed I am working on.

  A dragonfly that lights up at night.

   Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who are mothers or mother someone or would like to be a mother or have a mother.  I was never happier than the days each of my children were born.  I don’t think your children realize how much they are loved until they have children of their own and know the love they feel for them.  That love never goes away, no matter what happens.  Your mother is your best friend for life, would gladly give her life for you, and will love you for eternity.  I was blessed with a wonderful mother and I can’t wait to see her one day in heaven.  Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.  I love you.

    Love to all of you.  Bye.