Interminable Days

My parents find excellent birthday cards. Whether pop-up or batik, cut straw to make flowers or embroidery, they have an incredible stash of beautiful cards made by women in third world countries. This year on my birthday my card said, "May your year be unexpectedly fruitful."

I knew what that meant. A Lykosh baby is on the way.

And, as usual, I am flat in bed, every day. I have not yet resorted to all day movie marathons as I did with sons three and four, but I do nothing except make myself turkey sandwiches and try to keep them down. I've read a lot of mediocre books.

While I realize that I am being creative in a unique way, I am doing nothing around the farm. The last time I was vertical, a week ago Monday, I headed off to learn about seeding. Some day I will write about that. A completely different method than I've done before. That was the creativity I anticipated this year: vegetables and flowers, permaculture and increased fertility.

In between a heavy rainfall last week and a heavy snow today, Phil has finished the second wall. We received shipment of the remaining blocks and waterproofing and cement yesterday. Phil needs to figure out how to pour grout into the cells, and then how to make a bond beam along the top of the wall.

We also welcomed a bull calf on March first. It was almost exactly ten months since we had had our last birth. Our poor Snowman: we had let his fertility tank. This is the E-year, so his name is Elvis, and mother Catherine had no issues. She delivered on her due date, and since she hadn't given birth since July 2011, we were happy to finally have a baby.

So that's the news: survival and new life.