OF JOY AND SPRING

Now really how can you even think of separating the terms joy and spring. I do though, because although, it was warm and mostly sunny yesterday, I didn't make it out of the house.
It was just another bad bad week for me.
We took our little day trip to Eugene last Sunday and like the little spoiled baby I can sometimes be, I insisted on staying in the truck the whole day.
Well, actually, I did get out to take Freeway for a walk with Ms. Lea on the trail in the lower pic that I posted on Monday. Unfortunately, I was in such a rotten mood that I even forgot to get the camera out of the truck to take pictures on our little walk and had to resort to finding a similar
bridge in the same park we walked
in, from the Internet. Which is a shame as the
bridge that we actually crossed was much
prettier.

Anyway, don't ask why, 'cause I really couldn't say, but I had a lousy week! Today though?
BETTER, MUCH BETTER!

Some really good stuff has been happening lately that really has made me feel better.
Ms.Lea and I went into the feed store last week for chicken, dog and cat food, and when we walked past their chicken display, which was all set up for chicks, it was empty. So we asked what had happened, they said they had received 700 chicks and sold out in 2 days.
That started me thinking that it seems like a lot of people are thinking that maybe a little bit more self sufficiency might be a good thing.
We've been thinking so for a few years now.
Then I got on craigslist and was looking in the wanted section and found 3 different adds for folks looking for chicken coops. Turns out that I have a bit of experience at building very cheap chicken coops. The Grange wants big bucks for theirs, I mean, like hundreds of dollars for them. I'm figuring that folks are trying to find a way to save some money, not spend hundreds just for eggs, right? So I took some pictures of some of the ones I've built and wrote up a little add to that effect and posted it on craigslist and I'll be damned if I didn't get 5 emails inside of a day. I suddenly went from being a man of leisure, to a very busy puppy indeed! YIPEE!!!

I think I've mentioned that I'm an alcoholic in recovery. Well, quitting smoking has brought back a few of the issues that I had when I first quit drinking. I always had certain rituals, with both my drinking and smoking, that they call triggers. One of those triggers, is that if I am out doors, say in the garage, or working in the yard, I'd want to be drinking
or smoking. So, what happens then, is that when I go to do those things, I get cravings for either the alcohol or
tobacco. With the case of the tobacco,
I'm finding getting past that stage, to
be very hard. So, last night I got my
shit together and went to my local
AA meeting. I'm ashamed to say, that, that is not usually my first response when I'm having a hard time coping.
What can I say, I'm an independent bastard. However, there are those times when just getting together to curse the fates that gave us our proclivities, really seems to help! That was certainly the case last night! I like to go to the local men's meeting, where the guys feel free to cuss and swear, and maybe, we'll even get around to talking about some of the issues that we all share. In truth, it's been probobly more than a year since I went to that particular meeting, and although it had been that long, all the same guys were there and they treated me like I'd never missed a meeting at all. VERY VERY COOL! I enjoyed it to say the least.
Of course, the fact that it's 70 degrees and beautiful out side doesn't hurt either. It's so gorgeous that I had to take some time to take some pics of some of the wild flowers we've got coming up all over the yard. Before the landlord comes down and points out that they're over 4 inches tall and must be mowed down so that they're not a fire hazard. DEEP SIGH!!!
Oh well. For now all is good. There is joy!! It's finally SPRING!!