Squeezing The Daylight

This past week has been stressful.  Mother Nature’s fury on the southeast has not been fun.

A day spent collecting vital items into two bags to keep down in the basement.  And then the test of endurance in getting two bull-headed dogs to follow you up and down stairs - dozens of times - and both becoming more reluctant to return upstairs each time.

Reaching a point where your husband quietly takes you by your arm and tells you, “ Let’s go. “ - when it’s usually me doing any prodding.

And for the first time in the 2-plus years since you've been here - you find yourself standing in the safest place within your abode that you know of - and you hear torment.

After never even hearing thunder from down in the basement before - it’s enough to wonder - first - “ What in Hell is going on up there ? “ - followed by - “ Oh, my God.  What are we going to see when we open this door ? “

We were lucky ones.  The hail that hit our home - during one of the waves - grew in size as that particular cell made its way toward the northeast - equal to the size of baseballs.

The shock continues - just from watching the news - seeing the destruction of lives - hearing the reports about the loss of lives.

Knowing we were smack in the middle of it all.  And while we wore ourselves out making trips up and down the staircase - communities were being wiped off the map - souls being taken from this earth.

We are only now catching up - cleaning up the mess from halfway moving down into the basement - getting some decent sleep - making repairs outside…

Even finishing what we were trying to get taken care of - up to the very moment when that first raindrop arrived.

He’s worked 12 hours per day - come home and climbed onto the tractor to finish mowing pastures for the past two days - making use of all the daylight left for each evening.

And some folks just cannot understand why we go to bed at 8:30pm.

Granted - we get up at 3:30am.  But our world consists of animals and other food growing on our place that won’t do it without us.

On a much lighter side - the Winter Savory has taken off like a rocket.

My first go at drying my herbs this year.

Each tray is filled to the brim - the temperature set according to directions - plugged in early yesterday morning.

We checked it before going to bed last night.  I prefer leaving the leaves on the stems.  And the low temp recommended did not seem to produce anywhere near the results we’d hoped.

I turned up the temperature setting to 105* - and we went to bed.

Not finished - yet.  But I see expected results that I’m satisfied with.

And I can already tell - I’ll be using a quart-size jar for the savory this year.

Finally - “ Thank you, God - for this nice thought to break the stronghold from all this pain and stress.  Now - would you - please - bless all those affected by the wrath of Mother Nature this past week - giving each and every one whatever they need for comfort - strength - and a reason for hope and confidence about the future?  I thank You - and ask You - all in the name of Jesus Christ - our  Lord and Savior - much needed right now.  Amen. “