A Little Bit of Quiet

This will be a different kind of week for me. Troy's dad is off work for spring break, one of the perks of being a teacher. I will not be driving to preschool or reading stories before naptime. The toys will likely stay in their boxes and no little voice will say "Martha, is it lunchtime?" several times each morning. Instead of Troy we have two friends from church for a few days. Their parents are in Israel and this is their last stop on the circuit of people to stay with. Will it really be quieter here? I'm not sure, but it will be different. Josh will be here tomorrow and while James is working here in the shop, I just may take a run to the bank and grocery store. Maybe I will get a chance to take an orchard walk with Jasmine sometime in the next few days. After two months of not feeling well, she is finally back to normal. No more venison bones and no more rawhide chewies for Jazz. They both give her tummy aches. She just doesn't chew her food thoroughly and pays for it later.

I am very much looking forward to spring's arrival and so are the little sparrows that sit outside in my naked snowball bush. I have not been in the habit of feeding them but they stay here anyway, enjoying the shrubbery and occasionally flying down our chimney. We must keep a small fire going at all times or cover the top with a screen in order to discourage their tendancy to turn the stove pipe into a dwelling place. I have had birds all the way down to the stove and if they are lucky I will hear them flapping around and release them from their prison before they die of starvation. If I am lucky and remember to close all the blinds and open a door, they will fly directly outside and not knock all my knick knacks off the window sills in the effort to get out. I love birds but much prefer to watch them outside at a distance rather than dive bombing me in my living room.