Our Hobbit Life

The last few months I have not felt very motivated at all. I often think of writing, and even plan blog posts in my head, but Hannah Joy interrupts me frequently when she sees me writing. She seems to dislike anything that takes my attention off her. We call her part Attention Hound and part Grumble Bunny because she’s a bit of a nag–although we adore her. If it’s not Hannah interrupting me, it’s one of the cats wanting to sit on my lap. Sometimes it’s just easier to put aside my keyboard to cuddle.

Empathetic people feel the suffering of the world and since I keep myself informed of what’s happening in the world, I’m keenly aware that people are suffering so much with high inflation, health issues, devastating fires and storms, and other tragedies. This drains me emotionally. And, of course, EJ and I have our own challenges. I’ve also given support to a friend who is trying to escape an abusive husband. Sometimes it’s difficult to write about my gentle Hobbit life when all this other insanity and suffering is happening. My faith in God helps me stay strong but the suffering is still wearying so I try to take stress breaks to focus on the beauty and goodness in the world. Perhaps I need to write about my gentle Hobbit life for my own mental health–and maybe in case you need a stress break too.

The weather is gradually cooling and I’m wearing sweatshirts and jackets more often. We still have not turned on our furnace. We just might make it to our goal of not turning it on until October 15. Wednesday night the low is forecasted to dip down to 33 degrees. I’m tempted to turn the furnace on then, but I’m trying to remain strong.

EJ and I are accomplishing Autumn tasks to prepare for Winter weather. This last weekend we dug up potatoes. I picked the last of the green beans and EJ cooked some of the squash he grew. Today EJ disconnected two of the garden hoses and laid them out so the water can drain out of them before he puts them away. He hasn’t yet disconnected the hose in the front yard so I can fill the birdbath. He also hasn’t yet disconnected the hose I use to fill the chickens’ water dish. Once he does that, I will have to carry water with a bucket so he puts it off as long as possible.

I’m checking the weather each day to see when to take the screens out of the windows. We don’t want to take them out while we still can get some warm weather and open the windows. For example, the National Weather Service is forecasting a high temperature of 77 degrees on Friday so we will want to have the windows open. Once we take the screens out, I plan to wash the windows one last time.

With news of the longshoreman strike–which, thankfully, was delayed for a few months–we made sure we bought a few extra groceries. We were getting low on beef, which is very expensive these days. We read in the grocery store’s online ad that brisket was less than $6 per pound so we drove there to get some. We found it priced at about $9/lb, and EJ was planning to walk away because that’s too high. However, I motioned the man in the meat department over to ask him what the price was, mentioning that the ad said it was on sale. He said that that might have been last week’s price, but EJ showed him the ad on his phone and the man marked the brisket down for us. We bought four briskets for about 1/2 price, leaving one brisket for another customer. Life has taught us to be frugal and to think outside the box so on Friday EJ spent several hours grinding the brisket into ground beef while I measured it into half-pound portions to freeze. EJ’s co-worker from Louisana was horrified when EJ told him that we turn brisket into ground beef. However, we can get only a meal or two from each brisket if we cook it as brisket while we got a total of 57 half-pound portions from the four briskets we ground up. Since I use a 1/2 pound of ground beef for a meal, that’s 57 meals of many varieties.

EJ’s Louisiana co-worker is about the same age as our son. He came to Michigan about two years ago to work on the Great Lakes ships. He’s planning to go back on his ship soon because the money is really good. EJ had been bragging about my homemade pizza, which I make every Friday, and the guy asked if he could come visit on “Pizza Day” before he left for his ship. He visited a week ago last Friday. We had a grand time eating and talking. He ended up staying until after 1 a.m. He said we felt like “home” and “family.” We told him that if he’s not on the ship on Thanksgiving Day, he’s welcome to spend the holiday with us. I also told him that if he tells us what ship he will be on (he doesn’t know yet), I will keep an eye on him as he sails the Great Lakes. It’s fun knowing people on the ships and tracking them via app and live stream. I also pray for them during storms.

Meanwhile, our own son is still recuperating from badly breaking his leg when he slipped on the deck of the ship earlier in the summer. He’s in currently in physical therapy. He says he’s making improvement although it feels slow. He probably won’t be able to go back to the ship until next year.

Observing the wildlife outside my window and through the trail camera brings us a lot of joy. I’ve enjoyed watching the deer and raccoons with their babies this summer. The fawns are growing up and losing their spots. The rut will soon begin and I’m hoping to see some bucks appear in front of the camera. The raccoons are getting roly poly with winter fat.

Last week we had a coyote appear in the orchard during the day. Theo, our outside cat, is sweet but not particularly smart. He was sitting on the deck when the coyote appeared. He sat up with obvious curiosity and then ran TOWARD it. Alarmed, EJ ran outside shouting. He said he wasn’t sure if he was yelling at the coyote or at Theo. Both coyote and cat ran into the forest not far from each other. We called and called for Theo, afraid that the coyote would decide to snatch him as a fast food meal. Not long after we finally gave up, Theo appeared from the forest. I shut him into the garage for a while until the coyote had time to move on. A couple days after that, Theo saw deer in the orchard and decided to run toward them. They all glared at him and a fawn walked toward him, stomping a warning with each step. Theo decided to back away and the fawn curiously followed his trail until Hannah barked in the house and it ran back to the adults.

Here’s my video of the coyote incident. I’m learning to put together several of my trail camera media into a longer video. I’m also learning to add interesting elements.

Usually I only feed the wild birds during the Winter months but we enjoy them so much that I decided this year to feed them throughout the summer as well. As the birds have grown familiar with me, they have gotten bolder and in the mornings I hear the swish of many wings as they swoop around me in eager anticipation of their feeders being replenished. Some of the birds–especially the chickadees–have grown so bold that they come to the feeders when I’m standing next to them. Occasionally I’ve put seeds into my outstretched hand to see if they will land. The birds flew close before nervously veering off so I poured the seeds into the tray and walked away. But this week, although still nervous, the birds have begun to land on my hand to take the seeds. I’ve had about 10 chickadees and a nuthatch eat from my hand. I suspect that they will overcome more of their fear until they flock to me. It’s really cool. I told EJ that I’m beginning to fulfill my childhood dream of having animals gather around me like Snow White or Dr. DooLittle. He says he will really be impressed when the wildlife start cleaning our house.