April Showers

There’s a quote that goes “April showers bring May flowers” but we are getting so much rain that April showers may DROWN May flowers. We went shopping on Sunday and the rain was so heavy that we could hear drumming on the roof like Orc drums from inside the store. Parking lots, roadside ditches, and rivers were overflowing. A road through the scenic Tunnel of Trees was washed out. Even on Sunday dams in Northern Lower Michigan were in danger of overflowing and residents in those areas have been warned to pack a “go bag” in case they have to evacuate. The situation hasn’t improved. It has rained each day and is supposed to rain until Thursday night, with a possibility of severe storms.

However, there are gentler signs of spring. I’ve seen buds on the lilac bushes near our house and flowers are beginning to poke their heads above ground. Birds are building their nests. I see many filling their beaks with nesting material. Wild turkeys are frequently strutting across our yard, displaying their finery in front of the females. (Video) I moved my trail camera to a location where I’ve seen deer with their newborn fawns a couple of times in previous years. I’m hoping a doe will give birth at the same spot so I can get it on camera.

We have little chicks hatching in the chicken coop! (Video) It’s difficult to count how many there are because they run around and some of them hide under the hens, but we’ve counted five for sure. Three of our hens went broody at the same time–and in the same nesting box, which is weird. I have the three hens and the chicks sequestered in the top part of our fancy coop to keep them safe. The chicks are so tiny and vulnerable that I worry about them. I’d separate the hens with their chicks to give them all more space, but I’m not King Solomon: I don’t know which chicks belong to which Mama. I’ll wait until the chicks get a little bigger and then put them in the bottom of the fancy coop where there is more room.

Saturday we attended our local library’s used book sale. We were excited because 1. We LOVE library used book sales and 2. The sales are always held on Fridays and Saturdays and until a few months ago EJ’s schedule was Friday-Monday so we couldn’t attend them. But now his schedule is Tuesday-Friday so–Yay!–now we can enjoy them again even if we can only go on the second day of the sales. I was concerned that people would take all the books on Friday and there would be few left for us, but we still came home with multiple bags of books. After book sales I always feel like a dragon with a hoard of books instead of gold.

The roofers came by a week or two ago to patch our roof. They said that we DEFINITELY need a new roof. Sigh. The roofers are supposed to come by to measure the roof and give us a more accurate estimate but we have no scheduled time for them to do it. We are trusting God to provide for us.

We still miss our beloved Hannah Joy.