It’s 11:37. Do I want to write tonight? I’ve just written two catch-up journal entries, and I’ve taken notes for today…
[sigh]
🙃
I’ll try… There’s not a lot to write about, so it should go quickly? 😅
This morning was a bit of a repeat of yesterday, in that I was fighting to go back to sleep again and again. My brain woke up early and just started churning, and I kept battling and battling, trying to fall back asleep, before finally falling asleep and not waking up again for the last time until after 9:00.
I was grateful that after making efforts last night to try and change my sleeping positions in the hopes that it might result in less pain upon waking it up, I found that I did indeed have less pain upon waking up.
🙏
I also found that a gift that I had bought a friend of mine was delayed yet again. I had waited to purchase it until the delivery date was going to be exactly the date I wanted it to arrive, but then a day or two or three later, I got the notification that the shipment was going to be delayed until the 6th.
It was supposed to be there on the 1st.
Realizing that even if I canceled it and got something else, whatever I chose wasn’t going to make it in time anyway, so I just gave up and settled into the reality that my gift wasn’t going to get there until the 6th.
But then this morning, it was delayed yet again, saying that it wasn’t going to arrive until the 11th.
😶
Ummm… no.
So I went to cancel the order, but for some reason they wouldn’t let me cancel it. 😒
They’ve always let me cancel my orders in the past when their shipments have been significantly delayed, but not this time.
At least, they wouldn’t let me do it with the automated service.
So I reached out to customer service to work with a live person, and the first person said my request was above their pay grade, so they pulled in another associate.
That associate seemed to be in the process of getting me taken care of when the conversation abruptly ended, some issue on their end, by the looks of it.
So I started over–getting transferred from another customer service person who couldn’t help to someone who supposedly could help, but then they had technical difficulties.
😶
Finally, the fifth person was able to help, got the order canceled and supposedly gave me a $10 credit for my troubles.
That was nice, because I think I probably spent somewhere around an hour trying to get the issue resolved.
I ordered a replacement gift for my friend, and it will supposedly arrive Saturday. Five days late, but at least it’ll likely arrive a lot sooner than the 11th.
🤞
What else… apparently, there’s a little mouse inside the trailer that is so small it isn’t setting off the live-catch mouse trap that I’ve got. 😶
I’m not even sure how that’s possible. 😆
Even the slightest weight on the little ramp should pop that door closed and trap the little mouse inside, ready for relocation.
But the little critter has managed to steal the peanut butter without getting caught. 🤯
Let’s see… oh! Guess what?!?! I canceled my YouTube subscription. 😲
Not only will I avoid paying the $15 or $16 a month, or whatever it is, but most importantly, leaving YouTube behind will make it easier for me to return to the level of spiritual connection that I had back in my golden years.
I’m really starting to make good progress, and I’m grateful. 🙏
I spent the next few hours, or so, on the tractor relocating dirt from the northeast corner of the house down to the pile at the southern end of the property.
Moving the dirt is a super simple job, but it takes a long time, because it’s a small tractor with a small bucket. 🙃
I spent the time on the tractor listening to scriptures, working on memorizations, and texting family members and friends.
I think I took a break somewhere around 2:00 to let Zora out to use the bathroom. She’s still not feeling well, eating grass and throwing up bile and grass. 😞
Today I made her a little banana-pill paste, and she ate that down. I really hope she starts feeling better soon. 🙏
I kept her inside nearly all day, trying to keep her from eating something that might make her sick and hoping that, being close to her water dish, she might manage to keep herself hydrated.
Back outside, I spent another couple of hours moving dirt until I had the entire pile moved and added to the big pile down at the end of the property.
Got my muck and drag on again, and I think I was working on my journal catch-up efforts when Hans got home.
He and I talked house stuff a little bit, and then I started some mullein mitigation efforts. Mullein is an invasive species, and quite a nasty one. It produces enormous seed stocks, and when the plant roots, it often sends long tap roots deep into the ground.
I started trying to dig them out with a shovel, and I managed to get a fair number out that way, but I realized pretty quickly that it was going to be a lot more effective to have a pickax, so I swapped the shovel for a pickax, and continued pulling them out, Taproot and all.
At first, I thought there were only a couple of large patches that needed to be dealt with, but then, after walking the property a little bit more, I realized there are probably hundreds, if not more. 😕
The county sent out notices letting people know that they were required to begin some sort of treatment plan to get rid of the nasty invasive species.
Weeds… why is it the weeds so frequently have super deep tap roots and manage to be reborn if you don’t get all of the tap root out of the ground. 🙃
Little stinkers. 🙃
After eating some dinner, I headed out to begin moving the gravel pile from where it currently is to the north side of the house.
With the dirt pile and the gravel pile moved, we can start getting lines dug for the drainage pipe, the power lines, the internet, and whatever else. 🤞
The wind kicked up pretty good just before I started working on the gravel, storm clouds rolling in, but gratefully, it didn’t start raining until after I finished moving as much gravel as I was going to move (I didn’t get it all moved. Once I got down to a certain depth, it was too easy to dig up dirt along with the gravel, and this needs to be clean gravel, so I didn’t want to risk mixing it with dirt. Accordingly, I scraped the gravel that was mixed with a little bit of dirt into a pile, and hopefully a few rainstorms will rinse the dirt off. 🤞).
Beautiful sunset. 😊
Anyway, the rain started coming down shortly after I gave the horses their special evening meal, which spurred me to relocate their food dishes to the barn, as they were skittish with the lightning and rain.
I chatted with Hans a little bit, and then we had evening prayer, and I headed out to Rover, which is where I am now finishing up today’s journal entry.
Wow!
Will you look at that! I’m all caught up… again. 🙃
🥳
Oh! And day one of no YouTube is in the books as well.
🥳
G’night, y’all. Love and hugs. 🤍
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 