I am sorry that it's been so long since I've posted. I've been having issues with chest pain and shortness of breath, so the doc sent me for a heart cath last Wednesday. The cath went fine and my pulmonary artery pressures are back down but the pain from this cath is 20x more than the last one 3 years ago. Pain pills are not a way of life for me, but, it certainly is about the only way to cope with the pain at this point. I am using a heating pad on my back and knee that seem to help. Maybe in a few days this will ease up. I certainly hope so! I've been chatting on Facebook with 2 of my neices. I love them both so much and miss them even more. One is getting married in May, so I will get to see her then. The other is my buddy from the time she was 2. It's hard to believe that she's in her 40's now, married and with grandkids. We're going to have a cheeseburger reunion this spring. I can't wait!!

The chickens are back up and producing a fair amount of eggs again. There are almost 9 dozen in the refrigerator waiting to be sold. Some of these eggs are of the XXL variety. I don't know how they do it!! Some of the pullet eggs are 1 biters. It's funny to see the difference in the sizes of the eggs. The Cochin rooster is a pain. He's coming onto the porch and stands there waiting to he held. He doesn't smell as nice as the other roos do. The others remind me of feather pillows. He stinks like an old wet chicken. But, he's huge and he's a baby (so he thinks) doesn't object to being held or petted...so I willingly oblige. (smiles)

Have been busy planning and plotting the garden. I need to take a soil sample to the county extension office for evaluation, but it seems like everytime I get ready to get a soil specimen, it's either raining or snowing. The plans are for the garden to double in size from last year. Last year it was 60x40 and didn't produce very well. It was our first garden in KY, so obviously there is a huge difference between KY and AR soil. This ground is mostly clay, sticky and holds a lot of water. We're going to have to amend it more this year. Steve is going to add another couple of pickup loads of sand and I want to add a load of manure. We did that in AR and had a beautiful garden. I also have been busy inventorying the seeds and planning a huge herb garden this year in addition to the veggie garden. I have an excel file full of the seeds that we have already and at the bottom, a wish/need list. We bought 13 pounds of seed potatoes and 2 pounds of huge onion sets yesterday at the grocery store. They were so cheap (50 cents/pound for the potatoes and $1.18 for the onions) that I couldn't pass them by. There are still a few more herb seeds that I'd like to get, some medicinal herbs. Am getting ready to start plants that need to be transplanted (tomatoes, green peppers, cayenne peppers and pimentos) in the house in a few weeks. It'll soon be last frost time before you know it. Steve is planning to build a hoop greenhouse for me just off the east side of the garage. That way, it'll have plenty of southern light. We've been collecting 35 gallon plastic barrels to fill with water to paint black and heat the greenhouse.