What I'm Thankful For

When I posted Saturday I was angry. Someone came up on to our back porch and stole my partner's bicycle. It's not just about the bicycle. My partner had been injured in a car accident many years ago which made it painful to sit on a bike. She's healed a lot since then and decided just a couple of weeks ago to buy a new bike and start riding again. It brought her so much joy to ride again and it was all taken away from her.
But this post is about all the things I'm thankful for. I find it helpful to think of things that are going well when something else is going poorly.
I have my family. Everyone is healthy. My youngest just got her hearing aids on Friday so now she can hear the normal human range of sound. I took a picture of her sleeping with my partner on our hammock.
Speaking of the hammock, nothing else was stolen. All that was taken was the bike.
We had a litter of rabbits born Saturday. Only one survived out of a litter of eight. That's still better than our first litter. Our first litter was born last October and they all died. The one that lived is doing well. It's hard to tell genders at this age. If it is a boy I'm naming it Harey Pot- Pie. A reference to "The boy that lived" and a dish he may be served in a couple of months.
Daddy rabbit should be thankful. I didn't know the Rosemary was pregnant. I thought he may have been sterile, since he hadn't had any litters yet. I was about to get a replacement stud and serve him for dinner.
My peas are growing well. I don't see any carrots coming up yet. I think we planted them too deep. The herbs, onions, and Swiss chard came back on their own. I also moved some red raspberry bushes to thin them out. Nothing else had been planted yet, but my brother has several plants he started indoors that will be moving out shortly and some will be planted in my garden.
I got enough financial aid to cover tuition and books for my last semester of nursing school. It's almost over. Just one more test and this semester is over. I have the summer off. It's going to be nice to have a break from school before the last push to finish my degree.
There are many more things I'm thankful for. Supportive family and friends. Cool stuff listed for free on craigslist like a proper hutch for the male rabbit. Decent grades. I could go on, but the bus is dropping me off at school and I have to get to class.

Baby bunnies

J is for Justice

Is it ever ok to take justice into your own hands? If so, under what circumstances? This is the question I ask myself this morning.
My partner's bike was stolen last night, right off our back porch. She was so happy when she bought the bike a few weeks ago. She was looking forward to riding it as part of a effort to get back in shape. She rode it several times a week since she got it. We even got a bike trailer so the little ones could ride with her.
She was so devastated. We don't have the money to replace it. We know we live in a bad part of town. That's why we locked it to our porch. They cut through the chain and stole it anyway.
We have reported it stolen to the police. If it turns up they'll return it to us, but it's not like they are going to comb the ghetto to find it.
If you came here from the Pagan Blog Project you probably believe in magic and curses. Would you curse the people who did this?

H is for Helping Others

An important part of paganism, as I understand it, is the belief that we are part of an interconnected world. From the circle of life to karma, there are many explanations of that interconnectedness.  This is why helping others with no expectations of a return is part of my personal path. It's a paradox. Helping others without expecting a return guarantees a return.
I volunteer my time with Rochester Roots. It's a community supported agriculture group that works with the Rochester Public School system to provide education to inner city children and also sells shares of their produce at an affordable cost. If you want to learn more about them, check out their website www.rochesterroots.org
Today they had a work day. Several volunteers, including my family, descended on the garden to help clean it up and get it ready for planting. We all had a blast. And we helped our community at the same time.
When people think of paganism they think of the rituals and holy days. But I find the most meaning in everyday paganism. The littlest moments seem to hold the most magic. The rituals are important, but equally as important is carrying that spirituality and meaning into your daily life and out into the world where it can do it's work.

Happy Ostara

It was Ostara yesterday here in the Northern Hemisphere. It marks the beginning of Spring. The weather is warming and the snow is finally melting. I know I am excited by the prospect of winter ending.
Soon we will be planting the spring crop, mostly leafy green vegetables. I will put a fresh layer of compost in the garden to feed this year's plants. I also have a few new raised beds that will need to be filled prior to planting.
Also new this year are the rabbits. They are mature now and both does have been bred. We will expect their litters in a few weeks in early April. We are excited and hope that this time we can keep the kits alive. Our first litter was delivered late October and they got too cold and didn't make it.
I am also still in school and starting the maternity segment of nursing school. It's only eight weeks long and is going to be a lot of work in a short amount of time.
Of course I also have my wonderful partner and our daughters. The two year old has so much energy and wants to help. The two month old just wants to be held all the time. They make any task more complicated, but I wouldn't trade them for the world.
This spring we have so much going on and so much to be thankful for. We gladly welcome in the Spring and all the blessings it will bring!

I may be crazy

Am I crazy? I don't know that many people contemplate this question, but I do. A lot, actually.
I'm in my third semester of nursing school and we are currently studying psychiatric nursing. And it's bringing up a lot of stuff for me.
I believe my mother has undiagnosed mental illness. Ever since I've understood the concept I've had this opinion. I have spent my whole life worrying that I might go crazy, either because of genetics or environment.
Studying the nursing approach to caring for people with mental illness brought all those questions back to the foreground of my mind. It didn't help that with the new baby I haven't been getting enough sleep and sleep deprivation can cause similar symptoms as some mental illnesses.
So I spent a lot of the last couple of weeks worrying and questioning my sanity. My eventual conclusion is that all I have is a bad case of sleep deprivation, stress, and textbook syndrome (the belief you have an illness described in your textbook).

Sometimes Plans Change

Sometimes plans change. And that's ok. My plan had been to build a shed last Friday. But when I took another look at my resources I decided that a less ambitious project was more appropriate. So instead of a shed I built a rabbit hutch.
It was something I needed anyway and I had most of the materials on hand. Plus it was something that, unlike the shed, could be completed in the time available with the help that I had. So I did a little shopping, my brother and his stepson came over and the the of us built this:

Sure it could be better, but I'm not complaining. As an added bonus, this hutch cost me less than ten dollars to build. Most of the materials were recycled wood.
It's about to get very cold and windy here so I will be putting the finishing touches on to make it more homey and moving the rabbit in before the temperature starts dropping again.

Getting ready

It's February now and we are getting ready for spring. There is a foot of snow on the ground, but we know it won't be long now.
We currently have cold weather plants in the cold frames that were planted last fall that are just waiting for warmer temperatures to really take off. We also have three rabbits (one male and two females) and we are waiting for warmer weather before breeding them.
This year we are moving the compost pile. The current location is not large enough any more. Any compost that is ready will be used in the raised beds I finished before winter set in and the rest will be moved to the new location.
Also on the to do list is building a shed. It will be used to house the rabbits and chicken in cold weather and to site yard tools when the animals are in their hutches. The plan is to do that this week while the weather is above freezing. I'll post pictures when complete.
I leave you a picture of one of my daughters with a rabbit. She really is excited holding him.

It's a new year

This year has a lot of changes coming. Last month my second daughter was born. She is so beautiful. We are still getting settled into a new routine. But I'm not getting a lot of sleep. Which isn't great since I'm still in school.

I just started my third semester of nursing school. I'll graduate next December. From here in January it seems so far away.

This year I also have meat rabbits. I've had a little problem getting my breeding program started. My buck has the enthusiasm, but lacks accuracy. I'm not too concerned right now because it has been so cold this winter. We've been in single digits a lot. I don't know that I could keep the kits warm if we had any.

The garden is going well. Despite the freezing temperatures, my plants are still alive and well in their raised bed hoop houses.

I would like to announce my plans to start posting regularly, but I've had trouble keeping that resolution in the past. We will see what happens.