Housebound

I like being home. It’s my favorite place to be. But somehow being told that I MUST stay home has a different feel to it. Last week on April 1st, the governor of Pennsylvania issued a statewide mandatory stay-at-home order. Before that, only 33 of the more populous counties had been affected, now all 67 counties, even remote Potter County, are included in the mandate. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere anyway, but knowing now that I’m required to not go anywhere feels somehow confining. At least the stay-at-home order allows us to go outside. If I had to stay indoors all the time, I’d start going bonkers. Then on Friday the 3rd, the governor said anyone leaving their homes on essential business must wear a mask. I’m not going anywhere outside of my own property and I don’t need to wear a mask in the garden because it’s just me and there isn’t anyone near me. Gardening in a mask would be uncomfortable. Things just keep getting stricter and stranger.

Last week we were also told the schools are closed all over the state indefinitely. I actually miss going to school. The teachers have been teaching remotely, but substitutes and teachers’ aides get nothing in this present situation. I’ll be glad when this is all over, but it looks like we may be closed through to the end of the school year at this rate. I especially miss the money they pay me for going to school.

I am a creature of habit. I like to follow a daily schedule. I wake up at the same time every day and go through my morning routine. When school is in session, I need to be prepared every weekday morning just in case they call me in, if they have not already scheduled me. Now, because I know that I will not be called, my routine has started to crumble a bit. I don’t need to be up so early. I can sleep until 6:00 instead of 5:30 (if I sleep later than 6:00 I feel like I’ve wasted the morning). I don’t need to shave. I have a beard so I only shave a part of my face anyway, but now I’ve given up on that too – except on Sundays. It’s almost like summer break, only it isn’t summer and it has thrown me off. I have plenty here at home to keep me busy. I’m not bored. It just makes me feel off kilter.

The garden.

Last week I mentioned the wild animals that I have to deal with in my attempt to keep a garden, an orchard, and a flock of chickens. I listed deer, woodchucks, skunks, possums, rabbits, squirrels, sparrows, and mice. I forgot to list raccoons and bears. I haven’t had any encounters with raccoons lately, but a bear reminded me of my omission by destroying my bird feeders on Monday night. And I mean destroyed. This bear not only pulled the feeders down, it stomped them flat. It bent the metal pole that I hang a suet feeder on so severely that I cannot bend it back. It even tried to tear off the seed shelf by the kitchen window on the side of the house. I reattached the shelf, but I couldn’t repair any of the feeders. The bear left muddy front paw prints on the side of the house. They measured six inches across and if the web sites I checked are correct, that means this bear was about six feet long. I hope it doesn’t come back.

Wrecked feeders.

The seed shelf.

Six inch paw prints.

Speaking of animals, last Sunday in the afternoon, as I was coming up from the barn after doing the chores, a man in a pickup truck stopped on our road and rolled down his window. Being somewhat friendly, I approached. He asked me if I owned the property across the road where the beaver pond was. Without thinking, I said no and I told him who owned it. Then my suspicion kicked in. I asked him why he wanted to know. He said he wanted to trap the beavers there. I told him that beaver trapping season was over (I thought it ended on March 1st). He sneered at me and said pretty rudely, “Uh, well you’re wrong! It ends on March 31st and I should know because I have three dead beavers in the back of my truck that I just trapped today.” He was really rude. I told him that we would be very sad if he trapped the beavers from the pond across the road. I told him that we love to watch them from the bank in our yard. He said again, rudely, “Well that’s real cute. You wouldn’t feel that way if they were going to wash your house away.” I replied, a little heatedly at this point, that that pond didn’t threaten anyone’s house. He snorted and drove away. I was pretty angry as I turned and headed back up to the house. I was carrying a basket of eggs and considered for a second chucking one at his truck, but eggs are too precious to waste on someone like him. I kept a close watch on the pond for the next two days and saw no sign of him setting traps. I was relieved when April 1st dawned and trapping season ended. So our beavers have survived another year. I suspect that guy will be back when the season opens again in December if he got permission. He seems the sort that would trap them just because of what I said to him. I was especially angry when I checked online and found that: “Outside of the hatter market, where beaver pelts are ground up and used to make felt hats, the demand for beaver has been almost nonexistent lately, and the spread between low end and high end beaver has all but disappeared. Most beaver will continue to average $10 per pelt.” That he would damage the entire ecosystem of that pond for $10 a pelt really angers me.

The beaver pond, sunrise on April 1st.

Later that day.

Despite some rather chilly, wet weather, I planted some seeds outdoors last week. I planted vegetables that like to grow in colder temperatures – lettuce, peas, beets, chard, spinach, and carrots. I also started more seeds indoors – marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, broccoli, and cauliflower. Now I’m waiting anxiously to see them emerge in their trays indoors and in the beds outdoors.

Seeds sprouting.

The stump grinder came on Wednesday and ground down all the stumps of what once were the trees in my woodland garden. He left behind large piles of ground up pine stump, a perfect mulch. I spent two days spreading it on parts of the woodland garden and on the paths between the raised beds in my vegetable garden. The property looks a lot tidier with those stumps gone. Then on Saturday, Stacey and I worked on burning the huge debris piles left from the tree cutting last fall. The woodland garden is starting to look better. My new trees should arrive this week.

Grinding stumps.

Stumps all gone.

Mulched garden.

Burning the last of the logs.

Out in the flower garden things are changing. The crocuses are past their peak and fading fast and the next big wave of flowers, the tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils, hasn’t begun to bloom yet. The stars of the flowerbed until then are small and lovely flowers – chionodoxa, squill, and tiny irises. These little flowers are best enjoyed close up where their exquisite structure and color becomes apparent.

Chionodoxa.

Tiny irises.

Iris up close.

Squill.

Another sure sign that spring is here is actually a sign. I put up the EGGS sign down by road. We’re getting enough eggs every day now to sell some. I’ve raised my price to $2 a dozen, which is still a good deal considering what they sell for in the stores.

The EGGS sign is up again.

The chicks are getting bigger.

This is General Conference weekend. We have been in high anticipation of this weekend ever since last October’s conference. We were told then by the Prophet to prepare ourselves for a conference that will be unique, memorable, and unforgettable. We speculated on what might happen to make that happen, what new changes might be announced, new temples, etc. Then Covid-19 happened and things began to change. Now we have a conference that is not taking place in the Conference Center with a live congregation and choir, but is being broadcast to the entire church from a small auditorium. The music is still provided by the Tabernacle Choir, but it’s all previously recorded. It certainly has turned out to be unique and different, but not in the way I anticipated. We watched all three sessions yesterday and the first session today. In an hour we will watch the final session.

With all that is going on in the world, I take great comfort in hearing the prophet, the apostles, and other church leaders reminding us that God loves us and blesses us in ways we cannot comprehend and that He is guiding us through revelation to a living prophet. The talks have been uplifting and have inspired me to be more thankful for all the blessings God gives to me and my family.