Call him Patchy the Pirate...

Sorry for the picture fuzz. Mini Man was kind enough to grab a picture of Mr. Duck looking all torn and bloody from a skirmish between himself and Fred the Rooster. Fred lost a Spur in the fiasco.

Here's the story. The small door on the coop for the hens is wood, it swelled and wouldn't open. Peanut has been doing a great job taking care of the crew since I have been healing from "The great bounce house injury" but the big door that she opened instead closed leaving the Fred and crew to head over the Abbey (Duck Truck).

Peanut wanders out after dark, saw that they were all huddled in the Abbey and closed them up for the night. The next morning Mr. Awesome saw the carnage. Mr. Duck had blood all along side his head, pictured here and it appears his eye is badly injured. I hobbled out today and saw that it looks like he was just pecked quite a bit and he will not lose his eye. Both Fred and Mr. Duck are not being housed together anymore. Peanut feels terrible about the situation. I do have to have some help rounding him up to treat it so it doesn't get infected. I'm hoping we don't have to throw him in the pot for dinner, but if it comes to that...

Sadly, we have lost 5 Hens due to the extreme cold weather and I found out I lost my beehive. I do have another package coming and hope to order a second as well. We will be able to glean left over honey and beeswax.

We are all pretty heartbroken over all of these losses. But, it is a fact of life here on a farm. You lose animals or they get sick or in the case between Fred and Mr. Duck it's pretty gruesome. Why I love to share pictures of the fuzzy cuteness I am showing the some of the dirty and grim times.

We also had some heavy rains a few weeks back. The light in the kitchen leaked! We have a roof leak and it came in so hard and for such a long time the leak traveled down from the attic and down. My strategic placement of pans and totes came in handy but it came with such fierceness Mr. Awesome had to empty them out several times. We have a 5 gallon container handy and that was filled and emptied 5 times over the course of 2 days. That is A LOT for us.

There is a blessing that we didn't have the damage that many of the surrounding towns did. We are on a bit of a hill so that helps immensely!

Mr. Awesome will be making some raised beds soon for me. I have order some seeds soon! I have more herbs and speciality plants for tackling my health issues. We can't wait for Spring. I'm sure your ready too! Last week I noticed the Redwing Blackbirds were back in the area, the next day Seagulls, those creepy Turkey Buzzards, and my favorite Robins!

In homeschooling news I scored a 6 activity Smithsonian Science set that was New in the box from Goodwill. It includes a Crystal growing kit, Weather Station, Earth model, Bug Eco house, Dinosaur dig (pictured) and a Volcano. WAHOO! Mini Man has been thrilled and my intention was to use the set over a 6 week period but he has been so gung ho to tackle the projects I didn't have the heart to say no. That smile says it all!





China Doll (in the red shirt) is having a birthday tomorrow, I can not believe this Lady is going to be 20 years old. Time is flying by so fast and I'm not sure where it went.

Having suffered from PTSD, Anxiety, Postpartum, chronic illness, cutting, and Depression she has blossomed and transformed in the past year. I am so proud of her and how far she has come. The road to healing is not over and she is beginning her own healing path.


In other news, I checked out a place for rent for a potential Antique shop. Now, I'm not saying we are opening one. It was a random idea from Mr. Awesome. There are so many projects needed in and around the house, my little shop on the farm may take awhile longer. While I like the idea I am not sure about shelling out a huge amount of money for rent. I plan on setting up at the upcoming Jasper County Flea Market in April! I'll also be toting copies of my book with me for purchase. Which brings me to my next thought I just dropped onto my better half's lap...

A book tour! I never really had a book launch. I stumbled on a inspiring page by author Kyna Bryn . She shares her raw story of survival. On her page I noticed she does a bunch of Book Tours. Please check out here story.

I have no idea why I didn't think of it before. She has been very kind and patient enough to answer questions for me about this. I will start calling, planning and scheduling for the Summer months to a circuit. My knee should be a bunch better by then and Peanut will be off school so this will work out well. I was asked to speak at a group in the Fall about Domestic Violence. God is good! If you have any suggestions or ideas for a place to do a book signing at please let me know. 

I try not to share too much about my past here. Abuse is not a pretty subject. Honestly, I would rather share pretty flowers, herbs, fuzzy chicks and feathered animals but the Lord has other plans for me. I'm not sure what He has in store for me but His plans are better than mine.

Last week I shared on social media that I was able to take 100% of the royalties from my book sales and I donated them to a local group that supports Survivors/Victims of abuse find them here- Heart to Heart Outreach! HAPPY DANCE! Thank you for purchasing my book! I greatly appreciate it.

I have also been able to share my book in PDF form to Survivors as well at no charge. My goal in writing my book was not to slam my ex or profit from my past. I wanted to share my story so others would know they are not alone. I am not sharing this to boost or for a big head. I am sharing how God's hand has worked in my life.

That is it in a nutshell! I hope your day is as wonderful as you are! Thanks for listening from our home to yours...

BIG HUGS,

Mel & Mr. Awesome

P.S.- If you are seeking information or immediate help for surviving abuse contact The Hotline or your local police department. 

I am always happy to talk to you! Whether you need to vent, cry or just bounce ideas off of. Email me at blessmeplz@gmail.com or visit- Hope when there was none or my FB page Hope where there was none FB .You can also purchase my book, "Call me Master" by Melinda Kunst, on Amazon, Kindle, and Nook!

Bees, bees, bees and more! *UPDATE!

I am super excited! We received a call that the bees were in on Saturday for pick up on Monday. I was tickled and anxious!

We chose to do a "No-shake" method for the bee install. We shall see if this worked well. The set up went well, though there was a bit of cursing from Mr. Awesome. I hadn't gotten some of the things ready which made it a bit more tense. I joked that next time I think I will do the installs from now on. He makes me more nervous because he is nervous.

We both had anxious butterflies beforehand. Me not having everything together was not my best idea. That added to the situation. I fly by the seat of my pants and think later... "Oh yeah! I should have...."

But what a great way to know someone really loves you when they are handling 10,000 bees! Gotta love that man! I'll check out whether the Queen broke free tomorrow or Wednesday.

We already had a big weekend gearing up for the 1st Flea market of the season for us to set up at.

Did I mention I am a terrrible procrastinator? I had to remind Mr. Awesome of a few projects I needed have done before Sunday. He jumped in with both feet of course I had forgotten that I needed to bake for a small contribution that needed to be delievered on Friday.

Glory be! My memory is not the greatest. I rely on post-it's, notes, writing on my hands, reminders on my Google Calendar, cell phone and a few other things. I say it's the Lyme but Mr. Awesome reminds me that it could also be my age.

So this weekend was busy!

This week is off to a busy start as well as we had  bee pick up today. I was invited to a Potluck later this week with The Amazing Jen, JV, a new friend and our wee monkeys. I'm pretty excited. I don't have close friends. Not meaning to sound pitiful or sad. It just seems the older I get the harder it is to find and keep friendships. Several of my friends and family are busy, live in other parts of the world or work.

I was also tickled to see my parents, sister and nephew at the flea market! They don't live too far away but it's hard to visit as much as I would love to.

Speaking of the flea market... It went very well! I sold off all of my Spider plants and Peppermint. Almost all of our large items, a variety of smalls and Dreamcatchers.

I hope to have more varieties of plants/veggies and another batch of Dreamcatchers. I had some wood
sign projects in mind for over the winter but I never got around to it. That nasty procrastination thing again!

We added 4 Amberlink chicks that are 4 weeks old. I am still mourning the death of my incubator. I really wanted to give the Duck eggs a whirl.

I haven't done much in the garden, the past few weeks though busy have been very tiring for me. I have finished a course of Doxy and now wait to schedule an appointment with my favorite doctor. Darned tax refund! It's been singled out apparently to research and recheck.

More garden progress:

Garlic is doing very well outside. The Asparagus has given us a sides on the side and continuous to grow wonderfully. I bought a few more Blueberry bushes from the flea market, have quite a few other plants ready to go into the garden soon! I do have to replace the seed starts I lost to that dang bunny.

That's all for now! I hope your week is as wonderful as you are!

BIG HUGS!
Mel

**UPDATE!**
This morning Mr. Awesome and I made the decision to check on the bees before I left for work. I was concerned over the events from the morning before. I asked my partner in crime if he was going to suit up or at least wear his veil. He smartly replied, "Nope! I'm just going to run away if I need to!"

GIGGLE!

I on the other hand wish to leave nothing to chance and suited up. He had gotten our frames, flashlight, brush and sugar water ready.

I admit both of us are nervous to do beekeeping. I wanted to do this for a variety of reasons.

1) To help do our part in saving the bees!

2) For honey and wax for candles, lotions, and more

3) Potentially for Bee Venom Therapy for treating my Lyme Disease

4) To conquer my fear of bees.

5) Help pollinating our crops                                                                                             

So I head out in awe he has gotten all this stuff ready. He is the most level headed, thoughtful, observant, quick thinking on his feet, and 2 steps ahead of me person I have ever known. I'm more, "Look something shiny!" or "Look there's a Chicken" kind of person.

We start.

I'm using slow movements and trying not to talk too much. He is not being bossy about it but trying to be helpful while also being noticeably nervous.

As we explore the hive I see the Queen cage has dropped to the bottom of the hive and now we understand why there was a cluster (bearding kind of activity) under the hive! They were doing exactly what they needed for the Queen.

I attempted to get grip on the Queen box while causing the bees to become a wee bit worried that I was harming their Queen. The gloves I wore aren't big or thick and there are about 50 bees covering my fingers as I fumble with the Queen cage. He handed me the brush to try to shimmy the cage out with the handle of it but it just kept sliding. I could literally feel the bees on the bottom of the hive playing a tug of war with me to get her.

Mr. Awesome at this point is getting flustered and wondering why am I going so slow. I am too nervous to argue or explain my actions. My gloves are slickery from the over abundant sugar water that was sprayed to help with the ticked off bees.

Mr. Awesome had the great thought of using the safety pin I had pinned on the front of my suit to attach the tab that is on the Queen cage to the back of the hive, just under the top cover. I had a dickens of a time getting it open though. First I needed to get the other cork out and the remaining bees on the cage and my gloves were not still not working with me. At this point Mr. Awesome is reminding me we have the brush to use, which I had used as well to attempt to help get the Queen cage but it didn't exactly work as it had in my head and it's covered in impatient bees!

My partner in crime is attempting to keep me calm at the same time he is getting concerned I'm not working fast enough. I could hear my heart in my ears! I'm not calm. He had to help me get the pin off my suit and he realized that it's not as easy as it looked. His hands were just as slick from the sugar water, making this task harder then it looks. Finally he had gotten it off and attaching it worked like a charm!

We put everything back but didn't put in one frame having figured we had aggravated the bees enough for one day. I plan on removing the Queen cage and inserting the frame in a few days or week.

We only had 2 passenger bees try to hitch a ride on us. One I found on Mr. Awesome and one that took a trip attached to the bottom of my boot. this brave fuzzy bee was quickly escorted them out the door.

What a way to start the morning!