May 10-16, 2020 Henry Surgery, Last Week Grace Classes, Heather's Box, Planting Garden

May 10-16, 2020 

Henry Surgery, Last Week Grace Classes, Heather's Box, Planting Garden, FROST!

Hello Friends!

What a big week; we had four major things happen.  The weather was very cold!  We had temps in the twenties.  I had to wrap our garden's hoop houses in plastic to keep our greens happy.  The greens (kale, spinach, lettuce) would have survived the cold, but I didn't want to take any chances.  Usually, after May 10th we don't have temps below freezing, but this year was an exception.

Henry: Surgery

Our rescue English Shepherd that we adopted in August 2018 has been struggling with a little tumor hanging on his right ear; about the size of a grape.  The tumor has grown and Henry has been scratching it; which has caused it to bleed and get messy.  This week I decided to call the vet, even though I've tried to hold off due to the lock-down here in Michigan because of COVID 19.  After a few hoops, he had surgery to get the tumor removed.  Although the vet didn't think it looked like cancer it turned out to be so.  It was Basal Cell Carcinoma; a skin cancer that I've had repeatedly myself.  He has stitches and will need to go back in nine days to get them removed.  I totally overreacted to the news and took the cancer diagnosis badly.  I felt like I was kicked in the gut!  My dad died of skin cancer and I felt rather crushed hearing Henry had cancer.  

Hiking with Henry:
Our daily hikes have been going great; except Friday and Saturday after his surgery when he was tired and recovering and we kept it short.  I'm so thankful for our time together in the woods!  

Mother's Day:

Our family doesn't really do much for Mother's Day, but this year Dd did give me a gift which was lovely.  She made me a watercolor of a Black-Caped Chickadee.  

Church:
Dh and I continue to watch our sermons at home.  Our church streams the sermons on a live stream.  I've been donating to our local food bank (FROM) and Feeding America with our tithe money since we've been home.  I just really feel for all the families that have lost their jobs and are hungry.  I encourage you to support food banks too.  I wish there was more of a safety net for people to have food; especially children.

Application:
After being asked to lead a Bible study next fall, I decided to step-up and apply this week.  It felt weird asking people to be my reference, but I did...  It was a hard decision, but I do want to do more volunteering and service work.  I especially look forward to the weekly leader meetings with other women that enjoy Bible study and perhaps growing some new friendships and networks.  I still don't know many people in Michigan.

Chickens:
The chickens are enjoying time in the tractors.  They just love getting out of the coop!

Hummingbirds:
This week I got the hummingbird feeders refilled and outside.  It didn't take a day before we had lots of action and fly-by's!!!

Garden:
Lots of action---I've been transplanting the kale to spread out our seedlings.  We planted our tomato plants in the hoop houses so the frost wouldn't kill them.  The heat from the hoop houses will help them to grow fast.

Dd's Progress for the week:

Grace Classes:

Dd finished up her Grace Co-op classes this week.  She had finals and lots of homework to finish it up but worked hard and made it through.  Her final grades are:

Painting Studio: 97 %   A+

The American Civil War 99%   A+

Analytical Writing for Essays & Research Papers 85%  B

Anatomy & Physiology 99%   A+

Baking:
Dd made Seth a cheesecake this week.  She also made lemon squares for our home to enjoy.

Math: Algebra II: Saxon

2 hours homework and class

This week was Dd's LAST tutor class! 

Writing: 

IEW& Analytical Research: 4 hrs lessons and class

Science: Apologia

Anatomy & Physiology: 1 1/2 hours lessons

Physical Education: 5 hrs 45 min

German: Duolingo

2 1/2 hours in lessons (30 min day)

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