2022 was primarily a year of adjusting to our new home and community. It was an opportunity to meet new friends, and to become involved in our new church. Both Chuck and I participated in weekly Bible studies, and enjoyed becoming more a part of De Leon.
I continued to watch the boys two days a week. Since the oldest is now in school I spent most of my day with the middle and youngest grandsons. I must say this is the highlight of my week. I have so enjoyed being a part of their lives, and have been carrying for the baby since he was three weeks old. That all keep me physically fit, and laughing!
This year brought the addition to several new animals to our ranch. In early spring we brought on board six chickens. We began raising them in a large box in our library. When they we old enough we moved them out to their coop. Sadly, one day when I returned home I discovered one of them was missing. Some predator with a good grip had pulled out two of them, and had made off with one of our chickens. We reinforced the coop and ended up getting a rooster that we named Romeo from our daughter. One of her hens had turned out to be a rooster, and we were looking for one. Although, after experiencing how mean Romeo is that has become a questionable decision.
At the end of May we adopted two kittens. They were brother and sister, and absolutely adorable. Our oldest grandson named them Ranger and Bluebonnet without skipping a beat. They spent their first month inside sleeping in our laundry room, and then moved to the barn to do their job as mousers. Watching the two of them play together was delightful, and I immediately warmed up to the little boy who was a little snuggler.
Sadly, at the beginning of December, Ranger came up missing when Chuck went to collect them to put them in the barn before it got dark. He searched for about an hour with no luck. With fifty acres of woods next door I was heartbroken to think that he might not be coming back. I held out hope for several weeks, always looking for him toward the horizon. Meanwhile, Bluebonnet got her wish to be an indoor cat during the day. She still sleeps at night in the barn. We are hoping to not have a repeat experience of two copperheads in the barn this spring.
At the beginning of August Chuck came across a posting about two female Black Mouth Curs being abandoned in a neighboring community. We ended up adopting both, and couldn’t believe our luck. That is until they began fighting very viciously. We were at our wits end as to what to do. We separated their sleeping quarters, and did not feed them together. We were certain that we would have to give away one of them. Apparently sisters don’t always get along. We had noticed one of the dogs, Honey, seemed quite anxious. We talked with our vet and decided to put her on medication for anxiety. She became a completely different dog, and now Ginger and Honey co-exist pretty well together.
They have turned out to be good dogs, and Chuck is over the moon about them.
Chuck began working from home in August which really was a Godsend as the long weekly commute and being apart during the week had quickly become old. We feel very fortunate that this opportunity was afforded to him, and now he drives in twice a month which is much more tolerable.
2022 brought Covid to both of us, except at different times. Chuck got ill in July while still living in the apartment. I on the other hand waited until November so I could miss Thanksgiving. It’s the first time I didn’t get to celebrate the holiday. After a couple of weeks of exhaustion I was happy to get back to feeling like my old self.
Sadly, my beloved 97 year old Aunt Theresa passed away this fall. We felt blessed that our sister Janet, from Connecticut, was able to represent our family at the funeral. I miss our weekly phone calls, and especially Aunt Theresa’s laugh.
Christmas Eve found our immediate family celebrating with my brother and sisters. It was so much fun having Brittany, Will and the boys there. It had been several years since we had all gotten together for Christmas Eve. John and Sally, Will’s parents, joined us on Christmas Day at our house. We dined on filets which I can honestly say we’re some of the best steaks I’ve ever eaten. A great time was had by all.
To end the year we said goodbye to my almost ten year old Rav 4 with close to 200,000 miles on it. We replaced it with a beautiful Toyota Highlander which drives like a dream, and has enough room to seat seven.
As I’m writing this post Chuck is outside finishing up a new chicken coop he is building for our chickens. This thing rivals the Taj Mahal in the chicken coop world. Chuck has done a real professional job in its construction and it looks amazing. Luckily after a pretty frigid cold snap we have back our beautiful Texas weather, which makes it more enjoyable for Chuck to finish up the job.
As we move into 2023 it will be interesting to see what this new year brings.
