betty's sister.

Dear Grandma,

For the past couple days I've been preparing the soil for these cute little strawberry plants that I'm giving a new home. To do this, I have to first remove all the weeds with the hoe and then start loosening all that packed in dirt. It sounds pretty uneventful, but so many things happen in the process. Today the chickens came up on the other side of the fence from where I was working - they wanted some juicy worms. I had thrown one of them a worm earlier and I suppose word had gotten around. I told them that the plants needed the worms and they could find theirs elsewhere, but I also went ahead and tried to hand feed one of them a worm I picked from the dirt I was working. It's a good thing I had on gloves! If not, I probably would have had a bloody finger. So, this was my chicken lesson for the day.

A blue heron has shown up at the pond two days in a row. Today it sat in a tree and I giggled at it because it looked completely ridiculous. They are very quiet birds, and very still too. . . In both days I've only seen it stand in three different spots. So, bird watching is also something I can do while I work the soil.

I think about you a lot when I do my work and today I called! Sometimes I'll just think and think and think about you and never think to call. Today I didn't do that.

I forgot to put manure in my latest prepared bed before planting the strawberries so I had to go through after they were planted and sprinkle manure over top of them. I did this with a large fork like rake. Some of them weren't covered sufficiently so I went back with my hands and made sure they had plenty of manure to help them grow. While I was doing this, I noticed that the strawberry plants I had to help out with my hands were getting more manure and much more loving attention than the other plants, and that made me think of myself. I've been so lucky. I think people that meet me give me more love because maybe I didn't have enough love when I first started out. I'm so lucky.

I'm glad to hear how well you are doing. It was so great to hear your voice today. It's peirces through all the thoughts that only stay up in my head. It lets them all drain out, through my eyes, into the air and maybe they make tiny clouds.

I love you.

- Heather