Is Winter Dead? Has Spring Begun?

Ohhh, I can stretch! Ohhh, I can scoop the black earth between my hands and let if fall between my fingers! Ohhh, there are creatures of the green emerging everywhere! Ohhh Beltaine is nearly upon us?? Shit. I've been busy, yes indeed. There are many changes, mostly of the mundane sort, happening in the Heart of the Beast. A quick rundown perhaps, so you'll not wonder when I disappear for long stretches at a time?

On the eve of Beltane we shall welcome the newest member of the family, and for once it is not a human babe sprung from my own womb! Still, there will be sporadic sleep and endless piss and shit (my lot in life, I tell ya). Our German shepherd pup, a fine young lad dubbed Tracker, will finally be ready to come home. It's been 11 years since I've shared my life with Canis lupus familiaris. I think I'm ready. I'm sure more blogging will come on this matter.

We (and by "we", I mean myself and the children) have gone grain-free. Again, more blogging is needed on this subject, I think. It was a huge decision, and I'm not sure we'll be able to stick with it because--Hell's fire! The cost alone might put me in an early grave.

If adding a puppy to the mix wasn't enough, I finally--after 5 years of longing and talking and dreaming--got the go-ahead from The Husband to raise a small flock of chickens in our teensy, tiny backyard. There've been a million roadblocks (because all things by me must be started during Mercury Retrograde, naturally), but I'm working my way through them. Um, more blogging fodder? Yeah.

It's that time of year when the roadkill is prolific. I've mostly been sending them off and/or burying them because my yard has to be inspected before I can get the okay to keep the hens. I'm fairly certain that the smell of death emanating from buckets of macerating bones would not help me pass inspection.

Add to that all the everyday and normal seasonal things, and my plate overfloweth.