It's becoming a yearly tradition that I put away my phone and laptop during the summer and go off the grid for a while to enjoy the world. I enjoy the nice weather, spending time with my growing-up-too-fast daughter Little Rabbit, swim, and work on outdoor projects. It's been a while since I visited my friends here on steemit and I felt like writing an update post.

At the beginning of the summer I had big plans. I spent all winter envisioning all the things I wanted to get done while the weather was warm and hot. This last winter was miserable with record rainfalls. I was looking forward to spring and warmth and dryness. My husband and I both talked about expanding our garden and getting more ducks. We wanted to build a pond and all kinds of fun things to improve our home.

My Tomato Patch Is Doing Wonderfully

Unfortunately, unexpected things happen and none of our big plans really worked out. My husband went through a bad period of mental health as spring arrived. I really don't know how to explain it but he basically crippled himself with anxiety and depression so that he made himself sick. He retreated to the bedroom and didn't do a whole lot for three months. Getting him to do simple things like go to the store took days of nagging and encouragement.

So I basically spend three months feeling like a single mother while I waited for my husband's anxiety and depression to pass and him to work through whatever he was going through. I can't say it was the greatest three months because life's responsibilities fell mostly on me. Looking after things on the homestead, taking care of a wild 2-almost 3 year old, 6 ducks, and 5 cats is no easy feet on your own.

The raised beds didn't get attention this year and the yard overgrew

I didn't get to plant that big garden. I got one tomato patch, a few potato patches, and my container garden planted. I got three baby ducks in May to join my three one year old ducks. That was a huge job. I have to keep baby ducks inside the house for months before they can go outside. Baby ducks are messy! It was hard dragging a baby pool inside and outside every day to clean their temporary bed.

I had wanted to move them when they hit five weeks old but since my husband was out of commission they stayed inside for two months. Over the winter I practiced a technique to keep my ducks warm that backfired. You stack hay, let the ducks poop and dirty it up, then place fresh hay over that. Keep doing it to get layers and those layers of hay keep the birds warm in the cold winter. I had plastic covering their coop all winter. Then, in warm, spring weather I took it off. Then, the rains returned. The rains started rotting the lower layers of hay. I planned on cleaning out all the old hay once spring hit. Since it started rotting because the rains returned it made it hell to clean out the old hay.

Frankie, Felix, and Felicity: AKA the Babies

Sammy, Reese, and Smokey with the Babies

It was incredibly taxing on me to clean out the duck coop all by myself. I had to use a pick ax to chop away at it bit by bit. It took weeks with me working a tiny bit each day. Being out of shape from having a breast infection earlier this year, I wasn't ready for pick axing. I got it done though and I moved my new ducklings in with their new relatives. I'll post more about it later but next came training the baby ducks and keeping the older ducks from killing them which was a rough job.

And now we've reached July and thankfully my husband finally snapped out of what he was going through. He's outside working and gardening again. He's planting seedlings for corn. It's a bit late to be planting and I'm hoping it works out. I'm a bit disappointed we didn't get to do our great plans we had all winter and have to wait until next May for a lot of or projects.

My container garden has given me a handful of berries a day

My Lady of Shallott Roses Finally Bloomed

I am thankful to have my husband back to normal though. It was a lonely three months and there was a big strain on our marriage. My husband and I haven't had any rough patches until this in the 10 years we've been together. I was angry with him a lot because I was so stretched thin without his help. It's hard on the person suffering for mental illness and it's also hard on the family members who can't help those they love suffering. I'm so glad he's back to normal and we can enjoy one another again.

I'm not sure if I'm back to posting regularly or not. Life is pretty busy and I'm enjoying living out in the real world.