OUR STORY Part 44: OUR BATTERY NEEDS RECHARGING

I shared before the fact that Chase Home Finance's only motive for keeping us in the house is the fact that we maintain the property until they take possession. The stress factor is notched up a bit with so many pecan trees and a long standing burn ban in effect. With the high winds we had and 80 plus pecan trees shedding branches, some 4-5 inches in diameter and 10 feet long, the burn piles are growing everywhere.

With the impact on my health and the sale of our greatest aid, the tractor; I haven't been able to be as proactive as I was before in gathering branches. It bothers me so much to wonder what our neighbors must think about the property not being maintained perfectly. Especially with neighbors who have workman grooming their property on a daily basis. But what can you do?

Mike isn't feeling good this morning and he doesn't look well, but the property needs to be mowed badly. He went out to the barn and I could see he was having some difficulty. I walked out and he just had this expression like the milestone had suddenly dropped another notch. I gingerly asked what was wrong when he looked up in a gaze and said "the mower won't start, I think the battery is done." And of course we have no jumper cables.

Well, after trying everything he could he finally called our association president who loaned us a set of jumper cables. We got the mower going and then carefully shifted our weight on the seat so that it wouldn't stop running while Mike got on his knees and finagled the vacuum hose to work so we could get the deck to engage. We again shifted weight on the seat and my precious husband is now mowing 5 acres on a property that is being ripped from us along with our $80,000 cash down payment.

We have been maintaining our own pool now since November 2010 to save money. Not sure we are saving money since we almost spend as much on chemicals as we did on Kenny the pool guy.

Last week I noticed a little water leaking around the bottom of the large diatomaceous filter. A day later I back washed and went to turn it back to pool filter. All of the sudden little hairline cracks were emitting tiny sprays of water. It appears that the age of the filter along with the long drought and excessive heat has taken its toll on the pool filter. I just pray and ask God to hold it and us together until we get through all of this.

Even with all that we have been through, this is still my home and I want to take care of it. Perhaps its part of some deep denial. After all, this was supposed to be a home of "healing" for me. This is really the first time ever that I had what was a real home for me, but that's another story.  The drilling was an absolute nightmare, but once we understood surface rights and how things go, and that they had a right to drill there; we just made the best of it. During bad storms Mike offered our home and phones for the workers in an emergency.

I really will miss our birds and the insects. We make sure they have plunge time each day so the birds can drink and bathe. They actually start to gather that time of the day when they know its coming. Its been God's way of helping me through much of this. I started a website at "His Creatures" and we were going to pursue a small business venture with this to reach out to children in the local schools. I had located experts who were helping me identify species and provide ID's; some were wonderful professors from local universities. We just couldn't seem to get a break financially.

Resident Cooper at the end of the pool.

I hope someone doesn't come in here and tear down all of the trees. There are so many birds, insects and other wildlife that depend on them for survival. We have Cuckoos, Cardinals, Cooper Hawks, Red Shoulder Hawks, Fly Catchers, Barn Swallows, Downy and Ladderback Woodpeckers, Yellow Belly Sap Suckers...and the list just goes on. I think I actually have a list somewhere. I've just been too depressed to take photos and list them since late last year.

Well, I better stop here. I know when the heart begins to ache too much and its time to guard my emotions and busy myself on our exit.