Is the Storm Blowing You Away? Ordinary Duties Are an Anchor.

I am thankful for the simple duties of life that help me keep going instead of just worrying about the corona virus or the government's taking advantage of it to seize more power--

and more money.

Laundry, for example, that ends up blowing furiously in the Colorado wind.

Cooking. 

I pulled out a recipe-in-a-jar that my sister-in-law Regina had given me back before Christmas, 

which unfortunately had gotten stuck in the pantry.

It was a delightful Cherry Crumb cake, just needing butter, (we used homemade butter that had been made and frozen a while back) eggs (from Timmy's hens) and a can of cherries.

Thanks, Regina! It was so good with ice cream!

And of course, there is daily school which we keep doing whether others are in school or not.

Timmy is nearly done with his geometry.

Grading papers so I can fill out report cards for third quarter.

Rose, Timmy and I survey a spot where we want to plant a garden.

It has to be fenced in and covered by hail screen if we want to even hope for anything from it.

Rose pulling the water hose over to water the rhubarb and mint.

Finally we had found a spot where rhubarb and mint thrive--at the corner of the house.

That rhubarb is just starting to show itself!

Here I'm sauteing onions and red pepper for barbecue sauce for on beef ribs.

And here I'm making about three gallons of homemade laundry soap.

I do this every couple months, whether there is a corona virus scare or not.

It saves a lot of money on laundry detergent.

Another sister-in-law, Ruth, gave me this bag of homemade laundry soap supplies since she couldn't use them...

...and I turned the bag of shredded soap into several jugs of detergent

by melting it in one gallon of water with half cup each washing soda and washing borax,

which I get usually at Walmart in the laundry section.

Here is my kit that I keep in a shelf above the sink. 

An old shredder to shred the Zote soap bar from Walmart or the Fels Naptha soap bar from Ace Hardware (0r the orange Mexican style soap Ruth shared). The soda and borax and old empty jugs.

And here are the full jugs ready to stow in the basement after leaving one on the laundry machine.

Making soap, washing dishes, cleaning the counter, cooking the next meal, hanging laundry,

planning a garden, watering the rhubarb, stacking wood, tarping hay, and checking schoolwork--

ordinary duties that are an earthly anchor when ordinary life is facing a storm.

Lord, thank You for ordinary duties!

I'm so thankful for them right now!