Weeds in my Garden

Nearly every morning I spend 3 or more hours on my knees. I know you think that implies I'm a real prayer warrier. Oh, how I wish that were true. I am learning to pray more for Louis and Esther, using Stormie's "The Power of a Praying Wife" & "The Power of a Praying Parent" as my guide...however, I am often praying and weeding in my garden or strawberry bed concurrently. Some days I am just weeding and thinking how my life is also chocked full of weeds and grass with extra deep roots. I use a dandelion digger to help me unearth those deep roots in the garden. I also like to weed when I have watered the area earlier, so the pulling comes easier. Watering my life with the Word and then confessing the sins the Holy Spirit points out certainly prevents me from becoming too jungle-like.
Now I will get more than a week's weeding break as we drive to San Jose. The cherries on our cherry trees should be ripe for picking and our raspberries will be coming on, as well, when we return. Louis and I spent much of an afternoon covering our two Bing cherry trees with netting so the Robins and Finches in our yard could only snatch the outer ripe cherries as they land or fly-by. Hopefully the rest will remain until a little over a week from now. The wasps, as usual, have shown up to eat their fill of the strawberry patch and fruit on our trees. They even eat a good portion of our apples, if we don't find their hives and spray them. This year we are checking regularly under the eaves, etc. as our cherry trees and apricot tree promise some great fruit. The enemy is likened in at least one of the Lord's parables to birds that come to nest and pick fruit. We are reminded of that parable each summer... especially as the dry, 90 degree weather speeds along the growth and ripening. Louis bought a pellet gun to practice on those pesky birds and to sting the fox that has taken such a liking to our chickens. We have two traps set for the fox, but so far have only managed to snag the leg of one of the remaining five laying hens!! Louis constructed a splint of popsicle sticks and 2x2 gauze pad and tape for that poor hen. Her desperate squawking when her leg was caught in the trap brought us all running, thinking the fox had returned and gotten another meal. The other bandits in the strawberry bed are our squirrels. Thankfully we always have enough strawberries for them, the birds, the wasps and us. Our electric fencing seems to keep the deer away. They visit our neighbors, so we still get to watch these graceful creatures without having to shoo them away from our harvests. The sheep and horses always come to beg for the grass and weeds I throw over the fencing to them. I am more motivated to keep at my task since I can weed, pray, and feed our animals all at the same time.