Friends are good

Well, today DH has two friends over. One friend knows what has been going on, and I think doesn't really know how to handle it, so he hasn't been calling or coming over as much as he used to, and it really bothers DH. I don't know what to say, though, because if I went to my friend's house and my friend just stayed in bed all day and didn't want to do anything, I probably wouldn't be all that excited about coming over there either.

The other friend, Jim, was a soldier in Iraq for two tours of duty. When he got discharged, he went to Egypt to work as a civilian "mercenary" and made really good money. He knows a LITTLE about what's been going on, and he even gave DH $2000 (!) to bail out his checking account a couple of months ago (it didn't work, it's back in the negative again, of course), but he doesn't really know the true extent of what has been going on. He does know that I've been working 2 jobs, and DH hasn't been working at all. I get along well with Jim, although he has more energy than I think I've ever had....anyhow, I guess he told DH that he wants to build me a new chicken house and a new duck house (!) I tried to get some pictures of the chickens, but I think it was at the wrong time of day--anyhow, the chicken house and the duck house are really falling apart, and DH hasn't been able to help me fix them. I've done what I can, and made them draft proof and all, but they look bad, because I don't have all the tool knowledge that I probably should have. So it sounds like I will be getting new houses, paid for by Jim!!! It feels a little weird to have one of DH's friends do something like that for me, there is no way I can pay him back except with home cooking and the occasional conversation, but I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, for sure!

I counted last week and right now we have 41 chickens (not counting the 2 mamas sitting on eggs). About 15 of those are roosters and I just don't have the heart to do anything with them. I know if I sell or give them away, pretty much their only value is in someone's soup pot, and I hate the thought of that. So Jim proposes that the new chicken house will have one part just for roosters, so I won't have to part with them, and if they are away from the "girls", then they hopefully won't fight with each other.

And the best part of all of this, although I'm excited about the chicken house and the duck house, is that DH is so happy to have his friends here, and so today has been a really good day. He even bought me a frozen pizza at the store (I am really really hoping that Jim paid for it, he's the only one around here with money!) so that I would have something for supper at work tonite. And he volunteered to give Molly her ear drops, too. (Of course, I'll have to remind him about a dozen times to do it, but the thought is so nice). I really get my hopes up on days like this, and even though after all this time, I know that "what goes up must come down", and that in a day or two he'll probably be depressed again, I welcome these "good" days with open arms.