poultry update

Chester, the lame rooster, died a week or so ago.

Honestly, the poor thing was not living a good life, and more than once, I told Tyler I thought we'd be kind to put him out of his misery. 

But I didn't want to go killing chickens right after we'd been given them. Somehow that didn't seem very grateful, 

even though Gayle herself had admitted she should have let him die after the dog got 'im.

 Tuesday night, we only locked up 23 chickens, instead of 24.

Then, last night, while Tyler and I were out shopping, Brandon sent a text asking how many chickens we should have.

There were only 22.

Now.

Loss is part of life in the country,

and part of why we got baby chicks - to replenish the flock,

but this was getting ridiculous.

Both nights, we locked the coop, but left the gate open, in case the rogue hen returned.

I was in the kitchen around 2 this morning (why, is another story for another time...)

and thought I heard a chicken talking.

I decided it must be frogs.

I went on with my work, and heard it again.

I was pretty sure it wasn't frogs.

but it wasn't a nervous sound, more of a friendly chattering.

I hopped up, grabbed a flashlight (yay ~ I could find a flashlight - amazingly, right where it belonged!)

and went outside.

There,

walking around in the light coming from the kitchen window, was a bedraggled hen.

I was so happy to see her!

She didn't want me to pick her up,

but she wasn't too keen to follow me either,

so I set down the flashlight and snatched her up anyways.

I picked up the light

and we walked through the mist to the chicken coop, me talking to her the whole way.

~

Here she is all dried out, and giving me an egg :-)  (and a stink-eye)

And here are the babies, already getting bigger!

   

red and black

The boys earned their red/black belts Saturday.

With Memorial Day right around the corner (which means they don't have to wear their uniform jacket until Labor Day) 

it was time for new TKD shirts.

(Apparently, I never took pictures of their brown ones. 

Which is too bad. 

I thought they looked like we bought them at Old Navy :-)

Once again,

Brandon and the boys designed their own shirts,

Bran fiddled with sizing, then printed off the designs onto bits of freezer paper taped to regular paper,

and I cut out the designs, then ironed the freezer paper to the shirt, and filled in the stencil with paint.

Josiah likes his fairly thin - 2 coats, with the 2nd coat applied before the first one dries thoroughly.

Jeremiah likes his thick - 3 coats, thoroughly dried in between,

and Brandon prefers 2 coats, thoroughly dried.

We had some leakage around a few of the letters, and on one of the guy's feet on Jeremiah's shirt.

Not sure what was up with that, but we're just going with it. 

It's not really noticeable at a normal distance anyways.

We ran out a few minutes before it was time to leave for TKD (Thanks for taking' em, Eva!!) to snap a few (blurry) shots.

They got silly....

I love my boys! And I love making them stuff they love!

Sunny.

Out of all my sister in laws, I always felt the most comfortable with Sunny.

She taught me to make Bulgogi (Korean grilled beef);

I think I'm the only one in the family (except prob'ly her kids and Kyle) who can make it.

She doted on our kids when we went to visit,

buying them exotic novelties and treats from the Korean store,

and she was the epitome of love to Tyler while he was growing up.

Several years ago, she made doilies. Dozens and dozens of delicate doilies, crocheted with string, and a teeny tiny hook.

She told me I could pick one out,

and was tickled that I had a hard time choosing.

At first she'd thought I was just being nice ~ but I really was amazed at her talent, and couldn't pick just one.

I went on enough that she told me I could take as many as I wanted.

So I did :-)

I still keep one on my dresser, all these years later.

Sunni died this morning.

She's been sick and in tremendous pain for years, but still, it was unexpected.

I'm glad she isn't in pain anymore, 

but

I'm sad for Tyler.

I'm sad for her husband.

And for her kids, and her kids' kids.

 

Goodbye, Sunny. 

I love you.

caught up (almost)

It's probably been at least six months since I noticed that the dryer was taking an awfully long time

to dry.

But I did not want to have to get a new dryer!

For the past 3 months, it's been kinda hit and miss on whether or not there would be heat.

And if there was heat - would it be normal, or super hot.

Or would the timer advance properly, or speed through the cycle.

Or would it even start at all.

Brandon and I have tried various things to fix it,

mostly spending hours trying to figure out the right combination of words,

so Google could tell us what to do.

Best we could figure, we had multiple issues going on.

Even so, I've managed to stay on top of the laundry for the most part.

Until the dryer pretty consistently didn't heat for days

(except for the 10 minutes that it did heat, and it was scary hot)

and 

I cleaned the girls' room

and wound up with four extra loads of laundry.

(which explains why we could never find anything for them to wear...)

I finally gave up the fight and admitted defeat, 

so last night,

 Tyler bought me a fancy new dryer.

So now, I am caught up on laundry again.

Except that Lex' peed on our sheets at naptime.

And 

I'm out of laundry soap.

adding to the flock

We went to Atwoods after TKD testing (the boys all have red/black belts now) to price fencing (we still need to enlarge the chicken run)
We didn't buy any fencing, but we did get
14 baby chicks!

Everyone is tickled, but especially Jeremiah and Momma.

I picked out 3 clearance priced straight run chicks (which means I may have picked 3 roosters...)

Tyler choose 3 clearance banded chicks (which means they should be hens)

Brandon didn't want to choose any

and the 4 younger kids

(I'm trying to quit calling them 'little kids' - 'cause they really aren't little anymore...)

each got to choose 2.

They all chose full priced mostly banded chicks.

This little one is Josiah's (he's leaning towards Oreo, but hasn't decided for sure on the name)

(Crap. I've completely forgotten what he named this one. Maybe Sweet Thing??)

This is one of Lily's ~ hers are both unnamed still, but she calls them all sorts of sweetness and tried to give them equal attention.

I had Jeremiah bring a cinder block into the little area Tyler blocked off for the chicks, so I'd have something to sit on. 

From it, I could watch the babies (inside) and the big ones (outside).

If all I ever had to do was watch chickens ~ I'd be a happy girl. I love to sit out with my chickens!

 Like Lily, Jeremiah got a yellow and a black chick (I forget the breeds)

And Lexi got a light yellow and a golden one.

She was afraid she wouldn't be able to tell which yellow was hers, 

so the gal helping us put a little line on her head with permanent marker.

Lex's little chick is a smartie ~ she was the first one to figure out how to use the waterer,

and for the next 20 minutes - that was the happening place.

Tyler had to work around us ~ tweaking things to get them just right.

(thanks, Love!)

I can't  help it ~ another 'looking out' shot

One of the ladies wandered in and laid an egg for us :-)

(these girls don't feel the need to announce their accomplishment; they just lay it and leave, nice and quiet like)

That egg was toasty!

Meanwhile, Lemon Drop fell asleep in Jeremiah's hands.

awwww

Lily found some rolly pollies for the chicks.

They liked 'em, but not as much as Josiah's chick enjoyed the little worm she tossed in.

(Speaking of ~ you know how chickens run around trying to keep the other chickens from getting whatever treasure they found? 

I always thought that was a learned behavior  - from one too many times of getting some yumminess stolen.
Nope ~ as soon as that chick had the worm in her mouth, she started running in circles. 

None of the other chicks tried to take it from her - or even noticed she had anything special. 

It would appear that that is just the way God wired chickens.)

I best git to bed ~ I've got to get up extra early to check on baby chicks

Jeremiah's nature photography

with the old point and shoot.

"Because it was just too nice to not go out and take pictures."

The boy does love to be outside!!

pull-ups

So.

While Tony was away at Boot Camp,

in a show of solidarity,

some of us were working on getting in a little bit better shape here at home.

We've got a pull-up bar in the hallway, we do timed crunches, some people run, etc.

I tried and tried to do a pull-up.

Just one.

The family finds this tremendously entertaining,

as I use my feet to claw at the doorframe, to help push my chin towards the bar.

I remind them that I have to work way harder than them  - not only am I farther from the bar, but there's a lot more to lift!

Well, Saturday, for the first time ever, I managed to get my chin above the bar!!

Marin was the only one to witness it, but she was appropriately impressed

 and I called Tyler to tell him the good news, too.

He feels that pull-ups with feet propulsion don't really count.

whatever. 

Sunday night, the guys were talking about how much easier it is to do a pull-up on a real bar.

So I asked, 

"So, if I go down to the shop, I could probably do a pull-up?"

(Brandon and Tyler are building a gym out in a portion of the shop)

To which T responds, "Yeah, if you could jump high enough to grab the bar."

(It's is like 50 feet high)

and Ton' adds with a grin, "But there's nothing for you to use your feet on..."

I get no respect.

kicking myself

After a ridiculously short 10 day leave,

Tony is heading back to San Diego.

A few minutes after he and T drove off,

it occurred to me - I didn't take one single picture of him.

And I don't have a clue when we'll see him again.

bummer!!

an invitation

Each day in India,

200 women and girls, some as young as 5 years old,

are forced into the sex trade.

I can't help those 200 girls,

but on Thursday, 

I can help one. Or maybe even two.

Care to join me?

Come to the gathering area at Central Christian Church 

this Thursday (May 2nd) around 6:30 pm

Have a snack, visit with friends, and shop for items made by women who have been rescued from slavery.

All proceeds go right back to Rahab's Rope,

to rescue, aid, and educate more women and children in a loving and safe environment.

Mother's Day is right around the corner, what better way to honor your mom

than to help rescue a girl?!

~

To make it fun,

I'm going to buy something special to give away :-)

You can enter the drawing one of two ways:

go to the sale Thursday and buy something, then leave a comment telling me what you bought

or

place an order online

and leave a comment letting me know that you did so.

I'll draw a winner on Saturday :-)

(special thanks to Jolly Good Art Shop's Amy Scoggins for organizing this event and loving 'the least of these')

7 quick takes in April

1.

The water heater went out last Saturday.

While Tyler was gone.

And Brandon was with him...

This is not the first time I've had water issues while Tyler's been out of town.

I've also had frozen pipes

and

a busted main water line

to deal with by myself.

2.

After I killed my back (which hurt really bad, and is still hurting!) sucking up 30 million gallons of water,

which was after I finally got the water shut off,

but before I went to Lowe's to buy a new water heater, without first taking measurements,

I decided I would take the kids to a hotel.

They could swim, I could take a shower (and maybe even a soak in the tub to sooth my back?) and we'd sleep comfortably.

(We'd drug their beds into my bedroom so we could all sleep together when the guys left.

They (the beds) were on the floor.

The floor that I sucked the water out of...)

We would redeem the day!

3.

It turns out, there was no room in the inn.

Or any inn in Fort Smith or Van Buren.

But a sweet angel lady let the kids swim anyways,

and gave them snacks and goodie bags,

and let me take a shower in their office bathroom.

I don't think I will ever forget her kindness.

If you are ever in need of a hotel in the area, I highly recommend Van Buren's Hampton Inn!

4.

I thought it was weird that I was so insistent that Eva and Renee let me help with graduation.

I mean, I truly did practically beg them to let me help.

And not only help, but take over.

I basically insisted on totally taking over decorating for their graduation.

That is so not like me!

(I did go with what I understood their vision to be - so I guess I didn't totally totally take over ;-)

As it turned out, they both had major things going on, 

and neither of them were able to decorate.

It gives me hope that maybe I do hear God more than I think I do.

5.

I haven't managed any sewing since Saturday morning, before the words,

"Why is the bathroom floor covered in water?"

were uttered.

Oh.

that's not entirely true.

I did hand-stitch a paper 'Class of 2013' banner on Wednesday for the cake table.

6.

Even though I can arrange flowers decently,

flower arranging doesn't give me the same nice feelings that creating with fabric does.

I usually feel rather 'meh' about it, even when the arrangements get lots of compliments.

Twice, though, I've been pretty tickled with my flower arranging.

The first time, I'd made a huge arrangement with flowers and grapes for a date night dinner we did for friends.

The other was the arrangement I made in a metal water pitcher for Tony and Kacy's reception.

Neither were ever photographed.

7.

We've been watching The Great British Sewing Bee.

Television at its finest, I think.

Too bad there are only 4 episodes.

down to the river

 We needed some rocks for a little project, so a long overdue trip to the river was a necessity.

I must admit, I wondered, as we meandered around, all 7 of us, (T was here for his b-day :-) looking for just the right rocks,

- and all of us having a very nice time - 

if perhaps,

maybe,

I've turned my kids into weirdos.

Then I decided that, if I have, 

- well -

 it's too late...

~

It was apparently lunch time for the cows while we were there;

they all of a sudden headed

in a nice calm orderly fashion out of the water and across the pasture.

~

There were a couple dozen butterflies flying about.

The girls wanted one (or more) to land on them so badly, but the butterflies didn't cooperate.

~

I don't know why we don't go to the river more often.