Full Circle Farm: March 2010

I know, I know! I haven't posted in almost 2 months and I've been hearing about it from everyone! I had no idea that my blog was that popular or that so many people have an interest in reading the everyday ramblings about our life. So hear goes, an over view of the last couple of months. We really haven't done much and each time Jerry asks why I haven't updated the blog I say it's becasue I don't have anything interesting to talk about. However, it seems that doesn't matter to anyone as long as it's something new on the blog! So here's the pretty non-eventful low down.

Jerry and Mike have been diligently working every weekend on the kitchen. It seems our luck with hiring people has shown through again and the man we hired the first of December has never showed or returned a phone call. Therefore, Jerry and Mike have done it all and I mean everything. Removed walls, built walls, bonked each other on the head, put in windows, cut fingers, discovered fires in the attic from years past, put up beadboard ceilings, insulated (the house sighed with relief with that one, finally a break from cold, she'd been freezing since before 1890!), run wiring, argued with the wife on plans, ditched old plans, changed plans, hired a cabinet maker, made new plans and changed more plans all the while I've been shopping. Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike shopping? Every week I've shopped for lighting. I've bought lighting, returned lighting, driven all over the metro area to look at lighting and even to Columbia to find lighting. I've have scoured for tile to no avail, studied cabinets and have spent more time in Lowe's that I now have their entire store memorized. The kitchen is still ugly, however it is at it's ugliest, which means with the next step it will start looking better. They are sheet rocking next and we will be covering up our homes many secrets for the next homeowner to remodel and discover years from now. It would be neat to be a fly on the wall then, as I'm sure they will wonder why we did things the way we did as much as we wonder why people decades ago did what they did. All in all the past 3 months in kitchen chaos have gone relatively fast for me and the cereal, small appliances and cookbook collection stored on the dining room floor hasn't gotten to me quite as bad as I thought. However, I'm ready. Ready for cabinets, ready for clean, ready for floors that don't have liguid nails and Sharpie marker notes all over them. I'm ready to not see studs and insulation and to have a floor on the porch and ready for light, lots of light, since now I cook via a halogen shop light. I have been patient as I know both these men work hard at their regular jobs and probably the last thing they want to do on their time off is to work more. I hope they know how much I appreciate the great job they are doing and when it's done it will have been well worth all the months of mess. Thanks Jerry (and Juan too!)

As always, the snow geese came and graced us with their presence for just a few days but after they left something even neater arrived. I noticed some REALLY big white birds on the pond, about twice the size of the Canadian Geese overnighting there. I thought they looked like swans and when I looked through my binoculars I was right. We had 8 Tundra Swans stop over for the day on their trek back to the Artic Circle. It never ceases to amaze me the great distances all these incredible birds fly and do it twice a year! While I was out shooting the swans (with a camera, of course) it was obvious they were leary of me and when I would walk in their direction they would get riled up and when I stopped they would calm down. I spent a long time inching closer for better pictures when Yellow Dog spotted them and ran down to the pond. They took off, showing their impressive 7' wing span, I'm sure to a pond with no dorky dogs trying to chase them.

Once again I succumbed to the pressure of the 5 year old begging and the 1 day olds cheeping. Mollie wanted baby chicks and since I have so much going on I really didn't want to mess with it. I told her if she wanted them they were hers to take care of. I wasn't going to feed or water them and if she didn't do it I would give them away. Of course she quickly replied she would (and I'm confident she will) so we now have 11 chicks. Six Silver Laced Wyandottes and 5 Americaunas. Why 11 and not 10 like I told her? Because the lady threw in a "free" one with a broken leg. Lucky us! However, the chick is still alive and kicking, just with one leg instead of two!

We had our 4-H reunion that our committee had been planning for over 3 months. It went off without a hitch. The low budget decorations looked non-low budget; being a pot luck there was plenty of food, especially green beans and meatballs and the 280 picture slideshow I prepared seemed to be a hit. It brought back lots of memories and the committee members did a great job pulling it off. Hard to believe it's been over 20 years.

Mom and Dad celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this past week. We had dinner with them at Hereford house. The food was good and atmosphere and service was great. I got a wonderful picture of them where their great love for each other really shines through! Congratulations Mom and Dad on a feat not accomplished by many in this day and age.

I didn't cave under Mollie's request for ducklings, instead we added two grown ducks to our menagerie. They are white with black spots (Welsh Harlequin). I guess they are the Abby's of the duck world. They are fitting in well and I know our only, lonely duck is reveling in the companionship.

On a sad note, "Old Man Rooster" passed on. Being just a month shy of his 8th birthday, he'd seen it all. He survived every attack on the chicken house, dualed with many a younger rooster that challenged his authority and guarded his hens and house with pride. He never had a mean bone in his body. I'm sorry to see him go and will miss his daily early morning calls.

It's obvious that spring has sprung, finally. The last of the our snow just left this week and there is some greening up in the fields. Mollie spent most of the day before yesterday playing outside. I found her on top of a hay bale in the bale ring. She was also lounging in the ring while donkeys were munching around her. Silly girl.