Diagnostics

J came home around 10:15 last night, after spending a week with her friend at Myrtle Beach.  This was the longest time that she has been away from home (and us), but we were able to talk with her almost every day.  While she was away doing this...

Surprising her friend at the airport in Myrtle Beach!

...a lot of things happened here at home, including pool play with uncle B & cousin H, and some sparkler action by L on Independence Day!

 

 

Remember the propane water heater issues back in January?  Well, the gas company never made it out here to replace the regulator.  We've been using the back-up electric water heater since then, and recently it too started to have issues.  We had barely enough hot water to take one shower at a time.  We called the plumbers, and they weren't able to come out for about 3 weeks - right before our weekend of out-of-town guests.  They said that the electric water heater was "dead", and replaced it.  We have had plenty of hot water since then, thank goodness.  They also ordered a new propane water heater, and will be able to replace it next week.

I also called Sears back in late May because the washer stopped working AND we had been having trouble with the ovens.  The washer was fixed without new parts, but there were more problems with the ovens.  One of the hinges was broken, and supposedly the part was no longer available (this is a 2009 purchase!!)  The top oven was also getting way too hot, so I assumed it was a thermostat issue.  We did not approve repairs right away, because we wanted to see if we could find the part for the hinge first.  JP was able to locate what is apparently the last 2 hinges in North America on eBay in Canada!  Once they arrived, I called to have the repairs made.  It took a long time for them to return because I refused to have them come back to re-diagnose and order parts, but after a LOOONG time on the phone, was able to get them to order parts over the phone.  Last week the new parts were installed, but the oven is still overheating.  They are coming back next week to look at it again.

We also lost that hen after a day of droopy comb.  I've been trying to keep a closer eye on the hens since then, to be sure that this wasn't something contagious.  Everything I found on the internet contributed droopy comb to either dehydration or anemia (from intestinal worms or mites.)  I couldn't find evidence of either on that first hen.  This AM, I found another hen with a slightly droopy comb, who appeared pretty lethargic.  After much MORE internet research today, I was still coming up with the same things, and once again, I couldn't find evidence of either in the hen.  I actually asked my Dad to euthanize her, because I didn't want to spread anything else to the rest of the flock.  Luckily, while I was away briefly (taking J to her first day at her new job), he was unable to find her.  When I found her, and picked her up, I accidentally squeezed her chest a bit, and she spit up some liquid.  That's when I realized that she had a very swollen crop - like the broiler chicks earlier.  I researched on YouTube how to drain the crop, and did it.

 

She is now in her own cage, with cider vinegar in her water, and yogurt & water melon to eat.  She drank and drank when I put her in there, so here's hoping that the diagnosis (and treatment) is correct!

In the meantime, I took L & a friend to the Natural History Museum on Friday.  We all had fun.

 

This weekend, JP, L & I worked to make an area to get into the pool without dragging grass in.  We put down landscaping fabric, and pounded in edging, and then added pavers and pea gravel.  It works great!

So...it's almost time to pick J up after her first day of work, so we'll be able to see how that went, and learn more about her week at the beach.

It Happened Again

I had another birthday over the weekend.  I can't seem to refrain from having one annually!  This time, one of my favorite presents was the fact that my good friend from college drove up from VA to visit!  We had a lot of fun and stayed up way too late...just like in the good old days.

 

L baked me a carrot cake, and made cream cheese icing pretty much on her own.  She did a great job - it was delicious!

 

It was lovely and Spring like again today (we get a day like this here and there between the rain showers, apparently we are not going to have much of a winter this year.)  I spent several hours shoveling out the chicken house, putting more leaves on the garden beds, and shoveling out the culverts on our driveway before the next round of rain storms.

Tonight, my back and elbow are feeling the effects of being middle aged and spending several hours shoveling things.

Sigh.

After checking all of the roosting hens with a flashlight this evening, and getting pecked & pooped on, it appears that I have marked all of them with color coded leg bands.  We will probably have a butchering/canning day here soon.  Survival of the fittest, baby.

I'm off to find some Advil and a heating pad.  Nighty night!

Quarter Century

The girls and I have recently returned home from a road trip.  We left right after school on Friday, and drove down to VA for my 25th college reunion.

We had a really fun and busy weekend!

We stayed with JP's cousins, who hosted one of their sisters & her husband, as well as JP's sister & brother-in-law, along with us for a delicious breakfast on Saturday morning.

Afterwards, the girls headed off with their Aunt and Uncle to the Book Fair, which was a place that JP and I enjoyed going once a month to stock up on books.  While they were otherwise entertained, I drove the couple of miles to my Alma Mater, and met with the other 10 people who showed up from my graduating class of 1991.

After lunch in the cafeteria (which hasn't changed much), the girls and I met up again with my sister-in-law and niece to walk in a nearby park for an hour or so.

We returned to the school in time for the women's soccer game, in which 3 of my classmates had daughters playing!  We managed to find a food truck from our favorite ice cream joint in the parking lot, so we could eat our Kline's ice cream during the game.  I also got to hang with our Loyal Royal mascot, Herm, for a couple of minutes.

 

After the game, we went to one of my friend's homes to continue catching up.  It was SO MUCH FUN!  J had a hard time believing that all these women were part of "my squad."  I think it's because sadly, I don't have many friends that I hang with anymore.  She was also astounded when I said that college was a lot of fun.  "I thought it would be a lot of work, "  she said.  I assured her that we put the work in too, but living with your friends 24/7 had a lot of positives, along with just a couple of negatives.



My "Squad" (along with a little photo bomber in the upper left!) 

This morning we drove back to our corner of PA, and have spent the afternoon catching up on laundry and homework.

My mom & I went to the orchard last week, and came home with 2 bushels of apples of 4 different varieties, so it's time to make my Special Ingredient Apple Sauce tomorrow.  Sigh...the weekend flew by way too fast!

Surprise!

We had an interesting weekend. 

The garden is especially bountiful right now.  These are the things that I brought in this weekend.

Tomatoes, Peppers, Onions, Carrots, Corn, Cantaloupes & Kohlrabi

We had our first fresh corn on the cob.  I also made and canned pasta sauce using almost every ingredient from the garden, with the exception of celery.  This is the recipe I use:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/simple-tomato-sauce-recipe3.html

L's cantaloupes are getting ripe!  We've picked 5 so far, and they are delicious.  We've never had luck with melons in the past.

Speaking of melons, I usually let the ladies clean out the watermelon rinds once I cut out the flesh.

They do a pretty good job.

 

On Saturday evening, we went out for dinner with the girls and my parents to celebrate our August weddings 3 days apart.  When we returned home, we found my parents house full of our friends - my mother and my friend secretly planned a surprise party to celebrate our 25th anniversary. 

 

JP was not surprised.  He was suspicious from the moment my mother invited us several weeks ago.  He went so far as to call the restaurant right before we left home to find out if there were reservations for a large party.  Lacking a reservation, he says he figured people would be there when we got back.

I was gullible enough to have no such concerns, and I was duly surprised.  We had a lovely time visiting with our friends and neighbors. 

My mother gave us this tea set that my grandmother gave to my parents for THEIR 25th wedding anniversary.

 

The last thing that surprised me this weekend, was this little hummingbird that perched on the fence of my flower garden for about 15 minutes on Saturday morning.

Independence Day Bash

We have had gorgeous weather for the past 2 days, if you don't mind the humidity.  I was worried that our July 4th Cook Out would get rained out, but we had perfect weather.

The girls kicked off the festivities, by having a snow ball fight.  The 3 of them gathered these snowballs during one of our many snow days last winter, and they have been safely stored away in the deep freeze for the past few months.

We had our usual wonderful spread, thanks to the good cooks that we happen to be friends with:  JP cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, and we had delicious salads, beans, and patriotic cup cakes, along with the typical chips, veggies and watermelon.

The major trauma of the event came when the kids swarmed up the ladder to the tree house, and unknowingly irritated this enormous nest of hornets located under the deck.  3 kids got stung, and 3 more had to be rescued by ladder from the opposite deck of the tree house.  Last night JP destroyed the nest, so it's safe to return to the Poplar Ridge tree house...whew.

After all stings were treated, 15 of us set off on a 30 minute hike around Poplar Ridge, picking wild black raspberries along the way.

Of course, after all of that exercise, we needed to eat some more.  Then it was time to cool off in the pool.

When dusk came, we all reconvened in the back yard of another friend to watch the fireworks at the Fairgrounds in town.

All in all, we had a fabulous day.  I hope all of our guests felt similarly!

Out of My Comfort Zone

Today I did something that I've never done before.  I went out to meet someone in person, whom I had earlier "met" on line.  And before you ask, JP knows all about it!

I "met" C on line in November when we were both undergoing the "Orange Rhino" challenge and virtual Book Club.  She initially contacted me personally because my data mentioned my general geographical location, and it ends up that we live less than 1 hour away from each other.

We emailed each other several times a week during the month of November, mostly to encourage each other in our commitments to stop the yelling, and to vent about how incredibly hard it was to do.  Once the virtual Book Club ended, we continued to text each other periodically.  Yesterday she told me that things were rough this month, as her husband was recently laid off from his employment, but said that on the up-side, she suddenly found herself with more free time.  She asked if I'd like to meet her for coffee or lunch sometime, and I-know-this-is-short-notice-but...she would be about half way between our homes today.

I was pretty anxious about it...wondering if we would have anything at all in common besides our desires not to yell at our families.  Would I say something stupid, or would there be a lot of those awkward silences in our conversation?

So, we met at Krispy Kreme for coffee and a donut this morning, which turned into a 2 1/2 hour conversation about our families, our parents, our jobs, summer camp, school, not yelling, 2 hour delays, running, yoga, pets, coupons, interesting local festivals, you name it.  I came away with a new friend, AND a dozen donuts.

Not a shabby accomplishment for this morning!

We Had a Fantastic Weekend!

JP and worked our tails off this weekend.  We were exhausted and sore when we went to bed last night.  It was the good kind of exhaustion though, the kind that comes with knowledge of a job well done.

Friday evening, we moved the hens to their new abode while they were drowsy and roosting.  They seemed to tolerate the move without issues.  After we got their fencing up and stabilized on Saturday morning, we let them out to explore.

Sleepy hens trying to get their bearings
in the new place!

The roosts hinge up for easy cleaning underneath, and
we have easy access to both their area and the nests
 from a hallway.

These are the nest boxes...actually kitty litter
boxes that slide out for easy cleaning.  Look!
They know how to use it!

Here come the ladies after we opened up
their little door!

Here they are, exploring out doors!

JP boosted me up in the bucket of the tractor to finish staining the tree house.

He hooked up the electric to the chicken fencing while I hung out laundry.

He mowed the grass for one last time while I gathered more leaves for the garden and pulled out the rest of the chickens' old fencing.  Together we gathered up some huge piles of leaves that he mowed into a pile and spread them on the garden too.

For dinner, we had our favorite hearty beef stew and a crusty, chewy artisinal loaf of bread that John baked.  Along with the remainder of a bottle of wine that went into the stew, we had an enjoyable meal with the girls.

Yesterday we moved the remainder of the pile of cut wood from last year, and JP split some of it.  We also covered the coal bin with a tarp to keep it somewhat dry.

Our friends came over later, and we spent the afternoon drinking tea and chatting.

It was a lovely but busy weekend!

Today the girls are home because of Teacher In-Service.  Already we have been to the Orthodontist and I have been to a job interview, and have sausage in the pressure canner.  We have many other plans in the works for this afternoon, so I need to run along...hope you are all off to a good start to the week as well!

First Week of School - Check

The girls had a fabulous first week of school, although L reports that she had a substitute teacher for 3 out of the first 5 days.  Getting out of bed earlier than ever before is still a stumbling block for L. Hopefully we can overcome that in the next few weeks.  The transition has gone a lot smoother than I imagined, even when factoring in soccer practice Tuesday through Friday afternoons.  That's the way I roll though...a lot of anxiety in anticipating something, then I feel mild surprise once it has gone the way everyone else thought it would. 

Meanwhile, I am starting to see what it will be like to have the girls away at school all day.  I miss them, no doubt.  At the same time,  I am kind of enjoying the opportunity to work on projects during the day which used to begin after the girls went to bed at 9 PM and frequently lasted into the wee hours of the morning.

One of the projects that I worked on last week was canning peaches.  With just over a bushel to start with, I ended up with 19 quarts canned, and 2 containers in the freezer.  I used the the last few peaches yesterday to bake a pie...possibly the prettiest pie I've ever baked!

 

We had the opportunity to finish up our first week at school with a long weekend for Labor Day...hooray!

The girls spent Saturday with a friend, and had a sleep-over.  JP did his normal 3 hours of mowing, then got out the tractor and brush hog for another hour or two mowing the fields.  I painted most of the exposed wood on the roofs of the barn and garage lean-tos.

We took a break on Sunday to visit Meadowcroft with friends.  The kids threw the Atlatl and a Tomahawk, went to school, and overall wore themselves out.  We finished the day with ice cream at the Spring House.  We returned home filthy and exhausted...not a bad way to end a fun day!

Yesterday we grilled chicken and ate with my parents.  JP and I did some organizing and cleaning, while the girls watched "The Magic Flute" (excellently done for film in English by Kenneth Branagh.)  We ended the day with a thunder storm.  The storm passed, the sky cleared, and the sun came out for a gorgeous double rainbow, just in time to set in a spectacular show of color.

This morning, the JP took the girls to school, and then went to his office to begin packing for his big move.  He is moving to another location, where he will actually have a window in his office!  I intend to join him shortly to help out before I head to work myself.  That means I actually need to get moving...

Making Memories

Before we tucked the girls into bed tonight, we all went outside and watched the International Space Station glide overhead.  What looked to us like a bright light in the sky, was really the sun below our horizon reflecting off of the solar panels on the ISS.  It was the perfect way to end our summer - gazing up into the stars that blanket our ridge, and huddled together against the chill of the night.

We spent the day today with friends who returned to visit from out of town, and with those who remain close in our hearts and our town.  It felt a bit surreal - we are all expecting the change that comes with back to school just around the corner, while we are still trying to adjust our lives to reflect the change of those who are no longer close geographically, but who remain close in our hearts.

JP and I took this week off to spend with the girls.  We didn't have a whole lot planned ahead of time, but wanted to end the summer with a bang.

I discovered last week that JP's niece was home visiting from Europe, and that her younger sister was preparing to move to her new college dorm.  The first activity we arranged, therefore, was a trip down to Virginia to see the girls' older cousins, whom they adore.  It was a quick trip, but well worth it, as we had a wonderful visit with both nieces, and with JP's sister and brother-in-law.

 

Before we left to drive home, JP suggested that we take some extra time to visit Monticello, and perhaps drive and hike on the Skyline Drive.  So, our plans changed to include a visit to Monticello in the rain, and then changed again to rule out Skyline Drive in the rain.  We made minor detours on the drive home to Harrisonburg, our college town, for our favorite ice cream, and again on the top of a hill in Maryland at a store that sells candy by the pound, where we each chose our own little bag of treats.

 

When we finally arrived home, the grass was long, and the rain was heavy.  After a day catching up on mowing, laundry, and pet care, JP and I packed a small bag, escorted the girls and the dogs to Grandmom and Granddad's house, and headed South for our annual Anniversary overnight get-away.  This time, I was in pain from a minor back injury sustained while turning the mattress on our bed the day before.  We sat in the jacuzzi until we were pruney and over heated, then went out for Indian food, and finally retired, relaxed, full, and pain-free to our room to watch a movie.

After another day to regroup, take J to her allergist, and put up 9 dozen ears of corn to freeze, JP suggested a day trip for white water rafting.  Having never done this before, I was a bit anxious, but eager to try.

The day of our rafting trip, we woke to a torrential downpour.  It poured the entire hour and a quarter it took to drive to the river.  By the time we were fitted out with life jackets and water shoes, the rain had stopped, but it remained misty and cool.  After 2 hours on the water, we stopped at a small beach, and hiked a short way into a clearing in the woods where we ate our lunch of sandwiches and fruit.  We hiked back out to the water, and found the sun shining, and the sky blue for the remainder of our trip.  We had a really fun time, and the girls are already asking when we can go again!

This is how our last week of summer vacation flew by.  It was busy, it was fun, it was spontaneous, it was memorable...just how a summer vacation should be.



Ennui

Isn't that a great word?  I learned it in 10th grade, when I was trying to learn all the vocabulary words that I could before taking the SATs.  That about sums it up:  a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction, boredom.  I've got all that, plus I'm really sad too. 

It is drizzling outside, and the girls are playing nicely downstairs, but I'm finding it hard to make myself do anything this afternoon.  The grey skies match my mood.  So far I've avoided dealing with all this loss by working really hard and pushing it way down under all the dust and laundry and weeds where I can't find it.  Today, it has surfaced, and I'm trying not to curl up in a fetal position and sob.

So far I've posted about the lovely friends that my girls have lost.  Now here is the post about MY peeps, some of the best women I've been privileged to hang with.

 

I've known T the longest, and she is my go-to-girl for how-to advice.  T helped me tile my bathroom floor (all the while battling morning sickness, which she didn't tell me about until later.)  She makes the most incredible birthday cakes, and if there's any tool you might need, she probably has it available to borrow.  She is an amazing artist, and is game to try any kind of craft with the kids that you might come up with.  Top all that with the fact that she is FUNNY and kind and a lot of fun to be around.

 

My friend K, is the sunniest and brightest person I know.  She is so laid back, that I've been able to dial back my OCD from her influence (see my recent post about the incidence of grungy hostessing.)  She is a story-teller supreme, and we are all waiting to see her first YA novel out in print.  I found K to be a kindred spirit in regards to sustainable living when I was beginning to despair of finding that in this small town.  Not only that, but we were both nursing 6 month old girls the day we first met...how often does that happen?  She is up for ANYTHING, ANY TIME, including crazy 40th birthday parties.

M is a beautiful and intelligent woman who shares the same professional calling in medicine as myself.  She is always seems so well put together and on top of the Mom thing AND the professional thing, that she has inspired me many a day when I thought I was failing at one or the other.  She is charming and energetic, and I always enjoy spending time with her.  She is also not afraid to break routine...and is known to try 200 foot long slip-n-slides while fully clothed.

Now there is just myself, S1, and S2 left here.  We all embraced in the library this morning when we met during drop off for the children's program.  "It seems so...lonely somehow," S2 commented.  "Alternate reality, " I agreed.  We sighed and departed.  We're all feeling this ennui.

I really should go do something productive to take my mind off things right now.  Maybe I'll tackle those curtains for the tree house.  S1 brought me fabric from her mother's house...it would only take a few straight seams...

J and her BFFs

It has been rough on all of - the turmoil and changes in the past year.  3 families of our best friends have left our little town, leaving it that much less shiny and fun.  Not only are these folks good people, but they were/are fun to be with, and have children the same ages as ours.

J's group of friends, "The Fab Four", spent many an hour over the past several years playing an assortment of games, and discussing all manner of personal girl things.  We had a reunion of sorts this summer, as one family returned for a visit, about a month before another family left for good.  The Fab Four spent the entire week together, and had a FAB time.

I mourn the loss of these friends for my growing daughter.  She is just entering her adolescence and having to forge new friendships to make it through.  I don't know the parents of these girls, maybe they are great people too...it's just a bit overwhelming all around.  

J has dealt with it by writing a book.  She secluded herself away for about 3 days, then read us her novella, complete with illustrations.

We watched "Stand By Me" recently during a downpour.  At the end of the movie, the main character finishes typing the story of his friendships during the summer of his 12th year.  He writes, "I've never had other friendships like those I had the summer when I was 12."  So true.  And yet...life goes on, it must.  This pain will lessen, and good things will come again.

Weekend Excitement

It has been another full weekend, and it is not over yet.  I am in the thick of canning beans.  I picked over 30 lbs of green and wax beans from the garden in the past week.  I have 27 pints finished, and have about 7 quarts to go.  There is also zucchini bread in the oven - also from our garden harvest.

The jars on the left are Dilly Beans, the ones on
the right are just canned beans

Yesterday morning, while folding laundry during a rainstorm, I suddenly heard an enormous BOOM, and at the same time, felt the house shake and saw a column of orange and red fire in my parents' yard.  Lightening struck a walnut tree about 150 yards from their house.  It threw bits of bark all the way up to their driveway!  Surprisingly, it did not look burnt, but simply as if  someone had carefully stripped a line of bark off for 30 feet of length.

After the rain, I took a few photos of the garden, which looks lush and gorgeous.



Two varieties of Winter Squash

We will soon have corn on the cob to eat!




Broccoli



 

J is growing this lovely cantaloupe



Onions

 

I never got around to finishing the Murphy bed that my dad built using wood from the oak that fell in our woods 2 winters ago.  He finally stained and varnished it last week so that he could get it out of his woodshop.  It looks absolutely gorgeous!  Once the thunderstorm passed, and the rain eased off, JP, my dad and I loaded the bed onto a trailer, and steadied it while JP pulled it down to the front french doors with his lawn tractor.  We managed to ease it into the house, and get it placed in the guest bedroom.  It is still not functional, as it needs to be anchored into the wall first.

Now my dad plans to start work on shelving units that attach on either side of the bed.  This will enable us to move the dresser out of the guest room as well, and move our exercise equipment in at some point.  For now, if you come to visit overnight, you will have to bunk up with the girls on the twin trundle beds in their play room.

This weekend, we also had to say "goodbye" to another family of our dear friends.  It is heartbreaking and maddening, and the whole situation is so unjust, that it is hard to know how to feel or respond.  I've found that I do best staying REALLY busy, and I've managed to do just that all weekend.

That about covers all of the excitement for the weekend.  We are rapidly moving into a new week, which I'm sure will be filled with excitement of its own.