Chickens

Now that it is nearly eight weeks since we had the cute little chicks that so sadly turn into ugly, mean, peck the top of my foot chickens..... It is almost time to take them to meet thier maker, and my freezer. I am gearing up for the one day blitze of taking them to the amish lady that will "deal" with them, so I can pick them up and have them clean and in a cooler. But then I will be cutting, cooking, baking and deboning a lot of chicken. Hopefully, Brenda will be able to help a great deal, but then she gets her breaks... claims of needing to nurse Jamie, change Jessica, stop Jacob from painting my house with mud etc. All in all, I would rather be stirring a pot of chicken broth... than trying to explain to Jacob why Nanna (me) does not want to have all her plants pulled up and stacked neatly by the kitchen door. The other nicer red hens will be happy not to have to fight beak and claw for thier food and water two times a day with the more aggressive - crazy hungery cousins. I am anxious to have just my six (yes I know there were eleven.... another story) red hens to mature and get ready to lay me some eggs in about six months. Next spring we are going to get a more exotic mix of hens from a farm in Iowa... I know! exciting! Then we will get our usual white, ugly, chickens that make you hate them and love them in the freezer chickens. Oh, Why then the ugly chickens? Well, you all know how you cannot compare a garden tomato to a grocery store tomato? Well the same is true for the home grown chicken. So much more "chicken-ey" flavor... and you know what they were brought up in, and fed etc. The cost is about the same as any other organic, free range chicken that you would buy, but I get about 8 pounds of chicken for that price, not just 3 -4 pound chickens... Craig wants me to get some turkeys next year... I think that would be fun.

Chickens

Chickens, Chickens,Chickens! Brenda and I decided that
we did not have enough to do, so we thought we would raise some chikens. I ordered 80 cornish rocks (white, huge ugly ones) and 10 (they gave me 11) cute little red hens for egg laying. Brenda had to deal with the baby chicks as they came in (from the post office no yet...) while she was taking care of the four residents, her two very young children and a newborn.... so we added nearly a 100 baby chicks to the mix. Now, it was and still is very much worth it (especially since I did not have to do it). But aren't the pictures adorable?! This is Jessica and Jacob "holding" the babies. It looks like Jessica was squeezing the fluff off this one, but she was actually very gentle with it. She still asked me today at the Baptism service to go see the chicks. (Which sounded a lot like "stick - with a "t" at the end....)

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley is on his way!

Thank you Rygh for sending Flat Stanley to us! We had so much fun with him. He arrived and spent the first day on our refrigerator before being introduced to your second cousins Jacob & Jessica.

He then ate breakfast with one of our residents of our adult family home:

Off to work with your great uncle Craig where he went all around the area picking up frieght from local factories and businesses. Some of those were cranberry bogs, and cheese factories. These are important industries around here.

Since it was Easter, Flat Stanley ate Easter dinner with the family, Danny & Andria, Briana and JJ, Brenda & Jason (with Jessica & Jacob) Brenda is expecting "new baby girl" in May, also the four residents and your great Uncle Craig and myself (great aunt Valerie!) Well, I need to get Flat Stanley in the mail, so I better get going!

Craig was honored today at a luncheon for his 4th year of consecutative safe driving. Prior he had gotten up to three years of safe driving, had a bad year and now has gotten back up to four years in a row.

To be eligible, a driver must be a full time employee operator who lives and drives in Wisconsin, who drives a minimum of 10,000 miles on public streets/highways. Craig now drives approximately 35,000 (because he now drives city it is not as high). A driver must be nominated for the President's Safe Driver Club by a company official, with 36 months of accident and citation free driving both professional and personally. (So year one is really year four of safe driving....)

After earning membership in the club, a driver must remain accident and citation free professionally and personally for each consecutive year. Any accident or citation the driver will lose that particular year toward accrued continuous membership.

Craig has been accident/citation free for three years, (then another three in the club) then a bad year (we won't get into details) and now the four consecutive years... way to go Craig - ten years total in the Presidents Safe Driver's Club!

We celebrated with an awards luncheon, and a moment out together.

My heart is full... so full it aches. I do mistake it sometimes for sadness, or loneliness though. My heart is full of love, dreams and aspirations for my kids, thier families and all the other things that worry a mom with more than one generation to worry about. It is something that I am just trying to get used too... so many to pray for, think about, worry over which inveriably makes me come back to my knees in prayer. My heart is full because I can pray and it is a privelage to pray. My heart is full because Jesus has soaked up all the extra space and is surely pushing His way into other areas. Yes today I feel the ache. My heart aches today because I want to love more, be loved more by those whom I seek favor. People in my life, my family, myself, and my Jesus.

SSSShhhhhhhhhhhhh

Today is Jacob's birthday, and his party is tomorrow..... I have made him a semi-truck birthday cake. It is not exactly professional.... But it was fun, none the less. Went with Con-way since Craig works there, and Papa is giving him a Conway hat to add to his toys. Promising to be a great day... Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Novembers here!

November has brought in beautiful weather! Also has brought our hectic getting ready for state inspection for our adult family home. We have been busy regrouting our bathroom, painting walls, dealing with weeds, preparing for winter. It is also nice though, to get the stuff done with a definate deadline in mind.

Christmas shopping for the grandkids is finished... and Brenda and I are getting ready to plan a crafting day for the gifts for our friends.

Here is a pretty fall picture taken a couple weeks back from the front of the house.