I had to do my work today!

I meant to do my work today,

But a brown bird sang in the apple tree,

And a butterfly flitted across the field,

And all the leaves were calling me.--Richard Le Gallienne (1866-1947)

Every morning I do have the same bird singing (aka yelling) at me, she has a nest in one of the birdhouses on the fence post. She gets pretty loud! Then mom found this little dandy in her red maple treeWe will have to be careful going to turn on the hose if it is needed. I would love to take the day and watch them coming too and fro tending their nests and feeding their babies but the chores are calling loud and clear. But first I am going to catch every one up of the happenings around here...

We drove little man to DD#1's house on Wednesday as she was taking him to a concert. On the way home we stopped at Farmer Dave's and he had a new addition. When I first saw her I thought she had a coat on but she doesn't. He said she is the ugliest thing he has ever seen, his wife loves her. I think I have to agree with him but then again I would think that she would spin up kinda cool!


Saturday we finally got rain. It was a nice thunderstorm which knocked the power out for a couple of hours but was desperately needed. It was cool watching it move in, do it's thing and then the calm after the storm. The plants took off and so did the weeds! Sunday we didn't go into the garden and compact the soill and then we had dr appts. yesterday so...


This morning after taking little man to catch his ride to day camp, I saw my mother down in the big garden....about 3 hours later she finally said that was enough "for right now"! We weeded and hoed and laid down some grass clippings and hay around plants.
I have tiny little heads of broccoli, the tomatoes are blooming, the potatoes are blooming, pea's are blooming finally, and the yellow squash bloomed and has little baby squash. Can't wait to partake of our labors! The kids are getting paid to handpick the potato bugs and although they like the $$ they don't like the job..neither do I which is why I am willing to pay them!!


On the fiber front, nothing much is happening. I was out carding early yesterday evening and had company stop by to see what I was doing Hope to spin that tonight. I shipped the finn fleeces off to be washed and returned as roving. Can't wait to get that back not that I will have lots of time but for sanity reasons I will have to spin some up when it does get here, weeds be damned!

Time

... time is not a linear flow, as we think it is, into past, present, and future. Time is an indivisible whole, a great pool in which all events are eternally embodied and still have their meaningful flash of supernormal or extra-sensory perception, and glimpse of something that happened long ago in our linear time.- Frank Waters, Mountain Dialogues, 1981

I have been helping a friend empty out her mother and father's house. Her father died several months ago and her mother is in a nursing home. She wants to empty it and move in with her children. The past month my weekends have been devoted to helping her clean it.

She will be the fourth generation to live in the house. In one of it's former lives it use to be a boarding house. There were 6 bedrooms but the two topmost ones became the attic storage when it ceased operation. The guests dining room became another bedroom, bathroom and laundry room. The place is a time capsule.

When we enter a room to start cleaning it, she is one of those people that gives it a cursitory look and chucks just about everything out. I, on the other hand will turn the china over and find....Theodore Haviland or Homer and Laughlin. The books I will open the cover and read the dates. I keep saying "You need to have someone look at this" or "You should take this into town to the bookstore" or "You should put this on Ebay". She keeps saying "Stop looking, your wasting time" or "If you want it take it. I don't have time for this". Her parents were pack rats and I can understand her not wanting to continue to pay rent when she now owns the house. I can understand it when she says you can't hold on to so much of the past that there is no room for the future but still....

I come home each time amazed at the treasure trove that is her house, saddened by the waste, and exhilerated at how much we got accomplished! So far the wrap around porch has been cleaned off, the screened lowest floor porch cleaned off, the pantry cleaned, the livingroom, den, bathroom. laundry room and all the bedrooms are sorted. What remains in them will be used in the house or like the attic will be done after she moves in. All that remains is the kitchen and the dining room.

During the week the garden has been getting it's watering and weeding. I have blossom on my tomatoes already but not my pea's - go figure. Yesterday we finished planting the beans, cucumbers, melons and corn. Hopefully we will have enough time to harvest the last two. My popcorn and broom corn are already knee high. I pulled the spinach and planted beets.

In fiber news, I continue to card the alpaca and mohair and I think I have enough carded to finish this bobbin and then I can ply. I started carding up some of Bozo the Romanov and he is very bouncy, I can't wait to spin him. I am mailing the finns out today for processing. I finished the stocking and have been knitting bottle socks for the kids water bottles.

Today is the last day of school and the kids are very excited. I was too until I realized things would not calm down for two more weeks. The little man has boy scout camp next week and #2 daughter has girl scout camp the following week....I need to plan things better and get it done in the same week! Little man got a surprise from his big sister and got to go to a concert Wednesday night, he was extremely happy to say the least.

The ducklings are getting big, the pigs bigger. The roaster chicks will go next week as they are eating me out of house and home. Last years roamed all over, this years just sit and wait for you to feed them, which I need to go do. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

This IS a fiber blog after all!

I like making a piece of string into something I can wear. ~Author Unknown

I thought I should post some pics with some fiber content...This is the wool that I spun last weekend... This is what I am working on now...It is a blend of black alpaca and my mohair from Storm. I am tring to spin it thin (for me) so I can make socks. I sat outside spinning this morning before I left for a friends house. I carded up some batts to spin while it is raining today or atleast they say it might rain today. We desperately need it but the dandelion is open which is suppose to mean we won't get any.

And this is a stocking that I am working on for #1 son for Christmas... I messed up on the cable and had to rip back but finally finished it and it is all easy from here on out... I still haven't picked up the stocking where I am using the short heel row but I will eventually as I am determined to master that!

In other news we are up to about 16 ducklings. The two moms that sat together took their little flock for their first outing yesterday. The hen is still setting so we put some eggs we know are fertile under her and we will see what happens. And the blue moon is gone now, not to return for a couple of years.

Once in a blue moon....

Tonight is the second full moon in the same month...aka blue moon. They say this only happens every 2.7 years which is how often I will post twice in one day! And why a second post this day? Well we finished transplanting the tomatoes so I am going to post diagrams of the gardens so I remember what went were next year.

The W is a water barrel

The C is carrots in tubs

The MG is morning glories (front blue, back red) and amaranth

The rectangle by the walking onions is glads

The cirlces are where the tomatoes are planted. There are 6 Black Pear, 2 resisentraube and 6 Blondkopchen and there is basil planted in between the tomato plants.

The lettuce is also radish, spinach and mesculin mix

In the big garden there is Green Zebra, Pink Caspian, Amish Paste, Roma, Big Boy and Bell Star tomatoes. The potatoes (excuse the two T's in the diagram) are Yukon Gold, Kennebec and Red Nortland

The melon mix is super dew, charentais, early silvertine and Spanish Moon.

And now that it is planted the weeding begins....

Alpaca

Knock Knock
Who's there
Alpaca !
Alpaca who ?

Alpaca the trunk, you pack the suitcase !

I would have alpaca-ed the trunk of my car full of fleece if I could have gotten away with it! My cousin bought four alpaca this fall and this is the first time she sheared them and today I went to watch.

I don't know the correct names of the colors but this is what she has...

She has the stud muffin (Abe) who is a beige or light tan

His mother and 1/2 sister (Sassy (cria)and Kimberlee) who is a dark fawn or light brown

and a gelding (Amigo) who is black.

It was hot and I am sure they appreciated the hair cut! I got home in time to take little man to the Dr....double ear infection, loosing tube in left ear and strep. When I got home there was one more surprise for the day...

Needless to say the rest of the tomatoes didn't get planted so I have to go plant them now before it gets to 90 degrees.

Cool mornings and hot days

May and June. Soft syllables, gentle names for the two best months
in the garden year: cool, misty mornings gently burned away with a
warming spring sun, followed by breezy afternoons and chilly nights.
The discussion of philosophy is over; it's time for work to begin.- Peter Loewer

It was 44 degrees this morning, meaning a perfect time to go hoe the garden before the temps get high. We got the whole large garden hoed, four extra squash planted, the tomato area rototilled and 27 tomatoes planted. One thing I noticed this year is that nothing shocked when it was transplanted and I mean nothing. I still have tomatoes to plant but should have that done by tomorrow. I will have to do a drawing of each garden so I know where I planted everything.

My greenhouse garden has been done and is now just waiting on things to grow. I sit on my stool and watch but it doesnt' seem to help. This is my favorite seat to use in the garden.
It is a copy of a milk stool my father used. I brought it down from the barn and when it started to fall apart, the man made me a new one out of barn board. The only thing he didn't do was the original had a hole in the top of the bench to put your hand through to pick it up and move to the next cow... I am going to have to make him fix that as it was convenient.

#2 daughter got her immobilizer off and now just has to wear a support sleeve on her knee. She had her band concert and little man had his Wizard of Oz play, he bridged to boy scout and she bridged to cadet in girl scouts. So most of the end of the school year stuff is finished and they just have to get through finals.

Aunt's house and car sold last week and we had a yard sale this past weekend with some of her stuff. We still have the garage to clean out but the buyer isn't in a rush but hopefully we will get it done before the weekend.

During the yard sale I was able to get some spinning done. Last Thursday I started the stocking for my oldest son but I think I have to frog as I tried working on the cabling part at the yard sale...I don't recommend it! As I knew I wouldn't be able to work on it at the Dr's yesterday I started another stocking trying out the no wrap short row....again I got stuck at the pick up part and need to rip back on that also.

The broiler chicks are getting big and we got three white turkeys yesterday. I wanted blue slate or red bourbon but I don't want to order 15-20 of them so I got what I could get. No ducklings yet but 3 of 4 are still setting. I am going to give them to this weekend and then check them.

And since my washing machine is done my time here has to come to a close also. Hope to get back on before too much time goes by.

Living in Spring

To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.~ Emily Dickinson

And as with every Spring we are living it and have no time! I didn’t make it to spinning on Friday as I loaned my car out and didn’t get it back but... I did get to spin. I woke up at 5 AM, took my wheel outside and spun. I kept spinning all day except for a walk in the woods were I happened to scare one of the natives... I had walked up there to make sure the dogwood was still there as there is a story behind it. And it was there but to high for me to get a good pic. I was spinning some wool/mohair that Grace gave me (Thanks again) and I wanted to make myself a pair of socks. I dyed some green for the pine trees that I wanted to knit into the sock but it came out gray. I used Rit and I pry used too much. So I am bummed and haven’t started them yet. But I was able to spin, the arm is still weird but it was at least workable this time. And I started another crocheted afghan.

Saturday was packing stuff up and cleaning my aunt’s house in preparation for selling it. I clean house for a friend and hadn’t done it in 3 weeks so I went on Sunday and did that. Then I came home and found out that the Xrays taken on Wednesday said that #2 daughter fractured her knee and I would have to bring her back in on Monday.

Monday we took a ride back into town, more xrays were taken and we were told the immobilizer stays on until the 28th when we have to go back for yet another appt. Tuesday she had an eye dr appt and her band concert which was amazing.

In between all this I did get some tomatoes (Thank You Cyndy) transplanted and some planted in the garden, some squash started and planted in the garden, broom corn seed planted, morning glory seed planted, marigold seeds planted, glads planted, the baby chicks moved outside into their own run, the three sheep and one goat got sheared and today before the rain came Mom and I got 140 ft of potatoes planted.

Whatelse?.?..?,,,? I also ate the very first salad out of the garden yesterday YUMMY!

And I have bird pics…lots and lots…I take the camera whenever I go into the garden and they are so accommodating at this time of year….. Tomorrow is suppose to be nice so hopefully I will be able to get the broccoli planted as it is getting big and the cabbage if I really want to push it! It is such hard work being outside listening to the birds and smelling flowers- I don't know how I do it!

Stitches and not the good kind!

Cuts and bruises go away, but the scars will always stay...

We got stitches and not the good fibery kind. This post is not for the faint of heart. The picture is pretty gross. You are forewarned. On Friday the school called and said I had to come pick up dd. She had whacked her head on her locker and had an egg sized egg on her head and headache. So I drove and got her.

Yesterday the school called and said you need to come get her and take her to the hospital. They said she needed stitches and to get an xray as they saw the patella and were worried that ligaments might be cut. So I drive to the school again and this is what I see….
Five hours after leaving the school we are leaving the hospital with 20 stitches and an immobilizer on her knee. Luckily nothing was chipped or broken and no ligaments were torn just a big cut. And we had missed little man’s choral concert, he didn’t seem to mind as he said the teacher was in a bad mood!! I took the picture because she didn't want to look but wanted to know what it looked like. The man said we would put the picture in her "scrape-book" instead of her scrap book. Dr gave her forceps to take home so when she catches a fish she can get the hook out easier and she won't end up back in the ER with a fishhook in her finger.

So for today she sits at home being pampered and her brother is very jealous. She thinks I am joking when I told her I am going to go look on the internet for a suit of armor or a rubber suit for her to wear. They say these things happen in threes and I don’t even want to imagine what the third one will be!

On the fibery front I did knit a puppet and finished it in the hospital yesterday. I need to get a picture of it. I started crocheting an afghan and I don’t like it so will start another. I want to spin but my arm doesn’t want to. I have an appt. with a neurologist on June 6th and hopefully I will know something then.

In the greenhouse, everything is doing well and I have moved plants outside to harden off and give me room inside. Now I just need to finish getting the larger garden rototilled so I can plant them.

In other news, elder son turned 22 on Monday and on that same day younger son received the highest honon in Cub Scouts, the Arrow of Light, and bridged over to Boy Scouts. So it has been a busy week and one I don't want to repeat. I am looking forward to a peaceful weekend.

May Day

I think that no matter how old or infirm I may become,

I will always plant a large garden in the spring. Who can

resist the feelings of hope and joy that one gets from
participating in nature's rebirth?- Edward Giobbi

Like the quote, I am always so eager to get the shovel in the soil and seeds in the ground. I inevitably pot up more than my garden can hold because I would rather have too many than too few. I am transplanting, weeding, raking or repairing fences. If nothing else being sick has awarded me the time to sit and watch this spring unfold. I am amazed at the vibrancy of the green grass, the bronzy green of the new hops and the yellows, soft pale yellow to the bold almost neon yellow, the deep purple of grape hyacinth and reddish flowers of the quince. Uusally I just listen to spring while I am out there but don't take in the emergence of color.

Although not really up and running yet, I have had time to seed some things and I have been catching up on the laundry. The man did a great job of keeping up with what the children brought him…the children however didn’t bring him all of it! The weather has been pretty good in co-operating and I have been line drying everything. I love the smell of the clothes fresh off the line, you can’t bottle that no matter what. I was also able to get some chives cut up and they are drying.

I slept well last night for the first time and the numbness has left my fingers so today I may try to knit or spin. I was able to finish the baby bolero. Springs need to be worked in and it needs blocking but it's done.

In farmy news, the sheep and goat still have to be sheared. I would like to atleast get two done this weekend. We picked up two pigs on Sunday and two of the ducks have started to sit so I am expecting ducklings about the 26th of May.

And now I think I am going to plant some pea's before the rain showers come. Happy May Day

My adventure

One way to get the most out of life is

to look upon it as an adventure.~William Feather

OK so that is how I am going to look at it... I went on an adventure this week. I awoke Sunday morning to my arm feeling like it was outside of the covers and the rest of my body was warm. I moved and found out that my arm was under the covers. Hum okay I tell myself it is time to get up. I stumble and I mean literally stumble to the bathroom. I feel like I slept on my left side all night and I have pins and needles. Sit down to do what nature called me in there to do and realized one of these things aint like the other and by that I mean butt cheeks. One was normal and the other was numb. Okay, still not awake but 1/2 way able to store this info. Finish in that room and stumble to coffee pot realizing if I lived in a round house it would be so much easier as I was walking toward the right. I felt like I was drunk. I would tell my body what to do and it would do what it wanted.

Woke the man to give him this news. Not wanting to be an alarmist, I figured I would watch tv and see how I felt. He went to do the animals and I decided to walk out to see him. Remember the round house well we should have round property also, so while circling I did run yes literally again run into him. As he likes to hover, I told him I was going to call Gwen to take me to the emergency room. Not that his hovering is bad but I am starting to get scared and he would try to take care of me but not be able to as is not a dr and I would get irate...Can you believe it!!! Yes I know he is there because he loves me and wants to make me better and I am a mean bitch but at least I know that and don't put us both through it. Anyhow, Gwen is someone who will take control for me while I just lay there and feel like crap and she is savvy in medical. Call her and tell her what I want and that I am going to take a shower and will see her in a few.

I don't call nobody because I will be home in an hour -I can walk, talk, carry on adult conversation and I was able to squeeze both of Gwen's hands with equal pressure.....They see me coming and don't even make me sit down and sign in but take me right to the back of the double doors for processing. In minutes I am hooked up to an EKG and the Dr is poking and prodding and asking tons of questions. I have a FALL RISK wrist band on the left and a ID band on right arm. Headache is starting to come back...rolled down for CT scan, stop by for chest Xray. They are talking, head is pounding, Gwen has taken over and boy am I glad. Blood is being drawn out of one arm, IV installed in another and a dose of something was shot in....Hands grab for the back of my head because I know without a doubt that is is going to lift of my freaking shoulders. Nurse tells me the druggies like this effect --what a bunch of masocistic jackasses.

I'm put in a room, given Aggrenox as they suspect TIA's (mini strokes) caused by the migraine. In between Sunday and Thursday afternoon when I returned home I had more drugs than in the last year or more. I had been given more Aggrenox, Prednisone, Imitrex and I do unfortunately remember an anti nausea suppository or two.

I was sent down for an MRI right after they gave me a prednisone shot and an imitrex. The MRI was not open. I itched like I was sitting on an ant nest and the noise of that machine...do you know how long 1 1/2 minutes is? It is a really really long time. Thirty minutes later I was returned to room. I remember getting a needle at 8 PM and by 9:30 I wanted another, the pain was just so bad. They ended up diagnosing it as a status migraine.

I was sent home with prednisone to wean me off and Percocet to help if I get another. They are unsure if it could happen the next migraine or 100 from now or if it will ever happen again. But during the MRI they found that I only have one artery in the right side of my neck where I should have two so I guess some things happen for a reason. I have blisters from the meds inside my mouth, I still have tingling on my leftside and still walk like a drunk, a slightly less inebriated one but still a drunk. Gwen took off for less hectic grounds (visiting family) and the man delivered me safely home to a clean, smooth running house. The numbness is suppose to subside and my balance return to normal. Not bad for a small adventure.

Riding home I was amazed at the changes that accured during my adventure. The forsythia bloomed. The lovage grew ALOT it was just nubs coming out of the ground before my big adventure. The hops is reaching for the sky. The bleeding heart, the peony, the daffs, the cowslip. I see radishesand spinach and I have asparagus!!!!!!!!!!! I am in heaven...and it isn't the "final resting spot" or a drug enduced one just springtime enduced.

I woke up this morning long after the kids got on the bus, listened to the man ticking off the turkeys walking the ridge, and then to the birds, looked out on green grass and baby chicks which had also grown some and truly appreciated the Drs and their meds getting me back here. I hate taking medicine but I am truly glad it was there when I needed it. I am extremely lucky and I guess this was just another adventure to make me realize it. The tomatoes will eventually get started, the lettuce and mustard transplanted and all the other menial tasks done but for now I am just going to sit and get back my energy.

Beautiful Day

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,~Mr. Rogers

The temperature was perfect and we got alot accomplished so it was an extremely beautiful day.

This morning I woke up with a migraine but with the help of some Tylenol I was able to get the ducks pond dumped, scrubbed and refilled. While I was doing this the man was rototilling the greenhouse garden.

Then we left to take our one goat Snowflake to a new home. She is going to a camp until November. We also gave Farmer Dave two rabbits as youngest daughter found they are a lot of work. While there we helped him load the animals that are going to the camp and picked up some baby chicks.

We got 27 chicks, two dozen Cornish Roasters
to raise for the freezer and 3 Rhode Island Red for future eggs.

After getting them all situated the man decided he wanted to go fishing. My head was still throbbing but I didn’t want to just lay down and go to sleep so I joined him at his “secret spot”. He caught a trout on the second cast and another right before we left. I brought my knitting and finished the sleeves on the baby bolero.

We left for home as it was growing dark, dropped the fish off at a neighbors and got in just in time for NASCAR.

And now it is Good Night to a pretty productive day.

Tomorrow

"Tomorrow is another day." ~ Scarlet O'Hara Gone With the Wind

And so it is another day, and one which so far has not dropped one single drop of rain! This storm was very fickle. We got almost almost all rain (approx. 6 inches) while people 3 miles away have 3-4 inches of snow and places within 50 miles have 18+ inches of snow.

Now Debey has asked me for a photo of the greenhouse and I haven't gotten it up here for her as I kept forgetting to take the camera out with me. But this morning the mind was actually functioning, so here it is...
I am standing between the gates to the garden when I took this picture. The greenhouse is 8X10 and has 6mm polycarbonate panels. There is the sliding door and two roof vents. I would eventually like to have the automatic vent openers but that is at the bottom of a long list. We just added the "barn" on the north side. There are a couple of compost bins behind the barn making for easy clean up. The barn is used by my ducks and chickens. Their old living arrangements just had a door and was dark and without much air circulation. Right now they go in and out via the door you see open but will eventually have a little door on the backside which will make a nice cross ventilation and help keep it dry as the ducks are quite messy with their water. I figured this would work better for them by also giving them more light thru the greenhouse and would be warmer in the winter. There are rain barrels coming off both sides to help with the watering of both the animals and garden. Their pool is further back and to the right.
I should have taken pics of the inside but on the right is the wall shared by the greenhouse and "barn". Here is my stool and tall basket with stakes, shovel and clippers etc. stuck in it. The left wall is wire shelves. The man built them for me. The bottom shelf is about knee high and the top is waist high. Under the shelves are totes with the rest of the flats or individual pots in them, coffee cans and 2 liter soda bottles. In the back wall is a shelf about waist high but with a mixing area for mixing the soil with compost or just dampening it. Under that mixing sink is a solid shelf which has a stack of clay pots, cans with twine, popscicle sticks, pens, ziplock bags, paper, hand clippers, scissors, trowels etc. In the right hand corner, under the top shelf is a trash can which my bags of potting soil goes into. The shelves are all one unit which came out of my old greenhouse and we had to actually build this one around. I have a ventless propane heater that I would lke to put in but I don't think it will happen anytime this year but maybe next. I would also have to balance the cost of the propane vs what I would be able to get out of it. It isn't much but it gets done what I need to get done. It should have been taller as the man is 6'4" and can't do more than stand in the middle so tends to stay out of it OR did I plan it like that so I have peace and quiet! Hopefully this week while it is warming up I will be able to get in there and plant tomatoes.
But until then I finished the cormo and now I am preparing to find what fiber I am going to use to make the baby bolero and stash handbag. Both of these are in the new book my sister sent me (another enabler...I love it!!!! :^D) Anyhow the book is called One skein and it will help me get rid of the bits and pieces I have.

Say it isn't SNOW!

When it rains... it floods!

Last night I innocently went to sleep, proud in the fact my basement wasn't wet. This morning reality slapped me upside my head with a 2x4! But after borrowing a huge pump from the local fire department and pumping it out, all seems well...a little muddy but well. The freezers with all the meat were set up on blocks just in case this happen (smart man)! We still need to test the man's generator and compressor and some wood we were going to use got wet but it could be ohhhhhh soooo much worse. So we will set up the torpedo heater and dry it all out.

Then the rain turned to snow for a while and the woods started to look like this...

and now it seems to have gone to a mix. I actually would prefer the snow as it takes time to melt. The rivers are all up and streams are appearing where there normally are none. The rivers are suppose to hit flood stage about noon today.

Of course even in the midst of lifes little adventures, you need to find something to laugh at... We drove up to a NPS guy sitting and monitoring the river and the man being the smart ass that he is very straight faced asked him how the trout were hitting. The guy laughed his butt off, said they were all hiding behind rocks!

And lest you think I have been doing nothing...childs ear flap hat, baby's cupcake hat (really awful picture) and bib overalls. The last two need finishing details.

and I am spinning up the rest of the two pounds of cormo. I should have that finished today.

Happy Easter

Awake, thou wintry earth--
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness! Christ is risen. ~Thomas Blackburn

We sat with our coffee and watched the kids and the news this morning. Seems like after today the earth is going to warm up in our little neck of the woods. I started thinking of Easter's when I was a kid and how cold it was. I remember one Easter when I was young, we hunted Easter eggs in the house because like today, it was too cold to do it outside. The Easter bunny had hid an egg in the pocket of my coat and nobody found it--until I was standing in church and reached in my pocket! I think everyone in church knew by the time we left.

Another Easter we did a show at school and I was the bonnet wearer - as in....In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it,You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.- Irving Berlin The bonnet was an Easter basket sat upside down on my head. I was talking to a school mate from that period in time and they said their mother still has a copy of that. I told her it was okay to lose that photo.

Another Easter, we got a solid chocolate cross from Sunday School. We went to a friends house and my mother kept telling me not to eat all my chocolate as I was going to get sick....I didn't listen (whatelse is new!!) I got sick....numerous times! My mother keeps using that as a way of teaching my children. That is also one reason my children don't get alot of candy at Easter.

Now I am off to hunt eggs in the cold (24 degree's) because as Easter bunny told us to toughen up and hid them outside. I wish you all a Happy Easter and I hope you all have an Easter egg finding Easter instead of a chocolate cross one.

Poor

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" "It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked. "Oh yeah," said the son."So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father. The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them." The boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."

I have received this same email several times. I keep it for a while, usually until I do a big email cleanup. At times I wonder if I keep it to justify my life style or to remind me how lucky I am. So when I got it again, I decided to figure it out.

Poor means to have little or no wealth and few or no possessions... We are poor and I mean financially poor. We live from pay check to pay check and some weeks that check is stretched mighty thin.

On the other hand we aren't poor. We have no debt. The house (when it is done) is paid for. We have a 2005 truck and a 2000 car which are paid for. We have trappings. I have four spinning wheels. The man loves his 50 inch and 27 inch HDTV flat screens, the kids have Xbox 360 and DS’s and walk around in name brand sneakers and clothes.

There is no way I will see England or France. Our vacations have been to see my daughter finish basic training in SC and leave for Iraq from MS or to the MDS&W and Rhinebeck. The same daughter did send us to PR last summer which was great.

It is my choice not to work. It would give us more money, but we would use it to buy the food that I now grow and can or freeze. The man could get a better paying job, but he would be gone an extra 3-4 hours a day and I love having him around. I miss him when he is gone.

I think our’s is a checks and balances life style. We work hard enough to get some of what we want, but not so hard that we lose sight of what is important. We have everything we need and most of what we want. We don’t have tons of clothes, some of which we won’t ever wear but we have enough that we don’t walk around naked. We don’t have a boat or a summer home, but we do have the luxury of being able to be girl/boy scout leaders, soccer coaches, volunteers, etc instead of having to work overtime to pay for the boat/ 2nd home. We have the time to appreciate what we do have.

So my muscles are aching today but yesterday I spent the whole day with the man building a chicken coop. So menial yet so satifying. So, I guess I should keep it just to remind me that we indeed are very wealthy. Wealthy-rich, marked by abundance, well supplied.