Happy Things From This Week

This week has been busy in both happenings at this little place here, and in things that take me off the property (like three days that involved picking up assorted grandkids from school and/or babysitting in their home part of the day).  By Wednesday evening, I was feeling kind of run over.  

Almost two years ago I had started the habit of trying to list three 'happy' things that had happened before bedtime each day, and while I was trying really hard to come up with something good on Wednesday to list in my little journal, I reread what I'd written about the previous handful of days.  That reminded me, tired and feeling overburdened as I was, that this busy-ness wasn't all bad and there had actually been many happy little things going on simultaneously. 

So here's some of the happy things I experienced this week.

+Some of the maple trees are starting to turn colors. 

The first red leaf!

+A big group gathering for soup and vacation planning.  On Saturday afternoon all my kids, kids-in-law and grandkids came over.  We had a potluck style soup supper--three soups, salad and bread plus cookies for dessert--and set a date for a (huge NINETEEN people!!) family vacation next summer.  For a handful of years we've been kicking around the idea of trying to coordinate everyone's vacation days and go somewhere as a group, and DH decided now was the time to get serious and actually set things in motion.  So we have a target date, a destination in mind, and now we can book lodging for everyone before all the 2 and 3-bedroom suites at our desired beachfront destination get taken.   Plus everyone can go to their employers and put in for the same vacation days for next summer as well as begin budgeting so they have a vacation fund ready to go next July.

+Saturday morning, DD1, Faline, Buck and I had gone yard saling nearby, as there was a 'country block' yard sale organized where there were 9 stops on different roads ranging from 5-7 miles from this little place here.  The only thing I bought, which I think was quite a great bargain, was a set of 4 wooden tray tables, with a carrier/storage rack for them, for only $5.  Some of the tray tops have water rings, or other discoloration on them, but they are all sound and otherwise in great shape.  This is something I'd been thinking about getting for a couple of years now, and when I saw this set for only five bucks, I quick grabbed it up! It came in extremely handy at our soup supper/vacation planning gathering later that day. We discovered that, as long as we weren't using huge plates, we could sit two people per tray table.  The grandkids thought it was the coolest thing.

+The Yarn Thief, newly turned 11 years old, is still very spry and loves to climb and hunt. She still thinks horses are horribly scary creatures that might potentially eat cats, but she will, at least, sit on a fence post and hunt where she knows they are locked out of and can't possibly reach her.  The fewer mice in the vicinity of the barn, the better!

+Free white peaches!  Given to me by an internet friend that we figured out about 20 years ago doesn't live very far from me (maybe 20 miles).  She also happens to be the LBM's farrier, and was out this week to trim her hooves. This friend has a peach tree that is overloaded this year.  She had brought a couple of lunch bags of peaches with her and offered them to me.  I'd never had a white peach before, but I love the 'regular' peaches, so I gladly accepted her generous offer.  While not exactly the same flavor as yellow peaches (just like different types of apples have slightly different taste), they are delicious!

+The local library hosted a puzzle exchange this week.  I took in three puzzles that I had done and was planning to donate to Goodwill, but this sounded like a better option. I came home with three new to me puzzles.  I'm hoping this becomes a regular event, at least annually if not more often, as you can't beat a free puzzle and even though we're a tiny community we could keep swapping the same puzzles among us for years (assuming none lose their pieces) and still not do the same puzzle twice.

What little (or big) things brought a smile to your face this week?

More Hay

 I ended up buying the wagon of hay I talked about in my post about Saturday's activities.  After DH got home mid-afternoon on Sunday, we went and got it from the farm of the people who do custom baling in the neighborhood (including my own field).  K3 was interested in helping unload it, so she came along.

It was a hot and humid day, but there we were, in our jeans and long sleeved shirts, to protect our skin from the stiff prickly cut ends of the hay bales.  Honestly, there were 'only' 117 bales on the wagon, so between the three of us we didn't expect it to take very long to unload and stack the hay in the loft at this little place here.

And, really, things were going well the first 50 or so bales.  And then the elevator broke. 😭😭 A link in the chain that carries the bales came apart.  After about 20 minutes of fussing with it, including unhooking the PTO shaft from the tractor so we could hand turn it to get the chain in the right spot, DH and I were able to get the link reconnected.  At which point I asked if he thought we should put a couple of zip ties on it, just in case.

To which he said No, wasn't necessary.

Well, I think you can guess what happened next.  Only took two more bales and deja vu, there we were with a disconnected link in the chain.  And now the chain had also jumped the cog at one end of the elevator, so now things were uneven, as the elevator has a chain on the left and a chain on the right with bars that run between them.  The left chain was 'up' two links from the right chain and the bars were all wonky.

More fussing with the elevator for DH and I while K3 waited patiently in the loft for us to be back in business.

We finally got the chains evened out, the right one back on the cog wheel, and the disconnected link pulled back together.  This time, DH put a big honking zip tie on it (while I bit my tongue.  Hard.)

After that, it really didn't take long to finish unloading the wagon and get that hay all stacked in the loft.  In the process of all that elevator chain-link issues, we'd gone past dinner time, and it was now after 7 p.m.  Which meant it was time to get the horses their dinner and bring them in for the night. 

K3 helped me with that, and then she requested that DH take her home so she could take a shower and change into cooler (and less nasty sweaty/full of hay chaff) clothes.  Given how gross and hot we all were feeling at that point, we didn't even try to talk her into staying for the pizza we'd planned to order--pizza being our easy-out go-to dinner after putting up hay.  So DH quick changed his own clothes and took her home.  

While he was gone, I called our favorite local pizza joint and put in an order, which he would pick up after dropping off K3 and before coming back home.  Then I jumped in the shower to cool off and clean off.  I swear I couldn't get that shower water cold enough, I kept turning it down a hair, and it only felt cooler for a few seconds before I felt the need to turn it down again.  I was going for 'Lake Superior in early June' temperature (IYKYK), but never did get it that cold before my turning the dial down incrementally ended up just turning the water completely off.

Oh well.  I did feel cooler and less covered in green 'herb' sprinkles (aka hay chaff) than I had prior, and DH arrived with the pizza right about the time I was dried off and dressed.  In shorts and a tank top.

Glad we had the opportunity to buy the hay, it looks to be good stuff.  Glad we got it up in the loft.  But man, a cooler day to do that would have been nice.  (Or, at least, an elevator that didn't break and add about an hour in the blazing sun.)

So. . .

 First, I want you to read this old post.  Partly because it covers quite nicely the 'joy' of free food sent to my home by my mother-in-law.  And, partly because some of it is rather funny.  At least it is to me, reading it seven years after the fact, and remembering how horribly overwhelmed I was by life at that time (but successfully chugging through without totally losing my shit  mind).  Not that I haven't been quite frequently overwhelmed by life in the years since, but there's a certain naivety to that post I see now, having gone through so many frustrations in between.

Okay, did you read it?  Now for today's little rant.  Which is much like the noodle rant.

It's actually been quite a few years since Mother-in-Law sent down a ton (not literal, it just feels like it right now) of food I don't want/need.  Since covid she's mostly caught family members when they are up visiting and requested they 'shop' her breezeway for various grocery items she's brought home as leftovers/unclaimed food from the weekly food pantry she volunteers at. I like that approach much better, as I can say "I can really use those two boxes of elbow macaroni" or "I'd love to have three jars of creamy peanut butter" rather than having the responsibility of not wasting foods I don't/can't eat foisted on me. I can leave all the processed food I can't eat behind.  I can turn my back on the half-dozen cans of canned prunes.  Walk away from the cases of  super sweetened 'sports drink' and forget it even exists.

Until this month, that is.  DH went up north to retrieve a new mattress we'd bought at the store of his friend who gives us great deals.  The store is less than two miles from Mother-in-Law's house.  Which means DH had to stop in and see his mom while he was in the area.  He came home with not just our new mattress (which I was eagerly anticipating sleeping on, our other one having developed some quite uncomfortable hollows in recent years), but also with a 'box of food'.  A box, which, upon inspection, holds dried pinto beans.  Just dried pinto beans.  Nineteen one-pound bags of pinto beans.

*Sigh*.  Here we go again.  I checked with my kids to see if any of them would like some dried pinto beans.  Got rid of two bags.  With all of them working full time (except Surprise who is going to school and trying to do a little side hustle perfume business as well as still learning to be a mom, and Two-EEs who is on maternity leave for another few weeks), they are not interested in food that requires enough forethought to put it on to soak the night before you want to eat it plus an hour or more of simmering the day of.  If they want refried beans for taco night, they will grab a can at the grocery store.  

Because refried is pretty much the only way we've ever eaten pinto beans.  And, honestly, I'm in the same boat.  Can I use these beans and make refried beans?  Yes.  Have I made refried beans from scratch using dried pinto beans before? Yes.  Do I want to now?  Uh, not really.  I'm rather working full time plus myself this summer between the horse business and tending the garden.  I'm all about buying my refried beans by the can from the grocery store currently.  (On sale, and in multiples so I never run out, LOL).  

And with just DH and I at home to feed, I certainly am not going to soak and cook up an entire pound bag at a time.  It would take me YEARS to use up 19 pounds of dried pinto beans.

Does my local food bank want them?  Nope.  They want canned goods that people can open and heat, no skill (or soaking time) required.  (Honestly, I'm thinking that's why these 19 pounds of beans went unclaimed at the food pantry pick-up the week Mother-in-Law brought them back home so they didn't get thrown away when the pantry closed.)

But wait, there's more!  The beans aren't my only "What am I going to do with this? Where in the world am I going to store this?" food item this month.  Because when Mother-in-Law came down for Rascal and Octavia's baptism, she brought fish. 

Specifically, individually packaged, frozen lake trout filets.  Which sound like a great thing to be given, right?

I'm allergic to fish.

I have been allergic to fish the entire time I've known DH (and Mother-in-Law).  I'm pretty darn sure she knows I'm allergic to fish, the number of times we've been at her house in the last 34 years and I can't eat what she made for dinner because it's fish and I'm allergic to fish.

So, thirty frozen lake trout filets are not what I want to have to put into my freezer.  Because not only am I not going to eat a single bite of one of them, let alone thirty, I'm also not going to invite people over for dinner and serve them fish.  My allergy has gotten to where not only can't I eat it, but I can't cook it (for years I would occasionally cook fish for DH and the kids) either.  And, if I go into the house after someone else has cooked fish in my kitchen, I get ill just from the lingering fish oil in the air.  

This isn't just a matter of what am I going to do with this food I can't eat and don't want to throw away because it's good for other people who do want it.  No, this is more like being told you have the responsibility of caretaking this thing that could maybe kill you.  But you should be grateful for that responsibility because this thing didn't cost you anything.

I don't even want the darn things in my freezer, where I keep the meats that I can eat.  Not to mention the fact that we have a quarter of a beef on order that is going to the butcher in late August.  I need my freezer space for beef, not fish.

Do my kids want any of them?  Not really.  Because of past icky experiences with Mother-in-Law and seafood she has gifted them, they are all running away as fast as they can.  Nobody wants to take a chance on these fish even though both DH and I checked them thoroughly on arrival to make sure they hadn't thawed the least little bit (the thawed shrimp--from the food pantry, previously frozen--Christmas gifts one year are the reason for the adamant refusal of any seafood coming from Mother-in-Law).

Any ideas on where I can donate this fish?  Not that I have extra time in this incredibly busy season to call around and then drive it somewhere that can use it. . .

Happy Friday!

 It's been a busy week.  In the past seven days. . . 

--Rascal and Octavia got baptized! 

 

Of DS1 and K2's children, K3 and Toad had been baptized, but shortly after Rascal was born, K2 decided she did not like our church, tried a few others, also decided she didn't like them, and just plain refused to baptize Rascal anywhere.  Since by then DS1 was constantly walking on eggshells to not send her into a wild mental health episode (there were four suicide attempts and at least one OD in the two years before Rascal's birth and the three years after he was born  and before K2 died), Rascal just did not get baptized, no matter what anyone other than K2 thought was good for him.  Now, with it being several years since K2 passed away, and having another child about to be born, DS1 made arrangements--and explained to Rascal why he believes baptism is important--for Rascal to be baptized at the same time as Octavia. K2's brother along with his wife and sons (who live out of state) came to the baptism; it was wonderful to see them there.

--I worked in the garden a lot, catching up on weeding and mulching.  Sweaty, tired, sore, but the garden is looking great finally!  

That is, if you ignore that woodchucks or deer or rabbits ate all my pepper plants off to nubs.  I'm hoping there's time for them to regrow and produce peppers yet this season, but also keeping my ears open for somewhere I can get peppers of the right kinds in bulk when it's time to can salsa (after onions are harvested and once my tomatoes come on) and pickled peppers.

--My hay field finally got cut.  

This spring/summer we've had quite a bit of wet weather.  Which is great for making things grow, but really difficult to plan when to cut hay so that it's not either being laid on wet ground or gets rained on before the hay is dry and baled.  So, I have rather overmature hay (I'll be looking to buy more with better nutritional value elsewhere), but it can at least be fed to the 'air ferns' who get fat just by looking at hay as well as be used as 'busy hay' for feeding in the pastures over the winter or in the stalls on inclement weather days.  The fact that it was cut dry, baled dry, and put in the loft dry takes a load of worry off my shoulders.

Now, hopefully the weather will cooperate to have it grow fast enough that we can get a second cutting done in early to mid-September.  After that, it's really difficult to get hay to dry in Michigan. I'm planning on looking for about 200 bales of second cutting grass/grass mix hay to buy locally in the next month just as insurance that I will have enough hay in the loft to get through to next year's hay season.

                                    

--We got a cold front through on Wednesday night that brought our daytime temps back down into the mid-70s for Thursday and today.  Hooray!  I was out of bread and not really looking forward to heating the house up even more (it's been sitting in the 80s indoors; we don't have AC) by using the oven to bake more bread, so this cold spell arrived just in time.

--DD2 met DH and I yesterday evening for another free concert in the park of the nearby town.  It was an orchestra group made of high school kids from a town about 45 minutes away, and they played Celtic music.  The weather was great, and we had an enjoyable time watching and listening to these talented young musicians.

--When I went to the local Tractor Supply store this week for more broiler chick feed, I saw that they were clearancing out all their Schleich toys at 50% off.  Looking through what was left, I was happily surprised to find four horses that look just enough like the four horses that live at this little place here that I figured my grandkids would love to play 'Grandma's Horse Farm' with them.  So I bought them.  Now there's a herd outside, and a matching herd inside, LOL.

     

                                   

--Yesterday afternoon while I was out replacing some of the t-post insulator caps on my pasture fences (the clips that hold the electric tape had broken off, typically a result of deer trying to go over the fence and hitting it), about 20 feet in front of me popped up the twin fawns that have been living in my greater pasture area this summer.  They didn't run off, but rather stood curiously and watched me work for a few minutes before moving further away.

        
                                                                   

--This morning, DD1, Faline and I went and got hair cuts.  This was Faline's first hair salon experience (DD1 has been trimming it so far).  She will be going into kindergarten in about a month, and is getting to the stage where she wants to brush and fix her hair all by herself, but it was down almost to her waist and just too long for her to manage on her own.  

DD1 has been growing her hair since shortly after Buck was born (he'll be 3 in October) and was ready for shorter hair herself.  Mine hasn't been cut since shortly after K2's funeral in 2023 and has been sorely in need of a trim to even it out.  

So, when DD1 mentioned that she and Faline were going to go have their hair chopped and donate it to one of the foundations that makes wigs for children, I said "sign me up!" 

Both of my daughters have donated their hair twice in their lives; once in elementary school and once about the time they were entering high school, but mine has never been long enough to be donatable without leaving me with hair that would be super short.  Since I like brush-n-go hair (or, more accurately, brush-ponytail or braid-n-go), I didn't want my hair to be shorter than the tops of my shoulders.  It's been really slow growing since I was in my late 20s, and seems like it has taken forever and a day to get to mid-back length, which is where I felt it might be long enough to consider donating.

Come to find out, after I told the stylist at the salon this morning that I wanted my hair to be shoulder-length once the ponytail for donation was cut off and before finishing the cut to even out my remaining hair (because I have naturally curly hair and knew that shoulder-length after cutting would sproing up to closer to chin length when finished), I had 12" of hair to donate, of which about 10" was really usable because my hair has gotten thinner and straggly at the ends the last few years.  

Well, that was several inches more that I'd thought I had of donatable hair, so I told the stylist to go for it!  What the heck, it's hair, it will grow back.  Maybe slower than I'd like, but it would grow back.  As long as I could still get it into a low ponytail for neatness under a riding helmet or to get it off my neck in the summer heat, it didn't really matter how long of hair I was left with.

So she cut it level with the tops of my shoulders.  A nice long chunk to use for making some child's wig.  And, true to form, once it was cut, then washed and trimmed evenly (I told her nothing fancy, just blunt cut because it's almost always pulled back or twisted up into a bun) the curls did their thing and shortened it by another few inches.

Do I love my new short hair?  Meh.  I wear it pulled back 98% of the time anyway, so really it doesn't matter if I like the length of it down. 

What does my family think?  My youngest daughter doesn't remember when I had short hair in 1999.  And none of my grandkids have seen me with hair that didn't go at least several inches past my shoulders. It's going to be harder for them to get used to than it is for me.  And it'll grow.  Right?  Yes, it will grow (do you get the feeling I'm really hoping it picks up the speed at which it's been growing?)  In three or four years (*fingers crossed*) it will be back to a length that braids to about mid-back.

Who is this short-haired woman?!?

I *do* love my new little ponytail poof.

Does DD1 like her new shorter hair (just below her shoulders and she donated a full 12" of usable hair.  I should mention her hair is mostly straight with only a little natural wave.) Yes, she's feeling lighter and freer.

Does Faline like her new shorter (about shoulder length) hair?  Oh yes.  It's swingy now! She also fully enjoyed the beauty salon experience complete with hair wash, trim to a new (very simple) style, and having it blown out by the stylist.

It's been a good week, and I fell like we capped it off with some real warm fuzzies by sending away our hair for someone else to use and enjoy.

Apparently I'm the Weird One

 Indulge me in a funny little story, and I'll give you a 'custom' recipe at the end.  

Last weekend, I got a text from DD2.  (Which reminds me, I should do an update on DD2--big positive things have happened to her this year!)  She asked for my no bake cookie recipe saying "I thought I had it written down, but I can't find it anywhere.  And none of the ones online have coconut in them."

To which I replied "That's because coconut in no bakes is something I started doing many years ago at your Dad's request."

Then I told her that the coconut came from DH's fond memory of his childhood friend's (the friend with the appliance/home furnishings store at which we buy all our household brand-new big stuff) mother's no bake cookies.  Only she called them 'haystacks' and used no cocoa powder, but lots of peanut butter and coconut in them.  As an adult, DH had lost his fondness for peanut butter, and asked me once upon a time to add coconut to my regular no bake cookie recipe. (side note: all the haystack recipes I've seen use chow mien noodles, but DH insists these haystacks did NOT have chow mien noodles only oats.)

So, every time since then (looking back, I realized it had been definitely more than 22 years, and since DD2 is only 27, she doesn't remember any other way) I have put coconut in my no bake cookies unless we are out of coconut.  And since it's long been my goal to never run out of pantry staples, it's been pretty rarely that I've made 'normal' no bake cookies in this century.

DD2 then texted me back: "I can't believe the coconut is just a Dad preference.  I always thought that was normal for no bakes and have argued the point with friends before because no bakes without coconut are weird to me. But apparently I'm the weird one here."

Which gave us both a good laugh.  But, if you think about it, this is a great example of how our belief system is shaped by what we experience as kids. What we consider normal versus abnormal or weird.

I did let her know how much coconut to put in a to-everyone-but-her normal recipe for no bakes.  She made them for her new housemates and guests (they were having a moving in party), all of whom thought they were the neatest take on no bake cookies ever.  

Here's *my* (and DD2's!) no bake cookie recipe:

2 cups sugar

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)

1/2 cup milk

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup cocoa powder

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup shredded coconut*

3 cups rolled oats (or quick oats, if you prefer less 'meaty'/chewy cookies

Top a cooling rack (or two if you don't have a large cooling rack) with waxed paper.

Put the first four ingredients in a medium-large saucepan, and heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted and the mixture comes to a boil.  Boil and stir one minute.

Shut off burner, and stir in vanilla. Then stir in cocoa and peanut butter until the peanut butter is melted and mixture is smooth.  Add the coconut and oats, stirring until completely combined with the hot ingredients.

Using a large table spoon (like you'd eat with), place cookie mixture by spoonfuls onto the waxed paper.  Let sit until firm and cool.

 * if I'm a little short on oats, I add more coconut to make up the difference.  This helps keep the cookies from being too runny, yet I can still make a batch rather than miss out for want of a half-cup or less of oats.

Friday Happies

Some things this week that made me happy:

*DH and I had all six 'walking' grandkids (to differentiate those who could get around under their own power from the two infant grandchildren) for a day.  It was complete and utter chaos when DH was in charge (I confess, I took delight in his exhaustion, mainly because this had been his brilliant idea and I'd tried to tell him six kids wasn't going to be as easy and fun as he thought. . .) but when he let me be the boss, there wasn't whining or fussing and everyone moved reasonably quickly when they were told to do or not to do something.  That was the 'happy' part: knowing I was right that it wasn't easy, and secretly enjoying seeing him be overfaced at times.

Part of the day was spent at a local park with a big playground.  When it was time to go (and DH was dragging his feet about rounding up the kids and getting them all into the two vehicles we'd driven), I simply called them all over, asked who wanted a package of fruit snacks --to which they all said ME!-- and told them that as soon as they were buckled into their seats I would hand out fruit snacks.  Five minutes later all six kids had walked willingly to where we'd parked, hopped into the vehicles and, if they were big enough, buckled themselves in.  No fussing, no whining, and all happy smiles.  (Something I learned while raising my four kids mostly by myself while DH's job had him working long hours and/or traveling out of state:  work smarter, not harder.  Be prepared with at least two plans for every situation. Corral the troops, keep morale good, and always be alert for signs of mutiny.)

Rascal and Faline

Buck

L to R: Buck, K3, Rascal, Faline, Sixlet, Toad

*I had a great ride on the Poetess the other day. We canter now during just about every riding session, and she is really getting the hang of transitioning back down to the trot when asked (rather than thinking she should keep on going if I didn't totally throw away the reins).  We've also started riding outside the fenced in area behind the barn, just little short jaunts out a couple hundred yards or so and back, keeping things calm and low-key.  This particular ride we kicked up a fawn while outside the fence, and Poetess did startle when it jumped up in front of her, but then she stopped and stood looking at it rather than wheel and try to run away.  I love this horse; she has a great brain.

*The broiler chicks (and the four little pullets plus our 'free' chick) have moved out of the brooder in the garage and into the grow out pen.  Hooray!  They were getting rather big and stinky for the brooder, and I was getting tired of having to try to shovel it out.  They will now live outside for 3-4 weeks before heading off to freezer camp (and the other five chicks move to the coop with the big chickens).  No more shoveling, just moving the pen to fresh grass daily.

* The long hours of daylight.  I am so solar powered.  And, honestly, I don't mind hot weather nearly as much as I mind cool and damp weather.  I find it much easier to cool myself off than warm myself up, so Summer is probably my favorite season (although I don't think I truly have a favorite).  

*I was able to get with my BFF since 8th grade whom I hardly ever see (but we text and/or message on FB fairly often) and we traded some iris rhizomes.  I gave her a couple that are super dark purple and a black/dark purple with pale lavender standards and she gave me a bright yellow, and a pink that I don't have, plus a couple mixed kinds that aren't exactly the same but similar color combinations to some that I do have. It was great to swap plants, and to see my friend of over four decades.  We're both busy with work, grown kids, and grandkids, so it's been somewhere in the realm of five years since we've spent time face to face.

*The lilies  and drumstick allium are in bloom.

* I found a teeny tiny baby praying mantis on one of my dahlia plants.  It was so small!  Only a little bigger than an inch long.

How has your week been?  What are some of the things you took delight in this week?

The Other New Family Additions

 Without pictures, but I wanted to give recognition to the other three new member of my family in addition to Octavia.

First, is her mom, who shall be known here as Two-EEs.  Because her name is a very popular late 1980s/early 1990's girl's name, only her parents chose to differentiate it from all the other girls of that name by spelling it with two E's.  You'll just have to wonder if she's an  Ashlee, Brittanee, Courtnee, Haylee, Katee, Kelsee, Lexee, Sydnee, Toree. . . 

Next would be Octavia's oldest sister, Two-EEs daughter from her first marriage (pretty much right out of high school).  She lives with her bio dad and step-mom on step-mom's parents' cattle farm, so I don't see her as often as the others.  She's in high school, a member of 4-H and loves raising a steer each year as her project.  Her name shall be Cowgirl.

And then there's Octavia and Cowgirl's brother, Two-EEs son from a different marriage (and, from what I've been told, whose bio dad isn't part of his life) who will turn 4 this November (I think, it's November anyway need to be a good Grandma and verify the date). He absolutely loves tractors and is obsessed with everything tractor related.  So his name obviously is going to be Tractor.  

Which, incidentally, is the nickname one of the softball dads gave DD1 when she was about middle school age and would fearlessly plow through any defensive player blocking the baseline when she was baserunning.  I guess that makes it kind of a family name; I'm hoping that Tractor will, over time, be as comfortable with me being his Grandma as my grandkids who've known me their whole lives are.

Which means that at gatherings of me and DH and our descendants, there now will be nineteen people!  Definitely time to clean out our basement and get it set up for comfortably seating big groups.

Octavia's Quilt

 I decided on a blog name for Grandbaby #8, who has joined us this past weekend.  Going with the numeric theme I unintendedly started with Grandbaby #6, Sixlet, and continued with Grandbaby #7, Lucky, I like Octavia (meaning, eighth) for this next one.  And I have to confess that yes, I do tentatively have a name in mind for Grandbaby #9, if there ever is one, and if it's female.  Time will tell, we'll all have to wait and see on that.

But now is about Octavia, her name official, and the baby quilt I made for her.

Her quilt was completed at the beginning of June, and has been gifted to her and her parents, so therefore I can now publicly show pictures of it!

true to color photo of backing (and a little of the front border)

while I was working on the binding.

Like K3, Toad, and Rascal, her quilt is a simple design of 6" squares of fabric.  That is the design I picked for all my grandkids sired by DS1 back when K3 was born. Like I talked about in this post, it also contains fabrics that are in her older siblings' quilts as well as a fabric that is in her cousin Faline's quilt.

a very untrue-to-actual-colors photo of the quilt top

Right now our weather is way too hot to wrap her up in her quilt.  And she's so tiny (being induced early because her mom was showing signs of going into pre-eclampsia, she weighed in at 5# 11oz) she would get lost in it anyway.  But this quilt is big enough for her to cuddle under for about a decade to come.

For now, here's a picture of her meeting her Papa.

Sixlet, On The Move

 Sixlet, our sixth grandchild, is now 15 months old.  He got the long, skinny (but kind of potbellied) body  type of my side of the family.  He so much looks to be of the bean pole variety so far that we're all expecting he will be taller than his older brother Buck in another year or two.  Poor Buck got DH's big boned-ness (like DD1) but the shorter genes from Honorary Son's side of the family.  

Recently, Sixlet decided it was time to just stand up and walk.  He's been furniture walking for months and months, many months before his birthday, but had preferred to crawl speedily through open spaces rather than worry about balancing himself when there's nothing to hold onto.  With grass growing outside and the weather being warm enough for shorts rather than pants, he had to debate the prickly feel of grass on his bare knees and shins versus the effort of balancing to walk unassisted.

The mildly unpleasant feel of grass on skin won out, and now he walks everywhere. Almost as if he's been doing it forever, not just a week or two.

watching Faline's T-ball game

With his strawberry blond hair, and the fact that because of his need for length, most of his clothes are kind of big around/baggy looking, this picture of him in this outfit makes me think he's auditioning for a mini Steve Irwin role.

Time will tell if he's actually an intrepid outdoor adventurer. Thus far, all indications are yes.

Randomosity

A bunch of random stuff from recently.

The peonies here are nearly done for the year.  Last week, they were blooming in full bore, and I cut some for bringing inside.  They replaced the vase of irises that had been on the kitchen island, and infused my kitchen with that peony/rose-like aroma.

The vanilla extract I started in April (mentioned in this post) has now steeped it's minimum two months before using, and just in time because I ran out of the previous batch at the end of May.  This is how it looks now

compared to what it looked like in April when I started it

DH and I observed our 32nd wedding anniversary by attending a local free concert that evening.  We got take out Cuban sandwiches (he got chips and pop with his, I got a slice of cheesecake with mine), and ate our dinner while sitting in the park listening to the concert.  The band played 70s and 80s music, right up our alley.  In addition to the good music (all of which we knew and most of which I sang along to) the weather was absolutely perfect and there were no mosquitos!

Another night, I made a batch of pepperoni calzones for dinner.  It's been a while since I had made them, and we were also out of what I call 'lunch box food' in the freezer--homemade stuff I can toss in DH's lunch box for when he has to work in-office rather than from home.  So they killed two birds with one stone: a yummy dinner plus three days worth of lunch box entrees for the freezer.

DD1 had a doctor appointment, and asked me to watch Faline, Buck, and Sixlet for a few hours while she was at that.  DH wrapped up his work a little early, and went with me to their house.  The kids were surprised that he came too (they'd only expected me), and they put him to work.  Faline wanted to show us how she can ride her bike, but sadly reported she couldn't because the chain was off.  Well, DH had her get it out, and he proceeded to do a tutorial in bike repair, which Faline and Buck watched raptly.  Now Faline knows how to put a chain back on a bicycle (whether or not her little arms and fingers have the strength to do it herself next time remains to be seen).

The Shipshe Trip

 Shipshe being the dialectual shortening of Shipshewana, the town in Indiana not far from the Michigan/Indiana border known for it's Amish community.  In the past 10 or so years, I and one or both of my daughters plus a granddaughter or two, have done an overnight trip to there annually or biennially for some time away from home, men, and general life responsibilities.  

We always stay at the same hotel, the Farmstead Inn, which is typically peaceful and quiet, clean and well run, and provides a hot breakfast along with many choices of cold breakfast if that is your preference.  

Over the years, we've found which places we like to shop at or otherwise just revisit, which places we like to dine at, and have developed a routine for our trip.  It's always a summer trip, being that it's hard for DD1, a teacher, to get away during the school year.  Also, the flea market in Shipshewana is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Initially, the flea market was our main destination.  However, in recent years, we spend less and less time at the flea market (which seems to have become less of a handmade/Amish made market and more of the types of goods you'd find at pretty much any flea market anywhere in the US).  Our main targets are 

• the Davis Mercantile with Lolly's Fabrics, Simple Sounds (a music store with instruments and sheet music and all things instrumental), a candy store, a puzzle/toy store, and random other stores (typically we skip most of the random others); 
• Yoder's Hardware and Yoder's Department Store; 
• The Redbud Coffee and Tea Cafe in the Red Barn (very delicious tea blends including my favorite--those with no leaves!  since I don't like traditional tea, only floral/fruit ones); 
• Yoder's Meat and Cheese Co, 
• and of course the grocery store E&S Sales.

There are lots and lots of other shops and attractions in Shipshewana, but the ones I listed are on our 'Must See' list and are places we go to every time.  After this most recent trip, however, I'm wondering if in the future we need to extend our trip by a day in order to have more time to explore more of what's there (most shops are open only until 5:00 p.m.), or if perhaps I need to maybe do a separate trip without the group. . . I'd love to take a 'just me and DH' trip to Shipshe, but I don't think he'd enjoy it quite as much as I do.  For one thing, I'm fairly sure the hotel doesn't allow alcohol, which is fine with me (and one reason I love staying there), but is a hard thing for him to find enjoyable on a 'vacation'.

Anyway, we got to Shipshewana around 1:00, which gave us time to hit the Davis Mercantile first, and not have to rush through Lolly's.  Lolly's always takes time, partly because the sheer size of the store and their offerings, and partly because they have a boat which is always overflowing with fat quarters.  Looking through the boat can easily take more than an hour.  

As soon as we walked through the door, Faline went right to the boat and quite literally dove in.

Once we convinced her that being in the boat wasn't allowed, she found a shopping basket and proceeded to put all the fat quarters with fabrics she liked into the basket.  According to her, her Barbies were in need of pillows and blankets made with fabrics that featured bananas, hot dogs, flowers, stripes, fish, and more.  DD1 talked her down to just two or three of the fat quarters she had chosen.

My personal mission at Lolly's was to get fabric for two flannel nightgowns: one for Faline (she'd called me two weeks before to ask me to sew her a new nightgown because the one I had sewed her previously had 'suddenly' gotten too small) and one for K3 (if she should want one; she did.)  I let each girl pick the fabric for their own nightgown and had it cut to the length needed before I allowed myself to figuratively dive into the boat and look at fat quarters. Of which, I very responsibly limited myself to two.

A thunderstorm blew up unexpectedly, and we got drenched going from the Mercantile to where we'd parked.  Our original plan for this trip had included a swim in the hotel pool after Davis Mercantile and before going out to dinner.  With our wet clothes and hair, we all were chilled and decided to just hang out in our room for a bit after checking in, and move the swim to after dinner.  There was some bored shenanigans from Faline (it's tough being 4 years old and having to wait for the grown ups), but overall she was pretty good with waiting and hung out on one of the beds with K3 watching a video on K3's phone.

After a good dinner from the buffet at the Blue Gate Restaurant, the girls did finally get to go swimming.  We all went to the hotel's indoor pool and swam, played in the water, and relaxed in the hot tub for well over an hour.  The only picture I took was at the end, when Faline and K3 were putting their wet towels into the bin for housekeeping to launder.  The whole trip, Faline was totally hero worshipping her older cousin, and thankfully K3 was willing to go along with being the cool chosen one.

A new tradition we started on our last trip, in 2023, is to hit the breakfast area beside the pool area after we finish swimming.  There is ice water and hot water available there 24/7 (as far as we can tell, we've never checked after 9 p.m. or before 6 a.m.), as well as tea bags, instant coffee, and hot chocolate packets.  I didn't believe it until I tried it for myself, but a cup of hot chocolate after swimming on a summer evening is actually really good.  Rather than making you feel too hot, it's just kind of cozy.  Maybe if you don't have long, wet hair your experience might be different.  But for all us chicks with long tresses, a good cup of hot chocolate post swimming pool is enjoyable.

The next morning, while sitting in the breakfast area savoring our hot breakfast (egg burritos, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, sausage. . .), Faline commented that there was a playground outside and that she'd never gotten to play on it before.  Indeed, out the large windows of the breakfast area, you could see a nice playground belonging to the hotel.  And, indeed, on previous trips, Faline (or K3) had not had the opportunity to play there.  So I asked, since both she and I were done with our breakfasts, if she wanted to go back to the room with me so I could finish packing up my stuff, and then I would take her to the playground to wait for the rest of our group to be done eating and packing.  Of course she said yes!

Once out there, she had to try out every slide and swing and the teeter-totter (yes, this grandma attempted to teeter-totter with someone about 1/2 my height and roughly 1/4 my weight; it was hard on the knees, LOL).  I was amazed, after the first big push I gave her on the first swing, to see her keep the momentum going by pumping her legs.  Apparently pumping is a newly acquired skill for her.

Once we checked out of the hotel, we began our shopping excursion at E&S Sales.  In addition to great fresh baked goods (Whoopie Pies, anyone?), they have lots of scratch and dent, close dated, and bulk food items.  I typically stock up on some bulk spices I can't find around home in bulk (such as bay leaves for soups, marinades and canning dill pickles), as well as random candy (typically chocolate, plus a bag of Bit-o-Honey for DH).

The food purchases, mostly from E&S, but meat and cheese from Yoder's

Next stop on our planned route (which, after E&S, had us making all right turns onto and off of the main road through town until, at the last, we had to turn left to get into the Yoder's Shopping Center for the hardware and department stores ), was the flea market.  Splitting into three groups for most of that part of the morning, I think we made it through the 40ish acres of flea market in record time: about 1 1/2 hours!  Like I mentioned before, a lot of the flea market has become things you can find at just about any flea market, so we cruised right on past many, many booths without stopping to look individually at their items.  I did pick up a few things, as shown in the photo below.

Rubberized gardening gloves for weeding in dewy/wet conditions,

teal blue duct tape for using in the barn (because it doesn't have to be gray or black),

a leaping deer cast iron bottle opener for DH (only $2!!)

After the flea market, we went to the Auction House restaurant for a yummy lunch.  I think they've changed hands again since we were there in 2023, or at least, their menu has changed.  The food was still good, but with the exception of their traditional included side dish of applesauce, coleslaw or cottage cheese with every meal, and the selection of pies for dessert, not much of the menu of stereotypical Amish foods (like the awesome chicken and noodles) from the previous ownership (2020 and prior) remains.  I was a little bummed out that it had a lot of typical burger/sandwich fare with french fries these days.  The BBQ pulled pork sandwich I had was good, but it wasn't those chicken noodles I'd been dreaming of when planning the trip.

More shopping ensued after lunch. Due to where at the flea market we'd parked, Yoder's Red Barn Shoppes and Yoder's Meat and Cheese Co were on our way from the restaurant to our truck, so we walked and stopped at each.  The meat and cheese store has delicious offerings; their smoked gouda is a family favorite. In fact, Honorary Son had asked DD1 to bring home 5 pounds of it!  

Once finished up there, we packed our meat and cheeses into our cooler, tucked everything else into the bed of the truck, and drove to our last stop: Yoder's Shopping Center.  I love looking at fabric in the Department store, but I also love going to the Hardware.  Before I left home, DH asked what I could possibly want from that hardware store that I couldn't get from any of the hardwares near home.  I then had explained that they have way more than nuts and bolts and tools and hoses.  They have beekeeping and syrup making and wine making and canning and baking supplies, as well as tons of off-grid living type stuff, livestock supplies and even puzzles and toys for kids.

I treated myself to, from the Hardware, 

• a new large frosting spreader (my other one having gotten loaned out a handful of years ago and never returned), 
• a French style rolling pin (something I've been considering for a number of years), 
• a new clothespin bag to replace one I'd sewn many years ago that is on it's last legs and I doubt I'll have time this summer to whip up a new one, 
• two nice dish cloths (Rada, I believe; they sell Rada there) with pale green stripes.  Because, while I have, and love, my other Rada dishcloths, none of them have green! (Green being my all time absolute favorite color.)
• a pie crust decorative cutter, which is something I'd never heard of before but was instantly enamored with.  I don't typically make two-crust pies, now I guess I'm going to have to make them more often so I can use my fancy cutter.  I mean, look at that super cool crust on the label!

At the Department store, I reined myself in.  Before leaving home, I'd sternly told myself that other than flannel for granddaughters' nightgowns, I don't need more fabric.  *Sigh*  But there's so much lovely fabric in Shipshewana. . .  So I only allowed myself a few remnants (1/3yd each), two fat quarters, and a 2 1/2 yard piece of bubble gum pink cotton that I intend to sew Faline a surprise summer weight nightgown with.  I did good.  It hurt to leave so much loveliness behind, but I controlled myself.

Flannels and flannel fat quarters and a hot pad pattern from Lolly's,

pink cotton, remnants, thread and fat quarters from Yoder's Department Store.

It was a good trip.  Both in fellowship with my daughters and granddaughters, and in the items on my lists that I managed to bring home with me.  I really would like to go back and check out some of the places I've never been that we just didn't have time for.  Although I think I need to do a whole lot of sewing first, and use up at least a double digit percentage of my fabric stash.  Because I'm not sure I can be so good a second time at not buying all the pretty fabric.  =0)

I Thought I Was SOL on Broiler Chickens This Year

 When I looked, back in early March, at the website for the hatchery I've almost always ordered my chicks from, it said they were totally sold out of broiler chickens (and fryer chickens, and any other chicken hefty enough to be for dinner) for the 2025 season.  OH NO!

Trying not to panic, I looked at the website for a hatchery I've ordered from once before, a few years ago.  Same deal.  UH-OH!  Now I was starting to panic.

Looking at the websites of every hatchery I'd ever heard of, and some I'd never heard of (desperation Googling at that point), the likelihood of me raising some meat chickens this year was looking very, very grim.  Maybe I could get lucky and find some broiler chicks at one of the farm stores within a 30-40 mile radius of this little place here.

Meanwhile, I decided to try to ration the chicken that was left in the freezer from last year's crop and hope for the best.  

Well, all Spring I've been checking for chicks at the farm stores.  Limited breeds of laying pullets, but zero meat type chicks at any of them any time I checked (or asked about the coming week's chick delivery).  My hopes of finding broiler chicks pretty much hit rock bottom.

At the end of May, looking in the freezer and recounting what packages of what chicken parts I have, I knew that strategy would not get us through until Summer 2026 without having to buy chicken from the grocery store.  Which, after doing that over a decade ago, I knew without a doubt I did not want to be reliant on grocery store chicken.  It's just not the same as homegrown chicken; not the same flavor, not the same texture. 

In early June, I happened to get an email from that one hatchery I'd once ordered from.  In their email, they stated that they currently were having overhatches and that as long as I wasn't picky about the date my chicks arrived (maybe as early as three days from the date I was reading the email!!) I could put in an order for broiler chicks and get on a waiting list, as it were.

Which got me curious if the availability status for broiler chicks had changed at my preferred hatchery, too.  So I got online and looked.  And, hallelujah!!!! They had Cornish Rock cross chicks available for limited dates, the first of which was the next week!  

Quickly, I added the quantity I wanted to my cart, threw in a few Rhode Island Red pullet chicks, and hit submit before the hatch was sold out.  There was a slight possibility that they would arrive before I got home from the Shipshewana trip that DD1, DD2, K3, Faline and I were going on, but, based on previous experience with shipping times via USPS, I figured I was safe to order for the first available hatch.

Just in case, and because I figured I'd be really tired when I got home from that Girl's Trip to Shipshe, I got the brooder out and set up before we left.

Well, guess what!  When we arrived at our hotel in Shipshewana, I checked my email and saw that my chicks had shipped from the hatchery in Iowa while we were driving the 2+ hours from home.  No big deal, as they have, many times, spent a whole 24 hours sitting in Minneapolis awaiting their flight to Detroit.  We'd definitely be home before the chicks hit the local post office.

The next morning, right before we checked out of our hotel and were ready to begin our adventures for the day, I checked the tracking and saw that my birds hadn't gone through Minneapolis this time, but had made Indianapolis in the night and were currently on their way to Detroit.  Hmm.  But should still be fine; I mean, the hub in Detroit wouldn't get them until afternoon, which meant they wouldn't be arriving my way until the following morning. 

Just after  3 p.m., literally 5 miles out of Shipshewana, on our way home (ETA for us: definitely after 5:15 p.m. even if we didn't need any potty stops) my phone rang.  It was the post office near this little place here.  They had my chicks and wanted to let me know so  I could pick them up before the post office closed at 5:00.  They did not want to hold onto them overnight.

UH-OH!

I explained my situation and asked if I had to pick them up myself or if I could send someone for me.  Apparently they would be happy to hand my box of chicks to anyone who showed up and knew they were there.  So then I tried to call DH, but he didn't answer.  Not knowing if he was working from home that day or working in office (which he usually does that day of the week),.now I wasn't sure who to call to run and get my chicks.

DD1 said that Honorary Son was working in the vicinity of that post office that afternoon (he does IT) and that he was scheduled to be done at 4:00, did I want her to see if he would be willing to do the pick up?

Which is how Honorary Son got a message that said "Go to (City) Post Office after work and pick up chicks".  Taken out of context, that is a very strange message to get from your wife.  Rightly so, he was confused and called for clarification.  Once DD1 explained it was a box of day old chickens that was in need of transportation to my house, Honorary Son was happy (I think) to stop by the post office, get them, and drop them off in my house on his way home.

Once we got there, an hour or so after Honorary Son had done the package drop, I plugged in the brooder light, filled the feeders and waterers, and with Faline and K3's help, unpacked the 16 broiler chicks, 4 Rhode Island Red chicks and the one 'free' cockerel chick.  They all seemed to be energetic and healthy, none the worse the wear for their travels.

I think I owe Honorary Son a roast chicken dinner, with all the fixings, in about 7 weeks after these guys go to the processor.

Lucky Days

 In March, Surprise called and asked if I might be able to babysit Lucky for her one or two days a week this Spring and maybe Summer so that she could resume taking  college classes (she had gone back to school to finish her bachelor's just prior to finding out she and DS2 were expecting Lucky).  Knowing how busy that time of year is with working horses and with gardening among all the normal day to day home stuff, I told her we could try one afternoon a week if Lucky came to me rather than me driving to their home.

We settled on Tuesdays from 1-5 p.m., and started on the third week of March, when Surprise was going to register for Summer classes.  With the exception of two Tuesdays that I all ready had other things on my calendar (a farrier appointment and Spring Break trip with K3 and Toad), Lucky and I have been hanging out together for over two months now.

What was originally supposed to give Surprise time to either do school work or catch up on housework while I watched Lucky never really happened that way.  Turned out that Surprise only signed up for one class for Summer semester, and that it was a expedited course (only 6 weeks? if I remember right) and that it didn't have a rigid schedule on when she had to be online working on it.  Plus, she decided that rather than drop Lucky off to me and leave, she would just hop on our wifi at this little place here and work from my dining room table.  Which actually ended up about 30-60 minutes of working and the rest wanting to talk to me. For four hours every Tuesday during a time that just gets busier and busier for me.

Now, I'm really glad for these days of spending time with Lucky as he went from newborn into a little human who tries to initiate contact with people and interact with them.  But, I have a ton of work to do in this season, mostly outdoor and therefore dependent on weather (use all the good weather days we get!) and not things I can do in the house or with a still very small person in tow/in my arms.  So, this week was the last Tuesday for a while that Lucky and I hung out together.  I had to make the decision to tell Surprise that now that her class has finished, I need to not babysit for at least the next month, possibly the rest of the summer.

Lucky is now four months old, over 27" long, 13 pounds heavy, rolls, drools everywhere, cutting teeth all ready, has great head control and core strength, and loves looking at things, including books.

He also appears to have the widow's peak hairline that is prevalent on my side of the family.

His newest book I found just last weekend at a garage sale.  For only 50 cents, I couldn't resist!  This book is part of a series of science based board books.  Being that our whole family are kind of science geeks, and both DH and DS2 are engineers, and therefore everybody kind of expects Lucky to have scientific leanings, how could I not buy this book for him?