Everyone
was nice, but given the circumstances it was just a little weird and
uncomfortable. Matt and I set out with the hoagies at 10:30 and
it took us until 1:30 to get them all delivered and get back home.
We had a lot of fun, though. I don't get a lot of time alone
with Matt these days so it was nice to be cooped up in the car and
have a chance to talk. We picked up Megan, who had spent the
night at a friend's, on our way home.
We drove to Hillsdale, about an
hour and a half to the northeast of us, this afternoon. Tim's
sister and her family moved there from Delaware in January. They
bought an older house that was a bank foreclosure so it was incredibly
cheap. It needs a lot of cosmetic work and updating, but is
structurally sound and layed out very nicely with some lovely
features. They invited the whole family today to celebrate the
birthdays of another of Tim's sisters and his brother that are later
this coming week. We had a deep-fried turkey. I've heard
so much about those that I was really anxious to try it. The
verdict? It was good, but not any different from a regular oven
roasted turkey to me. I prefer when my mom's husband smokes a
turkey. The kids had a great time with their cousins playing
basketball, playing computer games, throwing balls for the dogs,
climbing trees and toasting marshmallows in the bonfire that was
started after dark. Tim seemed to enjoy himself, too. I
was glad for that. Sometimes his family can be very cold to him
and though he says he doesn't care, I know it cuts deeply.
We came home this evening with a
new addition to the family. Tim's sister gave us an Arancauna
hen. She (Coo-Coo-Cachoo) is about 2 1/2-3 months old and has
been raised in the house as a pet. The youngest of our nieces
kept a dog crate in her room and the chicken lived in that. She
likes being held and watches television of all things. Tonight
is her first night living like a chicken. She is out in the
shed, though still in a dog crate. She is too small to put in
with the rooster and too big to put in with our chicks (we did try
that). She is a bit small for her age, but we are thinking that
may be because they'd not been feeding her anything but cracked corn.
No feed with protein, no vegetable scraps or anything. We gave
her a bit of chick feed for tonight and she went nuts. Tomorrow
I will give her some of the regular feed. I'm not sure what I'm
going to do with her. Either I'm going to see if our neighbor
will keep her with her chickens until I can take her back since she
has amazing success at adding to her flock or see if I can't get
someone to take the Rhodies right away.
March 28
We were all up bright and early
today. Nervous, I guess about visiting a new church. We
enjoyed the one we went to. The people were so friendly and the
pastor was great! Still we are not sure it is the church for us.
They practice a few things we don't and today's service was three
hours long. That was a real struggle for Megan.....and
honestly at that point for the rest of us, too. I guess normally
the services run closer to two hours. Anyway, we've decided not
to make any decisions based on one visit. We're going to go back
a few more times so we can get a true idea of what it's like.
I took Coo-Coo-Cachoo over to
meet my neighbor today and asked if she would have a place for her for
a few weeks or so. She was afraid to put her in with her whole
flock so let me put her in a converted rabbit hutch she used to keep
geese in. I can go over and care for her myself at any time this
way and once Coo-Coo settles in a bit she is going to see if she can
introduce just one of her bantams for company. In return for the
space Tim is going to give her the plywood and cut it to size to put a
new roof on the hutch/coop.
Tim has been straightening out
his workshop all afternoon and he and Matt are working on screwing
drywall panels to the rafters to create a sort of attic space.
When it is done I can put all my Christmas boxes and other seasonal
decorations up there to clear some space in my shed. Right now
my shed houses the 26 chicks, all of our bikes, all those decorations,
my gardening/potting tools, the lawnmower, the pool pump and all the
toys, all the kids' outside toys, the boxes with our out of season
clothes and a collection of at least 30-40 shovels, rakes and hoes.
It is VERY crowded in there! I started to complain after the
crate for the chicks went in because there is just enough room to get
in and feed them and that is it. A person can't even get to
anything else. With the warmer weather coming it has to get
cleared out.
March 31
Tim and I both rushed home from
work today so we'd have time to get showered and changed before
getting Matt back to the high school. He was inducted into the
World Language Honor Society and had to be there half an hour before
the program actually started. Tim wasn't quite ready so I had to
run Matt out then hurry back home to pick up Tim and Megan. It
was a nice program, but they held it in the cafeteria and we had to
sit on those hard benches for an hour. It got pretty
uncomfortable and we were hungry on top of it. We didn't have
time for supper before going so stopped for pizza afterward.
April 1
I didn't fall victim to any
pranks today, so that was a good thing. Matt and Megan were on
their own after school today because I drove the volleyball team to a
match (Matt's group didn't go this time). I left them a list of
things to do and instructions for making supper. They managed to
make sloppy joes and french fries without any problems. I picked
the team up right after my afternoon run at 4:30 and we were at the
other school by 5:15. I parked the bus and went in to
watch....something I don't usually do, but since it was Matt's sport
and team mates, I did. Boy, did I pick the wrong day to do that.
In volleyball they play best out of 5 matches to determine the winner
and by the middle of the fourth match it looked like our guys were
going to take it and we'd be going home so I went out to start the bus
and get it warmed up before I brought it back around to the gym.
Imagine my surprise to find the parking lot crammed full of cars.
So full, in fact, that the bus was blocked in. I rushed to find
security and they informed me that the school's musical began that
night and that they would make an announcement to move some of the
cars during the intermission. That wasn't until an hour and a
half later! The team had come out and was on the bus around 9:00
and we couldn't get out until 9:40. Oops! So, it was 10:20
when I dropped them off at the school and nearly 11:00 when I got
home. No one was up when I got here so I thought I'd vent to you
folks while I'm waiting for the sloppy joes to reheat. I'm
starving. As soon as I eat I'm off to bed. I'm going to be
so tired tomorrow.
April 2
I was right. I am very
tired today. I took a short nap after my run this morning but I
think that just made it worse. I don't really feel well, either,
but that's probably just from being so tired and out of sorts.
It's raining here. It
started raining Tuesday and it's been raining ever since.
Whenever anyone talks about the weather you hear concerns that this
year will be like last. It seemed then like it started raining
in April and didn't stop until September. It was a very cool,
wet summer and a lot of plans were ruined, gardens didn't do so well,
lawns grew like crazy, flooding was a problem. After that, four
days of rain in a row has us worried.
Oh my, I thought I could write a
bit more but I'm more tired than I thought. I guess I should go
try to sleep just a bit more before I have to go back to work.
Carpe diem! |
