Local Sign

The forecast calls for highs in the mid-50's here tomorrow. I don't mind that a bit!

The value of a thousand words

A book I'm currently reading on fetal alcohol effects led me to hunt down the single picture I have of one of my sons as a baby. Thankfully, I found it. That one, poor-quality copy of a polaroid brings tears to my eyes every time I see it. Sometimes it's for the time I missed. Sometimes it's for the hurt that baby had already experienced, and the hurt he didn't know was yet to come -- the hurt I wish I could've protected him from, and the hurt I was a part of.

As well as I know my son, and as much as I love him, looking at that picture makes him seem more "real" to me. It gives me a different perspective of who he is now. That fresh perspective, the tenderness toward him, and the tears are so very important. He desperately needs me to be impacted in that way, encouraged to keep learning how I can better love and help him.

Lord, give me the strength and courage to continue this journey.

My kids on Daily Kos

How unlikely is that??

Ah, but what a hoot!

And now they're 16 and 14.

Happy Birthday, Lynae!!

Temporary Mohawks

Michael and Jon like it when Lynae cuts their hair!

Broiler Update

Remember these little cuties?

Most of them are grown up now.

They're all meaty and tasty-looking, aren't they? I see Stir Fry... Barbecue... Cacciatore... Dumpling... Soup...

Here are our young layers. This is their Amish pose. One of them is clearly not cooperating. Happy free rangers, they are... and that's ok, since they haven't yet discovered the gardens.

All right, you are sentenced to time in the chicken tractor! Just kidding. We put it in for a size comparison. And as you can see, after 7 weeks there's quite a difference.

So if you plan to call or stop by next weekend, we'll be butchering.

The Garden is In

After a few false starts, we got the garden in last week. This picture shows most of it. If what we've experienced so far is any indication, I LOVE these raised beds! I'm doing square foot gardening without the permanent grid. Mel would not approve, but it's working for us so far. I do see the benefit of the grid, and may install it later on. I have my squares mapped out using Plangarden so I can keep track of what's where.

I did not plan to use perlite in my raised beds. I started with vermiculite. When we were ready to fill the majority of our beds, we couldn't find vermiculite in the amount we needed. After calling around in the Duluth area, we found one nursery that supposedly had vermiculite in big bags. When we got there, we found it was perlite in bags that said "Vermiculite Perlite". I was so tired of looking at that point, I just bought it. I'm not thrilled with it, but the plants don't seem to mind much.

The potatoes and onions are already as big as they were by harvest time last year. That's a very good sign. I'm hoping that the horseradish we transplanted into pots to hang out with the potatoes will deter any potato-loving pests.

If the zucchini plant in the front corner produces, it will be a first for me. I just thought of something. Do these plants grow both male and female flowers, or do I need to plant more to get fruit?

I have planted enough beans to feed a small army. In the past, I've gotten a pitiful yield from the beans I've planted. (Really, I've gotten a pitiful yield from everything but my grape tomatoes.) I wouldn't really mind having "too many" this year.

Grace has her own garden again, too. She's growing various flowers, chives, basil, cilantro, oregano, and a tomato... not yet sure which kind. Her garden is right outside the back door, which makes it the perfect location for the herbs we'll use most.

This week we have lots of warm weather and a bit of rain in the forecast, so I'm hoping our plants will grow and be happy!

Spring Break: Week 2

I started a couple more blog posts last week, but we were so busy, none of them was finished. Maybe if things slow down, I can post them.

This week we're making raised beds. I replanted garlic, since last fall's planting failed miserably. It's late, but we'll see what happens. Tomorrow I hope to get the peas and spinach in the ground. Other seedlings are doing well under the grow light.

Wednesday was a big shopping day down in "the Cities". We had a Lowe's card from Kentucky, so we went to the nearest Lowe's and spent what was left on that. We also had a coupon for Home Depot, so we went a little wild buying plants there. Lynae and I both bought shoes at the Nike outlet. I noticed a Claire's across the parking lot, so we took the opportunity to do something we'd been discussing quite often lately; the girls both had their ears pierced.

We went to Perkin's for supper. It was the most peaceful restaurant meal we've enjoyed in years. We had a whole back dining room to ourselves, with wonderful ambiance and classical music. The kids are beginning to recognize classical composers, which made it even more special. We took some time to pray together while waiting for our meal. It was truly memorable.

Before coming home, we picked up a few more things for the garden at Walmart. Then a handsome young man drove us safely home, whereupon all the children soon tumbled into bed.

And now... it's my turn!

We may have a breakthrough!

The kids had their annual testing last month. The results aren't all that interesting, except for Jon's. He's tough to figure out sometimes... what IS going on in that brain of his??

His results showed that his vocabulary is extraordinary, and he has a very good grasp on social studies and science, but his language skills and math skills could only be worse if he didn't answer ANY of the questions. So basically, the best way for him to learn is to hand him a book and let him read about a topic, rather than using workbooks like we so often do for grammar and math.

Guess what? I found the Barron's Painless Series on Amazon, and I think we're on to something! I handed him the Painless Junior Math book and said, "Here, read your book." No conflict, no frustration. Within five minutes, he was excited to tell me he understands a concept he's struggled with for the five years I've tried to teach it to him. He keeps nodding his head as he's reading, saying, "Ok, I get it now." And the beauty of it is, it's a book he can read again later if he needs to. He just told me, "That's a pretty good chapter (on telling time). Now I don't even have to count the numbers by 5's anymore."

HALLELUJAH!!!

"I can tell today's gonna be awesome. It's warm out, and a good day to be outside. And also, I just learned how to tell time, so that helps my feeling that it's gonna be awesome."