It's A Sod Life

Starting a project usually leads to another one.  Jim put in that new rock pathway last week, and he wasn't satisfied with the ground level next to it so he used his sod cutter to cut away the sod.

Then used the sod cutter on the bare ground to lift up more dirt,

scooped it up with the tractor,

leveled it out,

rolled the sod back in place, 

and it's finished!

Looks pretty good, too. 

The Quarantine Continues

As the quarantine and volatile weather continues, we keep ourselves busy,

 just without any lookers-on. 

The boys are coping with a nice little school room. I think they spend some of their study time and most of their other time in a huge blanket fort in the basement. 

We started the month with snow.  The nice thing about snow in this season, is that it doesn't last very long. 

 Jim has been busy working outside on the nice days building rafters for a new chicken house/garden shed that has turned from a dream into reality due to a windfall of free wood.   

He also had a order a load of small rock for a job and with the leftover, extended our front sidewalk to a nice looking rock way instead of weedy grass.

It looks so nice, finished! 

Our chickens don't care anything about milk and egg shortages, so we are getting between 12 and 16 eggs a day.  One of our favorite ways to eat them is deviled.  I've learned a few tricks on how to boil new eggs so the shells come off easily. 

The eggs should be at least three days old and at room temperature. Put water in a sauce pan that will cover the eggs, put A LOT of salt in and let it come to a boil.  Using a slotted spoon put the eggs in the boiling water and boil for 15 minutes.  Cool in ice water and peel when cool.  The salt is important, because sometimes the eggs will crack and the salt contains the egg white so it doesn't all leak out and keeps in it one place.

I was hungry for fried polenta, so I made some.  It wasn't quite as good as I remember.  I think making a smaller batch next time would be good.  

We had a hard freeze the second week in April so I picked most of my daffodils so I could enjoy them. All the ones I didn't pick were done for, but I see ones that weren't blooming are struggling onward. 

My daughter was featured for her work on their facebook page.

I think.

And..

Happy Birthday to Jim this month.  We had better birthdays alone because we got these lovely homemade cards!

This is the only time he gets Lucky Charms!

It would be nice to see them, though. 

Adoption

My Views on Adoption

I really admire those young women who can give up something so much a part of themselves to someone else, knowing they no longer will have control over that life.  I know these things.  My daughter had a baby while still in high school.  She made the decision to keep her baby.  We encouraged her to consider adoption, remembering what her birthmother had done for us.  There were many people who have said to us “how can you even THINK of giving that precious life to someone else?’  I can think of it because that is how I received two of my children.  I can think of it, because I believe It is best for children to have a two-parent home.  I can think of it, because there are couples out there wanting a baby of their very own We were one of those couples.  I love my grandson; I love to have him in my house.  I loved him enough to know he and his mother needed to live with us, because both needed a stable home. I loved him enough that if my daughter had decided to choose adoption, I would have let him go. 

I hope we too, have made the experience a good one for my our oldest two with their birth family.  The openness of letters and pictures must help, as they can see how they change as they grow.  I’ve never felt threatened that my kids grew up knowing who that “other family” is.  All kids at some time or other are going to express the wish that we weren’t their parents, or that we never had been.  That happens to most parents, adoptive or not.  We had our first two children since they were a few days old and what we have given them, no one else can take away.

One thing we didn’t do and I wish we had known to is to get counselling.   Parents and children should have counselling with a good adoption counselor before they are teenagers or just beginning to be. AND, if you are a book reader, 

read books!

Family is family, no matter how it forms.

Quarantine

March started out for us in a normal way.  It came in like a lamb and we enjoyed our warmer days.

There are usually a few Fridays with no school, and we had the boys over night, Zane alone for a weekend and Barry and Christian after one of Barry's basketball games. 

I guess Barry is ready for summer.

Bubbles

Checking things out with Papa.

Christian tried on my grandpa's glasses, from a long time ago.

They enjoyed bag kites on some of those very windy days.

It took nearly all the blankets we had to build this fort. 

And then, normality ceased.

The coronavirus came knocking on the door and the country went into panic mode.

It is a serious virus and needs to be taken seriously.  However, I think that most of what is published in the main stream media is exaggerated, taken out of context, and some blatantly untrue.  I didn't ever intend for my blog to be in any way, shape or form, political; but in this season of our country, they are inciting panic where reason is needed.  

We are not panicking in this household.

We are staying home and obeying the rules. 

We had toilet paper enough to get by on for a few weeks.  Even so, about a week in to the panic mode of everyone buying out the toilet paper, one of our employees called Jim, "They're stocking toilet paper!" So he went in and got some. 

Snow -- March 9

Truffles with sprinkles from the Netherlands.

Hail -- March 13

The boys have had to adjust to a new way of living, during this quarantine.

With no school they have a schedule of chores, school work, playtime and snacks. 

They are having to learn to get along.

They spend most of their time in their family room in an enormous blanket fort. 

We don't get to see them, because I am in the "more risk" category.

Three-Square

Study time

Teacher Parade

Happy Birthday To Me

I had a birthday last week. 

I didn't have a party.

I didn't have cake.

I didn't go out to eat.

I didn't have COVID-19.

 I did stay at home.

I did have presents.

My grandsons felt a bit bad that I didn't have any party and they got together some presents for me.

Seriously, how sweet is this.  

Christian says the Lindt truffles were his idea.  I'm not sure about that, but he was the one who asked what my favorite candy was. 

I received hand made cards and letters.  I got precious things that belonged to them,

two sea shells, an ice cream cone, a blue kitty, a snow flake, a Frozen picture, a dime, a fifty-cent piece, a little 'mirror of erised', beads, 

 a sea shell, a Frozen picture, an ice cream cone and a little blue cat figure.

 a sea shell, beads, a friendship rock and a special rock.  

I am humbled and honored.  Some of those things must have been really special to them.  

So, I took a photo to remember. 

Curtains For You

I've had the boys a lot these last two weeks and will have them more because their school takes off almost every Friday and in some cases Thursday and Friday because of state basketball.  They have a good team and every year go to state.  I also had a sick boy a couple of extra days.  

This is not a post of boys because I am switching to a new computer and as I dislike change with a passion, it has been slow going.  The charger cord on the old computer is worn out, the spare cord only works if it is wiggled just right, and the computer itself being almost 8 years old and windows 7 is slow.  For those reasons, I have just transferred photos here, just downloaded Picasa here and it is now past my getting ready for bedtime (9:20), so this is what you get.

My daughter wanted new curtains for her kitchen so she found what she liked on pinterest, measured her windows, ordered 9 yards of material from Hobby Lobby after I figured the amount needed, and gave materials and information to me.  It took me two weeks to finish because of the aforesaid boy days.  I had a picture, I thought, of the pile of fabric on my table, but I don't.  They look very nice, if I do say so myself. 

 I finished them today.

It was a good day to sew, it rained half the morning and then snowed until noon, great fat flakes coming down that are a pleasure to all people that work indoors and don't have to be outside driving or working. 

The boys were saying March came in like a lamb.  And it did.  The first week we had 50 to 70 degree temperatures.  In fact, yesterday we saw 75 on the thermometer.  Today, we have snow. The lion is showing it's face.

It all melted before evening.