Rachael called me a name last week. I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I mean, she was wrong. I'm not "granola." Does she even know what that means? Obviously not. Crunchy people are those that do stuff like...like...you know...they do weird stuff. That's not me.
I didn't have much time to dwell on it because I had stuff to do. J had requested lasagna and french bread for his birthday meal we were having the next day.
First stop: The chest freezer in the garage. Now, where did The Man put those 50 lb. bags of wheat from the co-op?
Oh, there they are, right beside the oats.
Back to the kitchen with a few bowls of wheat berries, both red and white. I added some to the grinder. There on the left you can see that I also made some milk that day. Actually it was a double strength batch of almond-oat-cashew milk (it is actually much better than it sounds). Properly sweetened and chilled, it was put in our ice cream maker the next day with some fresh strawberries. Yummy.
Ok. The flour is ready. I dumped it in the Bosch with miscellaneous other ingredients
and there you go! Loaves of french bread ready to rise.
Maybe I should take a quiz. This one gave me a score of 125 which puts me up there in the "Super Nutty, Ultra-Crunchy Granola Earth Mama" range. Who? Me? Noooo...did you see how dependent I am on others and electricity? I didn't plant my own wheat, harvest it, thresh it, nor grind it by hand. My arms didn't get sore from kneading. I didn't chop the wood to build the fire to bake the bread. The Little Red Hen would have been so disappointed in me.sigh. Maybe I am just a wee bit granola. Am I all alone? Please take the quiz and report back your results. Maybe the quiz is flawed. I can hope.
***
Later that day I went back into the garage to reprogram the sprinkler timer. This is what I saw.
What did I yell?
a. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!"
b. Something that can't be published on a family-friendly blog
c. "J, run get the camera!"
Obviously, since you are seeing the picture, the correct answer is c. It was a gopher snake, so I let is slither on back next to the freezer. Yes, the freezer that I was standing in front of snapping pictures earlier in the day.
The Man arrived home soon after and we noticed it was coming out of the garage.
The Man went around to the inside of the house and came out through the garage to encourage it to slither on away from the house. I would have done it, but I was busy snapping pictures. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
The snake made it to the flower bed. Do you like his forked tongue?
The boys got to pet it before it made its way out of the yard.
So did Sacagawea.
It made this crunchy mama's heart proud.
Happy Birthday, J!
(Yes, I'm adjusting the date stamp again so the date will say it is J's birthday.) Ten years (and a few days) ago J was born.
I was sitting in church, June 21, 1997, quite uncomfortable, in spite of still being 4 days from the best guesstimate due date. Even though the clock said 12, the pastor wasn't ending his sermon. I decided to alleviate my discomfort by getting up and walking around. Before I reached the door I realized something was strange...the back of my dress was wet! Hmmm. This complicated things.
The Man, M, and I had been invited, along with a few others, to the pastor's house near a lake. He was going to take us out that afternoon on his boat. Not wanting to disappoint M, we decided to go along anyway, taking necessary items with us "just in case."
A few contractions during the afternoon adventure, but nothing major. I ate lightly for supper, anticipating that I might not want to deal with a full stomach later. We made it back home without incident. We put M to bed and went to bed wondering...
About 1:30 the next morning I awoke. This was not unusual since I had been plagued by insomnia for the past several weeks. A few more contractions, but I wasn't sure it was time to wake The Man. I tried to relax, but the contractions were more intense, and actually painful, as I tried to go back to sleep. I finally woke up The Man and told him we needed to go the hospital NOW. The contractions weren't that close together but they were painful. We dropped M with The Man's step-sister and proceeded on to the hospital. On the way I discovered that life was much better when I was sitting up.
We made it to the hospital about 4:30 a.m. I spent the next few hours fighting with the nurses over the controls for the bed. I wanted to sit up, they wanted me to lie down. They would come in to check on things and lower the bed. When they left the room and I would raise it back up. Down, up, down, up, down, up...
I had a discussion with my doctor in her office regarding the fact I wanted a natural childbirth. She said that was great. No problem. I discovered early in the morning of June 22 that it was not a problem unless she wanted me to do something that I didn't want to do. So after arguing over an IV, the reason she was holding a pair of scissors in her hand (I yelled over that one), and various other things (Sometimes I'm sure this is why J is my most obstinate child), he finally arrived. Quick and easy.
Not long after he arrived my breakfast was delivered. Since I had my full night's sleep and a meal, I was ready to go home. After all, the church had a baby shower planned that very afternoon for several new babies in the church. Nope. My doctor was cranky from being called from her bed so early on a Sunday morning and was in no mood for anymore of my arguing. Pbbttt.
A little while later The Man went and got M so he could meet his new brother. They walked in the room and came over to the bed. M looked longingly...out the window.
"Where is the cherry picker truck?" the 3 year old, truck-obsessed boy wanted to know. Ha! The last time M had been in the hospital was six months previous when his cousin was born. That day workmen were busy repairing lines outside the hospital that had been downed by massive storms.
M soon noticed his new brother, and life hasn't been the same for him since.
J continued to grow, and grow. I loved those chubby little cheeks. Both sets.
We got him a box of rocks for his birthday, just like M. Also, he got a book and a squirt gun.
He couldn't make up his mind what kind of cake he wanted. We finally settled on a 2 layer white cake with each layer topped with whipped cream and berries.
It was messy, but good. Kind of like J.
Here is J's "birth minute" picture. He is still chewing his breakfast, which is why his face is the way it is.
From those jars in the background you can see that life has been busy here. More on that later.
A quick update while I'm waiting for part of tomorrow's supper to come out of the oven.
We have had HOT weather this week considering we had a frost last week. It was up in the 90s. I hope it is safe to plant our garden now because it will be going in this week.
The killdeer eggs at the church hatched last Wednesday. Sorry, no pictures, but I hear they were cute. The day after I found the blackbirds hatched on the wheel line I went back to verify the number. There were five. A few days later there were four, and yesterday J and I went down there...only three. A wee bit sad until I remember that I'll be trying to keep them out of my garden in a few months!
We packed a picnic lunch and The Dog in the pickup this morning. After church we went and found a nice cool place up in the mountains to eat and play in some water. The kids all climbed up on this rock for a picture.
Sacagawea was in tears when it was over because she couldn't get down by herself. S helped her down. That's what big brothers are for.
Tomorrow morning the kids' music teacher is graduating from homeschool high school. Thursday night the local church school up in the city has its 8th grade graduation. Friday afternoon the local high school (including our neighbor) will have their graduation. I guess it is that time of year!
Tomorrow after the graduation we'll get ready for the Vegetarian Supper Club we've started at church. The Man gives a health talk, then we have an array of vegetarian dishes to sample provided by our members, and finally, "support group" meetings. This will only be the 2nd monthly meeting, so we're still figuring out exactly what we are doing.
Ok, the timer just went off. Time for bed!
Ah, the recital! It went well. It was a very enjoyable way to spend Mother's Day. We're still trying to find a quick & easy way to get the video from the camera, but it will be forthcoming to those that can't wait to see adorable little children try their best to perform their practiced works in front of a live audience.
S was definitely the biggest surprise. It didn't occur to me until after I snapped a photo and was checking the camera's screen: He is so grown up now. When did that happen? This is one of his favorite shots. Since I wasn't using a flash, the slow shutter speed makes it looks like he is playing really fast. He's actually playing his "California Mountain Lion" version of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
M & J both played "Ode to Joy" on their violins with their teacher playing the piano accompaniment. I have to say that I was a bit worried hearing them practice that one at home. Since The Man usually takes them to their lessons I wasn't aware that the teacher would be accompanying them. Whew! It sounded so much better with the piano.
J had us all on the edge of our seats with his long pause during "Lightly Row." M was accompanying him on the piano for that one. J says he hopes to do better next time.
The kids' cousins, who live 1 1/2 hours away, have the same music teacher (she lives 45 minutes from each family). So, we got to enjoy their vocal, piano, and violin talents also, in addition to others.
Their next public performances will be this Sabbath at church. We're having an all-kids service where M will give the sermon, J and others will have prayer, S and others will read scripture, and A will help take up the offering. In addition, the boys will contribute to the music portion of the service. Yep. We'll take the camera for that one also.
Do you see the killdeer? It's about halfway down in the picture, in the middle on the left half.
We had seen it running around our church's parking lot and assumed it had a nest nearby.
The next time we went to the church, The Man watched where it was before it hopped up and starting running. We found the nest! The concrete blocks were added by us to keep people from running over the eggs. Obviously Mr. & Mrs. Killdeer didn't choose the site on a Sabbath morning! Here is a picture of the four eggs, right in the center.
It's been two weeks since we noticed them, so in another week or so maybe we will see some baby killdeer running around.
It has been a few years since The Man has used his bike helmet...actually, it was probably the fall of 2002 when he participated in a mini-triathalon. It is hanging in the bike shed, just in case.
Given the white "evidence" on top and the grass sticking out the bottom, maybe it is time to retire this helmet. The kids told me this nest had two eggs inside.
I'm curious. Bad. I know. I really do know better. I really do. I'm so sorry.
The mama flew off, so I thought I would c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y take the strap off the nail and have a peek inside.
I'm curious. Bad. I know. I really do know better. I really do. I'm so sorry. Really, really, I am. Had I known that there were two eggs inside AND two tiny, scrawny, barely-fuzzed babies I NEVER would have touched. I really do know better. However, since I had done the deed, I snapped a picture before carefully returning the helmet strap to the nail.
I'm sorry the picture quality is so bad, but I'm not going back for another picture! The two eggs are on the left and the scrawy birds are in the middle. One is kind of laying on top of the other. Mama bird DID return to the nest. Whew!
We finally got a new motor for our wheel line mover.
Look through the big hole in the cover and you will see the new motor is a pretty yellow.
If you look through the small hole you will see that a blackbird assumed this up-until-now unused space was a safe place to build her nest.
Five eggs inside! The mama did return to the nest after we were done moving the wheel line. We will see if the vibrations will affect the eggs/babies, but for now, the mama is dealing with us moving her nest every day. It truly is a mobile home.
Here is the nest of a smarter blackbird. This one is in a clump of mistletoe in the oak tree beside the kids' fort.
These baby blackbird pictures were actually taken 2 years ago in tumbleweed in our fenced garden area. Aren't they some of the cutest/ugliest things you've ever seen.
Here are some eggs that S collected from the henhouse yesterday afternoon.
Since these are headed for the refrigerator we don't expect them to hatch ;-). We did have one hen that was acting broody a few months ago. She was laying her eggs separate from the others. We waited a few weeks to see if she would start laying on them to incubate them, but she never did.
J had a loose tooth. Right before bed he decided that it needed to come out or he might swallow it during the night. This time, he thought he would do it himself. He ran and got his pliers.
Maybe with the lovely teeth genes we gave him he should consider a future in dentistry. He seemed to enjoy the whole ordeal a bit too much.
What did I yell?
The Man went around to the inside of the house and came out through the garage to encourage it to slither on away from the house. I would have done it, but I was busy snapping pictures. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
So did Sacagawea.
It made this crunchy mama's heart proud.
