Sunny days

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are gray.

You’ll never know dear, how much I love you,

Please don’t take my sunshine away.

I have fond memories of my dad singing that song to me when I was a girl. I can even remember where we were one time when he sang it. We were driving up the hill past the Ford dealership in Los Gatos, California, on our way home from somewhere. I remember that Ford dealership because I got a green and white yoyo there when the new Edsels came out. It was as big a dud as they were – fell apart almost as fast as the cars!

I’m glad I wrote out the words to that song. It’s made me think about something besides this weather. I’ve found, and I’m sure you have too, that the sunniest days rarely have to do with weather; they’re about relationships. I am tired of rain, but just thinking of this old song and my dad singing it has perked me up.

Hope you have a sunny week!

Marching forth on the 23rd

Hi friends,

I’ve learned more about chickens than I thought was humanly possible since last June when our friend Terry Cain asked if he could lease our outbuildings to establish a life-long dream: Farwest Hatchery. (Take a look at his website http://farwesthatchery.com). He showed up with a dream and about 300 cute little chicks. Nine months later he collects about 1200 eggs a day from 15 different breeds! If one hen lays five eggs per week plus the roosters because they have an investment to make as well - it's into higher math.

Here are some of the pens behind the shop. Incubators go in this weekend.

Our barn has been extended and filled with chicken pens.

This girl is a free ranging escapee looking for a place to lay her eggs.

This rooster is behind bars, so to speak.

 

I remember when we were designing our house in Beavercreek and were debating whether to build a regular roof or a hip-roof. I’d never heard of a hip-roof but suddenly every other house I saw had a hip-roof. I think that’s the way it is when anything new comes around. At least that’s the way with chickens for us now.

The number of references to chickens and all things poultry is astronomical. 

     They’re in the grocery store of course – eggs, broth, soup, pot pies, boneless and skinless, whole or fryers; 

     they’re on the TV – Buffalo Wild Wings, chickens don’t have nuggets, the cute chicks in that new movie coming out, not to mention the Easter candy that’s getting hyped right now; 

     they’re in our speech - don’t count your chickens…, and in the eternal questions: why did the chicken cross the road?…, which came first?…; 

      then home décor – salt and pepper shakers, trays, wallpaper, fabric. It’s endless. 

Dick picked up a stuffed bear at a rummage sale last summer and turned into an instant chick-magnet with all these ladies commenting on how cute it (he?) was 

Chick Magnet

and then, just yesterday he hit the lucky number at Bi-Mart and guess what he won! A package of Peeps! We’re surrounded!

Don’t forget: 

Life’s good – the alternative is endless - choose well, Lynn

Historical - Hysterical

        Every now and then I get a new perspective on an old phrase. That’s what happened last week. Jeff, our son-in-law, was driving our car north to Great Wolf Lodge in Centralia for some family R & R. Like Dick, he drives with a destination in mind while I still tend to think that the journey is part of the adventure. Therefore when I read the sign “Historical Marker Ahead” in a vain effort to imply that we could in fact stop and read about the historical activity that resulted in this location being special, I was not surprised when he sailed on by. However, his observation was a surprise: Do you suppose that Historical Marker’s a really old Sharpie? I’ll never look at Historical Markers the same way again. 

Great Wolf Lodge was a huge success - a nice family-oriented destination. Granted, it took four adults to keep tabs on one 2 1/2 year old. Alex, with his new buzz cut, loved everything - wide-open places to run, water to play in, an arcade filled with buttons and lights, and best of all this huge carved bear chair to sit on. It was a fun place for everyone, we had a great time and will go again.

Hope you have a good week!

Pineapple princess

We watched the Super Bowl yesterday with our friends Todd and Joyce. Our moaning and groaning was only partially because the Steelers lost. It was mostly because we were super-stuffed. We had enough food for an army – we could have had the whole team over!

I tried a new recipe that I thought was delicious – pineapple pie. Lisa had sent me the recipe (http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog/) and I thought, why not? I love pineapple: upside down cake, on cottage cheese, in a fruit salad, one chunk after another from a fruit tray, on ice cream. I craved it when I was pregnant with Lisa but I’d never tried, much less heard of, a pineapple pie. It was so easy and so good.

I took a picture last year on our Groundhog’s day beach trip of a slice of dried pineapple on the counter in one of the bathrooms. Somebody had left it there and someone else had tried to use it as soap probably before they put their glasses on. They said it was frustrating because it didn’t suds up!

We’re enjoying a taste of spring: the snowdrops are starting to bloom and the daffodils are poking their heads up. We’ve been enjoying a few days of nice weather and are thankful that we’re not living on the east coast. Have a good week.

I'm back!

Lisa called to remind me that my Day 1 posting is two weeks old so here's an update on our trip. My intentions were to blog it but my internet access was limited after the first day so I just kicked back and enjoyed myself.

We spent a couple of nights in Grants Pass with Dick's sister Betty. While there we drove out to the ODF&W and I found out that this is the last year that I'll have to buy a fishing license. Next year I'll qualify for my pioneer license. After GP - we drove to Red Bluff turned right and went thru Gold Country to Grass Valley, spent a night, breakfasted in Truckee, had to use the GPS to figure out how to get back on the freeway and pulled into Reno in time to throw in a load of laundry in MIchael's washer and ran to Cabella's. I saw a great T shirt there, just not in my size:

I 

LOVE

it when I catch more fish than

MY HUSBAND

I got a life jacket to wear when I use my kayak this summer. Michael had lasik surgery Saturday and by Sunday morning was back to 20-20. We took off for home Monday morning at 7:15 when he left for work and pulled in the driveway 12 hours later! We really had an enjoyable easy drive north from Reno through Alturas, Lakeview, LaPine, and Sisters. Great weather the whole trip, good roads except for the ruts from snow tires in Bend and from Truckee to Reno, great mileage (32+) for the first road trip in our Camry.

Laundry on Tuesday, a day with Alex on Wednesday, tried to drug myself out of a runny nose with NyQuil on Thursday and took off for the beach for the weekend on Friday with ten close friends.

Back home to more laundry - the never-ending story!

I got the name of a new-to-me author from a book store owner in Grants Pass - Arthur Upfield, who writes mysteries set in Australia. His detective is Napoleon Bonaparte, known as Boney. I found a couple at the library today.
    (By the way, Teri, that's why I was so interested in watching that movie Saturday night about Potatoes because you said it was about Australia but it wasn't - it was about Zulu's and farmers in Africa and I couldn't understand their English and that's why I went to bed - sorry)

I have a couple of purse orders, a couple of books, and a few new songs to learn so I'm planning to stay put for a little while! It's always good to go, but home's the best!

January Get-Away Day 1

Our goal: get away for awhile. Foot-loose, fancy-free, wide open spaces, the wind in our hair - that sort of thing - you know, your typical retirement life. Oh, yes, and sun would be an asset. We packed the car and drove off this morning with really only random ideas of what and where to do and go. We're supposed to be in Reno on Friday to see Michael so are taking our time getting there, heading south on I-5.

First stop was Albany where we had breakfast at lunch time in a little cafe and then dropped by a used book store we like. I had hauled along my collection of Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout, 35 of them. He's an author my dad introduced me to years ago and I have enjoyed collecting and reading his books over the years. I had talked previously to the manager there about cashing in my collection and we'd talked about the higher price of a collection rather than just the base buyer price so I was thinking my collection should sell for about $100+.  He would be delighted to buy the books he said but, unfortunately, had forgotten our previous conversation and wanted to give me $1 each which resulted in me packing the books back out to the car and us moving on. I'll list them on Amazon and show him!

Next stop Dick's brother Bill's house in Albany for a visit on their deck in the sunshine. We had been seeing so much high water-the Pudding River was Pudding Lake again; every little creek was over its banks and trying to be a big river. Bill and Bev said that both their front yard and back yard had been flooded yesterday but they were dryer today. Water water everywhere.

The Living Rock Museum that we wanted to visit in Brownsville we discovered to be closed on Mondays. Didn't they know we were coming?

We continued south. Our target: a motel with a hot tub, my current idea in lieu of warm weather for Dick's back comfort. The AAA book showed us a Best Western in Canyonville near the Seven Feather Casino - casinos have good food for cheap prices because they lure the people in to gamble and the food is just an extra - that's the rationale. Now Canyonville is not that big - 2 exits and not that much between, trust me we saw it all. The GPS, when Dick finally got Gertie off mute kept saying Best Western was on the right, or recalculate, or turn around, or on the left, but it simply wasn't there. Finally I pulled off the road and called the hotel which, just last month, decided to call itself the Holiday Inn Express, change its signs and of course its rates but neglected to tell us.

I'm rambling on. Suffice it to say that after an adequate meal, adequately priced at the casino we came back to our room to try the hot tub. Dick's bathing suit was about a size too small so it was a struggle but he managed. The jets in the hot tub were so strong that he was grateful for the tight fit as were we all! The hot water did feel good on his back and he's sound asleep after watching some new episodes of Pawn Stars and American Pickers.

We ran out of the rain and I had to put on my sunglasses when I was driving. We're having a good time and will probably be in Grants Pass tomorrow for a few days.

Milestone Monday

One year ago I brought the drum set and the "how to play the drums" videos home. Here's a picture of one of our Christmas gigs complete with antlers and noses. The Grandmas - Siena, Judy, Pat, me and Joyce had a great time and our audience, well, we'll find out if they ask us back next year.