My brain is all over the place.. Last week was a little rough. This week hasn’t been a lot better, but my mindset is a little more positive, which helps.
Yesterday, as I was waiting on Evelyn’s bus, I was thinking about an old boss of mine saying if dandelions were hard to grow, they would be considered a beautiful garden plant. She’s right, although before she said that I’m not sure I had ever given it much thought. I do remember being paid a couple bucks for picking the yellow heads off for my great uncle Leonard who liked to make dandelion wine. I also remember tasting said wine and thinking Uncle Leonard was loco.
Whoops got sidetracked tracked there. I love dandelions. They are so pretty. They bloom when it’s a cold spring, they bloom when it is hot. They are pretty, medicinal, edible, and extremely hardy. They also provide some of the first food for bees in the spring, and they have an interesting history.
But the absolute best part? They contain thousands of wishes, just waiting to be wished.
I am not sure if I have covered the topic of the chicken shortage lately, but I like to get some chicks in the spring to replace the hens that will inevitably quit laying as they age. I also sometimes have raised broilers to put in the freezer. When I was a kid, my mom always got chickens over spring break, and then we would butcher chickens the first week of summer break. I will be completely honest, I though "butchering chicken days" was an actual holiday. I thought all families celebrated it. We would spend days as a family butchering at my grandmother's house, then my aunts and then ours. It was a messy, sort of gross job, but for some reason, when you were all in the misery together, it was also sort of fun. We would start early, work all morning, and then have lunch together. We would repeat this until all the birds were done, and we would process hundreds of birds that would feed all our families for a year at a time. As an adult, realizing this was not an actual holiday, and that "normal" people took their birds to have them processed was sort of a relief. Mostly because my grandfather and father were the guys who took care of dispatching and defeathering them, and well, frankly, I don't have it in me. Jim certainly doesn't want to be the dispatcher, so we have always just taken them to the locker plant. Wow - I really am all over the place this week huh?
Anyway, this year, I started to order some chicks from the hatchery. Not only have the prices gone crazy, but they were back-ordered until August or September. I have been looking daily, when the hatcheries send me their "daily specials" and I gotta say, none of them have been that special. I have also been watching at the local feed stores during their chick days, but they sell out faster than I can get there. I have been a little discouraged. I decided we had enough chicken in the freezer leftover from last year that we would be ok without raising any, but I still wanted to get a few pullets for eggs. I finally gave up, bought some fertile eggs from a friend, and made an agreement with my maintenance man to give him my eggs to set, and he could keep half of whatever he gets to hatch. I was hoping to get a few that way. Low and behold, my boy had some vacation time he had to use or lose, and he took a few days off this week. Since he was going to town, I loaded him with a couple of my errands. He called me from Tractor Supply yesterday and was happily telling me they had a whole bunch of chicks. He listed off the breeds, and I told him to surprise me! He did good! We have 6 leghorns, and 6 golden comets. Evie was elated! Of course, so was Jerry - that dang cat tried to eat the bird right out of her hands. Quincy was home "sick" yesterday and helped me transform Preston's rabbit cage into a wonderful brooder for some cute little chickies. They seemed really good in there, and we were able to rob the heat lamp from the baby goats so they were warm, cozy and eating! I am so happy! My maintenance guy told me that he had 10 chicks hatch, so we will be getting a few more in the next couple of days, which will be perfect timing!
Last night, Saige and I took off so we could go to the last RE class for this year. There is a year-end picnic next week, but this is the last classroom time we will have. I was reflective over the last 20 years of teaching, and I feel good about my decision to quit. We had the class, and I was surprised when asking my kids what they had learned this year they had a few answers. Maybe they listened more than I thought they did! As we were leaving, the national weather service noise came blaring through the car's radio (if you know, you know). They were saying severe storms just to the west of where we were. As I came around the parking lot, I could see what they were talking about! I told Saige we were going to try hard to get home, feed baby goats their night bottles and put some blankets over the baby chickens before the storm hit us! Luckily, since Quincy and Harper were home, I was able to call them, and they took care of the goats and of finding the blankets! We managed to get the blankets clothes pinned down and everything settled into shelter before the storm hit! And it was quite a storm! There were confirmed tornados, insane amounts of wind, tons of rain, and a little hail too! My poor Mallory hates storms and ended up coming out to sit with us! Jim got home from helping prep fishing derby prizes just when it opened up and completely poured! I like a good storm, but prefer them without the threat of tornados. I admit that I was not amused with the amount of noise these storms produced last night, making it sort of hard to sleep!
About the time that Cameron and Lauren graduated from KSU last year, Lauren's mom made the move to Florida. They are currently visiting her. I admit my jealousy, as I love, love, love Florida! I sent a list of ocean safety for Cameron - you know - things like NO swimming with sharks, NO playing with jellyfish, and you have NEVER surfed before, so you do NOT know how. :) I truly hope they have a great visit! Lauren's mom invited me to come down anytime. The woman doesn't realize that someday I will just show up on her doorstep! :)
Preston spent yesterday at the league band concert in Prairie View. He didn't have much to say about it, but I heard they got a I rating, as well as a large trophy! I am so proud of the band program. The band teacher had surgery to remove cancer from his kidneys less than 2 weeks ago. To see him up, conducting and traveling with his band is nothing less than amazing. I absolutely love what he has done for my kids, and for the program as a whole. Sometimes you are just blessed with amazing people dropping into your life, and this is a great example of that.
Since I am all over the place, I am adding more randomness to this post. Spring in Kansas....is the epitome of frustration. I crave warmth, sunshine and green plants. I am done with being cold, jackets, socks, and jeans. Yet, here I am, stuck in a state where the weather is anyone's guess. One day it was 87, the next is 55, the next is 26. Get your bipolar self together Kansas! The red bud trees, the roadside flowers, and the greenish trees say it is time for consistently warm weather to arrive!
Daisy Pagie agrees with me!
There is more, but this post has gotten a little out of hand. Suffice it to say, life is moving along at the same rapid pace, my sanity is still teetering on the edge, and my tea is not caffeinated enough! But life is still good!
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