May 2013: A Summary

May this year was typical springtime on the farm. Opa took care of all his new goats. He got a lot of little bucks in this year's crop of kids. He has one especially nice looking little fellow that he is hoping someone will want to buy as a buck. I am hoping so, because there is only so much summer sausage one can eat. We may raise one for chops and ground meat. Matthew likes lamb, so we thought we'd see if he thinks goat is comparable. (I think they taste the same, but Opa, who has more discerning taste buds, disagrees.) If Matthew agrees with Opa, we will raise a lamb for him sometime.

 

 

 Opa's special buck: notice how much bigger he is

             compared to the other little ones        

 

This year it has also been raining kittens around here. Cat populations are the type of thing that, once they reach a critical mass, begin to increase exponentially. We have reached that threshold. Old Mommy Cat had 5 kittens last summer. Two daughters survived. So this spring Old Mommy Cat had 5 kittens, Yellow Cat had 5 kittens (all yellow :P), and Yellow and White Cat had 3 kittens. One of O.M.C.'s kittens was an adventurous little calico who managed to climb out of her nest and fall through the hay mow floor into the horse feeder. Opa found her there and rescued her. I identified the kitten as a boy and named it "Bob." Opa brought Bob into the kitchen where the light was better, and discovered Bob was a girl. But "Bob" seemed to fit her anyway, so the name stuck. Joshua later informed me that all calicos are girls, for future reference.

 

Bob getting one of her first meals

Sydney: "And why is that cat in there with him instead of me?"

Evidently Old Mommy Cat figured the Darwin principle applies to kittens who fall through the floor into the horse feeder, and would not really take Bob back into her fold. We started hand feeding her. She was pretty active and inquisitive for such a tiny fluff ball. We eventually had to pen her in the dog carrier to keep her from getting stepped on by the goats. We began to be concerned with Bob's long term welfare as we considered how tame she was. We knew that when she was old enough she would want to follow us out of the barn, which would put her in danger of Sydney. Sydney has appointed herself the cat population control officer around here. Kittens inside the invisible fence line are not safe. So we started looking for another home for Bob.
The problem was solved yesterday when some folks came from the Youngstown area to buy some of Opa's goats. They declared themselves to be cat people, and were easily persuaded that Bob would make a good addition to their family, along with the goats. I was happy that Bob found a safe new home, but I do miss her. She had become a definite, though tiny, presence in our lives.

Memorial Day weekend was the highlight of the month. Andrew, Amie and the kids made the road trip from Virginia; Anna, Jim and the kids came up from Cincinnati; Joshua came down for the weekend (we missed Tara - boo, work!) and Matthew and Melissa were able to come Saturday evening. It was good to see everyone, and Micah, Joseph, Alicia, Wyatt, Vivian and LP3 were in our thoughts and hearts. I was very pleased with myself for being able to get meals ready on time. There was some chaos around the Memorial Day parade on Sunday, but I always enjoy that little bit of small town America. Amie brought her uniform and rode in the parade, with Anna, Eryn, Jordan, Grant and Keara accompanying her. Eryn says she wants to be in the parade again next year.

                                        

It took a while to get the parade seating worked out. This was not

the final configuration.

 

 

It was a whirlwind weekend, and when Andrew and Amie and the kids pulled out of the driveway and headed back to Virginia, Opa and I felt a little blue with the house so empty and quiet all of a sudden. We moped around most of the day, then decided to head to Bob Evans for supper to shake off the doldrums. We had a nice supper and then headed to Boston Stoker for some coffee, and the world brightened a little. On Tuesday and Wednesday I got back to excavating in Omaland:

 

The "root" of my issues in Omaland.





The fruits of my labor, produced by digging, chopping, prying and sawing. I have borrowed my landscaping philosophy from General Grant: Hit 'em hard enough and often enough, and they'll crack somewhere.

 

 

I have realized that I need to use a little moderation in how much time I spend laboring at this, so it is liable to take all summer.



This weekend Anna and Jim were running in the 10K at the Troy Strawberry Festival on Sunday morning. So they came up Friday evening and we had a nice weekend as they prepared for that. Saturday the kids hung out here with us while Anna and Jim went to the Covington community garage sales. Eryn read to Dolly, Ben carried around the vinegar and syrup bottles from my cupboards, I fixed lunch, Opa puttered outside, and Anna and Jim got to enjoy some grown-up time. I think a good time was had by all.

 

Dolly may have trouble seeing the pictures

 

 

 

 

Everyone enjoys a good book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best seat in the house.

 

 

 

 

 

Good buddies.

 

 

 

 

Ready for church.

 

 

Anna and Jim both beat their personal best times during the race this morning. We went to Bob's for lunch, and then Mommy and Daddy packed two tired kiddos into the car and headed for Cincinnati. Opa and I, being wiser now, headed straight for Boston Stokers for nature's perfect preventative for the blahs, the Boston Grogg latte. Then we came home and took long naps.
I forgot to mention that on Saturday evening we went to a graduation party and  a retirement party. This is what a three year old looks like after two parties, two servings of cake frosting, and ice cream:

So now we'll march into June and see what it has in store. While I was drinking my Boston Stoker this afternoon, I had a sudden urge to have a latte down at the airport. That means Oma is getting the urge to travel..........

While I've been gone......

Well, it is time to get out the AED and see if I can't jolt my poor neglected blog back to life. Most of you know that in 2012 I was blogging via Facebook, for all intents and purposes. That seemed like the easiest way to keep Amie up on what her family was doing while she was in Kuwait. But Facebook is somewhat limiting for those as long-winded and verbose as myself, so here I am back at the blog, as Opa and I continue to forge our post-deployment path through life.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that we are on a post-long term-deployment path. I am still having mini deployments for Oma duty. I went to D.C. back in January when everyone was having the flu and Amie was trying to get some house work done before she had to go back to work. When at home I tried to get down to see Anna and the kids as much as possible. I went up to Greenwich for a few days in March to help Joshua and Tara get ready to move to their new place. In April I spent about 11 days in D.C. while Andrew was in California and Grant had ear infections. I was home for two days, and then I left April 20 for Atlanta to visit Marge and Liz (my sister-in-law and niece) for the weekend, and then to spend the rest of the week with Joseph, Alicia, Wyatt, Vivian and Micah.

 

This is Marge's guest room. I love the classy black and white color scheme. She and Liz

always make me feel like I'm at a luxury spa when I stay with them!

 

 

Each of the kiddos got to stay home with me one day, and I really enjoyed spending the time with them and getting to see their personalities unfold. Opa came down on Thursday (the 25th.) It was good to have him there to enjoy the visit. Both kids stayed home with us on Friday. There was lots of playing in the sunroom and basement. While Viv napped in the afternoon, Wyatt and Opa had some quiet time together on the pull-out sofa bed in the basement. Wyatt never acutally slept, but he snuggled quietly under the blanket while Opa checked his ebay bids on the tablet.

 

Little Miss Viv has lots of energy.

 

 

Wyatt played with his castle for several days. The room at the front is where

Thomas the train took his naps.

 

Wyatt sure looks like his daddy did at the same age.

 

Miss Banana Face

I cooked supper each evening so that Joseph and Alicia wouldn't have to worry about that after the long commute home. During the course of the week we consumed strawberry shortcake, rhubarb-strawberry custard pie, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter chip cookies, roast turkey and mashed potatoes, spaghetti, "hot dog cupcakes" (Wyatt's name for the corn dog bites I made), and burger bake. The cookies were so popular that I made another batch Sunday afternoon.

In between all the cooking and playing I crocheted a T-shirt dress for Viv. If you like numbers, you can ponder the fact that the skirt alone took more than 225 yards of thread. I found that a little ibuprophen does not go amiss after an evening of holding fine thread and a small crochet hook. The finger joints are not as supple as they used to be. But the results made it all worth it. Viv looked pretty as a picture all dressed up like a little berry for church on Sunday. Unfortunately, there is a corrolary to Murphy's Law which states: If a toddler is going to have a completely unexpected bathroom accident, it will happen when she's wearing a new dress to church, and there are no clean clothes left in the van. Someone managed to find Viv an emergency outfit to wear the rest of the morning. It was just big enough, but not any more than just. And she was still cute.

 

Strawberry Shortcake

On Thursday I took Micah to work so that I could use his car to go to the grocery. I met him uptown in Roswell for lunch, and then I took in a couple of antique consignment stores. As Micah and I walked down the street, we talked about how Roswell was a completely different world than what I am used to. Just as we walked by the parking lot of one antique mall, Micah pointed out an Astin-Martin waiting while its owner looked for bargains inside. Little things like that remind you that you are worlds away from Bradford, Ohio. I had never seen an Astin-Martin anywhere (except for James Bond movies). And I sure don't see them when I go antique browsing in Piqua or Greenville.

So now I cannot only drive around suburban Woodbridge, VA. I am learning to navigate in Roswell, too. So far only baby steps, but I am learning to recognize where I am when someone else is driving, and to know where they are going to turn to get certain places. If they could only throw in a horse and buggy, and the occasional John Deere tractor, I'd be right at home.

Opa and I got back to our little world around 10:30 this morning. I had to drag poor Opa and Micah up at the awful hour of 5 am to get us to the train station on time. I hope Micah thought the pie and other goodies were worth the cost. When we got home we found Opa had some new arrivals in the barn. Two little goats, a boy and girl, were with their mommy, snoozing with full tummies. The grass needs mowed again, and I have flower beds to work on and laundry to do. So the rest of the week will be busy. TTFN!

 

New Kids on the Block

 

Sweet little face

 

Mommy Face saying "No Paparazzi!"

Well, it has been a month since my last post, and it is still cold. Right now the thermometer is saying 34 degrees. Booooo! Oh well, at least the sun has been shining. So, you may be asking yourselves, what have the old folks been up to lately? One of Opa's projects was sausage making. I bought a pork shoulder at Krogers. Opa ground it with my old hand-crank, clamp-it-to-the-table meat grinder. Then he seasoned it with salt and pepper. He had Papaw's old sausage stuffer, and some casings he got from the Troy meat market. If Kasandra gets to read this post, the casings, which are the tubes you stuff the sausage into, are made from the pig's intestines. They are all cleaned and scraped. You place one end of the casing over the tube that comes out of the bottom of the sausage stuffer. Then you push the entire length of the casing onto the tube. The sausage is placed inside the stuffer, and a metal plate is placed at the end of the long screw you can see over the top of the stuffer. As you turn the handle, the screw forces the plate downwards, so that the sausage squishes out the tube and into the casing. It was my job to turn the handle, slowly and steadily. Opa slowly drew the casing out as the sausage filled it, until we had a tube of sausage several feet long coiled up in the pan at his feet. We cut the sausage up into links about 4 inches long, and then we put them in ziplock bags in the freezer. We put water in the bag around the links, because we have found over the years that the sausage stays fresher tasting that way. When we fried up some of the sausage, it was delicious! On March 10, little Eryn was one year old. We went to Cincinnati for her birthday. She had a lot of fun playing with the other little children who came. She also enjoyed the delicious cupcakes that Anna made. She was very neat while she was eating them, and didn't get frosting all over her at all.

Last Saturday we went to Granville for Jared Honeycutt's wedding. It hardly seems possible that it has been almost 12 years since he and Anna graduated from high school. While Jared was studying in Oxford, England, he met Wendy, who is now his wife. (I got to meet her when we visited Oxford in 2007. She laughs a lot, and has a great sense of humor.)Her family is originally from Malaysia, and now lives in Melbourne, Australia. It was a very international wedding, with people there from Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, South Africa, England, and the U.S.

The wedding reception featured an English high tea, a remembrance of their meeting in Oxford. They also had "bangers and mash" (sausages and mashed potatoes) and fish and chips. I was disappointed though - there were no mushy peas, an English delicacy that goes with fish and chips in some pubs. But the food was very good.

Below is a picture of their wedding cake. The two little creatures on top are little English hedgehogs, which are very shy little creatures. Jared and Wendy were very shy and slow in becoming a couple, just like the hedgehogs.

This is Jared and Wendy cutting the cake.

Anna, Jim and Eryn were at the wedding, too. Eryn was very good during the ceremony, quietly dropping pew cards on the floor for us to pick up. The maitre 'd at the reception brought Eryn her own special plate of fruit and yummy macaroni and cheese. She'll have high tea another day.

Jared and Wendy had a specially coreographed dance for their wedding. A friend who does ballroom dancing taught it to them. They had a lot of fun, but I think Jared should go ahead and keep studying for his doctorate. Dancing with the Stars probably won't call this week.

Notice how Jared doesn't look any older than he did as a high school student? If he and Wendy have children who smile as much as they do, they will have a very sun-shiny home indeed.

It was good to see Jo and Clyde, and Jocelyn and her husband Mike. Jocelyn is expecting a little girl July 2. She said they are going to name her Aubrey Nichole, but I don't know if that is how they are going to spell it, so stay tuned. Seth and Emily were there, too. Emily is working on a masters in theology at Wake Forest University.

That about covers all the news for now. We're looking forward to a trip to Atlanta the first week of May for Micah's graduation from Georgia Tech. The week before that I am going out to D.C. for an "Oma deployment." It's going to be a busy spring!

Hello, Kasandra!

This is a special blog post for Kasandra. I would like to introduce her to all my family and friends. She is a girl from Bradford who has been my friend for a couple of years now. She is mentored by Mrs. Chris Palsgrove every week at school, and I am their prayer partner. Kasandra keeps a journal in which we write messages to each other every week about things that interest us. Since I am away from home this week, we are staying in touch via my blog, which Mrs. Palsgrove will print out for her.

Dear Kasandra,
How are things in Bradford this week? I am in Woodbridge, Virginia, which is about 26 miles south of Washington D.C. My son Andrew had to travel to California on business, so I am helping my daughter-in-law Amie take care of my grandchildren while Andrew is gone. I'll tell you more about that in a little bit, but first I'd like to show you some pictures I took when I flew out here on February 13.
This first picture was taken out the window of my airplane. These are the tops of the clouds. Down below the clouds the weather was gray and dreary, but up above the clouds it is always sunny. I try to remember that on cold winter days when I am feeling a little blue.

My first picture showed what it was like to fly above the clouds. The next one shows what it looks like when you are flying in the clouds. All you can see is white cotton fluff everywhere you look.

I had to change planes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As we were landing there, I took this picture of a large ship on the Delaware River. I saw many large ocean-going naval ships and cargo ships docked along the river.

I flew from Philadelphia to Baltimore, Maryland, because it is cheaper to fly into Baltimore than into Washington D.C. From the airport I took a shuttle bus to the Amtrak train station, where I bought a ticket to Union Station in D.C. The train trip there took around 45 minutes. After arriving I went underground to the subway, which is called the "Metro" in Washington. Here is a picture of a train platform:

I went as far south as I could on the subway, which got me within about 15 miles of my son's home. He and my grandson, Grant, picked me up at the station.

I soon found out it was a good thing I came out to help, because all the kids had some sort of tummy virus. Each day last week someone had to stay home with me because he wasn't feeling well enough to go to daycare. This is Grant, who is 4 years old, looking out the window into the woods to see if he could see any squirrels or deer or birds.

When Jordan, who is two, was home sick, we took our picture together. She is really a funny little girl. She is two.

My daughter-in-law's tummy hadn't felt too well all week, either. So on Friday she decided to take a day off. She is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force, and she works at the Pentagon. That is our nation's military headquarters in Washington. It is very stressful work, so she enjoyed her day off. It was warm, and the kids were feeling better, so we went outside to rake leaves.

The next picture is of the littlest grandchild here. Her name is Keara, and she was born on July 2, 2010. She is Oma's (that's me) sweetie pie.

Last night it sleeted and snowed here. Right now the sun is shining and the streets have melted off. I sure will be glad when spring comes!

I will be coming home Thursday evening. I will be glad to see my husband Dennis after 11 days of wishing he could be here to play with the grandchildren, too. I think I will even be glad to see the dog, Sydney.

I hope you have a good week. Stay warm!

Your friend,

Teresa