New Life Old Farmers

Leaving California meant leaving My Little Sister and her family behind.  We did not live near one another, but the route from LA to Sacramento was a quick and easy journey.  We saw each other often and as My Nephew E has no grandparents, we (My Loving Spouse and I) try to step up the Aunt/Uncle role a notch to help replace that loss.  I was long overdue for a visit and was recently jetting down to Sacramento for some family time and decent (in my opinion) Mexican food.Elk Grove, Sacramento is growing and exploding by leaps and bounds, but everything is planned out for quality life style.  We rode bikes on gorgeous bike paths.…with parks on what seemed like every block, designed for old, young and 4 footed friends.I got my ‘shopping’ fill, with every store imaginable just around the corner…and a few stores I could not believe.  A store that sold nothing but popcorn!  (Yes, I ate too much!)We had been teaching Zentangle  at the library.  “The process of creating a Zentangle is a form of “artistic meditation”  I call it ‘adult doodling’, but really it is much more than that and I was excited to share it with My Nephew E.  E is a brilliant, messy boy.  I loved having him finish my pages, delighted that he wanted to, feeling that satisfaction of offering him something new…yet ever so simple.  The gift my Sacramento family is to me…much like the Zentangle, our lives are a collection of patterns, and when we put them together they make our own unique art.

So..I thank My Little Sister for loving me, and especially thank My Mom on this Mother’s Day weekend for giving me my family.  My Mom ‘had enough kids, but hadn’t had enough babies’.  She became a Foster Mother and so we became a Foster Family.  Eventually, My Little Sister was adopted by ‘us’….and as she said at Mom’s Memorial service.

“My Mom didn’t give me life, but My Mom saved my life.”

…and we are blessed.

Working at a school makes one sort of famous in the school children’s eyes.  Working at the school and having puppies???  I have practically been elevated to ‘Royalty’.  It does help, that I’ll tell any class I enter, that I have “PUPPIES”  and would they like to see the pictures?  I was teaching first graders last week.  I set them up in a circle, then went around the circle with the pup’s picture.  It was like ‘the wave’, with the sweet 6-year-old “Ohhhhs and Ahhhs” going round as they gazed on the puppies.

Getting to see the puppies in real life?  Well, as Gomer Pyle used to say…’Shazam!”

Kids and puppies, especially tiny ones…are sweetness beyond measure.  I ran into town to support some of My Kids (school kids) in a fundraiser.  It was there that I ran into one of the first graders.  He said,

‘I sure do hope I get to see your puppies, Miss Ellen!”

So I told him, that if it was okay with his Mom, they could all come over, when they were done.  Before you know it, I had 5 of My Kids pulling into Glory Farm, convinced that they were the luckiest kids from our school…remember…‘Royalty’.  It is pretty darn fun to make kids so happy, so easily.   They bounded out of the car…jumped on the swings, full of energy and delight.

I brought them into the puppies a few at a time to keep from stressing Mama Zoe out, but after she had a good sniff of them, all was well.  I started handing puppies out.

‘Can I take your picture?’ I asked the littlest one.

“Yes, and then the next time my class comes to the library, you can show my class that I was the first one to see your puppies!”
Kids of all sizes were brought by to visit and love on our round, tiny balls of fur.

Puppies and kids….is there nothing better…

Then my phone went ‘ping’ and ‘ping’.  Texts almost right on one another, from my kids, my pups with two legs.

Number Two Son, “I got cast in the show!”

My Girl, “I broke my arm.”

One got cast and one in a cast…situation…normal.

Puppies and kids, keeping me on my toes!

YES!  The puppies are here!  We were completely set to have them last Friday, because…well, My Loving Spouse had already been having our Mama Zoe sleep in our bedroom ‘just in case’ or ‘because I think it will be tonight’ for a week already.  We were sure it would be over the weekend, because after all…her due date was Sunday 4-24-16.

(First pup, only yellow female…her owner has already named her Lulu).

‘Dogs in early labor nest by digging.’  So, by Sunday afternoon I was telling our dog to go dig up the yard.  However, she had no interest in anything other than laying about on a soft cushion…which I could not really blame her, as she was a large stomached dog.

Some of us started to lose faith in My Loving Spouse’s due date prediction and did our own research, whereby we redefined her due date as April 27, 2016.By April 26, 2016 we thought she was ‘on it’, so we encouraged Team Offspring into Puppy Watch Duty, as I had to work and My Loving Spouse was working (Out of town, which is our new ‘normal’).  Between Number Two Son and My Girl, someone was home all day to be on duty…except…nothing happened.  By 10:30p.m. My Loving Spouse was home, we were in our PJ’s and settled in, when Zoe birthed the first pup in our bedroom, which I do not actually recommend.  I must say, I am very grateful that she waited until My Loving Spouse got home, as I was happy to let him take the lead as Chief Puppy Mid-wife.  We quickly moved Mama Zoe and the pup into the pantry, where we had the whelping box ready…as number 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 were born over the next 2 hours.Number Two came home to catch Mother Nature in action.  Even The Damn Cat strolled in to see what all the fuss was about.Around 1:00 a.m bleary-eyed, My Loving Spouse declared we should go to bed and he’d check on them occasionally over the night.  Early morning had us up counting little pups…the total was 8.  4 female, 4 male.  3 Yellow Labs, 5 Black and each one as cute as another.  We are all smitten…Zoe is a fabulous Mama, as I was sure she’d be.The pups are stretching, and growing in just their 24 hours.  Puppy love abounds!Oh, yes…I am blessed.

I continue to be humbled at the far-reaching care and concern so many from this valley offer to others.  I’ll be honest,  it has been a long time, since I gave the catastrophe in Chernobyl much thought.

The Children of Chernobyl, Ellensburg’s official state charity description:

Humanitarian; host children from the Chernobyl region providing a health respite from their environment while the community medical professionals provide pro bono health/dental care. Support orphans in Rudensk, Belarus through sponsorships.

Children of Chernobyl come for 5 weeks in the summer to enjoy the beauty and benefits of our valley.  They leave with quilts.  The quilt group that had been making the quilts, all these years, no longer felt up to the challenge as their numbers had decreased due to aging.

‘Would we take over making the quilts?’ Our group was asked, which was how I came to be making a quilt for a boy.  It is common for us to make quilts for others, that is the whole point after all.  It is a teeny, tiny bit trickier to make a quilt for someone from another country.  You want them to like/love their quilt… You do not want to mess it up by adding something on it, that does not ‘translate’ well.  We work with donated fabric and so whatever is in the bin is what gets used.

I went with blues.  Carefully sorting out the blues with flowers, of which there is plenty.

I keep a small bit of polka dots as I have a soft spot for polka dots (and gingham).  I searched Pinterest for a neutral, but interesting design.  I believe I have learned most about quilting first from the generous gals at my quilt group and second from the generous quilters on Pinterest.  Water/Waves  deserves high praise for this well written pattern.
Simple strips of blue move together to create this optical beauty.Who would have ever thought that by moving to a small country town, my gifts and my giving could expand so greatly!…and I am blessed.

The conversation with My Principal was short.  I was very excited.  I had an idea!

“I have this idea and I promise I will do all the work!”

‘Hmmm, okay…’

“I want your permission to take 100 of our kids to the theater.  CWU is doing Mary Poppins and they are putting on a special matinée for the schools.  We can walk.  The cost is $8 per ticket and if, I do all the work, can I take them?  As you know, some of our kids will never get the opportunity to see a live production, if we do not take them.  I just have to find about $800.  We’ll call it the ‘Spoonful of Sugar’ project and all the kids will have to ‘earn’ their ticket by doing a kindness for someone…  and…I’m really excited.”  (Now dear reader, you have to understand that I said all of that in about one breath, rather rapidly.)

My Principal is a pretty great guy.  He just looked at me, smiled and said,

“Do you know how much I love having you at our school?  It sounds great!”

BUT, here is the thing….it is not me, but it is because I am in the right spot in this work God has set before me.  I have had plenty of days/months/years in my life, where I felt I was barely muddling through…but for right now I am blooming where I am planted, it just couldn’t be this much fun alone….

To God be the Glory!

‘We’ nested this weekend.  ‘We’ being My Loving Spouse, Number Two Son and I.  Puppy nesting…getting ready for the puppies.  Our little girl Zoe is getting big…BIG!  I cannot imagine how many puppies this girl might have, but I am trying to be ready, as I am sure all of the guys will be gone when ‘it’ happens and it will just be up to me.  Well, me and Zoe…

The first step was to spring clean the pantry/mud room to make a nice place for the whelping box.  The pantry/mud room always needs cleaning.  I have never had help cleaning it before, so having the guys assistance almost made my heart sing.  We all had ideas on where to move the furniture, and then we did it my way.  Seriously, when it comes to positioning furniture, even in a pantry, there is usually only one ‘good’ way to do it.  I am more than happy to keep moving the furniture until it is ‘right’ and the guys are more than happy to not have to move the furniture at ALL, so in the end, they gave up and did it my way (which happened to be the ‘right’ way).

Step one on the Nesting Clean up was to return to the workshop all the tools, that had made their way to the pantry/mud room over the winter.  This step filled the bucket of the tractor, Blue…  Hey, don’t judge, it was a long cold winter!Then it was vacuum, move furniture, vote on the furniture movement, veto men voters, move the furniture into the right spot, vacuum, dump the trash and mop!  

When we first started having Mr. T and Z, it was winter.  Cold, snowy winter days and I was sure, that when spring came, it would be easier.  Having the kids on beautiful Spring days is delightfully FUN, but easier?  Hahahahaha.  Z at 11, is very interested in learning about the horses.  If we work with the horses, we need one adult per horse and another adult to be Mr. T’s (2 years old) minder.  Number Two Son excels at Mr. T wrangling.  If Number Two is not around, Mr. T only wants to run or have me hold him…either option makes doing chores…unpredictable.Mr. T is learning!  Previously, anything even closely resembling a ball was thrown (overhand and with much gusto).  I cautiously let him have these eggs, telling him that they were ‘eggs’ and holding my breath.  The eggs survived intact.

We bought some hay for our herd from Our Neighbor Jim.  We needed to pick up the hay at his buffalo ranch about 20 minutes away.

“Great!”, I thought, “Let’s take the kids!”

Three adults, 2 kids, a herd of buffalo…perfect!  Jim fed the herd where the kids could see them best.The brave even tried their hand at feeding the huge hairy beasts.We love these kiddos.  We know that they are attached to us.  We really understand that we have no control over anything in their little lives…sometimes that is hard, there is a lot we might like to change for their benefit, but we are not in control.

…so we continue to show up for them…and do our best….our wildly imperfect best…which is ourselves.

It is not always easy, but it is always worth it…

Spring is here!  High Five God, you are amazing!  The lady bugs are awaking from their hibernation.  I still am not used to the fact that they wake up inside the house.  The flock is out and about.  Free range chickens are a humorous group.  They add a bit of the unexpected to our daily life.My Loving Spouse has been saving wood shavings when he does his wood working, so we can use them in the hen’s nesting boxes.  I went to fill the nest boxes, to find that the hens beat me to it.It was Friday evening, Spring was in the air (the neighbors were burning ditches) and I’d just spent 3 hours holding our two horses for the farrier.  I decided it was porch time.  As I went inside through the kitchen porch, I quickly opted to do my sitting on our porch swing, as one of the cats had left a dead mouse at the kitchen door.This is the house’s first spring being yellow.  The landscaping needs some serious work and I am excited to spend some time in the dirt and bring this garden to life.

I hope you all have a wonderful Spring weekend!

It was recently my birthday…and at this point in my life, I’ve had a few.

(Most of them celebrated with this ‘Covered Wagon’ cake…whipped cream and chocolate wafers.  Most of them with this my mother’s cake plate and most of them with these little wooden angel candle holders.)

The most satisfying thing about getting old/older/stretch-that-middle-age-thing-for-all-it-is-worth is that I find I enjoy the simplicity of those who truly love me and truly know me…

The one of a kind silliness of a funny card being sent back and forth between friends, a gift bag too cool to actually write on and the oddest of holiday wrapping paper extends quirkiness to a new level when used for a birthday and makes me laugh.

Cow cards (who knew there were so many), coffee cards, a rose-bush, chocolate, red wine, a memory calendar and the message that I am remembered.  I matter to them…My very own egg gathering apron.  (I have dropped the most eggs at the farm, but then again…I have gathered the most eggs at the farm.)

I wondered as I approached my day, if I would be bothered by family that ‘forgot’.  I was not.  I have learned to measure the good things and this has brought me peace and contentment.…and truly I am blessed.