New Life Old Farmers

Tomorrow begins the last week of school and it is quite bitter sweet. I’ve spent the last 10 years doing my best to encourage, teach and help others, especially the little people at my elementary school. Most of the time, I did it well. However, I’m far from perfect and some parents make my job (of being nice) extra difficult.

A 10 year old had walked 3 blocks to school. Her mother didn’t want her to walk home (the same 3 blocks). 20 minutes after school had been out, I called her mom to ask if she wanted the child to walk home. “No, she can wait in the office. (My office). I’ll be another 25 minutes. To which I said, ‘I’m not a babysitter.’ It was amazing how fast Mom got to the school. I’d like to say it was because she realized she was being rude, but she just wanted to get to school before the Principal left so she could tattle on me.

Luckily those parents are few and far between.

I will miss those little people who call me Miss Ellen. Who think I run the school or live in the library. To those who wave when they go through the hall or beam when I break the ‘rule’ and let them have an extra library book.

I will miss stepping in to do the morning announcements even though I don’t always stay on script. One day as I was in the middle of the announcements over the loud speaker, I was handed a note. “1 & 2 Boys” I knew what the message meant, but didn’t have time to add any finesse. I said, “First & Second grade boys. We have a problem. The bathroom’s a mess. Ahhh, stop peeing on the floor, it is no pee Friday!”

A few weeks ago, I started the morning announcement music with bagpipes and told the kids they were having haggis for lunch.

I will miss getting kids excited about books. I will miss helping our staff. I will miss being positive and a tad silly in the office with one of my Ellensburg Blessings, my BGF.

I will miss the loving gifts the kids make you. A necklace with a book charm on it. It was a tad too small and choked me a little bit, but it was a small price to pay. I’ll miss the birthday treats they share handed out with their grubby little hands.

I’ll miss making a difference (usually positive).

I have been so very blessed.

….and it will be tough to say ‘Good bye’.

…and just like that, Glory Farm is on the market.

We’re enjoying a bit of respite. Waiting ever so patiently (?) for the right buyer who will love this home and take their turn caring for it.

A little look back at what it looked like 11 years ago…

It is rewarding to look back.

However, how can I show you in one post what it took 11 years to do?

A host of memories…

I get lost as I look back, especially at Team Offspring in our early days.

Truly, I am grateful and

as life takes the next turn for us all…

I know we are truly blessed.

To God Be The Glory.

The typical response we get from anyone we tell about The Move is,

“Scotland! Really?!! Can I have your dog?”

To which we answer, yes really and no, he’s going with us.

We’ve been getting ready for THE Move for months now. The only places we go are to work, to church, to the dump, (they know us well there), to drop off at the Goodwill and the hardware store. Our mud room the last few weeks gives you some idea of our life.

There was enough on THE List to pick the ‘bits’ we wanted to work on until we started getting down to the end. No one wanted to paint all 4 porches spindles and I mean no one.

“I know, let’s get Mikey to do it!”

Our very own Angel Mikey. He didn’t really want to paint the spindles either, but he did it for two very good reasons.

1. He knew we really needed the help.
2. We paid him really well.

No one wanted to wash the windows either, but we could NOT find anyone who was available. It was clear, that I would have to do it. I’ve never been very successful with this task, so I watched a video from This Old House, numerous times and ordered my tools. Right before the tools came, a friend rescued me with her window washer! YES!

The night before my favorite new window washer was set to come, he tore his Achilles tendon. I went back to watching my video and unpacking my tools. I did a very impressive job, if I do say so myself. My Loving Spouse kept saying that they were looking great, but I’m pretty sure he just didn’t want to do them himself and Mikey said, ‘no’. I can also vouch for the child protective window locks, yes I got locked out and stuck on one roof.

We originally told our Realtor we’d put the house on the market when the Iris bloom. There’s one thing that blooms before Iris….dandelions.

My Loving Spouse has sprayed and eradicated millions of the darn weeds, while I have dug up the other hundreds he missed.

The iris are getting ready to bloom and the house will be on the market this week. We’ve got to keep everything tidy. We’re at that stage where everything looks great, but we can’t find a thing. We’re not sure if we kept ‘it’ or if we just can’t remember where we stashed ‘it’.

Time for our first goodbye.

My Buddy Beau is about 32 years old. He’s losing his teeth and has arthritis in his hip. He is a lovely old gentleman. Finding a home for him was realistically going to be very challenging. Our fear was that no one would really take good care of him, so did we need to put him down (the last resort)?

The alpacas know something is going on.

We couldn’t have imagined a better situation for Beau. When his original Ellensburg owner heard of our situation. They jumped at the chance to take him back home. They love this old boy and he will live out his life with the care and nurture he deserves.

…and we are blessed.

I might have had some blinders on, so I was surprised when it was apparent that there was going to be another plan.

My Loving Spouse started to say words like…’retirement’…and ‘too old to’…

It started last August, just as we came home from England.

We’d just finished almost all of the restoration of this noble, beautiful old place…as these old photos remind us all of where we’ve been.

Sharing this home has been our greatest joy.

We started to examine our options in retirement.

…and it told another story. One that took some getting used to.

…there seems to be another chapter…

I am sure that as we look for it, we will find the same fun…and love…as we found here.

Our favorite days are those we’ve shared….

…with Team Offspring, family and friends.

…in case you cannot guess…

It is time for us to retire and dream another dream.

We will be selling the farm soon.

Team Offspring is doing well and are settled all about.

When we get our final work done, we will be moving to Scotland.

Yes, I did say Scotland. Last months visit was just to make sure…

We’ve been praying nightly for guidance…

So keep us in your prayers as we make our next way, to find the perfect place for you all to come and stay!!

…because you’re never too old to dream another dream or plan another adventure.

…and we are blessed.

Many of my co-workers headed straight to Hawaii for Spring break. We went to Scotland. They bought swim suits and Mai Tais. We bought a raincoat, a scarf and plenty of pints.

We made it to Scotland after a plethora of traveling mishaps. Canceled flights, re-booked on the Airline we wanted to avoid and the airport we wanted to avoid, a late take off, missed connection and we got to sit next to the crying baby…. We were retelling a fellow Hungarian traveler how it was all going. He said, “How come you’re laughing about it?” We said, “All we have left is our attitude, we’re picking a good one.” Then I got him to teach me a bad word in Hungarian.

I’m pretty sure it just means, “darn it”.

We did make it to the lovely town of Pitlochry where even the back sides of the buildings are charming.

We stayed in a pup/hotel in what was called a ‘cozy double’ (cozy might mean charming and tiny). I said I wasn’t going to eat it, but I did.

Haggis…not bad. My tall cider was delicious, while My Loving Spouse enjoyed his Bitter all the while questioning the glass it was in.

Stonehaven on the Scottish coast was booked primarily so My Loving Spouse could stand in this B&B and see the North Sea.

The Bay Water B&B had everything we needed including a coveted parking space. All you had to do was make a left here.

I thought I was going to have to buy some grease and rub it on both sides of the tiny rental car, but My Loving Spouse took a deep breath and squeaked that baby in.

The car was lavender, so we named it Heather. It was a small China made MG. It had no guts and no glory. The GPS was ‘pretty‘ good, but did show some attitude. At one point in our wanderings it got mad at us and sent us down this road.

We were supposed to make a “right” but turned around when we reached a barn. We didn’t know which path was the ‘road’ and which would end up taking us to the farmhouse.

We’re not city people, but Edinburgh doesn’t count. What a fabulous historical, magical place. It will take 10-20 more visits to do it any justice.

I couldn’t get a good enough picture of the writing on this building, but the words in Gaelic are the answer Jesus gave when asked what was the most important commandment.

The Scottish people are the friendliest people, even if we couldn’t always exactly understand what they said. We’d smile and nod, then look at each other.

“What did he say?”

‘I have no idea.’

Scotland we’ll be back

…and we are blessed.

Our irrigation water goes on in April. We had two jobs that had to be done prior to the water going on. We were going to handle them this weekend “come h@ll or high water”, said My Loving Spouse. It was actually “come 2 arguments and one worker who fell in the mud (me)”. There was no waiting for better weather, there was only getting it ‘done’.

After job one was finished, we took a quick break. We had babies to see.

You’d never know by this photo, but I am something of a Baby Whisperer. Crying baby? Give it to me. Tired baby? Give it to me. This 3 month old is an adorable muffin with a whole head of hair, but she clearly did not get the memo. Miss Ellen is a Baby Whisperer.

Nope, she was not having it.

No worries, we had more babies to see.

Twin baby bull calves! Agnes has done it again! We brought her some bananas.

What a great mama. She’s in great hands.

We went home to finish job #2. Humored by one of our own goofy group.

Leaves anyone?

ALL irrigation jobs got done! They are not hanging over our heads anymore. Great glee was had this morning when we saw this.

12 more days until Spring break….we’re going for a week in Scotland!

…and we are blessed.

We’ve been hibernating since the very first snow fell in early November, except we clearly didn’t stop eating and live off of our fat. My Loving Spouse handled the snow, all the while muttering, “I can’t ever remember the snow starting this early, Bad British Word.” I was ‘handling’ fevers, headaches and fatigue which quickly turned me into the Queen of napping.

For Thanksgiving, Number Two Son, My Loving Spouse and I decided to ‘step out’ and dine at the fancy resort in the nearby town. We ordered the family Thanksgiving dinner, but then the chef showed up at our table.

“Are you the one who’s allergic to garlic?” She asked me.

‘Ahh, yes‘, I said apologetically.

“You can’t eat that.”

‘How much of it can’t I eat?’

“All of it, except the pumpkin pie.”

Visions of chicken nuggets passed before my eyes.

“I’ll make you something else’, she generously offered, which is how I ended up eating Thanksgiving Trout.

December brought more snow and cold. It was extremely cold over our break from school. I’ve never lived anywhere with a minus.

This is the day I cleaned the refrigerator and then spent the rest of the day by the wood stove, reading and perfecting my nap. It was too cold to do anything else.

Christmas Eve brought us many regular traditions, Christmas Crackers, food and church. We returned from the Christmas eve service to fresh snow and 3 out of our 4 ‘frost-free’ water stand pipes frozen, right, they’re not supposed to do that. The only one working was the one farthest away from the water tank. We hauled the frozen hose reel into the house to spend the night near the wood stove.

Christmas breakfast became Christmas brunch. Cooked every year by Number Two Son, he’d gone by work to discover a burst pipe, so as he was sopping water up, we were doing our best to get water out.

I came to accept the unique Christmas decorations called ‘pumpkins frozen to the porch’.

…and we might have had a nap.

…and we are blessed…

by the birth of our Lord and more importantly our Savior,

and grateful beyond measure for health.

_{(Should you have the weird symptoms I was experiencing fatigue, fever, headache, painful to chew and stabbing pains in the temple don’t wait for ‘it’ to get better, as it could be GCA and your eyesight could be at risk).}

An old friend texted me last summer,

“Hey, are you still quilting and do you take on commissioned projects?”

I immediately thought ‘baby quilt’.

‘Who needs a quilt?’

“I have a lot of my kids old clothes sitting in bins, but don’t have time to quilt something.”

‘Well, that could be sort of fun, I’d be worried about disappointing you…’

“You couldn’t disappoint me, plus you know my kids so that would make it more special. Let me know what you charge…”

The truth is you can never really charge for something like this (although I don’t turn down wine). This is a gift, as there are more hours in it than anyone would believe. You do it for the creative endeavor and the challenge and to make someone happy.

Then the clothes arrived.

It was a rather imposing amount. There were many piles of clothes as I went through them multiple times trying to figure out what could work together and keep all 3 children represented.

My Friend was interested in a more modern quilt. She’d given me full creative license, which was good as I don’t enjoy it when people tell me what to sew or do or how to do it…

I’d had the fore thought to have My Friend signify a few special pieces from each child. She went a step further and included a dress she’d worn as a child and that both her girls had worn as well.

That pink dress became the compliment for both corners of the quilt, paired with the special pieces from each child.

I choose one piece of clothing for every ‘band of color’. In this combination, the brother’s purple shirt becomes the constant.

The problem with all the different fabrics is some stretch more than others. Sewing on the diagonal only exacerbates this problem.

The only solution is to trim each and every small square otherwise you’ll end up with a quilt that, how shall I say….is a Bad British Word.

The 9 patch. I tried to keep little pockets, buttons or appliques wherever I could.

There was enough of the Brother’s purple shirt to make it the stopping border. I managed to use the placket complete with buttons and button holes that were only a tad tricky to quilt around.

This quilt was a challenge. I think I touched each piece of clothing 3-4 times, but then I’d fine something new that needed to be represented like these sister dresses.

All in all, I was pleased with the finished product. It is always more difficult to use other people’s ‘colors’.

The gift is now in the hands of My Friend…

I got to use my time and my talents for someone else, so I am blessed.

A quick hello and Happy Thanksgiving from the Pacific Northwest.

Our weather resembles something of a well running meat locker. I’m never ready for a temperature of 12 (in the morning, when you’re suppose to go places and be productive…).

The cold came in handy last Friday when I got a call from a friend.

‘Hey, are you guys in town? We’re at your house and we’re leaving a box of meat on your porch. We’ve had a great year hunting and fishing’

Three hours later when I got home everything was as frozen as they’d left it. What a gorgeous gift! Beautiful salmon, ground elk, a small caribou roast (that’ll be a new one for me) and sausages. Pooh the cat took a liking to the venison jerky, but only nibbled on a medium sized piece.

Another country gift was a gallon of cider from our friend’s family traditional cider crushing. The cold weather has allowed us to perfect the best cider drink. We heat the cider and add just a smidgen of Fireball whiskey to the brew. It’ll thaw you out in no time. In fact I’m feeling a bit chilled….

In other Country news to be grateful for, we’ve had a polite honey thief.

With the opportunity to steal multiple jars of honey, the thief took only one. It was probably a honey emergency.

I’m finding myself a bit tenderhearted this season. Remembering such fun holidays in years long past, grateful for the family and friends that have been a part of my life and missing those that are gone.

We’re thankful, we’re blessed and we’re looking forward to new adventures to come.

Happy Thanksgiving to you friend.