After The Rain

We have had torrential rains bringing humid air which is good for the garden and promotes the growth of strange but beautiful mushrooms!

The first sunflower has flowered and shows it's lovely face to the morning sun.

Of course, the weeds have tripled in size since yesterday. Drew and I will have to try to do some weeding in the garden today!

Happy Wednesday!
Mai

Summer Reading

My goal this summer is to get Drew reading above his grade level. He reads well and is at his grade level but I would like to see him reading  above his grade level.

I still read to him almost every night. He seems to really enjoy adventure stories and we have been reading the Stranded series by Jeff Probst. There was excitement when the second book in the series, Trial by Fire: Stranded Book Two, arrived in the mail from Amazon.

I am trying to get him to read a minimum of one hour daily this summer.  So, what do boys like to read about. Tough question since he's still "developing his taste" for books. If I tell him to have a seat and read for thirty minutes, he worries that I might forget to let him know when his thirty minutes are up and...heaven forbid...he may end up reading for 32 minutes!

That said, he does have very good comprehension since he's able to tell me what he has read. So, I'm guessing that I just need to hang in there and hope I find some books that really "grab" him. I know we can do this!

He recently read a book by Kate DiCamillo which had a profound effect on him. He asked for his own copy. The book is The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and yes, it brought tears to his eyes. For that matter, it brought tears to my eyes. So, I ended up granting his request and I also got him Kate DiCamillo's Because of Winn-Dixie. I think both of these stories address  the importance of good character for all ages.

Anyone old enough to remember these?

 The books that got me hooked on reading were in the second grade. I pulled a Nancy Drew mystery off the library shelf and couldn't seem to get enough of Nancy Drew after that. I think I just dated myself too. But those are definitely "girlie" books. There were the Hardy Boys Mystery series for boys...do they still have them available?

Maybe I'll start a list of books for Drew. "Old Yeller" might be a good one...or maybe some Hardy boy's mysteries.  Anyone with grandson's have a recommendation?

Happy reading!
Mai

Wordless Wednesday - Spring!

Goldfish Farm

Drew is delighted that we have found ourselves with an abundance of goldfish on our farm. He has this ambitious idea that we will have a pet shop on our farm. We are well stocked with goldfish at this time for this endeavor.

We built a greenhouse last year to try out aquaponics. We have an above ground pool in the greenhouse that is approximately 3' deep by 15' in diameter.

Goldfish Hotel

Our intention is to try to raise yellow perch in this pool. Since yellow perch fry or fingerlings are not available until early summer, we decided we would put our pond goldfish in the pool over the winter months. We kept the pool heated with a solar panel that my husband made. They liked it. Really liked it.

Pampered Pond Goldfish

The goldfish spawned and the eggs were swept up through the pump system we have installed. The eggs were then deposited in to the grow beds and the tanks for the floating crops. It's the eggs in these tanks that have provided us with an abundance of goldfish.There are baby goldfish in all four tanks!

Goldfish Babies Everywhere!

So, anyone out there looking for some pond goldfish? You know who to contact!

Almost Summer!

What a spring it has been! I never thought I could go through such a long hiatus of not reading all the blogs that I seemed to be so addicted to!

Some serious illnesses in the family kept me on the road (and I have the gas bills to prove it!). Fortunately, my mother-in-law's surgery for her second round with colon cancer was successful and she is doing quite well now. My brother-in-law suffered a heart attack and he is also on the mend now. I feel we have filled our quota of illness in our family!

My daughter moved to a new home and Drew is excited to be able to ride around the neighborhood on his bike and play in a big backyard with new friends.

I got my spring chicks! 50 Cornish cross and 20 soon to be pullets. I just hope this year isn't as hot and dry  as last year was! We also put in a chicken run to try to keep the foxes out. Chickens miss running around the yard though so I try to let them out each evening for a little supervised free range time.

The garden is in! No pictures yet...not much to look at yet. Green house is definitely a hot house even if the weather is cooler. Found lots of baby goldfish in the water beds. Long story for another time but would anyone like some goldfish?

Drew received his Wolf achievement last Saturday at the Cub Scout Bike Rodeo! And his Mom was there to pin it on him! Awesome!

It's going to be a good summer!!

Wordless Wednesday - Not Quite Spring

Not quite spring

Waiting For Spring!

I have the winter doldrums. The "must do" list just gets longer and my ambition just gets shorter!

Where is spring? The garden looks so desolate and cold!

Winter in the Garden

 And my "free range chickens" won't free range voluntarily! The only reason they came out of the barn today (see picture below) is because I played a dirty trick on them by holding an empty plastic container that I normally carry up to the barn loaded with little kitchen scrap treats for them. They fell for it. They came running out of the barn but it didn't take long for them to realize that they had been pranked. They ran right back to the barn. End of free ranging.

The "Not By Choice" Free Range Chickens

Oh well, they must have the winter doldrums too. So, it's into the greenhouse for a little "pretend " spring.

Aaahhh! This is more like spring!

It's much more like spring in here! The fish are moving around more now and seem to enjoy swimming with the current in the pool.

The Pond Fish in their "Winter Headquarters"

 And the lettuce is showing some promising green even if the growth rate is not what I'd like it to be.

Future Salad!

The forecast for tomorrow is a balmy 18 degrees with snow.
I promise not to entice the poor chickens outside and let them free range in the barn.
And maybe I'll pull out a chair into the greenhouse and look at the seed catalogs.

Thank goodness February is a short month!

Mai

Spread the Word on Ovarian Cancer

I watched this short video and realized how incredibly lucky I was that my ovarian cancer was diagnosed and removed at such an early stage despite my ignorance of the symptoms. Many women are not so fortunate.

Please watch and share.

Happy Birthday Martin Luther King!

My Grandson does not have school today because it is Martin Luther King's birthday so, he is spending the day with me. It's way to cold to be outside (5 degrees...I don't want to know what the wind chill factor is!) so we are having an indoors day with some cartoons, finishing a chapter book and making some chicken noodle soup.

I had just finished reading an article about Martin Luther King's crusade for the Civil Rights Movement and glanced up to a photo on my desk.

 It's an old, faded photo of a young Asian woman with her young daughter taken in the 1950's. During that time, this young woman was struggling with life in an unfamiliar country without any family other than her little daughter and had been deserted by her husband.

I remembered a little story she once told me about the time when she was still pregnant with her daughter and living in Michigan. She decided to go and visit a friend that was living in Missouri and had to take a bus to get there. Language was a tremendous barrier for her but she immediately noticed that people of "color" were seated in the back of the bus and "white" people were seated in the front of the bus. She just stood there because she didn't know where she should sit.

She finally managed to ask the bus driver where she should sit. The bus driver scratched his head and she realized that he had no idea where to seat her either. Finally, he reached out and pulled down a small jump seat right next to him and indicated that she should sit there. What a bus trip that must have been!

I found the story fascinating because it tells of a time when such humiliating practices were "normal" and wondered how strange it must have been for her to try to understand this while trying to find a way to adapt to such strange customs in a even stranger country. Then again, that time in this country seems so surreal to me. Thank goodness for people like Martin Luther King.

Happy Birthday Dr King!

Mai

Ice Skating

It's been a while since my last post...2012 was a challenging year and I have been spending most of my time "reorganizing" my daily life (with positive results I might add!).

I am still finding that there are some activities that are prohibitive though. Some of these activities are because I need a little more healing time but some are simply because I lack the skills and my body simply does not tolerate some of the potential consequences that could result from said activities...ice skating for example.

Drew has absolutely enjoyed joining the Cub Scouts. His Pack went on a tour of the courthouse last night and the pack ended the evening with ice skating at a skating rink nearby.

This was Drew's first ice skating experience. I have had a few experiences with ice skating. None of them ever hinted at any chance that I may have a talent in this arena. Never ever!

I am also still in "recovery mode" and the simple act of carrying groceries into the house will result in my body feeling like I have attempted to do 50 sit ups so I couldn't imagine what a fall on the ice (which is pretty much of a guarantee with my grace) would feel like afterwards.

Since his Mom had to work, a very good friend (thank you, thank you, thank you, Geoff!!!)  took Drew to this event. 

Ice skating seems to be another activity that comes to him rather naturally! He thoroughly enjoyed this new experience. Skates were put on and even with a few cartoon like moments of gaining his balance while hanging on to the rail, he pushed himself off and he was skating on the ice!

 He also told me had several falls but this was not a deterrent. Landing on his rear end a few times never stopped him.

I watched a video of him that absolutely amazed me at how kids can seemingly "glide" through such challenges. Hmmm....perhaps they are more successful at this because they don't view it as a challenge whereas I would view it as a challenge.

Another life lesson from Drew...stop thinking of so many things in life as a "challenge".

Thanks Drew!