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Hi Everyone,
I am one blessed girl of late! It is such a joy having my Grandpa living with us. It has been two weeks since we moved him in, and we have greatly enjoyed him. He has a great since of humor, and can get us laughing a lot. We were told by his nurse that he couldn’t walk without assistance and that he had no memory. Well, I think that Grandpa is enjoying proving her wrong. He does use a walker to get around—but he will pick it up to step over something or to climb up or down the steps, and he can walk pretty fast. As to his memory—well he remembers what he did today, yesterday and a few weeks ago. Mama took him to the bank with her two weeks ago. He didn’t recognize his car then, but last Thursday we had to go shopping in town and we took Grandpa with us and as soon as he saw his car he said, “That was my car!” He is a true “back seat driver”—even though he was sitting in the front seat. He tells you when to go, when to slow down and when another car is coming—and when we got to town he told us where our bank was—who says he doesn’t have a memory. He didn’t exactly like the large oak trees on the sides of the road—he called them a disaster waiting to happen. They do not have trees that big around in Illinois or Missouri where Grandpa lived. We all take turns spending time with Grandpa. Papa will spend time with him while Mama and I milk. Mama and I will take turns throughout the day. I am learning to play chess, and he enjoys hearing me play the piano—so I actually have been able to practice my piano more often (what a blessing)! Mama works on helping to keep his brain working. She does math flash cards with him—and he loves it! I would have called it stress, but then I hate math. Mama has also had him writing his numbers and the alphabet. Grandpa also enjoys reading. Tonight Mama, Grandpa and I all worked on some Sudoku puzzles. Grandpa used to do them all the time, but I think that he has not done one in a long time. We got an “easy” one and it was challenging for all of us—but just easy enough that we all could actually accomplish it. I will say that he does not have good long term memory, but he can still tell us some stories from his childhood—like how he lost all his teeth one night running in the dark, and the story of a friend who fell from very high up and broke his back. Some stories are funny, and some are sad and he will tear up while he shares his memories. He has a wonderful appetite, and has eaten everything we have served him—but the grilled cheese sandwich. At the dining room table his chair faces so that he can see out the back door and see the back yard and back pastures. Right now there are cows to see, and he watches them graze back and forth from one side of the field to the other. On our backyard fence we have a section of October Daisies. They are about ten feet tall and when it is windy they really sway and dance in the wind. Grandpa always looks at them and tells us how the weather is outside—either calm, lightly breezy, or very windy.
I spent Monday afternoon in the greenhouse potting up kale, plantain, mullein and parsley. I had to plant the kale three times this year before it finally sprouted—and now I have 48 little seedlings. Mama and Papa spent the afternoon in the new Brooder putting up walls. Little by little new things get done in the new Barn. Once the Brooder is finished, then I think that we shall get the Feed Room finished so that we can get the feed out of the garage.
The garden is green and growing, and the roselles are ready for harvesting—but the green beans are taking their lovely time blooming and producing green beans. Thursday morning we milked the cows and Thursday afternoon we went shopping—but during the little bit of time between morning and afternoon I ran outside to the gardens to plant a few more snapdragons, some celery, a tray of lettuce, and a tray of thyme. I was grateful that the beds were already prepared so all I had to do was plant. It is October—which means it is time to plant strawberries. I realized last week that I forgot to order strawberries, so I went to www.Hosstools.com and ordered 50 each of Ruby June and Camarosa strawberry plugs. To my dismay and delight they arrived Saturday—and the instructions said plant within 48 hours of arrival. Well . . . that did not and will not happen. I might be able to plant them tomorrow—if the dirt I used for last year’s strawberries is still good. Otherwise, I will have to wait until Thursday when my new potting soil comes in.
I got to spend Wednesday afternoon in the kitchen with my herbs and my salve recipes. I have had the oil base for my Radiant Balm ready for the extra ingredients for weeks—but I was out of Manuka honey and Vitamin E oil. Papa was able to get me the honey on his Gainesville delivery run, and I finally found some “good” vitamin E oil on Tuesday, but it didn’t arrive until Wednesday. I will not use soy based Vitamin E oil, and was glad when a company started making it from Sunflower seeds—but then they quit. I couldn’t find a replacement and was having to make some of my salves without it. When I went to make the Radiant Balm though, I felt that the Vitamin E oil was a very important ingredient and didn’t want to leave it out. So I returned to the drawing board and actually found one made from olives and the other made from sunflowers. I got the one from olives—because the other company took too long to reply to tell me the ingredients. So on Wednesday I finished up the Radiant Balm, and then I started the infusing process for three more of my salves: Soothing, Virus and Relief.
Friday was our second to last chicken processing day until our “winter” break. The chickens have grown very well this year—and we have been able to process a lot more in a shorter amount of time than last year because the birds are mostly all living until Graduation Day. The last few years we have lost 1/3 to ½ of a batch due to being in shipping too long. This year we have picked them up from the hatchery the day they are born—and what a difference it has made. My sister Nichole came over for the day to help—and it was a big help. I can say that we lacked one person because we got bogged down at the vacuum sealer because the person labeling was also vacuum sealing. We were blessed to be done by 5:30—and then we enjoyed a pizza dinner. We took a nice cushioned chair outside to the Poultry kitchen so that Grandpa could spend the day with us. He noticed that we were not as efficient as we could have been. He is very observant!
When the vehicles start breaking doing chores on the farm can get very interesting. If the golf-cart quits the wheelbarrow might have to be used again! The Gravely’s gear stick broke—in neutral a few weeks back and we are waiting for a part (if it had broken in forward we could have still drove it). So Micah was using the truck to carry all the feed, hay and minerals to the animals in the pastures—but it died when he was gathering eggs on Saturday. That was a long walk with a five gallon bucket of eggs! Papa doesn’t know how to get alfalfa hay from the feed store—because he says that he ain’t putting it in the van. Trials—they come and go. I haven’t figured out if it is easier to do chores with a horse that colic’s, needs fed every day, and needs it’s hooves trimmed and teeth floated—or with a golf-cart, Gravely, or truck that needs gas and can break down often. I think we had better go visit the mechanic.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare