Memorial Day Weekend in the ER

It started with the Clearance Sale which went very well. Thanks again to all who came!

But as my sister & I were closing up, Kevin called. He was sick, and his throat was swelling rather rapidly. He almost died from a bee sting 2 years ago - he went into anaphylatic shock, which among other things, cut off his breathing. So now, understandably, he is very sensitive to the feeling of not being able to breathe.

He knew this was something different, but what? It wasn't exactly an emergency, but he did feel it was urgent. He called the doctor, and they had already closed for the weekend. Why do these things always happen over a holiday?

To make a very long story short, I took him to the emergency room. The doc wasn't sure what was wrong, but put him on penicillin. We came home, Kevin took a pill, and then spent a very restless night getting progressively worse. We spent Sunday afternoon in a different ER, where we had a loooooooooooong wait in the waiting room. But while there, he started feeling better. Much better.

To make another long story short, we think he may be allergic to penicillin. Once it wore off, he got better. The doc there also thought he needed an antibiotic, but he switched it from penicillin to another one, and also gave him a steroid shot. Tonight, he is almost back to his old self. We're still not sure what started the whole thing, they said it may have been a virus that's going around. His resistance is low right now (too much work and not enough sleep lately), so it may have socked him a good one.

When Jessica came home for the weekend, she didn't have sitting in an ER waiting room on her to-do list, but never-the-less, that's what she did. I have to admit, it was nice having her there with me!

Then today, after we had a holiday lunch, we took a walk to see the new baby goats at the neighbor's barn. While there, I announced that my hay fever allergies are much better now. That I may even have outgrown them.

Uh-huh. Just a few minutes later, I had an attack.

Oh well, those things happen. We're thankful that Kevin is better. We're thankful that Jessica and Brian made it back to their own home safely, and that Jessica is liking her new job. We're thankful that my sister and her husband were able to join us today. We're thankful that friends who were traveling today had safe trips.

And we're thankful that we live in a beautiful country that values it's freedom. We're thankful that we have a strong military who is willing to protect us. And we pray that God will bless those men and women, and their families. And we strive to be grateful to them - not just on Memorial Day, but every day.

Teenage Chickens

Remember our little baby peeps?

And their introduction to the coop?

Well, they are teenage pullets now - they grew so fast! 

Their world has expanded again, into a run built outside the coop.

When their little door is opened in the morning, there's a mad dash down the ramp.

Once the first bunch gets out of the way, the stragglers start their descent.

They take their time, enjoying the smell of the fresh air.

One stays behind, not quite ready to start the day.

Waiting perhaps on a second cup of coffee.

(Just kidding)

There's so much to do!

Grass to be plucked.

Bugs to be pecked.

Ramps to be walked down.

Ramps to be walked up.

And, holes to stick your head through..............

Let me tell you, if you get tired of sitting on the couch watching TV, get some chickens.

I didn't particularly want to get chickens, but I admit, they are highly entertaining!

I like to watch them as they go about their business of the day.

And they seem to feel the same about us, they don't miss a thing we do.

I thought I'd be sneaky and take some pictures from their little door.

But they don't miss a trick.

"Hey! What are you doing in our door?"

Oh! I almost forgot - one day one of the girls started crowing.

As in cock-a-doodle-dooing.

Uh-Oh. They were supposed to all be girls.

It turns out you can't assume that a young chicken is a boy if it crows.

Some young hens aren't satisfied just to cluck, & will experiment with crowing.

We read that around 3 or 4 months old, we should know for sure.

Oh boy. No boys allowed.

This could get interesting.

A Fly Invasion

If you have read my blog much, you may have noticed that many of my post titles start with Country Life =. These are usually about something going on with our life in the country.

Well, I'm calling this one City Life = The Invasion. Why?

Because the store is being invaded............by flies.

You've probably heard the story of the Town Mouse and the Country Mouse.

Well, let me tell you, there's a difference between Town Flies and Country Flies.

I hate to be disrespectful of all you town folks, but your Town Flies are not too bright.

I've never had a problem with flies in the store before. Oh sure, the occasional fly would get it in, buzz around for a few hours, then get either a swat from me, or an escort out the door, where it would happily fly away to new adventures.

But these flies - these flies are strange. Very strange.

It started last week. A couple big flies showed up, hovering in the front window. If I walked around the store, they flew at me, and then hovered close by, but just out of reach. Like they were giving me some kind of warning.

                          

A day or 2 later, there were more. But now they pretty much stayed in the windows. I knew it was getting out of hand when a dear lady said, "You have quite the collection of flies up here". Oh yeah, that's good for business.

I don't have a fly swatter at the store, I never really needed one. I've always been amazed that I could prop the front door open on nice days, and nary a fly would come in.

So, I folded up a newpaper, and started swatting. I got a couple, but most got away. Later that day, I was talking to a customer, and just as she looked away, a fly hit me right between the eyes. Smack! I was so glad she didn't see it. Another case of oh yeah, that's good for business.

Then I made a very odd discovery. I could put a tissue in my hand, and sneak up behind the fly. I usually couldn't kill it there, but it would then go down the window to the sill right above the floor. I could easily chase it with the tissue into a corner, and smash it.

I've been spending big chunks of my day on that rug, cornering flies at the bottom of the door. I've tried being nice - I have opened the door to let them out. But as I already mentioned, these flies are strange.

Very strange. If I open the door, THEY WON'T GO OUT!!! I've forced some out, and do you know what they did? THEY FLEW BACK IN!!!

Okay then. If they prefer death by tissue, I'm up for that. Some go to the display window to the left of the door. It's a little trickier. As you can see, I have to work around some furniture legs.

The display window on the right side of the door is trickier yet. See all those window frames in front of the display window? They lean against it. 

So, I gently lean them forward. (you can read a much more pleasant story about the windows here)

That exposes the window sill. (What's that crack across the window you say? Ask George - he'd probably love to tell you the story of the day he broke it. Hee hee.)

And on the window sill, I will find flies. Flies that are oddly attracted to death by tissue.

I'll kill a dozen or so at a time. That's all there appears to be.

And then....

About an hour later, I'll casually walk up to the windows. Where I will see about a dozen flies. Who are waiting to be cornered. Who will then become victims of the tissue.

What kind of weird flies are these?

I did a quick google research, and found some interesting & alarming facts on Orkin's website.

Did you know...

For every fly seen, there are an estimated 19 more hidden from view.

Oh great. That could explain why I only see a dozen at a time. But wait a minute, that means for each one in that dozen, there are 19 more. An hour later I see another dozen. And for each of them, there are 19 more. An hour later I see another dozen. And for each of them.......

I think I need a calculator.

And, did you know...

One pair of flies can produce more than 1 million offspring in as little as six to eight weeks.

Oy.

And, did you know...

Flies plague every part of the world except the polar ice caps.

Well, I've got to go. An hour has passed, so it's time to get another tissue and go hunting again.

Then I have to pack.

If you need me, I'll be at the polar ice caps.

I may not have to go after all! I think I found the trick. I propped the door open for a couple hours. I checked every so often, and the flies were gone.

Apparently, if I FORCE them out the door, they rebel and come right back in. But if I prop open the door, and walk away, they think it's THEIR idea, and they go out. Maybe they are teenage flies.

In the country, we have screen doors to keep flies outside. But I guess here in the big city, I need an unscreened door so they will go outside. The things you learn...

I'm so glad I don't have to go to the polar ice caps. They are absolutely beautiful, but I was really looking forward to warmer weather.

Domestic Chickens and Wild Turkeys

This morning, before coming into the store, I went to the coop to feed the chickens. It was a glorious morning, and I had a spare half hour, so I decided to plant some lettuce & spinach in the raised bed my dad had built behind his house - the house where Kevin now lives beside us.

As always, Billy came along. (Cats are supposed to be independant, but Billy didn't get the memo).

I was planting seeds under Billy's careful supervision when I noticed he got distracted. I also noticed a clucking sound coming from the opposite direction of the coop. Toward the lane...

I didn't have the camera with me, and probably couldn't have got close enough anyway, but strolling down the lane were 5 or 6 turkeys.

I was seeing them through the trees, but they looked alot like these ones, only they weren't in a group like this. Rather, they were walking single file down the road, like they didn't have a care in the world.

I hear turkeys almost every morning, usually from a different direction. But since it was such a glorious morning, they must have decided to go sight-seeing!

Billy and I just watched them for a couple minutes till they were out of sight, listening to them cluck or yelp or whatever it was the hens were doing. On the other side of us, we listened to the chickens pecking and scratching. And we listened to their peeps giving way to clucks as they are growing up.

Mother's Day for my Mom meant Geraniums

I associate Mother's Day with geraniums. Why? Because my mom loved geraniums, and there were quite a few Mother's Day's when that would be my present to her.

Growing up, I mainly remember her having the red ones. When I became an adult, she liked the pink ones, and that is what I would give her.

But really, now that I think about it, I have to wonder - did pink become her favorite, or did she like to get pink geraniums from me for Mother's Day because pink was MY favorite? Hmmm.

Like a million other questions, I wish she was here so I could ask her. Mom started showing signs of Alzheimer's Disease in 1993, and it slowly (but much too fast!) took over her life. Alzheimer's has a nasty way of taking your loved one's from you twice. We lost her the second and final time in 2005. How I miss her!

I'm so thankful I had her. I know many of you think you had the greatest mom in the world. I don't know how to break this to you, but you didn't. You couldn't have, because MY mom was the best one in the world. At least that's what my sister and I think.

Mom gettting help blowing out the candles on her 64th birthday in 1989, from me, Jessica & Kevin.

And she was a wonderful grandma to Jessica and Kevin. Unfortunately, they were pretty young when she started slipping into Alzheimer's, so they don't have as many happy memories with her as they would like. But - they say the first 5 years of your life are the most formative, the years that make you who you are. And mom was very much a part of those years of their life, and she very much is a part of who they are now.

I hope there are geraniums in heaven!

Our Little Boy Blue quilt

Let me start by saying - this quilt is not in the store, it's in our home. But it's such a cool quilt, I'd thought you might like to see it. It hangs in our hallway, so it was hard to get at the right angle to see the whole thing thru the eye of the camera.

Notice the bottom of the quilt. When you hang a quilt, you're supposed to turn it frequently, to keep it from stretching out. Well, that would be great on a quilt that looked right from any direction, but, we can't have these guys standing on their heads!

The result, as you can see, is that it has stretched, and the bottom has become wavy. But that's ok. We have it out where we can enjoy it every day, and to us, that is more important than keeping it in pristine condition.

George's grandma was making the quilt for him, but she died before it was finished. Several years later, his mom got it out, and finished it.

His grandma had all the blocks done but one. His mom didn't have anymore of the blue fabric that had made the pants and suspenders, so she improvised for the boy on the left.

This is George's mom Ada, the day she gave us the quilt in 1984. As I mentioned, she made the last block, then put the whole quilt together. Between George's grandma and mom, they sewed an absolutely beautiful quilt, one we will always treasure.

We have the quilt hanging on an old hay topper pitchfork. It had belonged to George's family too. It's about 10 feet long, much longer than a typical pitchfork. Why so long? It was used to throw hay on the top of a haystack.

When Jessica & Kevin were kids, they got into a friendly disagreement with their friends Kelly & Megan over "My dad has the best..."

You know... "Our dad has the best this...!"

Followed by... "Well, our dad has the best that...!"

Jessica & Kevin won that one when they proclaimed, "Well, our dad has the biggest pitchfork!"

How ya gonna beat that one!!!