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Friday, 06 November 2009

  • I like lists...I borrowed this one from Meg and added my own color.

     

    The colored items, I've accomplished.

    1.     Started your own blog (s)

    2.     Slept under the stars

    3.     Played in a band

    4.     Visited Hawaii

    5.     Watched a meteor shower

    6.     Given more than you can afford to charity

    7.     Been to Disneyland/world

    8.     Climbed a mountain (does a volcano count?) 

    9.     Held a praying mantis

    10. Sang a solo

    11. Bungee jumped

    12. Visited Paris

    13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 

    14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

    15. Adopted a child  (Do adopted pets count?)

    16. Had food poisoning

    17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

    18. Grown your own vegetables

    19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

    20. Slept on an overnight train (36 hours from ND to VT-we didn't have a sleeper compartment though)

    21. Had a pillow fight

    22. Hitch hiked

    23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

    24. Built a snow fort

    25. Held a lamb (helped deliver a lamb)

    26. Gone skinny dipping

    27. Run a Marathon

    28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

    29. Seen a total eclipse 

    30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

    31. Hit a home run

    32. Been on a cruise

    33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

    34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

    35. Seen an Amish community 

    36. Taught yourself a new language

    37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied? (sometimes)

    38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

    39. Gone rock climbing

    40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

    41. Sung karaoke

    42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

    43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

    44. Visited Africa

    45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

    46. Been transported in an ambulance

    47. Had your portrait painted

    48. Gone deep sea fishing

    49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

    50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

    51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

    52. Kissed in the rain

    53. Played in the mud

    54. Gone to a drive-in theater

    55. Been in a movie

    56. Visited the Great Wall of China

    57. Started a business

    58. Taken a martial arts class

    59. Visited Russia 

    60. Served at a soup kitchen

    61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

    62. Gone whale watching

    63. Gotten flowers for no reason

    64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (five gallons so far!)

    65. Gone sky diving

    66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

    67. Bounced a check

    68. Flown in a helicopter

    69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

    70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

    71. Eaten caviar

    72. Pieced a quilt

    73. Stood in Times Square

    74. Toured the Everglades

    75. Been fired from a job

    76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

    77. Broken a bone

    78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

    79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

    80. Published a book

    81. Visited the Vatican

    82. Bought a brand new car

    83. Walked in Jerusalem

    84. Had your picture in the newspaper

    85. Read the entire Bible (if not the entire, then pretty close to it)

    86. Visited the White House

    87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (several types)

    88. Had chickenpox

    89. Saved someone’s life

    90. Sat on a jury

    91. Met someone famous

    92. Joined a book club

    93. Lost a loved one

    94. Had a baby

    95. Seen the Alamo in person

    96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

    97. Been involved in a law suit

    98. Owned a cell phone

    99. Been stung by a bee

     

    I should make a "Bucket List" but I've accomplished so many things I wanted to do in life...#1 being married and raising a family.  My goal now is to live to be 100 and bug my kids for the rest of my life...Ha! 

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

  • Trip to San Antonio - 2009 177

    Well, there we were, totally rained on but happy through and through...

    I will never forget the day Danen told me he was going to join the Air Force...I think he was 15 at the time.  I had a couple years to get used to the idea.  Then he passed 17 and a half and he was old enough to actually join the Delayed Entry Program. I was okay with that...he was about to be a senior and I had a year to treasure the time before he left.  Suddenly it was time for him to go to Basic - Yikes!  Gone, with next to no contact (a few quick phone calls for information and a few letters) for eight and a half weeks.  But look at him now!  I am very, very proud of him but not at all surprised. 

     

Friday, 02 October 2009

  • Turkeys!

     This spring we ordered turkeys---I think we started out with 20---and ended up with five.  We had turkeys several years ago but this time was a whole different experience! 

    Mom's Camera Pics 298

    When they got too big for their pen we put them in the lean-to of the barn until they were old enough to go outside.

    Mom's Camera Pics 345

    They talk to each other and get noisy and sad when they get separated---it's my job to herd them back together.  They began following me around and chirping when I was out in the yard.  They'd wait for me to feed the dogs (they like dog food).   Turkeys are curious and very inquisitive. Then they learned how to fly!

    Mom's Camera Pics 517 

    This was cool the first time...even the second and third...but they began to perch on everything.

    Mom's Camera Pics 572

    Roosting on Rick's tractor was a bad plan...

    Mom's Camera Pics 564

    but here is good...

    Mom's Camera Pics 663

    I came home from Bible Study on morning and found them here---fortunately it was the day before I painted the veranda so no damage was done.  But my "groupies" were starting to get too close...

    Mom's Camera Pics 693

    This was the last straw (the hood of our Dakota)!  Kitty prints are cute but these birds have huge claws and can do a lot of damage.  So they've been grounded to the lean-to...but they have figured out how to get into the loft of the barn so they have lots of space---I can go visit them and listen to them chirp but they can't follow me around or scratch up my pick-up.  I've enjoyed my summer with them---it reminded me of having sheep---except for the perching in high places.  Ha! 

     Have a great day! 

     

     

Monday, 28 September 2009

  • Butterflies...

        I was missing the butterflies this summer and thought it was just a bad year for them.  But then I saw one in my orchard flower garden...and then another one...so I followed them to the Canadian thistle patch in the pasture...it must have been "hatching day" because there were a couple dozen butterflies!   

     

    Mom's Camera Pics 683

     

    Since then I've seen many more...

    Mom's Camera Pics 705

    Broken camera 142

    And my summer is not complete without catching a frog or two (okay, I could follow frogs all day, like I do butterflies...)

    Mom's Camera Pics 654

    I thought this one was especially handsome!

    And then there are toads...(which are really just grumpy frogs)...

    Mom's Camera Pics 488

    Ryan sent this picture to me from out west (western ND)---I would love to have seen this big toad in person!

     

    Mom's Camera Pics 329

    I also follow snakes...I caught this one to put in the pond...

    Mom's Camera Pics 351

    This is not the same snake...this was the first one in the pond...over 2ft. long...

    Well, that's what I did this summer!  Hope your summer was as much fun as mine!  (I'll save the turkey story for another day...)

     

     

     

Tuesday, 22 September 2009

  • The Changing Seasons

       I'm not talking about the weather, though that suddenly changed from summer to fall here Sunday with the last of sunny summer days to a cold, rainy night.  I'm feeling the change from constant motherhood to empty-nester.  It's a positive change---if I've done my job well, of course my kids are going to grow up and fly away, as baby birds always do---and I love my now adult children and will always think of them as my babies (as in: "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." - from the book Love You Forever by Robert Munsch).  They will always be the best part of me---my contribution to the future.  And I plan to live to be 100 yrs old so I can bug them all their lives.  But I'm also having fun being just a wife again and sometimes being just me.  Being just me is a new feeling, having more to do with God in my life and overcoming some difficult years of depression and such than it does with the kids being out on their own.  It's just another in a series of changes for the better in my life.  I quit my job in town because I'd rather be home on the farm full-time and not have to "check my schedule" whenever we do want to go somewhere.  I like being able to have time to talk almost anytime the kids call.  And I like being able to go to Bible Study on Tuesday mornings.  I didn't realize it until I quit how uptight I'd gotten about feeling like I was "on-call" from 8am-6pm, six days a week or how I'd quit doing a lot of at-home projects because I didn't want to be called away in the middle of something (so I did nothing).  I'm thankful I can be the at-home cheerleader (and prayer-warrior) for my family.