Hi everyone! It was a beautiful day here in SE Ohio. I don't think you could have asked for one that was more perfect. Very productive as well. Staying off of the internet is advantageous in more ways than one!! I have been pretty busy over the last week and haven't really had much of a chance to catch you all up. I think I will start way back last Saturday. Kadia went to regional competition with the FCCLA scrapbook she has been working on for several months. She and her partner received 3 stars and won first place!! She now gets to go to state competition!! Cale and I spent the week working on the kids bathroom. We put in a new commode (new low-flow which should save us some money on the water bill!) also a new faucet for the sink, re-did the inside of the shower and installed a new ventilation fan. I did a thorough cleaning job, and put linseed oil on all of the logs and wood. So it is really nice now, and clean for spring.

I have found many crocuses blooming in the yard, and many of the daffodils are starting to have flower heads on them as well. I am hopeful that the worst of winter is over! It was nice not to have a fire today. Seems like when it is burning that is all you get done doing is puttin wood on it!

Ramona is doing a little better. She holds her leg up and won't put it down, so she kind of hops around a little. I am keeping her seperate form the other chickens. Seems like when they see someone weaker then they are they like to pick at the weakest link so to speak. I think she may have hurt her leg around the horses. They are always in the stalls pecking around. She is such a pretty chicken. I have started carrying her around with me!!

Today was a beautiful day to hang lots of laundry. Cale was able to get my wringer washer fixed. Friends of ours had an old one in their basement, and wanted rid of it, so we went and looked at it, and it was the same as ours. So between theirs and ours we were able to make a good one!!! The kids even painted it nice glossy white. So I have a "new" washer for just a little labor. Our neighbor was walking out the road, and when she saw it in the back of the old truck, she asked CAle if he had bought me a new washer!!! We really laughed because this thing had probably been in this basement for 50 years and it looked it!!! People think I am a little crazy for doing these old-fashioned things, but that is what I love.

I read on another site about Farmer Boy (Laura Wilder's book) and re-read it a few nights ago. I had not read it since I was a child, and Iwas just amazed at the detail and the work!! Wow! They were just amazing in the sheer amount of work they did.

I was thinking about cleaning out my cold-frame and putting in some lettuce. I have a lot of lettuce seed. I need to get some onion sets. I never have a lot of success with onion seeds. In about 3 weeks I will start some tomatoes and peppers. We usually can't plant them in the ground until mid-May, so there is plenty of time.

Well I'd better go. We spent the evening straightening up outside and now it is cooling down quickly!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), March 14, 2002

Answers

Good to share a word or two with friends, after such a beautiful day.

Ann and I had brunch with my mom today. When we arrived to meet her at 10:30 am, we found that the Friendly Ice Cream was now a vacant lot! We went to an old-time Diner, where the food was excellent.

We've been packing all evening for a short (timewise) trip to look at a motor home in Pennsylvania, and hopefully purchase it and deliver it to the homestead.

Please keep us in your prayers, as this is a long trip.

-- Rick in SW West Virginia (Rick_122@hotmail.com), March 15, 2002.

We've been busy with the nice weather this past week trimming trees and trying to plan the new garden plot. We haven't broken any ground yet, but probably will next week.

Had a surprise when I came home today. We left this morning at 8:30, read to Mitchell's kindergarten class, took my mom to pick up her new hearing aids and ran to the grocery - homeland had a half price sale on, and they double coupons $1 and less, so I picked up some bargains with my coupons. A 4-pack of yogurt for 19 cents, and three bottles of pop and a tube of toothpaste for free! Anyway, after that we picked up Mitchell and when we pulled in the driveway I saw smoke! Lance had piled some small sticks and grass we had raked out of the garden plot from our trimming this past week on the burn pile, which hasn't been lit for three days, and then left to go do some landscape/clearing work for some friends/customers. It caught on fire itself, and had a nice grass fire going along with it!! (winds here are about 15 mph today, so it had a good start) I ran the boys in the house and put the fire out with a garden hose. It probably only burned about a thousand square feet, but it was still a little surprising to find the yard on fire! Especially since there were trees on two sides and the chicken house in front of it!

It's out now, and I'm ready for lunch!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@mmcable.com), March 15, 2002.