Well, here goes! I am thankful for not having yesterday's mousey wake-up call...once is enought! I woke up to sinus and chest congestion and could only bark louder than my rottweiler. Oh well! Yesterday was the start of my sons' new math program Math-U-See. And they just love it. Jamie & Aaron are eager to get started again today. We are considered eclectic in our homeschooling, combining different interests and curriculums to meet their specific needs. They will be 9 yrs old next month but read at grade 5 level, math is grade 4 level and other subjects are about average for their age. I am purchasing a Nogirlz writing program designed just for boys(COOL!) as their writing and comprehensive skills are different from girls. Daughter Kayli is into her paints right now so I'd better supervise her. Jamie is yelling "Math-u-see,math-u-see!" Got to go...Andrea

-- Anonymous, January 07, 2004

Answers

Diane, I did post under category "Briarpatch Ramblings" but ended up under the New Questions?? What went wrong? Andrea

-- Anonymous, January 07, 2004

Seems my posting from yesterday hasn't shown up yet or went missing.Grrr!

I had left off with the intention of following up with yesterday's post last night. The boys' rabbit had to go to the vet for a lump on his back and ended up having surgery to remove a hard abcess the size of a quarter! And $100 later! Poor Timmy, he doesn't look so good with the bald spot and stitches. My trip to the doctor resulted in antibiotics for my sinuses. Maybe I can get some relief now.

Husband, Kevin, is still working away in the barn to get the floor slats and nests ready for our 3000 breeder hens. Ryan, a young Mennonite lad, has come over many times this to give Kevin a hand. my husband was raised Holdeman Mennonite...ladies wear the black cap and cotton dresses, married men with beards, but live modern. We are in Dutch-German Holdeman mennonite country in Linden, Alberta and his family are all here. Kevin no longer belongs to the church because of his first divorce and then he married me 5 yrs ago. I'm just a little Scots-English Canadian raised in the big cities out east around Toronto, Ontario.

I have to run now and help the boys with feeding the rabbits (we have 20 adults/13 babies in the mini-rex breed and 9 adults/18 babies of the New Zealand white meat rabbit)The minis go for pets and show.

take care, Andrea

-- Anonymous, January 09, 2004

Well, I finally go back to my post today. The server system was evidently down the last couple of days.

The last couple days have flown by with the work on the farm. Jamie & Aaron went to their dad's this weekend in Calgary about an hour away from the farm. My stepson, Jay, went to his mother's this weekend in town just 7 minutes from here. Daughter Kayli(4) helped with the rabbits and chickens all weekend! What a worker!

Hubby and I did some finishing touches on a new wall built in the barn and the weather outside was great! The warm west winds from the mountains called the "chinook winds" warmed up our area to about 7 degrees Celcius. Today it has dropped to below zero again.

I finally got to my new natural alternative health clinic today and had a very "interesting" energy & iridology (eye irises)assessment done without me explaining my medical history. She was very exact with my problems and I verified everything with her. Just recommended some changes in my diet and some supplements to detoxify my horribly screwed up digestive system which has given me no relief for the past two years. Things had gotten worse in the past 6 months with little relief or help with prescriptions. The physician has been simply too busy to help me. Looking forward to eating "normally" with natural grown foods from my garden and herb supplements.

The boys are clamouring for their schoolwork so I better go now. Andrea

-- Anonymous, January 12, 2004

The Barn is ready to move our chickens today! Now we have to separate the 3000 dual purpose hens and roosters into 5 groups for breeding purposes. There are the Rhode Island Reds, Columbia Rocks, Barred Rocks, White Rocks (Broiler Cross),California Greys.

There are also 1000 Bronze Turkeys, descendants of the Wild Turkeys. The turkeys are raised for their eggs, which are taken to the hatchery for incubating and people buy the poults for raising as meat. The dual purpose chicks are raised for either their meat or eggs. Nice big brown eggs! The leghorns in cages that produce white eggs for supermarket are so anemic looking, with their pale yellow yolks. Our brown eggers are free run/free range and the yolks are a lovely deep yellow.

I'm working on plans for a small greenhouse to extend the growing season and go organic. Some of my friends in town will buy from me if I can keep the costs down and produce kept fresh! It is worth a try to make a few extra $$ to keep the farm going. Nothing is cheap up here in Canada.

Hope all of you are well. It is good to be reading your posts.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2004

Today,it is hard for me write about something good. I am left to comphrehend two incidents to deal with. A terrible accident has happenned in our community and I was personally confronted by a terrible person in the neighborhood. This incident has left me no choice but to press physical assault charges against my husband's ex- wife's boyfriend. I did not need medical attention, but am in shock at the man's savage emotional and physical attack. He was warned not to come near me or touch me, but did not listen. His language is foul and too horrible for me to even think to repeat. And worse, my three young children were there and witnessed the entire episode. They are angry too and my daughter was in tears. The reason? I had only gone into town to pick up my stepson, Jay, for his hockey practice, as he was at his mom's that night for a visit. This man had just pulled out of the drive way when he saw me coming, pulled back in, and like a raging bull, came towards me telling me to get off the property(I was on the sidewalk), leave Jay alone, cursing my husband, etc. I just stood there in shock, replying that I was just picking up a little boy for his practice, why are you upset with me? Then he pushed me, not once, but three times, all the while I told him do not touch me. He knocked off my shoes the second time, and wouldn't let me get them. Strangely enough, as I reflected on this incident, he was acting like a bully, and enjoying this!! This is a man who has a mennonite wife, a mistress/common-law wife (Jay's & Scott's mother) and another girlfriend in another town. He preys on the weak women as he is a control freak and verbally/emotionally abusive. I am however not one of those weak women. He doesn't realize he picked on the wrong one. He is 5'10", 240 lbs solid build. I am 5'2", 100 lbs soaking wet as my hubby describes me, And have been ill for the last 3-4 months so have very little strength, but did manage to slap him on the face before I left.

I have not slept well since Thursday night, and may have to get some counselling if my mind doesn't settle down over the weekend. I am having trouble to grips with the fact my older stepson Scott, wants nothing to do with this and won't even ask how I am doing. His mother and Peter have told him that I attacked him!! I am deeply grieved by his lack of emotion or caring as I have raised this boy for the last 5 years. The little guy apologized for his fussing over going to practice that night which probably aggravated an already bad situation, but I told him he is NOT responsible for the man's behaviour. The police officer was here taking my report when an emergency call came over about an accident in the community. She apologized for leaving before the report was done but this accident involved 11 boys on the local basketball team.

As we found out later, the grades 10-12 senior boys basketball team was on its way to another game in a town just 1 hour away, when they were slowing down at a stop sign, hit a patch of black ice, slide through the T intersection and was hit on the passenger side by a pickup going too fast. Both vehicles ended in the ditch. Two 17 yr old boys died on the scene , 4 others taken to Calgary Foothills intensive care, 2 boys released, others with minor injuries. The two boys released were from our town and they said the two boys had died in their arms. The one boy was a son of the teacher in our local elementary school. The high school is in our sister town just 10 minutes away. My stepson Scott was in shock to find that one of his best friends has a broken pelvis, leg and lacerated liver, the worse of the kids in the hospital. The others have internal injuries as well, a broken leg, arms, and jaw. Surprisingly, few head injuries. There were no charges laid, just a bad accident. Hockey games have been cancelled this weekend in memory of the boys as a few of them had played in the past.

The high school was closed but still open for the kids and staff and families to gather as admittance to the hospital is limited to only immediate family. The media was there as this is not a minor accident.

Please help me pray for the boys and their families. We have gone through this last summer when my 17 yr old stepdaughter was run over by a pickup truck and broke her pelvis, ribs and collapsed lung. She remarkably had little internal injuries, and no head injuries as one tire had run by her ear. Kevin and I spent a long time with her in hospital and so now we will pray for the families going through this now.

Sisters, please pray that I don't lose my head, and that the family, including my stepchildren, will be able to deal with the violence in this world. I pray this man goes behind bars. But it will be a while before the justise system takes effect. It could be a year before anything happens.

-- Anonymous, January 17, 2004

Life goes on...the kids and I are getting ready to watch a video on bullying and repecting people by christian author Frank Peretti. Then we will do some math, spelling, chores for the rabbits and play a Harry Potter board game. The boys have being at me to play this game since Christmas time! Then the boys have TaeKwonDo practice tonight and I will be visiting the RCMP(Royal Canadian Mounted Police) office to inquire about the assault charges. I am trying to rise above the situation, and wrap my mind around the outcome/consequences if anything gets done about it! I'll let you what I can find out later. Take care,

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2004

Another busy day on the farm...picked eggs, chored the rabbits(they are starting to look plump!..off to market for them next week!),did laundry, cooked steaks, sauted mushrooms & homefried potatoes and carrots for lunch, yelled at the cat to get off the counter(must be the meat), took ANOTHER rabbit to the vet for an eye abcess..gross! Then it was more unsuccessful phone calls for legal guidance(can't get a hold of anyone these days), placing ads to sell the baby bunnies, had a cup of HOT apple cider to calm my nerves(if I haven't burnt any out yet)and called a girlfriend to say Hi! I'm still alive, then hung up. Kevin has a sales meeting tonight..hope to get a job selling RV's and motorhomes with an associate. Maybe we will get away and visit you guys in the next few years! He is enthused about this, so I gave him thumbs up.

Til tommorrow, take care everyone, you are all on my prayer list tonight.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2004