I Voted Early...

I voted early !

How about you ?

Choose or lose !!!!

To Drive Or Not To Drive

To Drive or not to drive....that is the question. Lately, I've answered that question by NOT DRIVING. Since My Honey drives out of state to work every week, he drives enough for the both of us. Round trip to work and back is over 600 miles per week. Since I don't "have to" drive, I've chosen not to drive. This explains why I haven't posted many blogs lately. I only allow myself to use the library's computer when and only when I "have to" drive into town for other reasons. I combine errands into one trip. Today my reason for driving is to go to the bank, grocery store, feed store and laundrymat. So here I am at the library. I wanted to post a blog about the "Chicken Tractor" that I've recently built. I was determined to build it with only the items that we already had at our place. This project has a two fold purpose. The idea of a "chicken tractor" is to allow the chickens to do the work of eating the grass in our unused garden beds instead of using a gas powered machine to clear back the unwanted overgrowth of grass and weeds. The second purpose is to give the older hens a new job since their egg-laying career is soon coming to an end. I took an old wood crate pallet and covered it with some chicken wire that was in the barn. I found a few srap pieces of wood and an old cabinet door with hinges to complete the top. It took a few nails and some staples that we already had on hand. The chicken tractor is portable. It can be easily moved with a two-wheel dolly which only requires a minimum amount of energy and absolutely no petroluem products. The chickens are happy to be able to feast on the green grass, scratch the ground for bugs and such and the wood cabinet door makes for a place for them to rest in the shade. That makes for a win-win situation for us all.

The Birthday Blues....

This is something I wrote last year as the date of my birthday approached. This year will be my 2nd birthday without my mom. She always called very early on every birthday morning of my adult life to sing "Happy Birthday To You". This year will be my 8th birthday without my step-daughter, which is an unresolved issue that could be best described as unbearable. Despite having the birthday blues, I am very thankful for being able to arrive to my 48th year, since several friends and family members never saw their 48th year of life. I am conscience of the fact of how lucky I am to have three of those original sixteen family members still with me: my Dad, my uncle Dale and my cousin Carol. I am very thankful for all family and friends that have in my life and for whatever the future holds in store for us all.


Happy Birthday to me.....

On Friday Oct. 12, 2007, I'll be 47 yrs.old and wanted to share some thoughts with all of you....

My 46th year has been a tough one.... starting in January 2007 when my mother died unexpectedly, then followed by five more deaths in the family within less than six months.

It occurred to me that at the very moment you are born, who you are is who you belong to, who your people are = your family....

At 1:44 a.m. on Oct.12, 1960, when I was born,
I had two great-grandmothers, one great-grandfather, two grandmothers, two grandfathers, one mother, one father, two uncles, two aunts and three first cousins.....By age 46, of those 16 people with whom I started out with in this world, only 3 are still living...thirteen members of my immediate family are gone forever.

When I was a teenager, all I wanted was to turn 18 years old and move away from my hometown and my family.... I've joked for years that I wanted to be born into a family like the The Waltons (TV show), instead I got a family like the Simpsons.

I realize, that no matter how difficult your family is, that they are still family.... and NO ONE is guaranteed another tomorrow no matter what your age is.

Honor those who are important to you, take time for them, don't leave anything left unsaid, live your life to the fullest, live each day as if it were your last, don't ever give up on your dreams and when we reach the end of the trail, may we all have as few regrets as possible !!!

(and to those younger than me,,,,take my word for it....time flies, its wasn't so very long ago that I thought that someone 47 years old was older than dirt, and now I'm going to be 47 yrs old and I now realize dirt is much older than I originally thought)