Baby and Birthdays--April 29th & 30thWe were blessed to have the girls for a few hours on Friday night. I got my baby fix, and to top it off, an Audrie fix too!! It was fun to have the girls. Kristin was a great help, and really wanted to take care of Allie, so she had the practice. She did a great job. Zorro was very interested in Allie, but each time he came close she wanted to pet him, and he was unsure. When Allie took her bottle, he came up on the couch, and checked her out...then let her check him out when she was done. We took the girls home and tucked them in bed, and waited for Nate & Katie to get home. A great afternoon/evening with the girls!!
ON Saturday, Audrie's 4th birthday party was at Papa's Pizza. Lots of people, so glad that we had the chance to spend some time with the girls the night before.A few days later, we headed to see a Nutritional Specialist for Bill. We have a friend at church who highly recommended us to Dr Popp. He finds food allergies by Nutritional Testing, instead of prick testing. We had been to Bill's Dr in February, and she said she has done everything medically possible for him regarding the migraines. She told him he needed to seek natural methods, and change his lifestyle. Ironically enough, after this visit, Bill has. He found out he has a wheat AND a sugar allergy. TOUGH STUFF to deal with. He cannot even have natural sugars, fruits, honey, etc, and no substitutes. The only one he is not allergic to is Stevia, which is a sugar from a particular plant. So far, I have been unsuccessful baking with it. We have made a lot of adjustments, and just one week being off wheat and sugar, Bill was noticing a reduction in the severity of his headaches. After two weeks, he actually had NO headache. A first in Many,many months...as he suffers every day from some degree of headache. It has been about 6 weeks now, and he said had he not seen results, and felt so much better, he'd have thrown in the towel by now. He's pretty limited on foods, as we are finding sugar or sugar substitutes of all kinds in all foods. Kidney beans packed in water...sugar, really?? Potato Chips...sugar, you bet...some brands. Fritos Corn Chips are his only saving grace!! He has lost almost 20 lbs, and is more himself than he has been in a few years. It is so good to see him happy, goofing around, and wanting to do things again. I know that hurting for such a long time has been very depressing, let alone all the other things we've been through this last two years! Praising God for leading us here, and for helping Bill to stay on track!
New Chicks--May 24, 2011
Actually these chicks are 2 1/2 months old, and we decided to buy them from a kid who raises them from the chick stage, to the "put with other birds and not need chick feed and heat lamps" stage. I was quite impressed with this 13 year old who runs his own business, and was very professional. I'm thinking we will be getting chicks from him again. For one, he guarantees them to be female, and if there are any problems he will take them back. Yahoo!!
We brought them in the yard to meet our older girls, they looked at each other, and our older girls took off running away. The next meeting, they pecked the smaller ones...so we've kept them separated at night, and have had them getting used to each other during the day. Tonight (saturday 6-18) the smaller ones went into the coop, and we pushed the bigger ones in. There was a lot of cackling going on, but after a few minutes, it got quiet.
Trip to Bend to see Charlie 5-29-11
We headed out early Sunday morning to meet Charlie & the guys from TC at church. It's been kind of fun visiting different churches when we visit them. Some of them have become familiar to us, and we are getting to know them. It's much easier in a smaller environment than Shed, but we also weren't this closely tied in previously. We met Charlie at church, and caught up a bit before the services, then headed a back to the center to have lunch, and visit. We were able to play some cribbage, visit, watch a great movie, I Am Number Four (one I didn't think I'd like), and visit with some of the guys. Ryan has gotten to know some of them, and enjoys his time there with them as much as he does Charlie. He still thinks it's cool that they all call him Charlie's Little Brother.
We drove through Sisters, and it was perfect...I needed to take this for my Aunt Cece, as it's always seemed foggy or cloudy when she gets to go through here. Thought of you today Cec!!
We had a great visit with Charlie, and the time always flies. So good to see him happy again, and loving the Lord.
Birthday Weekend for Bill (although I reaped benefit too!) June 10-13
What a wonderful weekend away!! Bill & I got away for his 50th Birthday. He asked in January that I not plan a party as we have for every "Decade" birthday since we've been together, and asked that we get away for a quiet romantic weekend. Since our money situation is tight, I honored his request, and found a smoking deal in Medford. We usually love the coast, but the cost during the summer is way too high, and the heat of Medford gave us a chance to get a good deal!
We left on Friday morning. Bill had the laundry done when I got home from work on Thursday as he was finished with school on Wednesday. He had a lot ready to go, and we finished up, and woke early to take off before 9am. The kids stayed home, and did a great job here alone. We spent a lazy drive, stopping at places we always said "I wonder what that park is, or that museum or that scenic drive". It was great. We hit a detour with the GPS that took us on some very high logging roads, and 2 miles from where we were to get back onto the back scenic drive, was a gate. Oh well, 12 miles or more back, but a great drive, beautiful views and good company. We visited Jacksonville, a beautiful old town, although I was disappointed there weren't more shops...but there was an awesome kitchen store, and an incredible toy store...I could have bought half of it! A nice dinner at Red Lobster after checking into our hotel, followed by a nice walk, and a relaxing evening.
Saturday took us on a drive to some of the local Saturday markets. A great day, great weather, and again, we just enjoyed being "Shawnna & Bill". We were blessed to meet up with friends Lucy & Rick (and no, not Ricardo) for dinner. We had a great visit and headed back to their house to visit more...dinner wasn't enough!!
Sunday we woke sad to head home after such a great weekend. We did take the long way home, and stopped to see friends Flo and Harry for lunch. After a nice visit, we finished the trek home to join the kids in their fundraiser at church for camp. They each have 195.00 to make for camp. Ryan is 11.00 away from goal, and not sure on Kristin, as she has not has as many opportunities as Ryan. The kids did a great job of serving dinner, and working with the pie auction. It was a late night getting home after a long day,but well worth it.
Happy 50th Bill..hope you enjoyed that as much or more than a party!! You've now officially been with me more than half of your life!!
Play House to Chicken Coop in 2.5 hours!! June 16, 2011
An era has come to an end....at least in the Richard's yard. After 13-14 years of great use, our swing set/play house has come down. Kristin used the playhouse a little last year, mostly getting away to find someplace to write (we found an old diary hid in there!!), and she still swings when the weather is nice...she is the only kid I know that swings with chickens. She holds them, and they nuzzle their heads right into her neck/shoulder and seem as content as can be! At any rate, the chickens is what brought demise to the swing set. As you read in previous posts, we got two more chickens....and the wonderful coop we bought last just a short year ago, has fallen apart. Bill was discussing "rebuilding" it to a bigger better coop when he thought of the renovating the playhouse. With Kristins permission and excitement, they started planning. I came home from work on Monday to find the swingset part removed, the railings and slide removed, and the fencing around the house gone...it looked so sad down there. For so many years, it has been a focal point of that corner. I've spent lots of hours with various stages of swinging, from baby swings, to airplane swings, to regular swings. From being carried up to slide down, to standing on the ground "helping", to only being near to watch. It's been through a lot with us, and if it could talk, I'm sure would have lots of secrets and stories to share that we did not witness.
My sadness faded when I heard how excited both Kristin & Bill were to do this project...they discussed nesting boxes, Kristin did research on spacing, perches, square footage for birds, and she figures we can have 10 birds for 5 nesting boxes, but also have friends that have way more birds in less space, so we could have tons!! The work began, and by the end of the week, new nesting boxes were built, doors and window shutters (they were open before...no covers or closings), and plans for fencing and feeders were in place....now for the move!!
For the move, it required some equipment and some muscle...both we have in our good friend Nate. He brought his tractor, a sturdy trailer to put the house on, and of course his head....the most important part...as the house was on 4 Ft stilts, and the house stands 8 or more feet tall on its own. Bill had it worked out in his head earlier this week, but of course, needed to confer with Nate, as to how they could do this. Before long, they were lifting, supporting, and cutting down the supports. The trailer went under after the first two supports were cut...and then they worked on getting the other supports relief cut, so that they could support it and then push the house off the supports. It worked beautifully.
I was in awe when I saw Nate turn the trailer around in the field and back up the hill, next to the house & 5th wheel, between the fruit trees...."tons of room" to him has a different definition to me!! TONS of room is 50 feet clearance, not less than 2 ft!! After chopping a huge limb off our cherry tree, they made it to the back, and came part two...getting it off the trailer! A crane would have been handy, but three guys, a tractor and some straps worked just as well!
Nate pulled the house off the trailer as far as he could with the tractor before hitting the back hill, then pulled the trailer forward, so that we had more room. It worked like a charm, except it wanted to come off sideways...two guys pushing against it to guide it and it came down without even a dent!! Thank you Nate for your expertise in trailer backing, tractor maneuvering, and thinking skills...how were Katie & I so lucky to find two of you so much alike??!!Friday brought Bill cutting the side of the house, to install the nesting boxes, while Kristin & Tanya painted the doors & window shutters. They are nice & bright, while the rest of the house is faded. They were much easier to paint before Bill put them up...so now the rest needs a paint job, along with the nesting boxes. Hinges need installed on the door, as does a cable for pulling the door open & closed for night. Fencing is the last thing and only cost for this whole project...how blessed are we!!??
