My Happy Place

I am amazed at how well Michael is doing after having his tooth pulled. It gives me a bit of confidence about considering having my wisdom teeth out. LOL  In any event, Michael was up and at an appointment with Allie and I and then spent the afternoon building a shelf in the greenhouse. I love it, it turned out well. He also dug a few persistent weeds out for me. LOL 

Meanwhile, I set about planting seeds. I only got 288 plants going. I need to get more soil/starter and the seeds I bought last week are missing. The ones from Baker's Creek were here so I got some of them started. 

I started 2 kinds of pumpkin, Delicata Squash, Dragon's Egg cucumber, Kabocha Squash, Bonny Best tomatoes, Royal Golden watermelon, Strawberry watermelon, Chinese Red Noodle Beans, and two kinds of Brussel Sprouts under the lights. I plan to move them out to the greenhouse when I see how warm it stays out there overnight. The broccoli, cauliflower, kale, sweet peas, cabbage and herb seeds are still missing.  I am not sure where tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and beans will be grown this year...but I'm starting them and will figure it out. I could also put tomatoes in containers and maybe grow them on the shelf when the seedlings are all planted? Would they be too heavy?  I could cover a bed with plastic for bush beans....cucumbers, however, will be tricky. 

I planned to plant beets, lettuces and carrots directly into the beds tomorrow. I know it's before the last frost, but I keep hearing cold crops will be o.k. if I direct seed them now... but now Michael says snow is predicted for Sunday night or Monday. What do you all think? 

I can't explain how much I LOVE being warm. It was a good call not to put shelves on both sides of the greenhouse. This allows for a CHAIR....once something starts growing it will be a slice of heaven. 

Baachan's happy place...

Michael had the door open all afternoon and it was 70* inside. There is a thermostat and fan to keep things cool if it gets too warm....which I can't imagine just yet. 

A Very Good Friday

 Friday commenced with an early morning zoom followed by Breakfast study with Stacia at 0700. 

We rushed home and I got a few things done, checked on Michael and Grandpa and then raced out the door for Allie and Stacia's hair appointment.  Stacia cracked me up - a writer's going to write! She is writing the end of a novel she's been working on....and we can't wait to read the ENDING. 

Stacia post hair cut 

Allie and I were not nearly as productive.  Note the circles under the eyes - a typical Alaskan thing in the summer....the sun is always up...who wants to sleep a minute of it away? 

Allie pre-hair cut

We came back home again and before we knew it it was time to head out again for an appointment with Allie. 

While we were on our way home CoRielle texted and asked if they and a young friend of theirs could come by for a play date!  Wibbly Wobbly Acres park is not fully functional yet, but we love having the grands and their friends over. 

Benny was quick to pick us all flowers! 

Benny pulled out the kids' picnic table and Cory, Arielle, Danny and his buddy (note I am not showing face or name as I haven't gotten permission from his parents) promptly took advantage of it. 

Danny LOVES the horse noises....

Benny is into pirates this week. He has attempted to get everyone he meets to play pirates. The girls were happy to engage his imagination. He called me a Baachan pirate and I had sharp teeth and growled. The play structure was the pirate ship. 

Danny is unconcerned about pirates! 

Go get em, Danny. He's about to take off and chase after Benny. 

When the excitement of the play date was over, and everyone had gone home, the kids continued their inside excitement...reading, writing, researching. 

Michael and I worked on another project - but I'll do a separate post on our activities. We met for dinner - YoYo (Your On Your Own)...the guys are settling down for the night as they work at 0500.  The rest of us are waiting for Grandpa to finish dinner so we can watch an episode of The Chosen. 

It's been a very good Friday. 

Millie is TWO!

 Yes, Cinco de Mayo is Millie's birthday. She is 2 years old today. No longer a puppy. Of course we bought here a few treats. She got a tug of war rope, a Mr. Bill toy that says, "Oh no" - I didn't realize it would do that, and a football. 

Here we discover Millie growls if you hug her. She wags her tail and wiggles - but she growls. 

Stacia was a bit worried Mr. Bill would be destroyed in the first night. 

Millie didn't want her toy until Grandpa wanted it. Then she desperately needed to protect it. 

In other news, Michael finally had his sore tooth extracted in Anchorage. We drove up to Anchorage, I drove back and he slept the whole way home. I dropped him off and headed to Freddies for his meds. They told me the wait would be an hour, so I took care of grocery shopping while I waited. 

Allie had an engagement for a couple of hours this afternoon and I read/slept in the car. LOL 

Vets, Cookies, Chicks and Greenhouse Project

This Wednesday began differently than most. Allie and I moved Bible Study from Thursday to this morning due to upcoming scheduling conflicts.   I got Dad up, showered and settled with the paper and his breakfast and we headed out. We discussed the wisdom of impact in resisting temptation, and I'll discuss that on Friday with Stacia. 

A bit later in the day Millie visited the vet. They said they've been seeing a lot of doodles and they love the energy and bounce. Yay. LOL  Seriously, she settled down but it took a lot of help from Stacia and Allie.  Millie is scheduled to get spayed in June.  They asked me if it would be hard to keep her quiet for 2 weeks. Um? Did you say you know the Labradoodle breed? LOL They said they'd give us sedatives. 

Nolan and the girls watched an episode in some Marvel series they are watching. It's a challenge to find a time when all 3 are home and available at the same time.  One of the joys of being done with school is there a bit of time for things like this. LOL 

Stacia played around with her new flower nail and meringue. 

Both girls are sporting gifts from Kirsta LOL
Allie's shirt; Stacia's decorating tools 

Allie agreed to give it a try and learned a new skill.  

Michael worked off and on in the greenhouse building a shelf. It's hard to get good momentum going when we are constantly having to shuffle schedules - but we get it done. He had just started when he had to come in as we left for the vet. He worked more until we had to leave for Youth and Women's Bible study. 

Yes, we enjoyed our various church groups last night. And there are the chicks...always the chicks. 

Family and Chicks

Yep, that title about sums up the day. 

I stood outside the door at CoRielle's and heard, "Ba, Ba!" 

Danny recognized me when I drove up. He was calling my name - it's awfully close to "Baachan." 

I could not get Danny to take a nap today for ANYTHING.  After we read books, played with dinosaurs, picked up toys and had a snack, I suggested we walk to the park by their home. We simply can't get enough of being OUTSIDE. Benny was proud to show me his climbing ability on the climbing structure. 

King of the mountain

While he demonstrated, the slide caught Danny's attention. It was obvious HE wanted to climb on this structure. 

"I wonder if I could get up there?" 

Benny ran over and began to show him how to climb to the top. "Follow me, Danny, follow me!" 

Brothers for the win

Danny proceeded to follow him up each level. Benny was careful to make sure Danny didn't go near the edges and I followed along, ready to assist as needed, but they did it all on their own. 

I was most nervous about the sliding part, but it was slow enough it wasn't a problem. They were very proud of their accomplishment. 

"Baachan, come quick! My muscles are running out!" A very serious situation, for sure. 

I texted Arielle to be sure she would know where we were when she got home. We enjoyed a quick visit as we walked home. I left her with plans for lunch, nap and a library trip for the boys. Up next is a unit study on Pirates for Benny. 

Back at home I had lunch and saw Michael off to Anchorage for a consult at the Oral Surgeon. He will have a tooth extracted on Thursday. Nolan agreed to come up and be around with Grandpa, and the girls and I headed into town. 

Stacia had a "walk in" appointment at our medical clinic. My word. It took an hour before we went back to a waiting room.  We hopped on over to the library when we finally finished at the clinic. Now that the girls are done with school they need a few fun books to occupy quiet moments. We ran into Arielle and Benny. Cory was at home with Danny who was still napping. I wore him out. Poor baby. I can usually get him down for a nap. 

Michael wasn't home when we got home from town. I put pizza in the oven and went out to the greenhouse. Ah, the warmth! It does my tropical heart good to step into the greenhouse. I finished weeding both beds and will lay paper and compost tomorrow...or maybe I'll plant some seeds. We'll see. 

Michael got home, we had dinner, and watched a couple of episodes of The Chosen. We are enjoying the show.  Thanks to all who recommended it to us. 

I'll close with a photo of our growing chicks. 

Greenhouse, Grands and Chicks

 It's here! Look what arrived! It's an 8 x16 well-built greenhouse that will be attached to the old foundation/footer that Michael built.  The main purpose for this will be giving seedlings a home to grow in that won't blow away/over....or take over every space inside the house. 

It will also have a couple of small beds inside. Michael got busy making a shelf for one side of the greenhouse. We aren't sure if we'll want two. I'm also not sure if that front part he added will be turned into beds or just a bit of floor space for things. We'll play with it and see what we really want.  In previous years I grew cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, green beans and melons INSIDE...but since the four beds that had been plastic "greenhouses" were destroyed in the storm, I'm not 100% sure what I'll be able to grow this year.  Since these will be the warmest beds we are considering melons in the beds.  While Michael built a shelf, I started working on the packed soil in the beds. 

I am thinking of putting a weed block on top of the beds and then 2 - 3 inches of compost...or I may just add compost and deal with the weeds. I think it is going to be a challenge to weed under the shelves which is why I'm considering laying down a weed barrier on top of the soil. 

Arielle and the boys came over. Benny was raring to see the chicks. Arielle didn't remember HOW he knew we had chicks. Benny remembered the polo I sent the grands. LOL 

Danny was VERY excited. I didn't catch the wide "O" he made when he first saw the chick. 

The chicks are doing well. No splayed legs, everyone is alive and well...so much better than our last chick buying experience. The Barred Rocks continue to keep us laughing - they're the little black chicks. They are starting to fly and take running leaps into the middle of the pile of other chicks. 

The Golden Bovans are getting tiny feathers. 

Allie had an outing this afternoon. Stacia prepped dinner while I worked in the garden. It was a full day. 

Sunday Afternoon

Michael is filling in for Ed at Sunday School for a couple of weeks. We decided our best bet would be to take two cars this morning to church. We can't get Dad into the building where Sunday School is held so we wouldn't be able to attend the class and would just be sitting around waiting for others for 30 minutes... Two cars worked well. 

After church we had lunch and came home to find - these two in our driveway! It's always fun to visit with Jared and Larissa. 

Michael has spent the afternoon working on his project to extend the foundation of the greenhouse. I started weeding the beds behind him and realized my hands are not as strong as they've been in year's past. I thought about it and have decided to go after the weeds with a hoe and then cover the beds with newsprint or cardboard and put compost on top of that.... I'll tackle them in the morning. Maybe I'll just put the chickens in there after the greenhouse is erected. So many options...

Sometime this afternoon Stacia decided she wanted to go sit on the sledding platform now that there was no snow on it. 

📷by Allie

Millie fussed until we let her out - she had a great time romping around with the girls. The main purpose of including a photo where you can't really see PEOPLE is to point out there is NO SNOW LEFT in the back yard! 

This year's chicks continue to provide us with entertainment. Some of them are getting little feathers. The barred rocks (black ones) crack us up. They run and "cannon ball" into the middle of the feeder or group of others. 

This heating plate keeps them warm and toasty...at night all 20 of them cuddle under it. 

I am looking forward to getting more eggs again. I am envisioning baked omelets, quiche and breakfast burritos in the freezer for breakfasts.  Our current 10 are basically keeping Grandpa in eggs.