Friday, June 25, 2010

Solitude

I had exactly 80 minutes of solitude tonight. We drove five hours from home to Bemidji, MN to attend part of the Oak Hills alumni weekend and visit my father-in-law. Lilyana was not a happy traveler this time. We were all ready to exit the van and not return to it until tomorrow morning. After checking in and eating Dan proceeded to the chapel and Lilyana to the nursery. I found my way back to our dorm room to work in solitude. I might actually get more work done in the next two days than I do at home. Dan brought Lilyana back at 8:20 and then left to reminisce with his fellow alumni (is that the plural?). So as I finished working, Lilyana is watching a Veggie Tales sing-a-long trying to follow with her finger the pea that is bouncing above the words.

Tomorrow morning I'll get another bout of solitude as Dan and Lilyana travel with Dan's brother, Floyd and their Uncle Lee to visit his dad in the assisted living facility he's currently in. Tomorrow afternoon is an open house to celebrate the retirement of Dan's mentor, Ken Wold, and then hopefully a little lake time for Lilyana before we head home.

And before I got, Lilyana has decided to try climbing up to the top bunk in our room. And she is doing a fine job as she always does with climbing. She managed to make it to the top by herself. I think some wading in the lake is in order.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Farewell to Chickens

Dan started a fire under a pot of water. My parents and niece Maria came to visit. All for the purpose of thinning our flock of chickens. We had 8 broilers that we nice and plump. So about 10:30 began the thinning. Dan and my dad played the part of executioners which mom and I dismembered. We were done with the cutting and first two washings by 12:30. Just in time for lunch of .... beef (hamburgers), potato wedges, fruit salad. After lunch was the final washing and sorting. We have 16 each of breasts, thighs and legs in the freezer. We have about 6-8 quarts of broth for soups, gravy, casseroles, etc. It felt good to get that done and have some chicken variety in our supplies.

After they left we decided to go for a walk. For some reason Lilyana will not go near the road without one of us holding her. So we came back and Dan finished up a bike he was working on for someone. Lilyana got bored watching him so she sat down in a puddle and started playing. Since she needed a bath I decided to let her. I did draw the line at her drinking out of the puddle. We finally went in and did the bath. She is now clean.

All in all a very good day.