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Spring at Someday Farm

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The first sign of spring is always asparagus growing!  Our first newly-planted sprout was met with cheers of joy!  He’s safe this year, we won’t pick any sprouts until next spring.  But then, look out!

We moved in mid-June last year and missed all the amazing blossoms around the farm! 

 The apple trees didn’t have blossoms for long, but they were sure pretty while they lasted!

One of my favorite trees on our property is this beautiful, big maple in the pasture.  I loved how purple the new shoots were (that quickly turned green!)

We have lots of cherry trees, too!  The Mister did research and talked with “those who know” and sprayed several of our trees.  We’re hoping to have some edible fruit this summer and fall!

We had no idea how many dogwood trees we had!  The pink one really took our breath way when it bloomed!

This tree took our breath away but for different reasons…we don’t know WHAT in the world these nasty growths are, but they sure were eye-catching!

Lilac bushes will always remind me of the neighbors we had when I was little.  I brought a few into the house to savor the memory of “The Croakers.”  

Sunrise over the marsh

We’ve been watching a pair of Canadian geese in the marsh since early spring.  I named them George and Martha and we have been anxiously awaiting goslings!  George is often swimming around by himself and we assumed that meant Martha was sitting on eggs somewhere (not that we can even tell the male from the female, but we like to suppose).  
In any case, we were pleasantly caught off guard by a family of geese out front in the pond!!  I quickly named them Claude and Bridgitte (I think this is a French-Canadian family) and the goslings are Un, Deux, Trois!

Leaving for work, I had to stop and take a quick picture of the pond.  I am reminded every.single.day that God wants me to slow down, pause and have gratitude for the simple beauties in life!  
We are so very grateful for Someday Farm!

A Walk in the Woods

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Dad and Judy took us for a short hike in the woods.  We saw a beautiful waterfall and all kinds of amazing signs of spring!  We loved spending the day together, especially enjoying the beauty of God’s creation!

The boys decided to hike up to the overlook rock.  Show-offs.  

It was a beautiful day spent with family.  What a great vacation!

Breaking Protocols

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The Mister was pretty giddy to be on vacation.  He didn’t originally have this week scheduled to be off, so it was even better knowing that he’d be off again for a week in early May!  The minute we headed south for Spring Break, the craziness broke out!

First, we stopped at Arby’s for a bite to eat.  I hear my husband order a Reuben sandwich, but I didn’t actually believe that’s what he meant to say, afterall, we’re in the car and he’s driving…

…but a Reuben was exactly what he ordered and got.  He didn’t think anything of it.  When I mentioned that this violated all kinds of traveling in the car protocols and expressed my concern for his shirt, (I was raised by Roger, afterall) he simply said, “This is my traveling shirt.” oooohh, your traveling shirt….I guess it’s okay to eat the messiest sandwich created by a fast food joint while driving if you are wearing a traveling shirt!
The craziness got worse, however, just a few miles down the road.  We pass the casino exit every time we head south, or take Jacob to or from school.  The Mister always shouts, “We should hit the casino!  We’ll put $20 in and let it ride!”  Of course, we never do.  Until today, when suddenly, The Mister is pulling off at the exit.  I said, “What are we doing?!?”  
He said, “We’re on vacation!  We’re going to put $20 in and let it ride!”  I could not believe he was actually going to stop at the casino (violation of traveling protocol #2: unplanned stops, especially those that involve the “stupid tax” aka casinos).  But, we did indeed stop at the casino (where I should note, The Mister was actually going to CHANGE HIS SHIRT before we went inside.  As though we need to be presentable to enter a casino at 11 o’clock on a Friday morning. 

It was my first time in a casino, so The Mister showed me the ropes.  He put money in the slot machine and kept hitting this button and hitting this button and I thought he was doing great (he was up $11 at one point) but then he informed me that he had put in a TWENTY.  A TWENTY!?!?!  What?!?!  (violation #3: impulse spending).  We’d been on the road 20 minutes and he was already violating traveling protocols with abandon!  
Just to say I did, I put $$ in the slots and tried my hand (I only put in $3).  We lost.  But The Mister got a complimentary coffee and I used the restroom so we figured that made up for something.  Maybe…?
The rest of the trip was as crazy as it started.  We whimsically decided to take a scenic drive through Lexington, Kentucky that didn’t seem to exist.  We asked a dude in a parking lot and he said he’d lived there for 25 years and never heard of it.  So, we got a hotel room, got a dinner and crashed.  (We actually found the route on the return trip.  Wanted to find that guy and tell him about this amazing drive he’s been missing out on, but I guess he’ll just have to go on not knowing about it.)
After our visit at Garrett’s, we drove through Gatlinburg, Tennessee and decided to stop, shop, eat and sample whiskey (What?!?! You’re not supposed to do that at 10am on a Monday?!)   While we were there, The Mister met Paula Dean and fought a grizzly bear.  In addition to sampling Smokey Mountain Whiskey, we also tried some wine.  The whiskey tasted a lot like…kerosene, but the wine was delish!
Finally, before heading on to Dad’s, we stopped and had lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.  We had a wonderful day in Gatlinburg!
Vacationing with The Mister is always a crazy fun adventure!!

A Trip South

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Over spring break, we went south (because that’s what you do when you live in Michigan where there’s still snow on “Spring Break”).  We visited my brother and his family in North Carolina.

While we were there, we got to hang out with this little monkey.

Oh, and Little Garrett, too!  He was super fun!!  (And not nearly as mischievous as the monkey he’s holding!)

Adalene was super adorable as well.  She is SOOO smart!  She wowed us with her memory (she recognized a picture of the windmills in Ohio as “The things we saw on our trip to Em’s house.  The make power when the wind blows” and she could tell us all kinds of letters, sounds and how to spell! 
But we also learned that Adalene does NOT like to draw 2 in Uno!!  
Thanks to Big Garrett and Diana for allowing us to crash at your brand new house for a few days!  A huge thanks for letting us hang with such amazing kids!  We can’t wait to see all of you again!

Asparagus and Strawberries!

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Well, not asparagus yet…
We, well, I have a vision for a huge perennial and vegetable garden, but it is going to happen in very slow stages.  To that end, we are trying to put together some key pieces that take awhile to produce.  We started with one of the most important parts of our garden, the asparagus patch.  We made a raised bed to contain the perennial and planted sprouts I bought last year (and more sprouts I bought this year, which meant I planted a LOT of asparagus sprouts).
I know it’s hard to see, but this picture was taken just today and I have LOTS of little “aspara-gi” coming up!  (It really helps if you talk to them, even if The Mister rolls his eyes each time that you do.)  While we wait for these guys to grow (we will eat some next spring), we have two very small wild asparagus patches that we are keeping an eye on.  So far, we’ve picked four stalks.  It isn’t much, but it’s something to carry us over!

This is the strawberry patch we put in.  again, it’s part of the Big Picture Plan and it, too, will have a shorter bed in front full of something or another.  I got a little carried away ordering strawberry sprouts. so this bed will be full before we know it.  Next year is going to seem like a banner year in the garden!

This is the “overall” view (so far).  There will be a fence, and beautiful walkways lined with bushy perennials and flowers, but for now, we have at least two key components in the ground.  

Progress!

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So, The Mister has been busy.   He’s been fulfilling his dream of being “a man on a tractor”.  He spent warm days this winter and early spring clearing more of the pasture.
He was finally able to seed it this spring. 

THAT was a happy day, indeed!

We are super excited about the pasture.  It will be next spring before there is a cow roaming around, but The Mister has made a ton of progress!  In addition to clearing and seeding the pasture, The Mister also got electricity wired to the barn.  That was an ordeal.  The short version is that the idiot (The Mister uses much stronger words for the man he had to deal with from Consumer’s) first quoted us $1700 to do the job, then $3200, and then when it was finally done, it ended up being free!!  We still aren’t quite sure how it all got erased, but we have electricity and that’s all that matters to us!

While The Mister was out working in the field, I was working on some of the flower beds.  The previous owners had beautiful landscaping, but they used wood chips for mulch and we didn’t like the looks of that.  While it seems easy enough to throw down some black mulch, these beds were all overflowing with old mulch that had to be removed first.  
The end result is worth the price of all that digging out and carrying buckets of old dirt and weeds, though!  
This is the front of the house before I got to work on it…

…and this is the front of the house after.  Yes, you can tell from the growth on the bushes that it took me a week or two to complete, but doesn’t it look better?

70

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What do you give the man who has everything he needs and wants for his 70th birthday?
Memories of all the ways he’s loved me (and others). 
Happy 70th, Dad!

Politics As I See It

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Having just voted in Michigan’s “Super Tuesday” primary, I got to thinking about the voting process.  Candidates tour around giving speeches, shaking hands and arguing with one another.  I voted for my preferred candidate by taking a black pen and filling in an arrow pointing to the candidate’s name.  I then fed my ballot into a machine where it tabulated my mark.  In November I will repeat the process with few changes other than an increased feeling of futility and even less faith that we have collectively chosen the right leader for our country. 

But what really got me thinking this morning is how interesting this process is compared to the process by which our schools are evaluated and how student achievement is determined.  Students are no longer able to fill in a “simple” multiple choice response on assessments.  Students must not only possess problem solving skills but also the ability to articulate in writing the thinking behind their choice, the process by which they solved it and an evaluation of other strategies. Paper and pencil tests are out the window and online testing is the new norm.  Students, teachers and schools are evaluated based on these results.  Maybe the politicians who implement such requirements should be elected by the same process. 

Perhaps candidates should have to rely on their constituents to not only select them as “most right answer” but to defend why in written form.  Voters should be required to explain their thinking and to evaluate why Johnny in the next voting booth might choose a different candidate. Voters should be required to complete the process online, using unfamiliar systems and technological aptitude that exceeds their training or experience.  Maybe candidates should have to suffer the results of tech glitches and system errors.

I just think it would be apropos for these candidates to endure the same process that I do based on rules they established.  If it is reasonable to expect my students to reflect effective teaching through online assessments based on Common Core standards then I think it is reasonable for candidates to be elected using the same standards of practice.  If they think it is unreasonable for Voters to use an online system or for the system to provide accurate and meaningful data; if they think it is unreasonable for voters to have to provide deep analytical responses and discerning evaluations along with each response; if they think it is unreasonable to depend on a mastery of all these elements by 85% of voters in order to get elected, I will remind them that my students are expected to do all these things. 

And my “constituents” are only seven years old. 
. 

The Kid

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I’d be remiss if I didn’t update on the Kid.  He’s in his second year at State and is having the time of his life.  He’s working hard on academics (3.8 this semester, including a 4.0 in Calculus – a first for his tumultuous history with Calc).  He has a job working for researchers on campus, providing computer programming support.  He has also been offered a TA position for next semester, working with his favorite professor in a class he just completed.  He has leased a townhouse for next year with two of his best friends at State (the other 2/3rds of “The Musketeers”) and he and his girlfriend are very happy together.  He is thinking about the future, but not obsessing over it.  He is focused on his academics but finds time to relax and play.  He and his girl are wonderful together, but don’t want to rush into anything. 

Sigh.  We raise them to be independent, successful and happy.  It’s just the most amazing feeling when they ARE.

That said, this is the same kid who stood with me in the checkout line at the grocery store holding a can of olives that bears the name of dear friends of ours.  “Lindsay olives?!”  he said.  “That is so cool!  I mean, how awesome is it that you KNOW the people who grew these?”  I just stared at my brilliant child.  “I just think it’s awesome,” he continued, “that they grow these right on their property!”

“They grow grapes, Jacob.  You’ve been there.  They have a vineyard full of grapes surrounding their home.  Not olives.  Grapes.”

“Oh yeah, right.  Grapes.”

Sigh.  I suppose no matter how old or successful he gets, we’ll still have those moments of our Little Flash, won’t we?

Decorating at the Farm

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Decorating for the holidays has been so much fun on the farm.  It goes something like this:  I get an idea in my head.  I ask The Mister to go fetch me a few things from around the property.  Some branches, some evergreen boughs, maybe some pinecones.  And then I put them all together into something festive!  
The garland on the front porch looks fabulous!  (The Mister even put lights on it for me!)

 

I put together a rustic centerpiece for the table. 

Even the chicken feeder on the coffee table got a holiday upgrade.

I have so many mason jars it’s impossible not to include them in the decorations!
The box by the front door was perhaps the easiest of all to put together but it’s The Mister’s favorite. 
My favorite?  The evergreen that The Mister fought with to adorn with Christmas lights.  The tree is up by the house, far from the road, where we didn’t really think many would even see it.  He did it just for me.  Because I mentioned once that “Someday” we should think about lighting it.  I came home from work to see the love of my life with two long poles duct taped together desperately trying to get lights to the top.  He calmly welcomed me home and then said, “Go inside.”  I watched from the kitchen window as I made dinner and he fought with the branches, the poles and the cold to get the lights up on the tree.  It turns on every morning when I am getting ready for school, and again when I am scheduled to come home. 
While it turns out you can see it from a mile or two down the road, I know that he did it just for my eyes to see.  My heart sees it too, Chief.  I love you back!