Weekend Warrior

You know how projects and chores can seem to pile up, and then all of a sudden, the timing just works, and you end up doing what feels like all of them? That has been my week, ending in a very full weekend.

As you know, there are always things to be done on the chicken farm. We have managed to get most of the waterline repairs done, things like changing regulators, and fixing minor leaks. We had one line break loose as the catchers showed up to catch the last flock, and with new birds, I had to spend some time getting that line rehung. I am glad that I have good helpers in Justin, Ian and Ben. That was a couple of weeks, ago, but it was the emergency that kind of threw these other projects back a few weeks.

Of course, mowing and string trimming are a never-ending chore, particularly in a summer that has been the wettest in Arkansas' recorded history. Kathy, Andrew, I don't know how you guys keep up. Maybe the slightly cooler weather in Seattle.............Oh, wait, YOU had the 100 + temps this year, not us. We also have the first year in Arkansas history where there was not a single day of 100+ at the main weather monitoring sites in Little Rock, and the surrounding communities.

That has made anything moisture related a chore for us. And it sure made this last round of projects fun.

Last Saturday began the real fun. Michelle and I have been planning to put a porch off the back door. We want to do the front porch, but it will be larger, and therefore somewhat more expensive. OK, a LOT more expensive. We decided to put the back on, because Michelle's Granny Edna is coming out this week, and she can not navigate stairs very well. The front stairs are tall, and have become slightly wobbly with age. I hope we will have saved the amount needed to get the front porch under way, before the steps really start to give out, but with Justin leaving on his mission in 3 weeks, that may be our next tax-refund check.

Anyway, the back porch had to be built on the last 2 weekends, or it had to be built in the midnight hours during the week. LOL, last weekend, it had rained, as it had done all week, up until Friday night. Michelle and the Youth from church were gone to Morrilton for a service project at Petit Jean State PArk.

Justin, Kaylee, Ben and I stayed home and played in the mud. We were trying to get the footings set for the porch. I really don't like digging holes for structures when the ground is this wet, but we are on a bit of a time crunch. It was almost funny, because when the first hole was about 6 inches deep, it started to fill up with water. Nice little artesian well we had going!

So, the kids bailed water, I dug mud, and we set, unburied, and reset the concrete base pier block for the next 3 hours. 1 Block! we ended up adding about 50 lbs. of large balast rock (2-3" gravel) to keep the pier from disappearing into the mud again. You may ask why we had dug so deep, if we needed to fill the hole back in with gravel. I'll tell you.

Just before she left, Michelle saw all the water in the hole, felt it was clearer than the second hole we had started, and realized that we were very close to the water line into the house. She wondered if we didn't have a leak in the supply line to the house, and asked me to please dig down to make sure we didn't have a leak. So our hole, ( although sideways from the waterline) had to be deep enough to find the water line and verify that it was intact. The mud we threw back in the hole did not support the concrete block, which sank out of sight 3 times, before we got enough gravel in the hole to support it securely.

Once we got the blocks set, I have spent several post-daylight hours this week, measuring, cutting and fastening boards to get the porch done. It is not huge, only 6 1/2 ft. X 6 ft, but it is very solid, with a nice built in bench for donning and removing chicken house shoes and other grimy footwear. The steps are low and wide, and rock solid. I am very proud of it. I consider myself pretty handy, but lately it has all been used to maintain farm houses. It is nice to use it for us.

Then, you know how one project leads to another? You guessed it. We have been meaning to build a high storage shelf in the utility room for ages. Just a place to put some things up out of the way, and utilize the huge space over the freezer. Nothing big, just a couple of 2X4's, some plywood, some measuring and cutting, and nails. But it always got set to the back burner. Well not this weekend. Shelf accomplished!!

Then I spent a few hours helping Bob dig some holes to mount a back-up switch to our old chicken house. The automatic switch will transfer from grid power to generator during a power outage. 18 inches-24 inches deep, about 1 ft. across. Should be nothing, as wet as the ground is. No water to carry for the cement, Mother Nature is bringing the water. Wishful thinking! 6 inches down, we find a layer of bedrock!

Now, around here, bedrock is mostly sandstone, so we needed to get through it. I used the 40 lbs. breaking bar that Bob has. I was finally able to break a hole roughly the right size. The rock was only about 6" thick, and we were able to go down the last foot with ease. Posts are mounted, electrician scheduled. Mission accomplished!

But wait, we're not done yet! While Bob and I were digging, I had given the kids an assignment. One related to my last posts about fruit. Bob has an old pear tree. He can't even remember what kind. It is not bartlett, but one of the varieties that stays really hard, but gets really sweet. We have discovered in years past that these pears make excellent "apple" pie filling. When cooked, you can't tell they're not apples.

Well, of course, this week they are ripe, and starting to fall off the tree. The tree is small, but it was about the only thing food related that produced like mad this year! So we wanted to take advantage. That meant the kids picked pears, while Bob and I dug. 4 buckets. (the 5-gallon size) They left quite a lot on the tree, but they only had 4 buckets. So after all our sawing, nailing, screwing, pounding fun on the porch and shelf; after all the bone-jarring, knuckle scraping, rock-breaking, muscle aching fun digging post holes; after the constant entertainment of running back and forth to chicken houses at regular intervals,

We finally got to break out the canning assembly line! We made several quarts of pie filling, and a number of quarts of pear slices. And we did all that before it was time to send Michelle and the younger boys off to the Church building. Michelle to join the Relief Society sisters in a dinner before the General Women's broadcast for Conference, and the boys, as a service project to clean up and wash dishes, etc., so the sisters could visit. There were 49 sisters from 3 branches that were invited to come to Batesville for the broadcast!

I think I will be sore for the next few days, but I really feel like we got a lot done this weekend.

And then there was Sunday!

What a bunch of fruits!

What a summer this has been! It has had some really great events, like my european trip with Elizabeth. That was really fun, and (sad in a way) the first time I have been able to travel with one of my children. As you may recall, Justin was too young to travel with me while we lived in Utah, and when I started teaching again in Arkansas, Justin was too busy being a genious during the summers. My first trip from Conway, I think Justin (age 17), had sophomore college classes that he needed to stay in, so he couldn't go. He missed this trip because he had just started a new job to earn more money for his mission.

Now that travel has been given the OK by the district superintendent, I will go every 2 years, and it will put each of the children at 16-17 when it is their turn to go. That is perfect!

We have had some good family moments over the summer, but one thing I have missed is the opportunity to can. I consider myself a moderately efficient gardener, and we have nearly always had fruits and vegetables to can each summer that I can remember. This year, garden placement, weather and bugs have gotten the better of me. Our garden is in boxes due to the rocks and roots of hardwood forest where we live. I have already cleared about 1/2 acre of trees for the garden, but as the ones left spread, they are starting to limit sunshine hours.

The weather this year has been strange. Old-timers can't remember a wetter, cooler summer in these parts. July was the wettest on record for Arkansas by nearly 2 inches, and it has also been the first year ever recorded where we have not had a single day of 100+ temperatures. That has made it hard to stay ahead of things like mold and other moisture related maladies. Kathy, I don't know how you guys can raise a garden! A few more hours of sunshine each day may have made the difference, but the big oaks and a few smaller gums that need to come out will have to be dropped when they won't destroy what garden is already there. Chores for a winter Saturday, I guess!

Then the bugs! I try to not go pesticide crazy, but I am not against using chemical pesticides. But the best ones out there don't recommend being spread when the leaves are actually wet, and high humidity(dew), high rainfall, more overcast days, have limited the use of such chemicals. I have taken to picking the beetles and tomato worms (our two biggest enemies) by hand, and crushing them under my foot. As you can imagine, that can be time consuming (and gross!). I try to catch lizards and put them in the garden, the way my grandma used to do, but they don't stay long enough. We have also had a very low population of predator bugs for some reason. Praying mantis and walking sticks were not as prevalent this year for whatever reason. Even the spiders were not as heavy in the garden as usual. Maybe they just stayed out in the woods more, because there was plenty of moisture away from gardens and yards?

With all this, I have harvested less than 1 dozen yellow and zucchini squash (off 6 large, beautiful plants!), and tomatoes(10 plants) and peppers(6 plants), have produced enough for just a few days of sandwiches and (I think) 10 pints of salsa. We usually get 3-4 dozen quarts of tomatoes and the same number of pints of salsa, and I can eat fresh tomato sandwiches every day if I want. I have missed that this summer.

We are trying to follow patterns from our childhood, because Michelle and I both have good memories of the family work time of preparing and canning different foods. I remember how much fun we had every year going up towards Fresno ( I can't remember to where), to pick cherries. I know we ate as many as we picked some years. But we always came home with boxes and boxes. Then the next day or so was spent in a great Wahlquist assembly line mode. We would rotate jobs ( I know, Mom, not always willingly), and wash, trim, de-stem, pack into jars, add sugar, then water to make the "syrup", and the entire process of canning, cooling, storing. Any arguments have been ruled insignificant enough that my memory doesn't recall them. What I remember about those days canning is that we enjoyed working together nearly as much as we enjoyed going out to the store room and bringing in several quarts of our treasure.

Someday, I will put my take on the "Cherry-Chili" argument in this blog, but it has to do with the feeling that cherries were a special treat because we had all worked so hard to have them.

Then we were fortunate enough to have the beautiful apricot trees in our yard, and access to peach orchards that allowed people to come in and glean. Peaches and apricots are messier to pack, but I remember how much fun we had seeing if we could process the same amount as last year in a faster time, or pack significantly more. Not to mention the fresh fruit opportunities, when you have all those peaches and apricots waiting to be eaten. My mouth waters at the thought of some chilled apricots or peaches, slightly sweetened, swimming in cream! As Homer would say "peaches and cream.....hmmmmmmmmm".

These memories tie into trips to Utah, because, of course, we seemed to always be there about the time apricots were ripe. I was trying to recall if Grandpa and Grandma Wahlquist had peach trees? I seem to recall a fair amount of peach canning in my "Toquerville memories", but I know there were always lots of apricots. And OOHHH the fun we had with apricots. ( and I don't mean the apricot fights, although that was also fun). With their cows providing fresh whole milk and cream, i remember the huge bowls of fresh apricots and cream, the afternoons spent preparing for a big family get together by watching grandma mix up huge batches of apricot ice cream, and taking turns at the big hand-cranked freezer(s). No commercial ice cream, (if they ever even made apricot) could ever come close to Grandma's homemade apricot ice cream!! Again, Homer would say " apricot ice-cream.........hhmmmmmmmm!"

Here in Arkansas, apricots don't do so well, so they are harder to find in large quantities. Peaches do OK, but the closest orchard is an hour away, and they charged so much last time we picked, it was about twice the cost of buying canned peaches from the store. I really prefer the home canned, and fresh frozen peaches, but when the budget is tight, it makes no sense to pay 2x, just for the sake of canning a few quarts.

I look forward to next year ( as this year's growth season is coming to an end), and renewed opportunities. My children need to have the fun memories of dealing with a bunch of fruits!

Birthdays and family

I was reading some of the family blogs , and I noticed the title on Mom's. It caught my eye, because I had spoken with her on her birthday, and she seemed to be having a pretty good birthday, so the "I'll cry if I want to" reference got my attention.

I really did enjoy reading her thoughts on a good life, and since Mom and I share a birthday, it caused me to do some reflecting on the many blessings of my own life.

I have some great memories from childhood, and the vast majority revolve around family. I am so glad that I get along with my family. I had friends that couldn't stand to spend time with their families, and I can't think of many things that are more enjoyable.

Even as a kid, family time was nearly always a positive memory. Now, all of you siblings, I hope we have all kind of moved some periods, and some specifics to a background role. The ever infamous "Cherry-Chili" argument (translate stupidity on Scott's part), although very intense as I recall, has a very special place in the "lessons-realized-later-through-humor" place in my memory. By the way, have I ever really apologized for that mess? If not, I am sorry!

Growing up in Utah (yes I have memories from Utah), and Bakersfield CA, There are so many things that I remember fondly. A Utah memory (mutated through age, I was less than 4), is the day our back yard flooded by the irrigation ditch that ran past the corner of the yard. I recall that it cut a small corner off our yard, and we played in a bush or something on the triangular "island" on the other side of the ditch up against the fence (hedge?). On one of the many days it overflowed the ditch, All I remember is watching the fish flop around in the yard, and being so excited that we could just pick them up into one of Mom's big pots. My tinychild memory has them as huge fish, and a massive canning pot full. I bet they were just big enough to be worth eating, and maybe just a pan full. I need feedback from those whose memories are clearer.

In Bakersfield, I was blessed to have not only great friends my own age, but some pretty amazing neighbors , like second grandparents. Art and Fern Skinner have a special place in my heart. I know all of my family feels the same way. Art took us fishing whenever he could, and I loved spending time with him out in his boat on Lake Isabella and Lake Success. Even the day our fishing trip was cut short by his outboard exploding is actually logged as a fond memory, because we all took care of each other, no one was hurt, and we learned to deal with life's mishaps with humor and a cool head.  There are also the countless times he appeared in our yard with one or several huge watermelons, and other local melons, and we would just have the greatest time slurping ripe melon and seeing how far we could spit the seeds.  He always could pick them perfect!

I also recall the night I crawled over our fence in a fevered haze at 2 am, and later found myself sitting in the Skinner's kitchen drinking a tall mug of Hot Cocoa while Art called my parents to let them know I was OK. They were Grandparents in every sense but bloodline. I really miss them, but I am so glad they were a part of my life.  I could keep going for hours just about Art and Fern.  There were many others from my Bakersfield life that deserve mention, but Time is short.  (it's nearly 11 pm)

As a teenager, I was lucky to work for some really good people, who helped teach me the value and satisfaction of a job well done.  All of this was flavored by family work-ethics, but I can say that my early "bosses" set the stage for a pretty positive work experience for me.  I have always related well to my bosses.  Several of them I still call friends.  My jobs have not always kept us rolling in cash, but they have always kept us fed, clothed and sheltered.  It HAS been really tight at times, but none of my children besides Benjamin know what it is like to go truly hungry, and Ben is because of his medical issues.

That brings up another area where I have been really blessed, and family played a big role.  Serving my mission in Switzerland has given me so many great memories, and lessons, both related to my spiritual well-being, and things that have been useful in life, even beyond the obvious career.  My family has set such a great example of missionary service, I am glad to be a part of that history.  And then, at the end of my mission, my sisters convinced me to join them, even though it was late, and I had been in airports for over 24 hours, at the fairgrounds to work on our church group's parade float for Homecoming.

As all of the family know, the young woman in charge made a lasting impression on me:)  I knew right away that Michelle was someone I could be good friends with, and as we got to know each other better over the next few months, and I finally worked up courage to ask her out, that friendship has developed into something that will last into eternity.  My sisters confessed later that they were kind of hoping......THANK YOU!!

I am so thankful for Michelle's strength.  We have been through a lot together.  She doesn't always feel like she is holding it together, but I can tell you that she deals with so much STUFF in such a dedicated way, that we can also claim to have been blessed with some pretty amazing challenges.  It has helped Michelle be there for others when their lives seemed so out of control.  She can relate on a personal level to many of life's major challenges.  She and I sometimes wish we weren't so relatable to people with traumas, but it has blessed other lives, and I think, therefore, ours as well.  I love that our friendship will last long enough that the last 20 years will seem like a drop in the ocean.

You know, As I get going on happy memories, I think I could write an entire book.  So many things I can recall learning from family outings, camping trips, working in nearly every type of setting from fields to farms to factories.  Time spent with large family groups, and time spent with just my brothers or my sons.  Silly fights, and quiet, spiritual moments.  All of this family time has blessed my life beyond comprehension.  I think an attempt to catalog it all would take more time than I have in this life, but I want to thank all of you who have been, and are currently such a huge part of the positive experience that is my life.

Okay, now I'm just starting to get gushy, and it is getting late.  I will gush some more later about fun memories like "canning days", milking cows, hauling hay, "gutter regatas" and the like.  If I continue that list, I will never stop.  Goodnight!