Golden Birthday Tarnished

Yesterday was Amanda's golden birthday. She turned 17 years old on the 17th of April. So I guess that is suppose to make it her "golden" birthday. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out quite so. She had to be at the high school for the Science Fair (remember the catapult). Her friend Stephanie was en route from her hospital stay out of town and wouldn't have been able to be there for a birthday dinner anyway.

Yesterday morning James put the Happy Birthday flag up on the flagpole. We usually fly it for about a week after someone's birthday. She requested In-N-Out Burger for her birthday lunch at school. So I brought her lunch to school and used my Sharpie® to decorate the bag and cup. The original plan was to take her out to dinner in the evening after Alyssa had finished her track meet. But then she reminded us that it was the Science Fair at St. Joe's that evening. We hope to have dinner out to celebrate next week. Hopefully, Stephanie will feel up to coming. We'll see.

Alyssa has California Cup soccer in San Bernadino this weekend. James' parents live in Victorville, which is not far from there. So James will take Amanda and Alyssa with him this weekend over there. I am going to stay behind with Justina and Abby. For starters, Abby does not do well on long car trips. Secondly, Justina has volleyball on Saturday morning, and then we head down to Santa Barbara for her to set up her table setting at the Earl Warren Showgrounds for the Santa Barbara Fair and Expo. Then on Sunday afternoon, she has a Rabbit Project meeting. And another thing, the 4-H projects are here and expect to be fed and watered daily. So Justina will also help me feed the garanimals this weekend.

Today, Justina will be in the Talent Show at her school. I will keep you posted on that tomorrow. Until the next time, take care and God bless. :)

Brand New Episode of Talking Turkey

This evening, Alyssa took her turkeys out of the garage for about ten minutes each so that they could walk around in the back yard. They will be six weeks old this Friday and will be ready to move out of the brooding pen in the garage and into their larger coop. They have been without the lamp for about a week. And now it is time to introduce them to the great outdoors.

The problem is the weather outside has been so erratic. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had record heat this past weekend. Now we are back to cold and windy weather. So we will gradually acclimate them to the weather before just tossing them into an outdoor coop. Now it is looking like their move-out date will be sometime next week.

They have grown a lot in these last three weeks. They can now look over the top of the two-foot plywood panels. And their feathers are pretty much in. They are losing more and more down from their necks and heads. All this is pretty amazing when you consider that when we bought them at Farm Supply six weeks ago, they could fit in the palm of your hand.

Pulp Non-Fiction

Well the Orange Juice Poll has closed. And despite the fact that the majority of oranges produced for frozen orange juice concetrate come from Florida, there are no hanging or pregnant chads to worry about in this voting process. Fifty-three percent said they would like their orange juice to be Abundantly Pulpy! As for the remaining candidates: 15% voted for Some Pulp is OK, 7% voted for No Pulp Please, 23% voted for Add Vodka and Who Cares, and What About Tang tanked with 0% of the vote. Since there were only thirteen votes cast, I went with percentages. They just seemed to sound more impressive.

There was a margin of error of plus or minus zero not because of any mathematical formulas, mind you, but because it's my poll and I said so. So the next time you order your juice, tell your server, "I'll have a glass of pulp with a shot of juice please."

In Other News . . .

Last night, we had our monthly club meeting for our 4-H club. My Primary Project set out the strawberry jam they had made last week with some crackers. And we had our officer nominations and a pie social. It was a pretty fun night. Other than that, there isn't a whole lot to report.

A new poll is up! What reality TV show would you want to be in the most? Until the next time, take care and God bless. :)

Tongue Depressors, Gauze Pads, and Catapults

Today, Justina worked on her Table Setting Project for 4-H. In Table Setting, you create a theme for the table. Then you try to coordinate the items in the place setting with a menu for a particular occasion. The Santa Barbara County Fair does not offer a Primary 4-H Table Setting Contest. However, the Santa Barbara Fair and Expo in Santa Barbara does. So she is entering their Fair. As for the theme she chose . . . would you believe First Aid?

Upon reading this, I am sure you are quite skeptical. Believe me, I was too. That doesn't sound the least bit appealing when you sit down for a meal. But she brainstormed several ideas - Saint Patrick's Day, Dr. Seuss, and birds, to name a few. Still, she had her heart set on the First Aid theme. Her ideas are really adorable and pretty ingenious. But as she wanted to add more and more things, I realized that she has no concept of the limitations on space available to her. She can only utilize 18 inches by 22 inches. So I cut a poster board down to that size. Now she has a visual of her space and it will be good for her to practice her set-up, which she must do entirely on her own.

Today, she pasted tongue depressors to a small poster board to create a place mat. She will set it up early this Saturday morning. I will take pictures of her practicing the set-up. She can then arrange the pictures in an old photo album to act as a reference when she has to set it up at the Fairgrounds. I don't want to give too much of it away because I will definitely get pictures of it when it is done and post them here.

Amanda has a science project due tomorrow. She and another classmate were suppose to build a catapult for the Science Fair on Thursday. Now, remeber how I mentioned that my husband was the technical one in the marriage? Well let's just say he got roped into supervising the whole ordeal this evening. You just got to love teenagers. Afterall, why put off tomorrow what you should have been working on for the past month and a half (as I sigh heavily). Do me a favor please. If you see James on the street, please don't ask him, "Build any good catapults lately?" Yeah, not a good idea.

The weather was significantly cooler today. The skies were overcast and burnt off around noon. The temperatures were in the low sixties and there was a slight breeze. I took Alyssa to keeper training in Santa Barbara this evening. And I think Abby is fighting off an ear infection. As we walked down to get the mail, she was tugging at her ear. So we are keeping a watchful eye on that situation.

Tomorrow is Income Tax Day. Praise the Lord and pass the peas, we finished ours a month and a half ago, about the time when someone should've been working on a science project. Tomorrow is also our monthly 4-H club meeting. My Primary Project made strawberry jam last Monday. So they will put some out with crackers for everyone to try. But more importantly, the Orange Juice Poll closes tomorrow at midnight Pacific Daylight Time. So swing on over, vote, and tell a friend! Until the next time, take care and God bless. :)

These Dogged Days of April

Supposedly, the high temp today in Santa Maria was 84˚F. Well according to our car thermometer was closer to 90˚F. Now I know what all you who live in places like Las Vegas, Bakersfield, and Victorville are saying. "Big deal!" Well for the Central Coast, our average temperatures are in the mid-sixties. Homes here don't even have central air conditioning!

Today, we put up the turkey coop panels and base. And of course, we did it in the heat of the day. But we would like to move them out of the garage and into their new home either this week or by Monday. They are getting huge. And their feathers are pretty much in. They spent less and less time under the lamp. In fact, we have shut the lamp off during the day.

This morning we watched Manchester United and Arsenal play. Talk about a great match! Manchester United won 2-1 with goals from Ronaldo on a penalty kick and Hargreaves on a free kick. Adebayor of Arsenal headed their only point in on a corner. Chelsea is in second but they only have four games left and will probably at best closethe gap between them and their first place competitor. So with that it looks like Manchester United is poised to win the title again.

That is really it. It has been a very uneventful weekend, which is good because my sleep has been totally wrecked by this weekend heatwave. It is the last day to vote in the Orange Juice Poll! And swing by and stick a pin in the Frappr Map. (Anonymous pin will not be listed.) Until the next time, take care and God bless. :)

Photo is from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) web site.

Where Sheep May Safely Graze

Here they are - Frick and Frack! Actually it is more like Cocoa and Brownie. But do not ask me which is which. These are Amanda's 4-H lambs, two Hampshire ewes. The one in front is her market lamb while the one in back is her breeder ewe. And they arrived at our house two weeks ago.

Unfortunately, they are far from halter broke. We got them the day after they were weaned. Lucky, huh? Well Amanda has worked with them pretty consistently each day after school, minus a day or two. They are still a bear to catch, but they will stand tied up pretty quietly now and walk a little better. And I mean only a little better! This is will defintiely be a lesson in persistance for Amanda.

To prepare for the dynamic duo's arrival, we had to rebuild the lamb shelter for the pen. Last year, her sheep got club lamb fungus (ringworm) and were not able to go to fair. One went back to its breeder while the other one . . . well . . . ended up in our freezer and provided a nice leg of lamb at Thanksgiving. But the fungus can lay dormant for years and is nearly impossible to eradicate from wood that has been in constant contact with it. So we destroyed the old shelter and a friend of ours built a new one for us. It was painted with four coats of primer and paint to protect it. And all other equipment has been disinfected.

Because the lambs have just been weaned, they are still on creep feed. Creep feed is also known as a starter feed, sort of like baby food for lambs. Amanda will gradually adjust the ratio of creep to regualr feed until the creep is phased out. The amount of feed per day is based on 3% of their body weight. That amount is split into a morning and an evening feeding. After their evening feeding, Amanda gives them some alfalfa hay. Of course, the grass inside the pen had just finished growing back in from last year. And it only took a week for these two to decimate it.

In Other News . . .

Every Friday at 11:00, Justina's school has a school Mass. This week, the second graders, as they fast approach their First Communion, got to do the reading, psalms, and prayers of the faithful. Justina got to read one of the Psalms: for steadfast is his kindness toward us, and the fidelity of the Lord endures forever. She struggled with pronouncing "fidelity" and "endures" as early as this morning. As she read it at Mass, I kept saying in my mind, "Come on, come on. You can do it . . . " I was so thrilled that she said them nice and clear. Fortunately, I didn't jump up and scream out loud, "Yes! She stuck the landing!"

Meanwhile, Abby was at my friend, Kathy's house for the hour. As I drove up, she was running around with a pinwheel in either hand. It was such an awesome sight. So I pulled out the camera and got some great pictures.

There are a few days left to render your verdict in the all important OJ Trial. Send your friends over to vote. Their breakfast beverage could depend on it. Until the next time, take care and God bless. :)