Sunday 9/4/11 driving the car, electricity and birthdays...

William wanted to back the car out of the driveway yesterday. He did a great job!!! Maybe he will want to get his drivers permit soon.-----There was a big rain storm here last night. The electricity went off sometime in the night. In the morning, the food in the freezer was still frozen but the food and the air in the fridge was not as cold as normal. The power came back on at about 9:30 AM. This time we had a flashlight with batteries. I would like to get a radio that has a crank to generate power. Then we wouldn't feel so isolated in a storm, we could tell if it was only our neighborhood or a larger area that was without power.-----Maggie turns 16 this week. I wonder if she will want her ears pierced? She also could have her drivers permit.

Saturday 8/27/11 Festival, beans and hurricanes...

We went to the German-American Festival today. William didn't want to go. We took Beth's friend. We tried some of the German foods, listened to the bands and watched the German dancers. It was fun. The festival wasn't huge, but it was fun.-----William starts classes next week.-----The beans in our garden are over one inch tall. The other rows haven't sprouted yet. We put some old hay between the rows to use as mulch. We do have a mulch pile, but the items aren't turning into mulch very fast.-----There is a hurricane going up the East coast of America. It came on shore in I think North Carolina and is going up by Boston, New York City and going through the middle of Main. There are so many large cities in it's path.

Thursday 8/25/11 Second day of school, festivals and computer screens...

Beth had her second day of school today. She had fun. They did projects, had to crawl through a string wall without touching the string and do a PowerPoint presentation about their group of four students. When school starts, they will not have classes for a few days, or maybe a week. All of the grades will be there...9th - 12th grade. They will be in groups of one student from each grade. They will do a project together. Starting school this way helps the freshmen to get used to their classmates and the school first, then to get used to all of the other students. The principal said that it cuts down on hazing of freshmen.-----Maggie has been in school for about a week. She isn't getting the piles of homework yet so we are trying to do a cultural event. This weekend we are going to the German-American Festival.-----William got his new computer screen. He took the whole computer apart and showed us how it worked and what it looked like inside. He did this at the dining room table. There were a lot more pieces than I thought that there would be.

Wednesday 8/24/11 Girl Scouts, starting school and cultural events...

Maggie got together with the Girl Scouts last week. They made smoothies and covers for three ring binders.-----Beth has her first day of school today. It is freshman orientation. She is so excited. She took off all of her bracelets and necklaces until she could see what was allowed at her school. She has two days of orientation. I am not sure what day classes start for her. She is going to ask a teacher which day school starts. We all prayed for her this morning for a good year, just like we did for Maggie, and like we will do for William. I took her picture. They also get their picture taken on the last day of school.----- Maggie needs a cultural event and volunteer hours this year. We need to do these soon, since she doesn't have much homework yet. I went to the library this morning and got all of the local free newspapers to see what cultural events were going on this weekend.-----Our beans have come up in the garden, but nothing else. I think that we put too much dirt on the other rows. I am going to re-plant the other three rows today. Each row is only about four feet long.

Tuesday evening 8/16/11 Fall cleaning, first day of school and bent computer screens...

We got everything done today except for having Lizzy pulling the car in the driveway and me calling the church. I called the church, but the pastor is on a mission trip and will be back in another week.-----We started fall cleaning today. We have a lot to take to Goodwill, the resale book store or throw away. It feels good to do deep cleaning. -----Maggie's first day of school went well. Her best friend was there. The kids had placement tests and talks about being polite in their college classes. They had pizza and bottled water for lunch. They could buy ice cream to support one of the clubs.-----Maggie saw a lot of her old friends and talked to two freshmen. She also got her schedule. That was a big relief to her. She really wanted to see what her classes were.-----William is ordering a computer screen for his laptop from E-Bay. He will know tomorrow if he won the item. His screen is cracked ...bent.... he is able to take his screen off of his laptop and put a new one on.

Tuesday 8/16/11 Starting school, todays schedule and calling the old church...

Maggie went to her first day of school today. They didn't have classes, but had standardized testing. Maybe this is placement testing. There weren't any parents there so I came home. If there had been a chance for some parent volunteer hours, I would have stayed. Maggie looked very comfortable with her friends.-----Our turnips have sprouted. -----Today we need to get William's allergy shot and get him a calculator for school, pick up Maggie from school and get Beth some safety glasses for school.-----I need to call the old church today and tell them that we are going to go to another church. I am not looking forward to calling. I need to call the Pastor and call someone from my Bible study. I don't want to call, but if I do it today, then I can stop thinking about it.

Sunday 8/14/11 Walking, learning to drive, gardens and braces...

I did get a short nap today.-----The girls and I took a short walk around the cemetery today. Just a short walk. It was good to get some exercise. -----We have been having the kids pull the car up to the garage. Maggie pulled the car in today. It was her first time to drive. Beth is next. William was last week. I want them to start pulling in the car all of the time. They should get drivers licenses...someday. When they feel ready to get their licenses, I want them to feel comfortable in the car. William will be 22 on his birthday, Maggie will be 16 and Beth will be 15. They just arn't ready yet. No one wants to get the learners packet.-----We grew some melon plants inside from seeds for part of the summer. When we planted the garden in the backyard these two plants...and all of their vines...were moved outside. Their leaves have started perking up. I haven't seen any melons starting to form.-----William got his braces off today. He has such a big smile and his teeth look great!!!

Saturday 8/13/11 Planting the garden, school supplies and a movie...

We planted the garden today. William planted peas, Maggie planted spinach, Beth planted cauliflower and I planted turnips. Our garden is about four feet by five feet. We had some dry whole corn that the chickens wouldn't eat. The kids spread it around the backyard. We are hoping that the birds will begin to eat it.----- We got some of the school supplies today. Maggie didn't have a list of supplies, but she knew that she needed two more shirts and a planner. Beth had a list from two teachers and William needed lead for his pencil. We found everything at one store. If the kids get additional lists from their teachers, we will go out again when after school starts. -----We went and saw the movie "Cowboys and Aliens". It was a lot better than I thought it would be, and a bit scarier...I am a chicken... The aliens kept jumping out of nowhere.----- Tomorrow the only thing that we have planned is going to church.

Wednesday 8/10/11 School and the garden...

William signed up for school today at the college. He has a late class one night a week. He was excited to be signing up. -----The garden is ready to plant. On top of the newspsper, we have put flattened cereal boxes and straw. Then we dug up dirt from the chicken run. It has a lot of chicken droppings. On top of that I would like to put compost. The garden should be planted soon. When winter comes we can put the hoop house over it.----- School starts soon. The kids need haircuts this weekend and we need to look at school supplies and clothes.----- Maggie finished her summer homework today. I want to take a look at it before it is printed.----- I would like to move to a house that has a bigger yard and a wood burning stove.

Sunday 8/7/11 Choosing seeds and changing churches...

We need to plant the garden this weekend. Today we choose which seeds to plant. There are too many choices, so all of them can't go in. We want to switch churches. This is a painful decision. The kids and I have been going to another church for a few months, along with going to our current church. We all like the new church better. We fit in better. The current church is a traditional church, with most of the congretation coming from that area...we drive across town to get to it. It is in the area that I went to high school in. We are from another area...the kids don't go to the same schools, so they may have different holiday days off, and different snow days...and we have just never felt comfortable there. We have been there for about ten years, so we did give it a fair chance. I want to be sure that we are changing because this will be a better place to worship God.

Wednesday 8/3/11 Yard work, garden start-up and homework...

Last weekend William trimmed the hedges in front of the house. They look so nice when William cuts them. When I try, they look like eye brows. The girls cut the grass. Maggie cut the front yard and Beth cut the back. This was the first time that they had cut it. When we first bought the house we had an old-time lawn mower, a push mower with no motor. It might be called a reel mower. The girls were too short to push it. When we got a new one...with a motor (because we can't find anyone in town to sharpen the blades on the first one)...William and I mowed the grass. All three kids did a great job.----- I started the garden. The first layer on the grass is newspaper...to kill the grass, I put sticks on the paper so it wouldn't blow away. I planted some parsley, carrots and a few other plants. Not many plants, but a start. As we get more plants, they can go in, and when the compost is ready it can replace the sticks. I know that it is late in the year to start a garden, but the kids and I built a hoop house (framework for a greenhouse made of PVC (plastic) pipe) last summer and it can go over the garden when it gets cold out. School starts soon.----- Maggie is finishing her summer homework. She had to read three books, listen to three songs and watch three movies from the teachers list of choices. Then she needed to write a short paper on each one. She still needs to watch two movies. Tonight we all watched "13 Days". It was about President Kennedy and the Cuban Miscle Crisis.

Thursday 7/28/11 Garden planning, school supplies and chickens...

We are going to start a garden this week. I know that it is late in the year, but a lot of gardeners plant successive plantings throughout the summer. I looked at my seed packets and some of them mature in sixty days. If winter does not come until October, November...December, we could get a good harvest. The garden is about five feet by five feet. We didn't plant at the beginning of the year, there were rabbits in our neighborhood. The rabbits are gone now.----- School starts soon. I'm not ready. I need to order school shirts for Maggie and Beth. Sign William up at college, get school supplies and the rest of their clothes, and haircuts. Have I forgotten anything?----- We may go ice skating this weekend. There is a rink here in town that is open year round. We need to do something fun and different this weekend.----- Our three chickens have quit laying eggs. It could be because it is too hot, above 90 deg. each day.

Friday 9/9/11 Hi I'm back...

Hi, I'm back. I have missed blogging. There are entries in my journal that I would like to share. The entries start from July of this year. Since my last post, William is in college, taking programming, Maggie is in Early College High school. She is a Sophomore, but they have two years of high school, with a few college classes, then the last two years are all at the college. The classes move pretty fast. This school isn't looking for the brightest kids in town...even though she is bright..., they want the kids who could pass college if they got a chance to go...but maybe English is their second language, or their parents didn't go to college, or they are poor, etc....She is really happy there. We are all holding our breath waiting for all of the homework to start being assigned. Beth just started high school. I didn't want her in a public high school, I think that they are too rough. She is in a charter school, which is really part of the public school system...so it is free. This school studies engineering. She had wanted to go to the performing arts charter high school, but we couldn't find her standardized test scores from grade school, and the school filled all of their spots. She likes it there. -----We have three chickens that I call "Millie", "Hattie" and "Nettie". The kids call the "Breakfast", "Lunch" and "Dinner".