Gobble, Gobble!

I am posting a little early because tomorrow will be pretty busy. Adele goes in for her CT scans to begin radiation.
Anyway, everyone around here is doing well. Just looking forward to great food and our usual tradition-the movies. I get to try out my new table on company. I am excited.
Rakieta is excited because we always pass the phone around the table to talk to her.
Have a good one everyone. God bless!

Life

The last 6 months have been an absolute whirlwind and way busier than even I like to be but we sure did get a lot accomplished. It started with the trip to Burkina. I jumped off the plane at home and immediately we began the studio. Well, it is not completely finished, but it is very comfortable and usable. The kids love it. Adele began to try to get cleared for hip replacement surgery and we have ended up with them moving in and going through cancer treatments. Lastly, we lost our gelding, but gained a very large gentle older mare so now we have plenty of riding horses and now a new very roomy and warm barn and over 3000 acres and a dirt road to play around on. We have moved from having young horses that needed training to having well broke horses.
We closed the Hillsdale studio and immediately made up the numbers in our Imlay City studio. I finally bought a much needed dining room table and this week put a much needed new couch on layaway. Terrible economy and all.
Yes, it has been a whirl wind. Yes, there is terrible news all around us, and yet, I have a great sence of peace. It is great to be able to sit back and enjoy all the accomplishments. And you know what? Not one penny borrowed.

We are very tired though and in pretty good shape from all the manual labor.

Chemo Port Insertion

Good morning everyone,
I am sitting in the operating waiting room at the hospital. Adele is getting her port for chemo today. Her pulse was very low this morning so we now have something else to add to our list of symptems. I guess I always took health for granted because my people have always lived long relatively healthy lives. I am learning a lot about cancer. It is an area that is totally foregn to me.
Adele's spirits are up and down. Very appropriate I think. She has lived a long and great life. No worries now that we are taking care of Lee with her. It is pretty cute. Now I do most of the heavy lifting along with Matt and the girls and Sandy, a neighbor lady we hired as his companion. So that leaves Adele to just enjoy his company. It is nice to see them lighten up and smile now that the stress is off.

Long Time No Publish

Well, I am back at least for now. Life has been a little hectic. My mother in law has cancer. She is in the medically frail category now and my father in law is in the advanced dementia category so.......the morning after the last screw was put in the new floor of the new studio space, I was in Emergency with my mother in law. That day my father in law moved into the old studio space and when my mother in law came home she moved in with him. Not too bad of an adjustment, but talk about close to the wire. At this point we are going through all the things necessary to start the chemo and radiation.
In all other news things are well. Horses moved down the road to a barn I will refer to as a mansion. For those of you not in the know, we adopted another horse, an older mare who is just perfect for the occasional riders in our entourage, but she is a VERY BIG girl. So rather than move her, we moved our other girls and now they are all residing in what I think is an old calf barn. And it sure is nice! We are adding stalls and making it horsey. With all the other stress, it sure is nice to have things so easy with the horses.
Dance is going well. The students love the new studio space. We do too. It now gives us the basement room we never had in our old farm house. So now we have the perfect space for any large gathering we have.
Well it is now fully daylight so I need to begin my very busy day. I promise more pics and writing on Burkina soon.

Delilah and Stephanie's school

This is the outside of the school building

Here is a picture of Stephanie's class.

This is a private school and as you can see they do need supplies and it is not a fancy school. I am asking for gently used back packs, globes and other things that they probably do not have access to. Let me tell you this. Our Stephanie's back pack was absolutely in tatters. Then I saw the public school kids backpacks. They basically use the things that people with even a little bit more cast off. So, if you have a heart for this and have the stuff please contact me. My contact information is in the donations list further down the page.
Mamie put the girls in this school so that they could walk back and forth since it is only about 2 blocks away and also since she, herself, was very well educated, she is very picky about education. So another example of no matter how different things are, they are still the same throughout the world. People wherever they are want what is best for their children.

Ike is in Michigan too!

Well, I am sitting here waiting for Hurricane Ike to arrive. Even in Michigan we have flood warnings and wind advisories. So we shall see.
I am finally getting caught up a little on paperwork so that means I'll probably be blogging a little more.
College is going well for the girls, dance is going great guns, and the studio is getting there. We can use it now for tumbling when we need to and that is a relief. My table just can't take any more. Wait until you see my new table though. It is beautiful.
I'll report tomorrow on any hurricane damage. They are saying up to 6 inches total and the ground is already really saturated.

Oh yeah last count on the chicks is 38. They are pretty cute.

Cheep, Cheep, Cheep Part 2

I am now up to 28 chicks and counting. I have lost 4 additional to irresponsible mothering. A couple of the hens are young and a bit flaky. In other news, another Pepe Le Pu and I'll be out trapping again tonight. That will make 5 for the season.
We are still painting, working hard on the farm and working hard on the studio.
Sadly George was put down a week ago.
Rakieta went to the clinic with just her brother and had her prosthetic foot fixed. All was successful.
Delilah is living with her biological mother. I don't know how well things are going as there has been no news but we pray all is well.
I'll be up for air after Labor Day and will begin regular posts once again.