So...let's start with chickens. You may recall from one of my earlier posts that I mentioned Mom and I went to pick up a couple of roosters from Mr. John. Well, two of those where butchered, and the other one returned to him...but we got a gob of his old laying hens and a big handsome Rhode Island Red rooster. Daddy built a new coop (with laying boxes) and "run" area, just for the occasion of their arrival. We already had a coop from the previous batch or two of chickens we have had, but it was not nearly big enough for all 20 something birds that we were going to be receiving, and it wasn't engineered for layers. So now we have a coopumus maximus full of laying hens!
On the same day that Mr. John delivered our new/old birds we adopted a kitten. Yes, old softies we are...Daddy found her out under the dilapidated old corn crib...and, uh, well...I really wanted to keep her, it has been ever so long since we have had a kitty....and Daddy is and old softy too, and well, long and short of the story is that we now have a cat, a house cat, and she even has a name, Abby, Abby the Tabby... She is still pretty young, and I think she quite enjoys her life inside where she doesn't have to be out in the cold, and she gets fed every day, and she has three big play things (us, and boy does she like to chew on you!) That's her life, eat, sleep, and play.
So that was chickens and kittens, and now the eggs part....Well, I did mention that these were laying hens right? Yes, I did, in case you were asleep, but anyway...so hens lay eggs right? ("Yeah, yeah, so what's your point?") Okay, well my point is that we have eggs! ("Sure, whatever, 2 and 2 is 4. What's the biggie?") No, I mean we HAVE eggs, lots of eggs! Just the other day Daddy brought in a whole dozen! SO, we have several cartons, and have gone to marking them with numbers to know which are the oldest!!
Now for "Trips". Well actually it was only one trip, but anyway....Mom and I attended the annual Reformation Day Faire held by Providence Church in Illinois. Needless to say, (I think it is needless at any rate) I had a very good time.
We left Friday morning, and arrived in the afternoon, in time to hear the first speaker...in plenty of time...and hour early in fact! There were a few people milling about but it was obviously not time yet...quite naturally we had forgotten about the time change...but at least we weren't and hour late!! However, we did briefly wonder if we had gotten the wrong weekend! So we sat awkwardly in the parking lot for a little while before we decided to go drive around a bit. We got some coffee at McDonald's and ate our lunch in the Macydoo's parking lot. Then we returned to the church and drank our coffee it that parking lot...I can't quite remember...we may have driven around a bit more.
At any rate, the first event was Mr. Kayser speaking on John Calvin and his influence on America. A couple of breaks, two more speaking sessions, and a time of Psalm instruction filled the rest of the afternoon. I enjoyed the Psalm instrucion even though I am not very good at singing parts...I did especially bad on the first one, plus I was still getting over a cold!! After everyone had gone out and had their dinner somewhere (Mom and I ate at a little Mexican restaurant, the food was pretty good but the coffee was a bit expensive) those who wished to, gathered back at the church at 7:00 for a concert by the Wintons. I enjoyed that, my only complaint was that most of the time you couldn't hear the words of the song, because the music drowned it out...but the music was fun enough all by itself. :)
Saturday morning started at 9:00 with a presentation from Mr. McDowell, then one from Mr. McDonald on Cotton Mather. Cotton Mather was truly an amazing man! Then there was another presentation from McDowell, there were a few breaks too. At 1:30 in the afternoon the "Towne Square" began they had little "booths" set up in the shape of a square with various hands on projects, felt flower making, candle making, the leather shop, the print shop, the apothecary and some others. At 4:00 were the highland games. The log toss for the men, then a giant bolder, and a much smaller rock for the littler boys to toss. Then the event that all the little boys (and maybe some of the bigger boys too :) ) came for: the BOFFER WARS!! For both the men and the boys, respectively. It was fun to watch...Mama didn't stay; she turned around and went back up to the church after she came out to the park because she was cold, so she didn't see much of the games. The games seemed to lack the air of "fun" that they had last year, maybe because there were a lot of first timers. Many of the people who we met last year when we went, and from whom I had gotten the impression that they were regular attenders were not there, so I was a little surprised by that.
At 5:30 the church people served a good dinner, and then folks went their various ways to get ready for the ball, or historical dance, which was to be held at one of the local school auditoriums' at 7:30.
Mom and I drove around to find out where we were supposed to be going, and still having a bit of time to waste, we returned to the hotel for a few minor costume re-adjustments. (Oh, I forgot to mention, we and most of the other people, on Saturday wore costumes. Mine is getting too small!) That having been done, we rushed back to the parking lot we were supposed to park in and then crossed the street to the building that the dance was held in.
I enjoyed that dancing immensely! And I only sat out (or stood rather) one dance due to the lack of a partner. Sadly, I do not remember how many dances there were, nor their names; I was having too much fun to count! (Numbers and I don't always get along so well anyway...so even if I had counted I would have probably come up with the wrong number!) I danced the first dance with er...William or Thomas B., I think it was Thomas (They are identical twins, for those of you who don't know)....maybe that was the first dance...the second dance I danced with a young man named Michael, I also danced with the other twin, with, Daniel B., and Mr. B., three young men who didn't give their names, and two girls, Regan (at least I think I danced with her) and Allison...but both those dances were mixers, so by the time we had walked through the practice they weren't my partners anymore :) There might have been a few more people and dances, but I don't remember...
When Michael (he is somewhat older than me in age by guesstimation) asked me to dance he politely came up and gave his name, then asked if I would like to dance. Well, yes, I did want to dance, so I said yes, but I completely forgot my etiquette, I was pleasantly surprised (not that I forgot my etiquette) that someone (besides one of the B. boys, who I know, and by the way guys, ya'll are great dancers) had asked me to dance! That almost never happens when I am at a dance! (Which for the record is not all that often.) So I forgot to tell him my name until he asked...then I realized that I should have told him in response instead of waiting to be asked what my name was! Ahhh! I am so good at making a fool out of myself :) And then at the end of the dance, he went to escort me off the dance floor, like dance partners are supposed to, but I had forgotten that they were supposed to...and I commented that "I keep forgetting my..." and then I couldn't think of the word I was reaching for, but I finally got it "...etiquette!!". But even with the fumbles I still had a ball (pun intended), it is good when you learn how to laugh at yourself!! You either have to laugh or cry, and laughing is much more pleasant!
Mom and I also attended Sunday morning worship at Providence, and then started for home.
Thanks Providence church for making my weekend great! Not that anybody from there will ever see my blog...but I appreciate all the hard work that they put into that event so that people like me can had a very enjoyable time.
And as for visitors, the week after Mom and I had returned Mr. Al dropped by to see us on his way home. He spent most of the day with us and left about 3:30 in the afternoon. It was great to see you again Uncle Al!!
Also recently we had the B. family over on a Sunday afternoon...
But I think that this post in quite long enough for now, and some of the news is getting rather old, so I will go ahead and post it!
(Pictures coming soon!)