Warning! Meltdown!

I picked up Gaige from school yesterday and was met in the carpool line by one of the teachers explaining why Gaige was crying. She said he had felt a little ill earlier, but that he wasn't running a fever. As Gaige entered the van, the trickle of tears turned into a torrent with dramatic sobbing following closely. Trying to deduce the cause of the meltdown while maneuvering out of the school parking lot was a little tricky. Between sobs and moans, I finally managed to glean the following information: everyone disrespected him, his leg bone was "twisted", and he was "really, really tired".

The total disrespect by his classmates was the result of them not wanting to play what Gaige suggested, so they went off and did their own thing while he stubbornly refused to change his position, as he is wont to do. The twisting of the leg bone (the opposite one was twisted the day before) I attributed to growing pains and was relieved after an hour's rest on the sofa and a dose of ibuprofen. So relieved, in fact, that he was able to chase his brother around the house and drive me crazy.

I'm pretty sure that exhaustion was the biggest factor in the meltdown. Adjusting to first grade takes a toll on a six-year-old boy. That, combined with not getting to sleep until 9:30 p.m. on the average night and waking up by 6:30 or 7:00, equates to not enough rest. Having homework every night for the first time has been a big adjustment as well. I'm hoping that in a few weeks all these new developments will be old hat to him and will make for smoother sailing.

I didn't have the camera with me to record the meltdown, but I found a picture of a similar one when Gaige was four.



When Jaye, Kelly and the kids were here last weekend, they went to the zoo. Lauren and Kelly are exploring the Habitat House.



Matthew was doing a little computer work with his dad, but then he got sleepy.

Three eggs today and the bees have gone away

Peep, one of the barred rocks, laid her first egg today! This is also my first day to get three eggs. Ruby and Henrietta laid the other two. It's really petite and sweet. It's sitting in a napkin ring.


The honeybees have deserted the Autumn Joy sedum. I haven't seen one since the winds blew through. I hope they find their way back home, or at least find a new home.

Hurricane Ike refugees

Since Tuesday, we've been harboring refugees from the remnants of Hurricane Ike. Jaye, Kelly, Lauren and Matthew have been staying with us because their power has been off since Sunday afternoon when the hurricane-force winds moved through Ohio and on to their final destination in Canada. The wind velocity measured at 75-90 mph. That is more than we experienced in Baton Rouge during Hurricane Andrew in 1992! I thought moving to the midwest would keep me safe from those kinds of storms, but apparently not. At least we didn't have to worry about storm surge as we are landlocked. And we didn't get a drop of rain out of it, although we could really use some.

Thank goodness, we didn't sustain any real damage to property or persons. Just a lot of tree limbs and branches in the yard, and about a gazillion hickory nuts. The squirrels will have a lot less work to do to store up for the winter.

The chickens aren't doing a lot of egg laying yet. I'm not sure what the problem is. Ruby is laying one egg a day since she started two weeks ago. Henrietta laid one egg a week ago and hasn't laid another one since. I've been keeping them penned up until at least noon so they will lay in the coop. Goldie, who I thought would be the first, hasn't laid a single egg yet. She sits on the nest often, but so far, nada. I hope she isn't eggbound. Several of the others are squatting for me, so maybe it's only a matter of days until I start getting more than one a day.

Ruby gave me one double-yolker last week! That was really exciting! Gaige got to eat that one.

Anyway, here are a bunch of photos to catch up the family on the grandkids.

First day of kindergarten

Nathan's first day of kindergarten was Wednesday. Doesn't he look proud?

Doin' the happy egg dance!

First egg, first egg! You heard it here first! Today the pullets are twenty weeks old and when I went out to the hen house at 9:00 a.m. to open the pop door into the run, I looked into the nest boxes as usual. Ruby, Goldie's sister, was sitting in one. She looked quite content, but when she hopped down, there was no egg.

Oh well. I went back inside the house, but when I went out again at 11:30 to let them out to free range, there was this cute little brown egg just lying there with the wooden egg! I did the happy egg dance and grabbed it and ran into the house to show Gaige, Nathan and Kaitlyn. They each had to have their picture taken while holding it. I totally forgot to take a picture of the egg in the nest. Too excited, I guess!

Here it is sitting on a bread plate.

After I dropped the kids off at their house, I went shopping in Dublin. David is still out of town, so all afternoon I planned my dinner, centered, of course, around that sweet little egg. And this is how it went.

I made some buttermilk biscuits, Jimmy Dean sausage and sausage gravy to go with the egg.

And then the piece de resistance sitting on top of a biscuit half going toward my mouth. Let me tell you, that is the closest to the Big O in a food experience as I am ever likely to get. It was absolutely the best egg I've ever tasted, so rich and no off taste whatsoever. It just tasted like nature. The picture's a little fuzzy, but the yolk was running down my hand and I didn't want a single drop to escape!

And here are Gaige, Nathan and Kaitlyn holding the precious egg. They were as excited as I was.

Picture Day

A thirty-three-year-old birthday boy who loves his mother's chocolate fudge cake with chocolate fudge frosting made from scratch











A couple of very cute and charming 2-year-olds



Hiding in the front closet













A handsome young man being kissed by his Aunt Aimee


And being held in his great-grandmother's arms


Mr. Smiley Matthew


And a couple of equally handsome older boys