The farm on facebook

Okay, bearing in mind that i have limited Internet smarts, and don't even have a Facebook account. Apparently you have to have a first and last name to start an account. Amy (in her brilliance) set up the farm on Facebook as, 'Theo Pendoorfarm' (i.e. The Open Door Farm).

Pretty clever!!! i got me a good woman here.

Noah

It's been a weird year. New job, new schedule, most of the social life is all mixed up. It has been wonderful and hard. . . no more to do list - still not sure how i am surviving day to day without that little gem.

Finding a rhythm in our home life has been weird, and i have struggled more this year with "normal" than i think maybe ever in my life. All the changes have taken a toll on each of us - dad's not home as much now, mom is gone more, (she went back to work), home schooling is harder (math), little kids are becoming big kids (more energy and need to do big kid things). The "rhythm" in our house has been a lot like an epileptic convention atop a snare drum. It has been wearing on all of us.

The light affects me so (i am sure that i have written about this in the past), but the weird weather this year has somehow delayed any symptoms of seasonal depression till now. The last several weeks have been hard on me. The economy, things around the house needing repair, trying to be more "productive" at work (okay, it's winter and i am farmer. . . duh!!!), busy schedules and little home time together. . . its trying. Every stress has a band aid therapy that makes the larger picture a little easier to handle, but a cure for "life" just hasn't really presented itself. . . until yesterday.

We have a friend, Noah. He is a kid, like any other kid who is about to turn 4. Noah's story started when he was very young - he was born with the coolest head of hair EVER!! He was the baby with the curly mohawk. . . it was awesome, but that isn't part of this story. Noah has a condition that is causing him to lose his hearing, at a pretty aggressive rate. It wasn't discovered until well after other kids his age were talking up storms that Noah had never ever heard a wide range of "normal" noises. He has adjust very well, for a child of nearly four, to his new "ears" - he got hearing aids last year.

Noah and Owen (my middle boy) started swimming lessons last week. While Noah is very hard of hearing he is still able to hear  a lot of noises, but not necessarily process them, which can be wicked overwhelming for him. Last week at the first lesson, Noah wouldn't get in the pool. . . i don't blame him! The pool is in a big room with horrible accoustics. Every sound is amplified and the symphony of noises created by a mob of 3 to 5 year olds is like reliving the whole Civil War in half of an hour for a person with normal hearing.

This week Amy and Tammy (Noah's mom) asked me to walk him up to the pool side to help him adjust to the chaotic environment. For some silly reason ladies can't be in the men's locker room at a college. Noah, Owen and i sat alongside the pool while we waited for lessons to start. It was loud in "the fish bowl", but Noah did well. Owen made sure to check on his friend periodically. When class started i joined the other parents at the big window where we all gawk at our children like they are a zoo exhibit. All the kids hopped into the pool. . . except Noah. He was nervous, and the swim instructors didn't want to just pull him in for fear that they might scare him. After a few minutes of negotiations between the instructor and Noah, i was given the go ahead by mom to go in and help out.

I asked Noah if he wanted to swim. He indicated that he didn't. His folks, Amy and i all know that he loves the water, so i lifted him and handed him to the teacher in the pool. Three minutes of tears turned to laughter, smiles, and some of the splashiest kicking ever seen in the Saint Joe's pool.
Noah and family spent the rest of the day at our house. For having been in a reclusive mood the last few weeks i was glad to have had my friends there. The highlight of my day, if not my year, was noticing about half way through the afternoon that Noah, who has religiously called me "Mr. Myke" all his life, had been calling me "Uncle Myke" all day.

Kids are the cure to many woes and ailments - today, Noah was my cure.

 

Thanks buddy!

Rain on my parade.

There isn't actually a parade, but there was a string of days where our basement was actually dry. The first time since May of last year. I almost missed the water. The basement wasn't completely inundated, but a river definitely ran through it!
Being the middle of January one might think, "Hey, the ground is frozen, there should be no water running through your basement."
Well, yes, it is January, but no, it has not been a normal winter. Today, because my basement was dry, nature thought that it would be a great day to be 46 degrees and rain torentially. And as if it wasn't sick enough, the water table waited till i got home to start coming in the basement so that i could watch it happen. . .That's just mean!
The good news being that the days of dry offered me an opportunity to get some demolition done so that we can get a new sump hole cut with the next "dry" period.

In other news, Amy and i have decided that we want to be more active in the food pantry world this year, and have decided that rather than just garden for ourselves this year that we are going to start a limited share Micro-CSA to help us fund a larger garden so that we can put produce into the local pantry. The shares that we "sell" will be matched and more at the local food pantry which will get some good locally grown, organic food into the hands of the less able. Amy has already set up a facebook account (she loves the sales and marketing bit), and hopefully i will have the e-mail and blog set up soon. . . The Open Door Farm - hopefully the Good Lord will offer us a better growing year this time around, but we will take what we can get.

Anybody out there have any big plans for the gardens this year?

Nerf Terrorism!!

Homeland security beware!!! TSA beware. . . no metal detector or enhanced instant porn device. . . i mean x-ray can prepare you for the Nerf terrorists!!!

You say to me, "Myke, this is terribly insensitive and in bad taste, especially in this era of paranoia and mass hysteria over every little bottle of hair gel, or every cup of coffee that might explode should it make it through a security check point."

"Well," I reply. "You have never been to my house after the children have loaded their Nerf arsenal. Its terrifying!!"

Yes, after a firm, "No!!" from Mom, the children were able to hop on the black market - I blame the Internet - and acquire these contraband weapons of mass destruction! Oddly, dad actually had nothing to do with any of this!!!!

All that i can offer is that if you swing by for a visit that you wear your body armor! It is for your own good.

Been a long time, eh?!?

Well,

It has been a long reprieve from this silly little blog. Some of you may be thinking, well. . . you kept up the other one (you know that one about the farm)?
Well. . . yes, yes I did. But that was for work. Couldn't really get around that. That being said, I have enjoyed the break, and yet missed writing too.

Please don't expect anything deep or profound tonight. It is just a night, snowing, cold and perfect for middle January. James and Amy are playing chess. Owen is with Wah-wah, and Sissy is finishing off supper.

Job is good, life is good. . . wow, I feel a little out of practice. Today was fun, started work on the bathroom closet, started demolition on the basement, got the truck to start. It was a day of starting!

Amy and I having been chewing on the possibility of starting a micro farm here on Weeman road. Offering about 10 family shares (we have more land available than just our yard - neighbor has some land to grow on) that would help fund some shares to be offered at the local food pantry. We are still developing the idea, and we should probably get in gear if we want to do anything with the land this year. We'll keep you posted. . . and maybe I will have something a little more interesting to write about next time. . .