MacArthur

This is my first review of a book that I have read through BookSneeze. Unlike what I usually read, MacArthur is a non-fiction biography. Having had two grandfathers that served during World War II, I thought this would be an insightful read. Little did I know exactly how much I would learn about the growing wild west, about West Point, about the Phillippines and the Pacific Theatre of WWII. I'm not saying there were oodles of details given about all of this, but in reading about one man's experiences throughout it all, I gained a new perspective about these historical times.

The book encompasses Douglas MacArthur's illustrious military career beginning with the service of his grandfather and ending with the end of MacArthur's career in the Korean War. It was an easy read, and when I finished, I was inspired to try to learn more about my grandfather's service in the Pacific (one grandfather served in Europe while the other was a signalman in the Navy and served in the Pacific). I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in WWII and/or Douglas MacArthur. Complete with photos that are wisely placed at the ends of each section of MacArthur's life, and drawing off Douglas MacArthur's own memoirs, Reminiscences, MacArthur paints a fairly accurate of MacArthur's service with the American military.

tonight ...

We're getting an incubator tonight!!!!

ah, well ...

I ended up not doing any of what I posted earlier ... ended up at church after all and helped Wally with the sound and worked in the library for a bit ... until tomorrow!

planting

I'm planting some potatoes tonight in bins. I'm digging up some of the chicken coop dirt and putting that at the bottome, then some straw and then I will nestle some seed potatoes amid the straw. I'm looking forward to seeing how this all works over the summer. Last year's potato crop was awful. With this method, I shouldn't even have to dig them up - just remove the straw. I'm also hoping to plant my tomatoes and peppers and hang my baskets. I have three baskets that have put out some flower plants. We'll see how they continue to grow with the elements. All of my stuff has been able to get cold ... oh, this reminds me - I need to text my husband to open up the door of the little greenhouse so my plants don't get too hot! oops! ... anyway ... get cold because my 4-shelf greenhouse is outdoors and subject to the elements out there.

before the rain

I was able to get a little bit of gardening done last night. The seed-started greens (romaine and spinach) are now in their row in the garden. Kellie transplated onions that we had picked up from a food truck that had really sprouted. We'll see how they go. I have them planted in the middle of the row between the 2 rows of onions. I was able to get more pea seeds planted before it started to downpour. I guess we didn't practice safe gardening because there was a bit of thunder and lightning. All the rain was over in a couple of hours, and I was very tempted to get really dirty, but I read for awhile instead.

Wonderful Weekend

No gardening was done ... but it was still a wonderful weekend. I was able on Saturday to deliver a goat to a horse farm in Lowell. It was a wonderful trip taken at first with the back roads, but then later by highway. This farm is at a beautiful location with 2 very large ponds and amazing rolling hills. BEAUTIFUL! I was able to wash the chicken smell off my hands (I took 6 chickens to the auction on my way out), and replace the soapy smell with that of horse. Oh, what an amazing scent! Then, I had to shop for a few things, and as it was getting late, I picked up some fried chicken from the grocery store for our lunch. It is so delicious. I stopped by the auction, but they hadn't yet made it to the poultry - only one auctioneer. The chicken refreshed us (me and the kids - Chris was out getting the summer sermons ready with our pastor and 2 others). I ran out to the auction one more time and found Chris. We both went home. I had cleaning to do. He was able to eat and take a nap. When that was over at around five pm, he stopped back down at the auction and found out we made $17.50 on the 6 chickens. That's not bad at all considering two of them didn't lay worth anything. I think we may rotate our chickens with the auction in the future. It makes for a quick sale.

My friend Heidi came for a visit. I hadn't seen her in around fifteen years! We had a wonderful visit and thoroughly enjoyed the steaks on the grill and twice micro-baked potatoes and brownies topped with Hudsonville's strawberry chocolate chunk ice cream. She stayed until about 11pm.

Sunday, Chris preached. He did such a fantastic job! I can't express how wonderful it is to hear your husband preach at church! It was a great experience. And he did such a good job! He has some pretty wonderful guys that he works with who were able to give him plenty of advice and tips and helped shape his sermon. I'm looking forward to his next experience!

2 days off makes a 4-day weekend!

I just thought I'd write and let you all know what a person likes me does with a four-day weekend! Thursday, I made my daughter breakfast and packed her lunch and brought her to school. Chris was out turkey hunting. I had breakfast and read my Bible. It was so nice to have plenty of time to do just that. Then I spent some time reading "the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". It was nice to just relax. Of course I did chores. That is something that has to be done every day. Chris wanted to go to lunch, but before we went to lunch, we purchased 10 bales of straw (off craigslist). Lunch was great! New Beginnings always has a reasonably priced meal, whether it be breakfast or lunch. Then, we brought the straw home and stacked it in the barn. After that was done, it was off to Countryside Greenhouse where we purchased an Elberta Peach tree and a Bing Cherry tree. I really wanted a Montmorency Cherry, which would give me a sour cherry, but we'll work on getting that at a later date. We had to pick Kellie up from school and then we stopped at the hospital to see Chris' mom who had some surgery.

Friday started pretty similar to Thursday with making Kellie's lunch and breakfast and doing chores. When Chris returned from hunting, we decided it was a good time to clean out the goat pen. I swear we hauled out 50 loads of pooh-infested matted straw! It all went out to the back garden. I'm hoping to be able to amend the soil. Eventually the entire garden will be back there and we'll fence it in. With all this crap laid out on it, the soil should improve this summer. The regular garden will be built up and turned into more of the chicken coop. This should all work rather well. Today, I made waffles and bacon for breakfast. It was so good! Later we worked on getting the bird feeders and the birdhouses up and ready to be inhabited by bluebirds and others. We had a Double JJ adventure to go to with Girl Scouts. That was fun, but I'm tired and sore, now. Tomorrow should be a lot of work and a lot of fun. We have church to look forward to, and I have to paint during service. It should be quite a different experience.