Great Book!

I just read Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson with Susy Flory sent to me courtesy of BookSneeze. I have to say this was the first book I've ordered to review that I was looking forward to reading. I've done two others, but I wasn't as excited to read them as I was this book. I was antsy with anticipation! This book didn't disappoint. Michael Hingson reveals a remarkable life, even if he wasn't blind. His dog, Roselle, proved to be an equally remarkable participant in this story. She aided in keeping people calm as they descended the tower, and stayed on the job, keeping Michael and his co-worker/business partner safe as they traveled away to safety during the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center.

I highly recommend this book as it is inspirational, uplifting and full of hope. This attack was probably one of the most frightening moments in our nation's history. If Michael made it through the turmoil, then we can make it through our own lives' problems with God's help. This is a crazy-amazing story of a man and his dog, a dog afraid of thunderstorms, but when on the job, fearless and calming to all those around them. Read this book. It will not only give you an insider's look to what was going on in the World Trade Center after the evacuation started, but it will give you an insight into the life of Michael Hingson and the obstacles he has overcome to become a business owner and inspirational speaker.

July was a LONG Month

Our two baby goats were killed by the heat a couple of weeks ago. It's been a hard pair of deaths to take. My husband dug a nice big hold by one of our pines and we burried them together. It was very sad.

I need to update you on the rest of the goings on at Decker's Acres. We acquired 3 Blue Slate poults a couple of weeks ago. They were over a month old then. I only paid $4 each for them, I'm quite sure it's because it was the start of fair week. We didn't get much for our chickens then either, but oh, well. We moved the entire flock of birds to the garage part of the barn and set up a temporary nursery for them. We'll probably do this next spring when we hatch more, and they grow. I need to clip their wings again, but other than that they are doing great. I picked up 4 Red Bourbon poults from another farm. They were just hatched over this past weekend. They are in the box, growing. They are way too little to go in with the bigger birds.

I've canned quite a bit so far: strawberry jam, cherry jam and blueberry jam. I have to do more blueberry jam tonight as we are on vacation next week and shouldn't let the blueberries go bad.

I also got 3 gallon-size freezer bags of purple beans blanched and frozen. We've eaten a bunch as well. I need to get more planted before we take a vacation as well. The tomatoes are starting to make nice big green fruit and when we return from camping, I'll have to start canning those, along with a bushel of peaches I'll have to buy. My carrots and onions aren't doing as well, but that's my fault - there are so many insanely tall weeds out there! In getting my back garden in, I let the front one go to weeds and it is just a little insane. On another note, I should have plenty of pumpkins this year! I'm not sure what I'll be doing with all them, but the crop is looking so much better than last year! You gotta love goat poop!

Eee Iii Eee Iii Ooo

A little snippet of my chores duty as of this morning ... after having 2 little does born yesterday, buying 2 adult does and about 25 chickens (about 13 of which are roosters) ...

Get up and throw some barn clothes on
Grab scoop of cat food
Go to chicken coop and get the chickie water and the chicken water

Then I take a walk around the garden to the barn

See how my tomatoes and beans are growing?
Then it is off to feed Juno and take care of the goats

After I water the goats and give them sweet feed and hay, I get to drop water off back by the chickens and deposit the scoop for the cat food back in its bag and get in the shower to go to work!

Goat Grandma Again ...

We have 2 new baby goats born to Naomi! She had a false pregnancy early this spring (think February). Then Freddie got hold of her again, and wa-la! Out pop two kids today! I can't wait to go home this evening after work and see them! This is all so exciting! I told Chris she was preggers! He didn't believe it. Last night he finally conceded that she might actually be pregnant. Well, she's not anymore! Pictures WILL follow tomorrow!

The Final Summit - Andy Andrews

I finished reading The Final Summit, courtesy of Booksneeze, a week and a half ago. It has taken me a bit of time to decide what kind of review to write for this book. I enjoyed reading it, but I don't think it was my cup of tea. I enjoyed the historical content and the ideas that were gained to try to solve the riddle that would save humanity, but I just didn't care much for the overall storyline. I suppose I expected more adventure. However, the main character, David Ponder, is seventy-four years young, and he is a very successful businessman, well-liked by his employees and peers. The arch-angel Gabriel then asks David to help save humanity, and he joins with a multitude of characters from history as they strive to answer the question on what will save the world. Apparently, this is a sequel, but I was able to read this book without ever having read the previous. I did feel that I missed out on a little of information, but this book covers that well. I did feel that as the story progressed, it was a bit predictable. I mean, if you are half-way through, you know that the answer they've come up with at this point isn't going to be correct. I did learn a few things about some of the historical figures that are highlighted in the book such as Joan of Arc, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and Eric Erickson. In that, this kept my interest. Without those stories of the historical characters, however, I don't think I'd have read much further than the first couple of chapters. A worthy read for anyone who likes snippets of history peppered through a fictional book.

Strawberry Jam

I don't know if I over boiled the sugar and strawberries, but I guess we'll find out later this week. I only came away with 3 pints, when according to the recipe, I should have been able to get four. Oh, well. The jam is a dark red, rather than the lighter red. I just hope the jam doesn't end up getting totally hard! It was really hard to tell if I'd reached the gelling point, and I don't have a candy thermometer.

Baby Chickies Over the Weekend!

Chickies started bursting forth out of their shells Saturday morning at 3:17am! Chris and I heard tweets at midnight when we went to bed Friday night, but we didn't see anything. At around 3am, the tweets seemed to have gotten louder! A dark little Ameracauna was greeting us! Then another at just after 5am! How exciting! By 9am Saturday, we hadn't received any more visitors, but knew that more would be coming. We had to leave for the U.P. for a wedding at 2pm in St. Ignace. We spent a wonderful two days traveling, visiting 7 State Parks and deciding on two that we would check out online for reservability. My friend, Michelle, who was farm-sitting for us, kept us abreast of what was going on in the incubator. Saturday evening we had four more. By the time we arrived home there were nine total. Eight were ready for their new temporary home in a bin out in the chicken coop. Chris is so smart - he just put the bin right in the brooder box with the marans and wellsummers. I had stopped to pick up some paper towel to line the bottom of the bin with, and we set eight chickies up with a dish of water and some food put in a plastic lid. This morning I put the ninth one in. There was a tenth one all wet and just hatched in the incubator yet, and I heard more chirping coming! Exciting times!

I also took a couple pictures of the marans and the welsummers - you can see just how fast they've grown!