Full Freezer and Basement

We're all set for the winter now.  Last Sunday Hubby, my two stepsons, our nephew, and my mother and father-in-law all helped us cut, split, and pile 5 cords of wood.  Today, my very good friends helped us slaughter and clean our 10 turkeys.  What a job that was, almost as bad the the day we cleaned 25 chickens.  The difference is the turkeys were so much larger than the chickens were that we had a hard time to maneuver them in the sink.  They were only 3 1/2 months old and the largest bird was 29 pounds (tom) and the smallest was 15 pounds (hen).  So glad that's done.  Now I'm relaxing after a nice long shower.   I'll check back in tomorrow....

D-day has arrived

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but lots has gone on.  Since my last posting, we had hens, meat birds, turkeys, bunnies, and 3 dogs.  We lost our Bandit (our Husky) this summer to old age.  It was a sad day.  Two weeks ago we decided to find homes for our other two dogs, the hens, and bunnies.  We were able to find them great homes all by the end of the week.  We've slaughtered and cleaned 60 meat birds (chickens) that we raised from little chicks, and tomorrow we're doing the same with our 3 1/2 month old turkeys.

It's pretty self-explanatory as to why we took care of the meat birds and tomorrow the turkeys, for food. But, why find homes for our hens, dogs, and bunnies?  Hubby is allergic to pet dander, and although getting the dogs was his idea, he was the one who was really suffering all this time.  The last straw was two weeks ago when he ran out of his inhalant medication and couldn't get it refilled until the following Monday.  He went so far as to sleep in the car so he could breathe.  It wasn't an easy decision, because I get so attached, sooooo easily, but enough was enough.

As for the meat birds and turkeys...well, it was definitely an experience, one that I'm all set with for a few years.  Seriously considering NOT doing this again for quite a while, basically because we were tied down so much.  Now that Hubby has graduated from college and is now working, we couldn't go anywhere with the kids on any vacation, not with all of those animals.  We have friends who could have helped us out, but we didn't want to burden them all with our animals. We also have 2 horses and 3 cows.  I'm hoping the horses don't get sold, but the cows are definitely arranged already.

As weird as it, and will be after tomorrow, not having the the birds, bunnies, and dogs around, it is liberating knowing that I don't have to worry about getting them more feed or trudging over to give them food and water before heading out to work.

Well, signing off for the night.  Got a big day cleaning turkeys tomorrow.  As one friend stated... gobble! gobble! Ack!!  Although Hubby and I have some great friends who will be helping us, it's still going to be a big job.

Student Teacher

For the past few weeks, I've had a student teacher in my room.  It's an new and interesting experience for me, because just 8 years ago (it doesn't seem that long to me) I was the one doing my student teaching.  I've always known my student teacher...I remember him when he was just a little boy and would come grocery shopping with his mom.  He must have been a couple of years old, because his brother wasn't born yet.  Now, he's 21, 6 feet plus, and married.  This is one one of those opportunities where he's not the only one who's learning, because I'm getting a lot out of this as well.

This week was the first week he's teaching my full load, and I just observe.  I didn't think it would bother me, and it really doesn't, but I'm BORED!!  One can only take so much "observing"!  We're going on vacation this week and we've got two weeks left of him teaching my classes.  Then, it'll be business as usual.

Well, another 30 minutes left and it's vacation time!

New Bike!!

Years ago, at times it seems like eons ago, I purchased a mountain bike at a local discount store and paid less than $100.  There's nothing wrong with that, but the gears never worked right and I was more discouraged about riding my bike than anything else.

Two summers ago, I began riding my bike again.  I was preparing to climb Mount Katahdin and decided that aside from hiking several miles through the potato fields behind my home, riding bike would help get me in shape.  Well, I was mistaken...although I began to enjoy biking, racking in about 12 miles each trip and 20 miles once, I wasn't as prepared as I had hoped.

Although I was biking quite a bit, every other day as a matter of fact, I didn't like how I had so much trouble switching gears to make it up the one hill I had to face.  It got to the point that I just stopped, and last year I didn't ride at all.

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been trying to live a healthier, more active lifestyle. I've been running, doing my workouts and strength training on a regular basis.  It's been showing, and Hubby declared one day that he wanted to reward me with a new road bike.  We've talked in the past about doing a road race to raise money for cancer, but with the mountain bike I had, there was no way I was going to even attempt it.  His bike was better than mine, but it wasn't a road bike.  We went to the nearest bike shop and checked out what they had.  I found a real nice one with neutral colors, nothing flashy...I'm not a flashy kind of gal.  I'll admit, they're kind of pricey, and the most expensive item I've purchased that wasn't a major appliance.

Well, this weekend, we're going to go get our bikes!!  I'm so excited!!!  I'm hoping that I enjoy riding bike so much that I keep it up and can do the road race this fall.  I'll keep you posted on how it all goes...here's a picture of what I'm getting.

Long time no see!!

Hello good folks!!  It's been a long time since I've been on, and I apologize for that.  Life has been busy and I've made some life changes of my own. 

In November I turned 40 and had a wonderful surprise by a friend of mine at work.  My wall was plastered with lots of "over the hill" signs.  It was a great day and ended up being a day I enjoyed rather than one I dreaded.  I decided that week to give myself a special gift, of an active lifestyle.  I bought myself a DVD and set up the basement so I have a little spot of my own to do my workouts.  I got back on the treadmill and we got a exercise bike too.  Now I have a variety to use.  The Saturday after my birthday, a friend who was my age passed away suddenly, leaving behind his wife and four children.  He was he sole provider of the family.  His passing was hard to accept, for my own reasons, and I decided that from this point on I was going to keep myself active and healthy.

Since I've started, I've lost over 10 pounds and signed up for my first 5K ever!

I had never been a runner before, but I became one and have learned to enjoy it.  That's me in the middle wearing pink.  The ladies on either side are my friends from school who decided to do the run with me.  What fun!!

Yes...this is a REAL smile on my face, not a fake one! 

My wonderful hubby (on the left) also ran with me, but not with me.  I told him to run ahead.  I didn't want to hold him back and knew I would.  He did his 3.1 miles in about 22 minutes!!  Hopefully my time will be posted soon so I know what I did, but I'm figuring about 35-40 minutes!  I don't think that's too bad considering it's my first race ever.

Well, I've done enough for now, and I want to get ready to do my run tonight.  I'll try to be better at keeping up with my blog.