Weekly update - February 9, 2024

  • Tomorrow is Tet and Chinese New Year. We have done some decorating and Y. is all set to spend the afternoon making baozi/banh bao for part of our dinner. We'll also be having cucumber salad and lemongrass chicken stir-fry, so definitely a Chinese-Vietnamese combination. 


  • When I was at the Chinese market earlier this week, G. was excited to see kimchee for sale, mentioning a desire to try some. So I bought a small jar. G., L , and Y. have been enjoying it very much and the small jar is not going to last very long.
  • A storm blew through yesterday and the sky was definitely dramatic. 

  • We have moved on to Tudor England in history. Due to the musical, Six, my children know far more about Henry VIII's wives than I did at that age. 
  • It has felt like a busy week this past week, but I don't know with what. I do know that the laundry is pretty out of control and that I will be spending a bit of time dealing with it tomorrow. 
  • We started back to our co-op yesterday after our January break. That might have something to do with the week feeling busier than usual.
  • G., L., K., and Y. are going with our church's youth group and other adults to Guatamala this summer. We're paying a portion, K. is paying for his portion with his money from work, and there is a significant scholarship for the rest. We are very thankful for that. It is the downside of having four children in highschool all at the same time. On my immediate to-do list is apply for passports for all four of them. If you've been around here for a while, you'll know how much paperwork fills me with dread these days. But this will be an important bit of paperwork to get taken care of. 
  • The chickens continue to lay a lot of eggs. I'm very happy to stop buying eggs at the grocery store. And the two roosters are still maintaining their peace accord. Fluffy has his hens and they stick together and Zorro has his hens they stuck together. There doesn't seem to be any mixing between the two groups. As long as they continue to ignore each other, I'm happy. 
  • I really like this whole brood chicks outside in the summer and get eggs in the winter thing. I don't think we'll ever go back to spring chicks even if they are so cute at the feed stores. 
  • The pasture has finally dried out.
  • Finally, a Vienna update. She was up all day today, and based on her level of crotchety-ness maybe she is feeling the teeny-tiniest bit better? Before it didn't seem as though she had much energy to be annoyed with her lot in life, but today she definitely was. Who knows? We are pretty much taking it hour by hour with her. It has made heading out to the barn feel stressful, which is hard because usually I love heading to the barn. Blech to the whole thing. Here is Vienna enjoying a bit of sun and keeping an eye on things earlier today.


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