Book Review: See You in a Hundred Years

As I surf the web, I'm constantly jotting down book titles. I can't even remember now how I heard about this one, but I put it on hold at the library and had Jerry pick it up for me. [One mustn't leave hold books at the library here or they charge you $2!!]

See You in a Hundred Years (by Logan Ward) is a non-fiction book about one couple's attempt to leave behind their stressful lives in New York city and live like it was 1900 for one year. The book was published in 2007, but the family started their experience in the summer of 2001. If you think about that for a minute you'll realize they were living without a phone or television on 9/11. I was pretty impressed with their ability to stay true to their project during that time; especially since they were from, and knew lots of people in, New York.

Since I tend to stress out a bit when doing big projects, I could totally relate when the author noticed the irony in "stressing themselves out in order to de-stress" and "rushing to slow down" as they prepared for the project. I also had to chuckle his wife's addition of vacuuming floors to the "things to do" list prior to starting to live in the past. I would have totally put that on the list as well! His reaction to that was just as funny: "Vacuum floors? Give me a break. We can clean the floors with a broom in 1900."

They brought their two year old son along for the adventure which, of course, presented several challenges and added some humor as well. Throw in a stubborn horse, two crazy goats, and some chickens and you've got potential for some real comedy! Actually, there were several parts in the book where I laughed right out loud.

I learned:

• There are actually city kids who have never seen real cows. 
• Boys Scouts don't always make good neighbors.
• Logs can actually seek revenge (they nicknamed one "Forbidden Log").
• Roosters can run around without their heads for a good long time.
• Fruitcake, real fruitcake, might not be that bad.
• "Baking bread's like a lot of things in life. Easy once you know how."
• Gophers, ground hogs... both evil.
• And, last but not least, my dad isn't the only one to have ever heard of the Fukarwi Indians. (Seriously.)

I suppose part of the reason I enjoyed the book so much was I constantly thought about what I would have done if it were my experiment. If you don't have a fascination with country living and/or the late 19th century this book probably isn't for you. However, if you're normally not a fan of non-fiction, don't let that stop you, it almost reads like fiction. It isn't a challenging read by any means, it might actually have been a good book to have Wesley read if it wasn't for several swear words. :)

Long Weekend

It was a long weekend and not in a good way. Memorial Day weekend is usually one of my favorites of the year. When we lived in Wisconsin it was the official start of summer filled with fireworks, parades, and our annual birthday bash. Here in Arizona it's not as much fun, but at least I had a weekend of swimming and my birthday to look forward to, right?

Jerry said he'd take me out to dinner (just us!) on my birthday Saturday night so we had cake a day early on Friday. In hindsight, I'm really glad we did this! Wesley was nice enough to make my cake for me since Roz wasn't here this year to do it. He really did it by himself too. I just put it in and took it out of the oven, he did everything else on his own. We had a quick dinner and then the gang sang to me and we had cake.

After eating cake we went for an evening swim. As we were getting out, I grabbed the camera to take a picture of the moon rising over the mountains. I need a better camera. This is a terrible shot of a beautiful moon rise.

I did get this cute photo while I had the camera out though...

Saturday morning we burned disposed of some weeds and took care of some yard work, refreshing ourselves in the pool as needed! Annabeth wanted to be like Daddy and wear a hat and sunglasses while doing yard work.

"These glasses need adjusting..."

"Still not quite right..."

"What?! They still aren't straight?!"

The Foremangirl says: "Work harder boys!"

Annabeth enjoys the pool for about 5 minutes before she asks for a towel and a snack. After getting such a cute shot the night before I thought I'd try again. I really liked this first one, but silly JD photobombed in his undies!

We swam a bit more in the afternoon and then got cleaned up for dinner. Grandma Joddy and Grandpa Steve were kind enough to come and watch the kids so Jerry and I could go out. I chose Monti's La Casa Vieja. We have always loved Monti's. We have had many a delicious meal there. This was the first time we had been back since the return move to Arizona and it did not disappoint! We enjoyed our dinner (except for the call from Papa John's Pizza - somebody who just turned 40 so maybe he really is getting old accidentally placed the pizza order for the kids under "carryout" - but we got it all figured out and no one starved).

We didn't stay out late. Grandma and Grandpa left and we got everyone to bed. I wasn't feeling so hot. Jerry wasn't either. We decided to go to bed early. We weren't even asleep an hour before Wesley got sick. We got him settled and fell back asleep and then Eli got sick. We got him settled and then I got sick (it was after midnight though - so, technically, I wasn't sick on my birthday). Thankfully, that was it for me, because I was up once an hour with either Eli or Wesley all night long. Jerry got up and gave the non-sick children breakfast but didn't even make it through clean up before he got sick. 

That left Justus (fifth in line) in charge. Yikes! That's like getting to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate in the presidential line of succession! I must say, he did a pretty good job. They played (mostly) quietly and watched videos. Jerry had said he would run to the store to grab some Gatorade, but didn't make it before he got sick. One of our nice neighbors ended up bringing us some Gatorade and soda to sip. And did we need it! That's all the four of us had all day. Jerry and I took turns dragging ourselves to the kitchen so the other kids didn't starve, all the while counting down the minutes until Annabeth's nap at 1pm. As soon as she went down so did the four of us. We all slept until she woke up at 3:30pm. 

We were all feeling a bit better at that point and did our best to make it through the day and make it to bedtime. We all slept great! When we woke up this morning everyone was feeling better, but we decided to just take it easy for the day. I had plenty of laundry to catch up on. I had given myself the day off, laundry-wise, on my birthday which meant by Sunday, with the extra sick laundry, I was waaaaaay behind. 

So today we stuck close to home. Jerry and I made the rounds with bleach.  The boys played with their neighbor friends and we went swimming a couple times. Thank goodness for the pool! I guess even an otherwise cruddy weekend can be redeemed when you can just step out in your back yard and swim! But, even if you ignore the getting sick part, I still think Memorial Day weekends are more fun in Wisconsin. Perhaps we'll try and plan a visit next year...

Side note: If anyone has any ideas why we have gotten sick so many times this year, I would love to hear them! We are normally such a healthy bunch. We have been sick more in 2013 than all the other years combined. The water test for our area just came back and it is fine, so it's not that. We just can't figure it out!

The Coop: (Almost) Finishing Touches

It's been awhile since I posted a chicken coop update. That's because we had been concentrating on getting our yard it tip-top shape for Jerry's party. With the party over, we spent a few minutes this past weekend adding some (almost) finishing touches.

First, Jerry cut some hardware cloth and covered the openings up between the 2x4s on the roof. We were sick of free-loading finches and sparrows.

Then we, FINALLY, cut out the chicken door. This whole time we've just been leaving the big door open. The chickens didn't mind, they could get in and out easily, but like I mentioned above so could all other kinds of birds. Wild birds can still get in, but these improvements slowed them down some.

Opened

Closed

Close up - opened

Close up - closed

We used the drill to make a hole to start and the jigsaw to cut the opening. Then we cut a little door from a piece of scrap siding and added a hinge to make the door and a latch to keep it closed. One of these days we are going to make a little frame for the door so it looks like the people door on the front. We'll also have to make a better ramp. This one is functional, but not permanent.

We finally took down the temporary mini run we had set up and gave the gals free reign of the back lot. They needed more space. In addition to being an eye sore, the fence was no longer containing them. One of us was continually yelling "chicken breech" and then trying to round up all the chickens. One particular chicken kept hopping the run fence. We nicknamed her "Loosey" (or Lucy) because she was always getting loose.

We originally set up the mini run to keep them close to the coop (and safe from hawks) and because the back lot had parts of the fence missing. To fix this we used zip ties to put up some old chain link fencing and a pallet as a gate. It's not pretty, but it will work until we get something else figured out.

The chickens seem to enjoy their new freedom. They wander around eating bugs and scratching all day.  I never know where I'll find them now when I go out there. They still come running when I call "cheep, cheeps" though! I'm glad they do, it makes them easy to count. I check on them several times a day and bring them table scraps (if we have any) after most meals.

Grandpa John and Grandma Molly were nice enough to send us a little coop decor. A lovely "Chicken Crossing" sign. I hung it on the side for all to see! I thought about putting it on the people door in the front, but that faces the road and I don't want anyone to steal it!

Believe it or not, we are not quite done with the coop. We still have to build a roost. The gals are still just roosting on a bar clamped onto two upturned milk crates. We also need to get some nesting boxes ready before egg laying starts. Eggs used to seem so far away, but it's not long off now! I can hardly wait! We also need to paint the coop. I haven't decided on a color yet. I think I'll just go classic with barn red with a bit of white trim. I should really get on that before it gets too hot. Anyone have a paint sprayer I can borrow??

Call the Fire Department!!

What do you do when you have a ton of party leftovers? Call the fire department, of course! Our neighbor, who is a fire fighter with the Gila River Fire Department, said he would be more than happy to take the party leftovers to the station. He was even nice enough to come and pick them up AND give the boys a ride in the fire truck!

I took the above pictures and then the boys rode off in the fire truck. A little while later a few more photos (taken by our neighbors) showed up on Facebook!

Thanks for the photos Cody and Kathleen! :)

Surprise Visit!

Early last Wednesday morning (4/24), I did something I never do. I got up right after Jerry left for work and got moving. I showered and dressed.  Then at 6:20 I went in to wake up the boys. After two months of keeping it a secret, I told them that Roz was flying in TODAY as a surprise for Daddy's birthday!

We had a quick breakfast of donuts on the back patio. Well, everyone except Hayden who, unfortunately, wasn't feeling well.

Then we all piled in the van and headed across town to the airport. Not wanting to navigate freeways and morning traffic all by myself in Phoenix, we stopped on the way to get Jerry's brother Joe. He drove us the rest of the way.

Pick up was successful and Roz was here by mid-morning. (She had left her house around 3am!) Then came the hardest part... waiting to actually surprise Jerry! We spent the afternoon visiting and swimming and... waiting. I had emailed Jerry and asked that he get home right on time so we could run to Costco and get stuff for the party. He was right on time. He walked in the door and Roz was sitting at the kitchen table. After a big hug (and a few happy tears), we explained we wouldn't be going to Costco after all! :)

Roz had a short, yet productive, visit. She visited with her ten feathered sisters...

We put her to work on Friday getting yard work done for the big party. Jerry even let her drive his new toy.

Saturday was, of course, the big party. Sunday, after cleaning up, there was time for swimming and hanging out by the pool...

and a few rounds of ladder golf...

....and some sister bonding.

Thankfully, I got this shot earlier in the afternoon, because later in the day Annabeth was NOT in the mood for photos.

 We took the usual photo of the whole family.

After dinner, it was time for irrigation and gopher hunting. I offered a $5 reward for every gopher killed so most of the kids had shovels at the ready. Hayden had a butterfly net. When I told him a live gopher wouldn't earn him $5, Jerry told me they worked out a deal. Hayden would catch the gopher and Jerry would kill it and then they'd split the reward. In the end, Jerry got three gophers and our zanjero got one and now I'm in debt!

After it got dark, we had a fire and roasted marshmallows. Twice we had to stop the fireside chat to kill gophers that were scurrying along the patio trying to get away from their irrigation flooded homes.

We let the boys stay up a little bit later than normal but we were all still a little tired from the exciting weekend. Roz had to leave early Monday morning, so the boys had to say their good-byes before bed. After a quick good-bye from me, Jerry drove Roz to the airport. And just like that, the surprise visit was over!

Party of the Decade

This year Jerry turned 40! The big 4-0! We decided it would be a good excuse to invite all our AZ family and friends over to see the house/pool and hang out. We invited just about everyone we know... old friends and new friends. People were coming and going, but I estimate we had over a hundred people here. It was a LOT of work but we had a great time!

I decided against decorating in black and tombstones. :) The little bit of decorating we did was colorful and fun. Earlier in the day we blew up balloons and tied them around the pool area. Unfortunately, they all popped before the party even started. Roz helped me make some posters with photos from Jerry's 40 years. Lots of fun memories! 

I asked Jerry what he four favorite candies were and bought them to set out on the table by the cake. A few of our kids gave him a hard time about his choices, which were: Twix, Red Vines, Orange Slices, and Double Bubble.

We had a ton of food. Since I wasn't exactly sure of the number of people coming, I decided too much was better than too little. The main dishes were pulled pork sandwiches and a 6 foot sub. We also had plenty of side dishes. It wasn't a potluck, but I asked a few helpers to bring something. (You know who you are... thanks again!)

Since people were going to be coming and going we put all the salads on ice so we didn't have to worry about cold things getting warm. We had the warm things in crockpots so we didn't have to worry about them getting cold. It worked out great and except for refilling a few things the food didn't need much hands-on attention, just what I wanted so we could enjoy visiting with everyone.

In the end, we did have too much food, but that worked out and will be another blog post. I know this wasn't a WI party because we had a ton of beer leftover! :)

Lots of people went swimming. A few of the kids swam pretty much the whole time!

Despite the fact I had my camera in my pocket, these are the only photos I took. I was too busy visiting the rest of the time.

The last party guests left around 9:30pm. Jerry, Roz, and I sat outside on the patio and relaxed a bit before heading to bed. We made sure the food was put away, but didn't deal with any of the other clean up until the next morning (which isn't like us since we usually have everything cleaned up and put away before we go to bed).

Next year is my 40th. The big question... should we do it again???