Connie called to give me my daily Ben update and what I took away from the conversation was that every day is a series of ups and downs for Ben. Lots of medicine, lots of checking “levels”, and much hovering by the nurses which of course is their job and is necessary but when one nurse entered Ben’s room yesterday, he immediately pulled the blanket over his head! He had HAD enough!
We got 5-6″ of snow and ice last night with high winds and I worried all night that we would lose power. If the power went down my little chicks would lose their heat lamps and they would all die. I woke up dozens of times last night checking but this morning they are all fine and Telly is enthralled with them.
This chick has a powder puff on her head which makes her a Polish top hat chicken or as we call them – bad hair day chickens – ha!
Here is what I’m working on – a kit Connie gave me years ago called Sticks and Bricks by Blue Underground. I think there’s enough fabric to make it king size! But now I’m tired of it so will put it away and work on something else.
We have Maundy Thursday services at church tonight and with 5″ of snow on the ground for Good Friday, I guess we won’t be planting our peas and potatoes tomorrow. Will any of you be planting tomorrow?
Love that picture of Telly!!!!! That’s a photo contest winner!!! You can just about see the wheels turning in her head.
How I look forward to your blog…. Most days they bring a smile to my face.
Continuing prayers for Ben, his family and friends.
What an awesome picture of Tilly and chicks! Beautiful…..
I was just thinking about planting in Iowa on Good Friday! I miss having a garden so much.
Will be offering our Holy Week and Easter Masses for little Ben and his family. Wish they didn’t have to go through all this.
So much poking and prodding gets tired really fast…..he is a real trooper! Hope he continues to make positive strides forward. The chicks are adorable! We enjoy seeing what you are doing over in Iowa. We only got an inch of ‘white stuff’ here in SW Wisconsin but it is icy & school is closed. Have a good Easter!
Love that photo of Telly and the chicks! I am saving it to use with creative writing prompts. You show the picture and kids have to write a little piece about what’s happening or make up a title for the photo. They will NEVER guess new chicks and the heat lamp! As a retired librarian, I often get asked to read books and I have plenty of chicken stories. This would be a great icebreaker and intro for storytime, too.
I followed Devon Still’s daughter Leah’s battle with cancer and they wrote a book about it for kids. He is a NFL player who used to be with the Cincinnati Bengals. http://Www.iamleahstrong.com. He does a lot of education and support for kids with cancer. Maybe Connie would be interested. Prayers for all of them.
Down Oskaloosa way we have planted radishes (some on Feb 29), and they are up. We covered them last night. We have also planted our potatoes, more radishes, peas and onions. We didn’t get any snow down here, just rain, but it is suppose to freeze tonight. Love the baby chicks. And thanks for the update on little Ben. He’s in my prayers.
I have looked online for the sticks and stones pattern and can not find it on their site. Can you tell me the dimensions for the blocks, Thanks!
Rectangles are 4-1/2 X 7-1/2. Strips are 1-1/2 X 7-1/2.
My Easter Masses as well for Ben and his family..I pray for him to recover and live a long healthy life!
Happy jelly beans Ben!
A couple of weeks ago we put 3 of the cold frames on some of our garden boxes, they warm up the soil and most importantly – controls the moisture. The are wood and plastic film. I figured that 10 inches (and yes, we got 10″) of snow would be kind of hard on that plastic, so we stowed the cold frames under the deck again. But when we uncovered, onions, spinach and lettuce was coming up from plantings from last fall. This snow probably won’t hurt them, but we will need to start over with the moisture control! Your new babies are so cute. We always got baby chicks in the spring and also a big box of peanut shells for bedding for them in their nursery. I remember the smell of the shells and how they were compressed into the box – my brother and I got to break up the compressed shells and spread them around the brooder house. We had a propane heater that warmed the building and as long as it didn’t get too cold, if it did get cold we would have to make an enclosure to keep them closer to the heater or they would go to the edges of the building, get cold and die. We would go to Decorah and pick up the chicks, bring them home in a warm car and dip their beaks in the chicken water! Ah, memories. Prayers for Ben and entire family!
Continued prayers for Ben and family. It is warm here in Maryland – 70 – today. A little cooler tomorrow. Everything is busting out blooming. We have already gotten some lettuce from a makeshift green house that my husband put together a few years ago. Not very sophisticated but with a small heater we kept things growing somewhat. It collapsed when we had 30″ of snow in Jan. Hope your snow melts quickly and warmer temps are on the way.
Prayers for little Ben and the family. So sorry to see this last night.
Love this blog…..Paula in KY
I made the sticks and bricks kit in several forms. I made a lap quilt, a wall hanging, a table runner and still had enough fabric for another lap quilt. I loved it. Gave it all away. Admit I had a hard time parting with the last lap quilt. Enjoy. Glad the chicks survived. Hope Ben’s treatment will get a little easier for him or at least that the side effects are not too tough.
Am certainly thinking of Ben and his family. Connie will be busy as a caregiver for awhile. Love the chicks, keep them warm. We had 19.5 inches of snow here in Denver on Wednesday and they are preducting more for tonight and tomorrow. Oh springtime in the Rockies is so unpredictable. My best wishes to everyone for a lovely Easter. A very special time for Christians and so important.
If Telly is a girl….I would suspect it’s motherly instincts. I have planted peas (in my past) when there was still snow on the ground, but certainly not 5 inches. I think that would deter anyone from planting crops, outside.
Really really like your “sticks and bricks”. Continued prayer for young Ben. No child should have to go through this. But, God has a plan! He will get Ben and his family through this.
We do not have five inches of snow – just an inch or two. When husband checked the radishes last night, there was nothing – this morning they were all peeking up down the row, through the snow! Our potatoes are safe in a box by the bedroom furnace and the peas are still in a packet in the store. What a year already for gardening! /brenda had her Easter hunt today (44 degrees), but there were 57 there and we all had FUN. reva