Home for the Holidays!

I tend to be a home-body. I like being at home and don't feel the need or desire to get out or away from the house very often. It's become worse since I started working. I look forward to the end of my shift so I can get home and see hubby if he's home, turn on the TV or sit back with a good book; in my case it's typically my Kindle Touch. On my days off I rarely want to go anywhere but there are exceptions to be made.

Yum!

Last week I got together with my sister-in-law, nieces and one of my girls and my mom to make candy. It's become an annual tradition and we all seem to have lots of fun. Of course, my great-nephew and great-niece keep us pretty well entertained. Our candies of choice are Gremlins and Turtles. We have had varying levels of success with the caramel over the years, some on the same day. One year it was so hard we had to heat it up to soften it enough to eat it without ripping our teeth out. Other times we practically needed to eat it with a spoon. We also make a couple kinds of cookies.

Jack-6 mos.

On Sat. we headed down to meet our youngest son, daughter-in-law and grandson for lunch. Definitely another good reason to leave home. We hadn't seen them for about 3 months so it was a long overdue visit and a good one.










We now have a new reason to want to hang around at home. Although the reasons I mentioned earlier for going out trump the reasons for staying home this is my newest, best reason for staying home.

electric fireplace entertainment center

The picture doesn't do the fire justice. We can have it just show the fire or have heat blowing out as well. I told hubby I liked it for several reasons one being the "ambiance". He just scoffed at me. What a romantic. He would have to admit though that he really likes it as well; ambiance and all.

Progress

I guess I've been a bit remiss about updating our siding project. I have to say it has gone quicker than I expected. We started putting on the siding on the 14th of this month and we already have the south end completed and 1/3 of the west side. Of course, the rain couldn't quite let us get the exposed parts covered up before it came back with a vengeance. Oh well, you can't have them all. Progress slowed down a little bit when we got to the peak of the south wall. Even with a brand new table saw that has settings for angles and what have you it was still a bit tricky. I'm really happy with the way it's looking. I think I'll paint the trim at the eaves black as well as the front door. That should look amazing I think. 

You probably noticed that we have to dishes instead of one. Or maybe you didn't. When we called to have our internet connection reestablished they offered an upgrade that wouldn't cost us anymore a month and would speed up our service so we opted for that. Apparently they weren't going to use the old dish and put in a new one but they also don't take the old one; that we painstakingly mounted I might add, very painstakingly,I mean brought tears to my eyes because my arms ached so much; away. We just haven't taken the time to repeat the agony of taking it down yet. Who knows, maybe we'll find some other use for it right where it is. Any ideas?

Trim and first full row

Up past the windows

Hopefully the deluge will take a rest in the next day or two and we'll be able to get the south end of the east side done. I'll get some more pics up later this week.

Updates

I was looking through some of the old posts and decided to do some updating on our various, unfinished projects.

Surprisingly, the lilac is still in its tub and doing tremendously well. Who would've thought that it would do better in a 3 ft. wide black tub than in the ground? Huh? Even on our hottest days it didn't get the slightest bit droopy. The forsythia on the other hand I think are toast. Two of the yuccas are doing well, one after a rough move. I wasn't going to keep the one that  was in a rotted whisky barrel planter next to the house. We had to move it when we started on the siding and pulled it out of the way. Hubby thought we could do with a rope wrapped around it and our brute? strength. Not! A motorized vehicle and rope did the trick though there was some gravel misplaced by spinning tires. Apparently the yucca had taken root through the bottom of the barrel.
 After sitting for a week with some of its roots exposed Hubby decided it should be saved. We placed it in a far corner of the raised yard and put some dirt over its roots and it seems to being fine but needs a hair cut. It developed a lot of split ends during that week. Of course, it helps that it has started raining.

Speaking of rain, I realized my little pond was sitting upright about a week after the rain started and sure enough it is now full of water. Sitting above ground. I guess I better figure out where it's going quick and  get it dug in. I'll have to empty it first of course. Ugh!

Now for a siding update. After checking out vinyl siding prices we decided to go with metal. I wasn't the most pleased with the option but something definitely needs done. Hubby decided to check out one other place and Voila!. Vinyl siding in a green color we want within our budget! He ordered it and it was delivered on Mon. Who would've thought there were so many color options for "olive"? The "olive" we chose is a darker rich color. The "olive" we received was a rather light almost khaki color. We contacted the place and Hubby went back in to look at samples. They finally found the original "olive" we had chosen and will switch things out on Fri. Whew! Now for a few dry days to put it up.

Revamping

We own a manufactured home that is close to 30 years old. We've done some work on the inside to revamp and freshen it up and still have more projects there; but recently, after a few failed attempts at repainting, we decided to do some major revamping on the outside. Our siding is made of pressboard that crumbles when it gets wet. We took off the whole south end and part of the west and east side of the house and replaced it with plywood.

 After applying tar paper and wrapping we are ready for new siding.

We won't be able to do the type of siding we would love to do, which is a metal log-look siding but it's still going to look great! Needless to say the backyard project has taken a back seat for a while.

Birthdays X 2

Today is my eldest son's birthday. He's 25. As most parents I'm sure think the time has gone by too fast. Happy Birthday, bud! I love you!

Tomorrow I will turn 50! Yep, I've reached the half-century mark. I don't really feel that old, except at the end of a work day. For some things 50 isn't that old. Like turtles for instance. There are days when I move about the same pace as a turtle. Don't get me wrong. My age has never been an issue for me. I didn't freak out when I turned 30 or 40. I view them as milestones. God has truly blessed me over the years and I am forever grateful.
My family is throwing a party for me and our eldest daughter and her roommate are moving into a rental house from an apartment and adding another roommate. It's going to be a great day all around! Seeing family and friends all together for a few hours; life couldn't be better.

Family, Friends, Football and ...........Warriors?

Our daughter and son-in-law from Idaho flew in last weekend for a whirlwind weekend of events. It was great to see them as always, but their weekend was definitely jam-packed with things to do. They visited family and friends on Sat., part of which included watching his alma mater's football team win. On Sun. our two daughters participated in Warrior Dash, an obstacle course in the hilly, forested, muddy area north of where we live. Our eldest daughter had done this last year and roped the younger one into it this year as well. Hubby, son-in-law and I went to spectate. Believe me there were a lot of spectacles to behold. I was beginning to wonder if we had stepped into the Twilight Zone. Apparently part of the event is coming up with some of the most unique and ,dare I say, outlandish um .........costumes. Some I have to say were well thought out and rather clever. Others, well we'll just leave it at that.
The event proceeds benefit St. Jude's as well as a couple other organizations and has thousands of participants divided into several heats for the two day weekend, with about 500 in each heat. The heats start every half-hour. Needless to say, it's very dusty and since there is water involved in about half of the course, very muddy. The course is 3.1 miles in length and has 8-10 obstacles to go through including a pond, rope ladder and jumping over fire. It's also very crowded with people ready to run the course and those that have already run the course milling about along with the observers, volunteers, etc.

Before

After, I couldn't be prouder!

 

Let's just say they were some of the cleanest participants to finish. Note the guy(?) over the right shoulder of daughter on the left. Need I say more?

It was a lot of fun to watch the parts we could actually see. We tried to station ourselves at some of the obstacles to get photo ops but that was an obstacle course in itself. After washing off in a communal water hole/warrior bath and a quick change of clothes in a local gas station restroom we were off for much needed sustenance before dropping off the Idahoans at the airport. It was a long, busy but fun day. Except the last part.

Fingers Crossed

 We decided it was time to work on the backyard this weekend. He has weekends off now and I was scheduled off also so we decided the timing was right. Other than it was hot. First order of business was to take down the swing we had put up years ago when we built our kids a fort. It was a good thing, too. The support beam the swings were attached to split when it came down and it was dry-rotted inside.

Support beam for swings

 The post in the foreground and its buddy were also removed. After going to dinner with some good friends who were in town we called it a night.

We started the next part of excavation after church the next day. Our oldest daughter was here and able to help but again it was hot. The first order of business was to dig up the forsythia, lilac and yucca that were in the way for pushing dirt around. I hadn't planned on keeping the forsythia. They're rather large and I figured would be a beast to dig up. Hubby had a moment of sanity and decided to dig them out with the scoop on the tractor. Brilliant! Since we weren't going to keep them what could it hurt? They came out beautifully. So nice in fact that I decided we could try to keep them after all. Now where to put them?

Forsythias new home

 The yucca came out okay and I have other starts of it if it doesn't make it, but the one I was dreading even touching was the lilac. Again using the scoop and tractor hubby dug it up as gently as he could. I thought the poor guy would burst into tears when it fell out of the scoop rather than resting into it like the other 3 plants did. Not really but he did let out a loud moan. One more try and it was picked up and on its way to its temporary home.

Lilac and yucca

We put them in a mostly shaded area so they wouldn't get the sun beating down on them to add to the shock. Keeping them watered well, which is not my strong suit, will be the next order of business. Hopefully they won't have to in these tubs very long.

After the drama/trauma of moving the plants, hubby started pushing the dirt piles around. We were able to get the dirt for free since the county was digging out the drainage ditches along the road and are happy to give it to you so they don't have to drive it to the landfill. We found several HUGE rocks in some of it and after getting those out, with the tractor of course, he was able to smooth things out pretty good.

Starting to smooth out the dirt piles

All smoothed out

 There will be some refining on smoothing it out that needs to be done and then I can finalize where the plants are going. We're also going to put a patio out there and put in my pond I got a couple summers ago. We've got the next two weekends off to get it all done. I think senility just set in again.

Senility Strikes Again......Just Kidding!

On Weds. I had arranged to meet with my sister-in-law and a friend for dinner. Another friend was unable to make it. We have been trying to get together for quite a while. We started out years ago getting together once a month. It was a bit easier because I wasn't working and the others had set hours and days. Eventually it came to meeting every couple months, then every 3 and now down to once or twice a year. It's a great time for all of us and we hate to miss out but life gets busy and the unexpected sometimes happens.
I was early waiting at the restaurant we were meeting at when my sister-in-law showed up. We had said 5:30 or 6 and it was a little after 5:30 at this point. No problem. Until 6 came along and our other friend hadn't shown up. We finally texted her a little after 6 to see if she was coming. Her response. . . . ."I forgot". Senility strikes again! Through other replies from her we found out she got off work at 5 and thought there was something she was forgetting. When she couldn't figure it out she went to the store, went home, changed clothes and started fixing dinner. Then she got our text. Needless to say she was not going to make it and we proceeded with having dinner. We had a great time and was able to catch up but we still missed our friends. Hopefully next time. I love getting together with these gals and don't get to see them enough.

I Must Be Nuts

I remember now, after the first night, why I don't like tent camping. It probably didn't help that I forgot our pillows. Hubby seemed to think that was fine and dandy but not me. The next day consisted of a mad dash to the store to get some pillows, cases and a few other things we may have forgotten. Our van was full to the brim when we left on Thurs. and we still had to pick up our oldest daughter and her stuff. It's funny how even after they've moved out they expect the parents to provide for them; sleeping bag, chair, etc. Needless to say we were not of the same mind-set but did have an extra sleeping bag for her to use. The highlight of our trip was meeting our second daughter and son-in-law when we went to pick up the oldest and headed off together from there. With a bathroom break and then a stop for ice cream, Yummy!, we got to the campground before dark with time to meet and greet before the mad rush to set up tents. We have a tent a cousin gave us so we hadn't used it until this trip. It was easy to put up and fairly roomy though I don't get how they expect 7 people to fit in it. Other than a few light showers the first day or two the weather was beautiful.

Mini-golf hazard

When Can I Get Off?

Life has been really busy. Of course with the nice weather we've been having the garden department I work in has been busier than a bee hive in summer. We do seem to be slowing down a little bit though but now comes the heat. Ugh! There's nothing like spending a couple hours, or more, out on a cement patio with the sun blaring down on you. We even have some shade cloth over the area but it doesn't do enough when it's 80 to 90 degrees out there. Plus while you're out there you're cleaning, condensing, or putting out new plants. We tend to water in the morning and/or evening. The plants don't do well when you water them in the heat of the day. People may like the occasional steam bath but plants don't.
The Fourth of July week was just one big blur. We were busy the entire week and we had short coverage the first half of the week. What fun! We got through it with only one minor mishap and no injuries. It could have been far worse.

For all of you that are last minute shoppers I have a word, or two, of advice. . . . Shop early! We are already setting our Back to School section. Inevitably we will have several people coming in the day before school starts and complain that we are out of several things. So, to avoid a lot of frustration on all our parts, start shopping now. The basic things aren't going to change from year to year like pencils, paper, crayons, scissors, glue, etc. There's 2 months till school starts. Why wait? Most of our customers are wonderful, but the occasional grumpy or demanding person can ruin our day if we let it. I try hard not to. There are those times though when you just can't help it.

I was able to get some yard work done this week with the help of our oldest daughter. My hubby even surprised me with a pick up load of bark, which has been put out and I now need more. What's that children's book called, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie"? I am definitely the mouse when it comes to bark. We haven't had any new stuff for a few years and the flower beds are in desperate need of it. I hope to work on another flower bed today after church if it's not too hot. Maybe I'll wait for the sea breeze to come up. Work smarter, not harder. That's my motto. Most the time.

Life's Ups and Downs

The last few weeks have had their ups and downs. As I posted last time, I'd been sick with a nasty virus. During that time my first grandchild was born, two weeks early. The only downfall is that I could not see him or his parents for about another week because I was still contagious. What joy when I could finally see and hold him! I don't think I've seen a more beautiful baby. Of course I might be a bit biased......Nah! I don't get to see him as often as I would like but I enjoy every moment I do.
We opened our strawberry patch the first weekend of June. The weather has been more wet and cold than it's been dry and warm so the berries are a little slow coming on. We still get steady traffic though and have only had one mishap of someone getting stuck. Our raspberries will be ready the beginning of July so this is our busy time of the summer.
My hubby finished his schooling and is working for the parks department in a nearby city. He likes the job. He's done it the last 2 summers. He gets little time to study for his license for Pharmacy Tech with the berries and work but does find a few moments to get some studying done. Right now we have opposite shifts. I work late typically and he works early. We also have different days off at the moment. This is the bad thing about both of us working. The good thing is there's extra income coming in that is better than unemployment. We keep reminding ourselves that it's only temporary and that helps. We try to make the best of the time we do have together.
My work has seen fit to give me more responsibilities. In some ways that's good but not so in others. With more responsibilities there's more pressure and more opportunity to mess up. Let's hope that doesn't happen too often.
I have still not transplanted the lilac. It seems when I have time and energy the weather is crummy or too harsh for its attempt at survival. I've at least got to give it a fighting chance. Hopefully before summer is over I'll get it moved.

Connecting the Dots?

I have been looking forward to some time off from work when my vacation days become available, which isn't going to be til Aug. However, I have been off from work since Thurs. but not for any reason I would care to repeat.
Thurs. I went to work and after about an hour I started having severe chills,aches all over and my legs felt like they would not support me. I talked to my manager and drove home. I slept for about 4 hours and could not move without pain. The next day the fever was low-grade and eventually gone but these spots started showing up on my hands. One was very large and blistered. I tried to think what I did to cause this thing but came up blank. My oldest daughter called and said she had gone home from work with chills and fever of 102+ on Thurs. Hmmm. She too related she was getting some spots on her hands. We soon found out this was not coincidence.
 She came over on Sat. and had talked to her doctor's office the previous evening. We had started to suspect Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease since my great-niece had come down with it right after her birthday party the weekend before, which we both attended. Of course everything you see on the internet about it is that it's a children's illness and that normal, healthy adults don't need to worry. Hah! The spots we developed over the next day or two were very painful and were on our face, feet, hands and occasionally on other areas. The ones on the face, hands and feet were the very painful ones. Imagine walking on hundreds of needles. They didn't just hurt when we walked either. They were sore to the touch and for the first day or so just hurt all the time. Needless to say we were not happy campers.
Since I had the same thing our daughter decided to stay with us so she didn't expose her roommate any further. This stuff is highly contagious and lasts for about a week. Today is the first day I can walk without excruciating pain. Our spots are reducing and no longer hurt for the most part. I would not wish this on my worst enemy it's that bad. We have heard of at least one other adult who had it about 3 weeks ago and his doctor told him it's going around. You're kidding!

me

daughter

My fingers no longer hurt but they feel like they have one huge callous on the end of them. Especially the thumbs and index fingers. My hubby was a big help and took good care of us. Even trying to make us laugh by copying the way we walked. I'm sure I'll laugh more about this once it's all over. The pics were taken today when our hands no longer are hurting. This is actually looking better, believe it or not.

Reprieve and Replan

The lilac has gotten a reprieve. The weather has been hot and dry so I figured I needed to give it at least a fighting chance of survival and wait til we got some more rain. It arrived today. So, Tues. is the next day off and unless it's absolutely pouring I'll be transplanting the lilac as well as planting a few other things I've got. Maybe I'll even get some more weeding done. It seems like a non-stop task but I try to make it easier by using weed barrier and bark dust. I have 2 cannas that started coming up so when hubby decided to mow I covered them with large tubs to ensure their survival. (He's been known to spray or mow down some of my plants.) Accidentally of course ; ) Well, while I was at work he mowed again. I'm now down to 1, but hopefully it'll come back. I hadn't weeded around these things yet but there were lots of tall grasses and weeds to show where he avoided mowing last time. I had uncovered them so they got the sunshine so the tubs were sitting off to the sides. One of them he spotted because the foliage is purplish. The other one was green however and apparently he's not a canna foliage aficionado and didn't see it. (Note to self : Get cement blocks to surround cannas and any other plants I want to keep alive.)
So you see it's not all my fault the plants die.

lilac^

panorama of backyard

I've been trying to plan what to do differently with the backyard. We've decided to expand it further back and to move the swings out a different direction. I have a small plastic pond to put in still and am trying to figure out where to put it. I want to be able to see it from the deck but I don't want it under a tree where it will get a bunch of leaves in it. Any ideas would be helpful. The picture makes the yard arc a bit but it's actually straight across. The wood supports were for the swings. The small plant between the two larger ones is the lilac. It's been that size for about 5 years. :(

And We're Off!

The weekend before this last one we got our strawberries in the ground. We had help from various family members and the weather couldn't have been better. It took 5-6 of us 6 hours to plant 3000 plants and then finished it up on Sun. planting the last 1000. Of course that week I worked 5 straight at my job. I had to keep moving for a couple days there or my legs would stiffen up and start screaming. Usually break time and lunch are welcome events, but not with sore leg muscles. As I predicted our daughter-in-law worked like a trooper. She had several of us making sure she wasn't over-doing it, but she didn't take any more breaks than the rest of us. Oh the days of youth!
The Killdeer chicks are about the size of their parents now and still stick pretty close to them and to the backyard. When I'm not watching them I watch our Hummingbirds or Oriole. We put out feeders on our deck and when we're outside we get buzzed pretty often. They sure are feisty little things. I have yet to find a nest though.
My husband is finishing his last day at the local hospital for his internship and will be back to Safeway in another town on Weds. We actually got to carpool twice during his two-week stint. In a month he'll be done with school. Yippee! He's asked me a few times if I thought I'd continue to work after he's done. I figure as long as we need the health insurance I'll stay where I'm at. I do plan to drop down to part-time though once he gets a full-time job. We've been having opposite schedules and different days off and I don't like it. Call me crazy, but after almost 30 years of marriage I like spending time with my husband.
We're suppose to have a pretty good stretch of nice weather, about 5 days of no rain, so yesterday I went out and weeded 3 flower beds and my husband mowed the front and back lawns. The grass was literally 2 feet high in spots and wet. The flower beds were so full of weeds I could hardly tell where some of the flowers were. I did plant a couple mini rosebushes and a Rhodie while I was at it. You would think that living on a farm I would've developed a green thumb. NOT! Most plants I bring home don't survive. They tell me I have to water them fairly often. Huh. Believe me it's not for lack of trying. I have planted and replaced several plants over the years in the same spots to see if I could get something to grow there. We're talking of expanding our backyard and that will entail moving 3 established plants. Yikes! I'm not so sure about this. Especially since one, a lilac, is a cutting from a bush that ancestors brought from back east and is the only bush left in the family that we know of. I'm really nervous about moving it but it hasn't done well where it is and needs to be moved anyway. Pray for me, or better yet, pray for the lilac.
We should be getting our raspberry starts soon. The craziness continues it seems. I'm giving a baby shower for my daughter-in-law on Sat. and my husband says the berries should be here then. Really! There's only 600 of them. I'm sure he'll get them done in no time.

Convalescing and Killdeer Chicks

I have been battling a bad cold for about a week now. I tried working through it but finally yelled, " I surrender!" and called in sick to work. I think it's helping. As I went to get the mail today I remembered that my husband mentioned that he saw some Killdeer chicks earlier in the week. I went to the nest site and if I hadn't known where it's exact location was I never would've found it. Apparently they are very good at hiding the location before and after the chicks hatch. I could hear the parents calling around the house so I called on what little energy I have and went on a search. It didn't take long. One parent tried luring me off in one direction and being a "Killdeer Pro" I headed the opposite way. It didn't take long to spot them once I found the other parent. He/She was squatted on the ground and as I got a little closer it hopped up and four chicks started moving around. They were hiding under the parent's wings. These little guys move awfully fast and tend to split up but I was able to get a couple pictures I hope you'll enjoy.

Adult (foreground) Chick (background)

Chick

As I mentioned, I've been sick. Wouldn't you know we'd have the hottest weather so far this year during this time, and I worked during it. Ugh!
Our strawberry plants, all 4000 of them, arrived yesterday and we plan to plant this weekend.....in the rain. It's not an easy task to plant in the rain. We found that out last year. We needed to arrange the ship date according to our schedules, not the weather so this is what we're looking at. A couple of our kids plan to come out and help which will make it go a lot faster. My official title during this planting time is Plant Dropper. Oh yeah! Walking up and down rows dropping plants at their prospective spots is the way to go. I'll probably plant more than usual though since our daughter-in-law will be 7 months pregnant and is planning to help out. Oh to be young again. I'm sure she'd out-work me even if I wasn't sick. I still have two more days to recover so here's hoping for lots of energy and stamina! Have I mentioned the symptoms of senility?

Intro Part 2

We had a brief moment of sanity this past weekend. The weather was dry enough for my husband to work and prepare the field for our new strawberry plants. The last order of business before the plants arrive is to cover the hills with weed paper, all 13 rows that are 150 ft. long. Last year we did this ourselves, just the two of us. By the time we got done I thought only one of us was going to be left. My whole body ached. The only parts that didn't ache were my nose, mouth, eyes and ears. No joke! I could barely move the next several days. I had muscles screaming that had been silent for so long I forgot they existed. Okay, okay! I hear you!
     My husband decided to hire a couple guys to do the job this year. Whew! Hello sanity! That left me free to plant a couple of plants and weed in one of my flower beds. With our oldest daughter's help the bed got to looking very nice. While checking out some plantings from last year to see if they survived the winter (they must have thought they were being put to rest) our daughter started playing fetch with our trusty dog, Bear. I heard a Killdeer call while they were at it and thought it was very close sounding. I turned around and not 3 feet away was a nest with a very brave parent standing guard over 4 eggs. If you're not familiar with Killdeer they are quite interesting. Their nest location choices are very haphazard. We've found them in the field in a cow footprint and in the driveway amongst the gravel. I thought there couldn't be any stranger choice..... until now. 

Killdeer Nest

Of course Mom, or is it Dad?, isn't far off trying to convince me it has one or two broken wings.

Mom or Dad Killdeer

Intro

Why is it that as we get older we end up adding more to our already busy lives? That's the situation I find myself in. My husband and I have raised 4 kids who are all out of the house and he goes back to school, out of necessity I might add; I go to work, which I haven't done the whole 25+ years we've been married; and we decide to grow berries for u-picks on our farm. Maybe senility has set in early?
     Our u-pick endeavor has been a successful one but there is a lot of work that needs done. We have been waiting for the rain to stop, we live in the Pacific Northwest, so we can work the ground and get it prepared for the new plants that are coming...next month. All 4000 strawberry plants as well as a thousand or so raspberries. Every year I ask myself, "Are we nuts?" My husband on the other hand never asks this question. I'm sure it's because he doesn't want to admit that we are. As if we didn't already have a lot on our plate.
     I work at a major retail store as a cashier/salesperson/all-around gopher in their garden department. I have to say there's no department I would rather work in. I love the beauty and fragrance of the flowers and we have a resident female hummingbird that visits to taste what we have to offer. Apparently she likes what she's found because she's there daily. It can make a trying day more enjoyable.
     My husband is going to school to work in a pharmacy. This decision came after 20+ years working in lumber mills and having the 2 he worked at close down. He decided it was time to look for a different type of job. He never thought he'd get through the classes where he had to learn a zillion drug names, what they do and their generic and brand names, let alone how to spell them. He's an intelligent guy but lets just say spelling is not his forte'.
     As a lot of others think also, we feel at times that we've bit off more than we can chew, but we just keep plugging away and trust it will all turn out in the end.