Ann T, Cooper is loving having me home more than anyone else, I think, although Makayla and Bud are having a ball playing with me. Elery, well, I'm not so sure, LOL. dcarch, I can't get actually livestock other than the cattle and horses, which can get a week's worth of food and water at a time, until I move out there. We'll get feeder pigs from one of the 4H kids in the spring and slaughter them in the fall, but breeding stock will have to wait until I'm actually living there. I'm kind of leaning toward Mulefoot hogs, as they pasture well, we'll see. I sure want to make some more homemade bacon, though. The Poulet de Bresse rarely makes it out of France, but there is a Canadian variety of the Bresse called Blue Foot. It was nearly eradicated during the Avian flu scare but I understnad remaining stock is in California, so maybe, someday. The flavor is supposed to be far superior to other varieties. Having never eaten it, I can't remark on that. The girls do want to get some laying hens though, all different varieties, LOL. As long as I get good fresh eggs, I guess I don't care, I'd get half a dozen different heirloom varieties but they have to be sturdy enough to withstand Michigan winters without frostbite to their combs, etc. So, big gardens, fresh eggs, farm raised pork, oh yeah, I'm looking forward to eating well. And, of course, Elery is planning an outdoor, wood fired bread/pizza oven. Annie

I took a DVD called "Days of The One Room Schoolhouse" to a local nursing home to share with the residents as one of their activities for this week. Had lunch first with a friend who resides there and had a long visit. Everyone seemed to enjoy the documentary even tho several fell asleep. ;) On the way there I happened to look down and see the "Check Engine" light was on. Oh crap. I was hoping I'd at least make it to the home and then when I came back out the car would start. It did start but the light was still on so I drove it on into the dealership where I know the hourly rate of service is high but. Anyhow, a young guy got in the car with a diagnostic tool and hooked that up to my car's computer under the steering wheel (who knew?) and then asked if I had recently gotten gas. I had. He said the car's computer was showing the code for "Loose gas tank cap". He checked it, tightened it, and the light went off. Plus there was no charge - what a relief. Esp. about the no charge, that doesn't happen very much now days. Came home, made a cup of coffee and then went out and finished mowing parts of the yard I didn't get to yesterday. Now I can relax.

Hi Marilyn Sue! I've worked a few days..working one more, tomorrow. Tuesday we sent our exchange student to Washington D.C. and then he went home to Turkey. I still haven't cleaned his room up. I was up nearly 30 hours the day before and that day because I had to work an weird evening shift the day before he left for the airport. I took a short nap in the afternoon because I couldn't stay awake any longer. Oh, no...people are shooting off fireworks. D@mn, I thought they would know by now they weren't supposed to do that in town anymore. Lauren is in Chicago till tomorrow with a friend. She got to go to China town today. I'm so jealous. So, had the house to myself for the last few days. So, now going to hope they quit with the fireworks so I don't have to call the police and can sleep.

HOUSE PAINTING TIP Sometimes it is difficult to visualize the appearance of house colors. What I found helpful is try different color schemes on paper first. If you have a drawing of your house, that's good if it is not too big. Make copies and color the copies.You can experiment: should you use 2 colors or 3? Try out both schemes on paper. When doing this, we found that too many colors was not good. You may find that 2 shades of the same color works for some elements. For example, suppose the prime color was blue-gray. Use a darker shade to outline the house and the lighter shade to cover the wide expanses bordered by the outline. You can play around with window trim. If you do not have a drawing to copy, make an outline sketch. Alternative, take a photo and use software to create an outline image. Convert the photo to black/white and play with the contrast and saturation to get an image that is mostly an outline. Print out copies for coloring.