Dude, The Olympics are over!

Nice Olympic spirit, big guy. But just like NBC's constant coverage of the events, 5 wheels is over kill, dude. :)

Full Circle

I don't know if I have ever told you all this, but I grew up on a dairy farm. That is to say, my most formative years were spent on a dairy farm. My parents worked on Boyer's Dairy Farm from the time I was in 1st grade to the time I started high school. I have to say it was a pleasant upbringing and I have many fond memories of living there.

When I talk about fond memories, that does not include the firecracker incident. During the summer, I was supposed to go help my brother, Jonathon, wash down the walls in the barn. Not my favorite thing to do and sometimes I could lay in bed and pretend to be asleep so I wouldn't have to go. Jonathon found it easier to do it himself than to try to pry me out of bed. Then as soon as he would leave, I could catch all of my morning sitcoms (i.e. Full House, Family Matters, Saved by the Bell). Well, I guess I used that trick one too many times. He found some firecrackers left over from the 4th on one of those mornings. He lit them and threw them in the bed with me. My parents couldn't punish him because it was so funny (to everyone but me) and the long running joke still lives in our family history that I have to be "blasted out of bed." In the famous words on Stephanie Tanner, "How rude."

One thing I remember about the farm was that a lot of the time we drank fresh milk from a glass jug in the fridge. I don't remember it tasting that great or tasting that different from store bought milk. Milk was milk.

We have long since moved off of the farm. I grew up, got out of high school and college, got married, lived life. I never gave much thought to the old Boyer farm much after that. On my drive home from work every day I kept passing this new building going up. I asked around at Country Kitchen (cause that's the only news source I consider CREDIBLE) and learned that the Boyer Family was opening up a milk store. It has been open for a couple of weeks and I have been meaning to stop every evening after work. In the meantime, I kept buying my milk at Wal-Mart. Yesterday when I was out doing errands, I made a point to stop. I picked up 1 gallon of 2% and a gallon of chocolate ($8 total).

I immediately opened it when I got home and poured a big ole glass. I can't even explain to you how good this fresh milk tasted. Wow! I was blown away. I will be buying my milk there from now on. And I love how the profit goes right to the farmer instead of to Wal-Mart. Seriously, if you are passing through Rural Retreat, it is so worth the extra stop.

Got milk?

We do. :)

Feeling old fashioned and domestic + Oh my goodness, Chris. Come down slowly.

Chris and I decided we were going to have a "work around the house" day today. We got up early and got our plans started. We trimmed the bushes beside the deck, kind of ( more on that later), painted the chimney, painted the shutters, hung a new outside light, and froze some corn from the garden so we could have fresh corn this winter.

I love gallon freezer bags. No, seriously, I love them. Does that make me weird? I also love freezing stuff from the garden. It makes me get all nostalgic thinking about being young and canning with mom. It seems like such a house wife, old fashioned, Pioneer Woman thing to do. Isn't it beautiful?
Now, back to the subject of trimming the two shrubs beside the deck... Why are they only half done, you ask?

Here is why. Yes, Virginia, those are bees. A shit load of bees, I might add.
You can see where the ladder is. Chris was standing on the ladder. See how close it is to the gaggle of bees? Yeah. I know. Chris leaned over to trim some of the limbs on top and I happened to see it. I didn't want to freak him out so I tapped his leg and told him to come down. "Why? I'm almost done."

" Seriously, Chris, come down."

He gets off the ladder and I point to the swarm. His face turned white as a sheet.

Here he is contemplating how he is going to finish this job to move on to the next one. Turns out they were honey bees and the weren't particularly interested in ruining Chris' day. They had honey to make. He finished without any trouble. We have called Chris' cousin Billy, whose fiance studied honey bees as part of her master's program at Virginia Tech. She is coming to get them, we hope. :)

Dad is home!

Chris and I spent the night in Winston on Saturday night. On Sunday we got up and went to visit with Dad. He didn't have enough pj's with him so he sent me and Chris out to Target to get him 2 more pairs. No sooner had we pulled out of the parking garage, Mom called and said not to worry about the pajamas. The doctor came by and told Dad that he could go home. We got him home about 5:00 Sunday evening. He seems to be doing well. I'm just glad he is home.

Dad...

Dad was moved from ICU into a regular room. Chris talked to Jonathon this morning and he had talked to mom and dad. The nurses were unhooking a lot of Dad's tubes and IV's today so I think we will probably have a hard time getting him to stay in the hospital much longer. Chris and I are going to Winston today to visit him and mom. I'll update you later.

P.S. Happy Birthday to my brother, Jonathon. 35 today!

Update on Dad...

Dad has his surgery this morning at Wake Forest. The doctors took out the spot on his lung, however they did not see any other spots so they didn't take the whole lobe of the lung. He is in ICU now and they are keeping a watch on his breathing. He is breathing at 2500 which the nurse said was good. Mom said he is hitting the morphine pump pretty hard and that he is pretty out of it. Levi, Maranda, Chris and I are going down on Saturday to visit. We won't know the official results of the spot that was removed until Pathology looks at it, but from the initial look from the doctors in surgery they believe it is related to the colon cancer and not the start of lung cancer. That isn't the best news. I will keep you updated as I know more. I just talked to mom while typing this and she said she isn't allowed to go back into the ICU room until 5:00. Thank you for all of your calls, prayers, texts, and support. It means so much to us.

Love,
Heidi

Rest in peace...

Chris and I would like to extend our condolences to the family of Kirk Heldreth. Kirk, a very active citizen in the Rural Retreat community and President of the Rural Retreat Booster Club, lost his battle with bone cancer on August 4, 2008. Kirk leaves behind his wife, Laura and two sons, Chase and Matthew. Our prayers are with the Heldreth family. You can read more about Kirk's illness on his website here.