small towns are the freindliest sort of towns!

late yesterday afternoon was the fireman's parade in monroeton, signaling the end of the carnival. we put the girls in the wagon, and dashed off downtown, so they could see all the activity. it's just the thing for 2 little nosy girls like ours. gabriel and nathaniel came too, just for kicks. we had a good time, although we were warned that the parade was rather short.

anna gathered almost 1/2 bag of candy. one of the firemen even helped her pick it up. she was very cautious about the vehicles, and not greedy at all. she shared her candy with the little girl sitting next to us when the parade was over. i was very proud of her!

there was quite a large showing of emergency vehicles, from all over. fire trucks, pumpers, ambulances, rescue trucks... considering the price of gas, i was impressed.

anna is just way too cute! i remember when miriam was exactly this age, and we went to the mifflinburg fireman's parade. she had ponytails, too, but hers were dark, and she also ended up with a ton of candy. she shared with her brothers- she was an equally as generous little girl.

betsy was content to sit in the wagon and chew on her flag from the bank.

now we're on our way home-we really don't live too far from downtown monroeton, such as it is!

we're still outnumbered...

today was a chicken butchering day- the chickens have stopped growing meat from the feed that we're giving them, and are just storing fat, in all the wrong places! so today i helped dave do 12 chickens. we have a nice little set-up in the shade near the chicken tractor, and with our knives, bowls and the garden hose, we're ready to cause some mayhem in their complacent and lazy little lives! dave grabs 2 chickens, destined for his feed bag. he doesn't cut off their head, but rather sticks their head through a hole in the corner, and then sticks them in the throat, or something unpleasant like that. i don't ask for too many details.

his job is to get them presentable looking for me- no head, feathers, feet or poop hole. i take over from there.

some of the chickens i froze whole, but others i butchered up this way. i got 2 breasts, 2 chicken fingers (that's what we call them, anyway), 2 legs and a carcass. those i took into the house and boiled, boning the meat, and saving the broth. i got 2 bags of meat, enough for 2 meals, and 9 quarts of broth. i'll use that in soup, rice or white chili. i left out the pictures of the insides of a chicken. i figured either you already know that, and don't need pictures, or you don't know how to do that, and don't want to see pictures. i'm thoughtful that way.

in other late-breaking news on the home front, the baby bunnies moved into their own pen today. they are eating on their own, and mommy bunny will be having another litter soon.

dave is still busy replacing the joists under the addition. that will soon be done, and ready for the foundation form to be built, and then poured. hopefully next week. i'll be glad when that's done for several reasons. first, everyone keeps tracking tons of dirt into the house- more than usual. and also, there are many random holes, ditches and trenches all over the place. i'll have to do a post about our holes. i'm not exaggerating- there really are alot! and alot of them are in the house! one of the next steps on the addition is the insulation. in preparation for that the boys took off all the old clapboard siding. we will put up sheeting and house wrap around all 3 sides, which will be appreciated come winter time. (in about 3 weeks, here) and see that tiny window by N? that's the window over my kitchen sink, and will be replaced in a few weeks with a bigger and nicer window. yippee!

Guest Friday

Welcome to guest Friday at the Caplinger family blog, home of down-to-earthness and a good dose of reality. I, M, will be your guest host for this post. To begin we will start with a good dose of reality: mainly that you should not expect this post to be utterly amazing and entertaining. Rather, be prepared for reality.

Today I would like to explore the roles and responsibilities of a certain person whose achievements are mainly behind the scene. Today I would like to bring some recognition to aforesaid person. It happens to be (drum roll please) mom.

Although many times the things mom does go unrecognized or appear insignificant, they are neither. While Dave and the boys work hard and diligently on the many visible aspects of the house, mom does just as much that we often forget about. How she manages it all seems to be a mom secret. While I can’t begin to list all of the things she does, a quick review of mom’s responsibilities includes:

1. Feeding a large family that includes three teenage boys who are always hungry and a husband who can be hard to impress, at least in the culinary department. Mom always makes one serious meal a day. She consistently varies the menu, and has been trying some new and delicious recipes including a DELICIOUS Texas sheet cake. Plus, she makes sure to pack Dave’s lunch for him everyday.

2. Washing- a continuous task when there are one man and three boys who are involved in some line of dirty work every day. Add to that a toddler, a baby and cloth diapers = lots of laundry.

3. Housewife- although it is almost impossible to maintain any amount of tidiness in a house under construction that also houses eight people including a VERY energetic toddler, three teenage boys and a husband who is famous for making a mess and leaving it, mom doesn’t give up. She diligently cleans and tidies and also recruits every one's help.

4. Household Manager- this position includes being responsible for paying the bills, doing the grocery shopping, coming up with ways to be economical, managing various schedules, enforcing rules and ensuring that chores and jobs are done, and in general keeping tabs on what is going on.

5. Chauffeur- from taking people to friends' house, to driving D to Williamsport to catch the bus, mom does a lot of driving. Admittedly less right now then previously, since we’re all swamped with working on the house and I can drive myself, still, driving will soon become a big responsibility once again.

6. Teacher- while everyone is currently on summer break, school will be starting up soon. For mom that means teaching two seniors, a sophomore, and two year old, besides keeping track of a crawling, soon to be one year old. No, not an easy task by any means. Two year old, sitting still, and waiting your turn do not go together very well. And even though it is summer break, mom will soon be thinking about who is doing what and using what curriculum.

And lastly, but certainly not least, mom is a mom. And a wife. A husband, a daughter soon leaving for college, two teenage boys almost ready to leave, another teenage boy trying to become a man, a busy two year old and a nursing, crawling nine month old all spells busy. As in capital B-U-S-Y busy. But everything she does helps make our household run smoothly, usually. So while she might not ever be known for her error less typing, she provides love and care to us all, and without her none of us would be here. Thanks mom. We love you.

Oh, and a bit of advice to any child out there. Never say to your mother “Did you do anything today?” Unless of course you want an extremely busy, tired, stressed out woman to suddenly release all that stress upon you in something rivaling Hiroshima. And of course, as always, this advice is not the result of a personal experience.

it's a friendly neighborhood!

A loves our house- for a nosy little girl, near a busy bridge is just the place to live! everyday that dave works, we wave good bye to him from the porch, as he drives over the bridge. she waves her little arm as hard as she can, and shouts "bye-bye, bye-bye!" now that B is older, she joins in, too. it's such a simple thing, but it's very heart warming. dave works hard at lowe's so i can be a stay at home mom. i like knowing that the last thing he sees before heading off to work is some of his family giving him a loving send-off.

(today is very hazy, so i'll try to take a better picture another day. the girls and i are just right about smack dab in the middle of the picture.)

Too many tapeworms!

our house is a busy place this summer, and dave and the boys work hard all day long. we have many projects going as we work to fix up our old farmhouse, and prepare for winter. the boys are expected to be up by 7:30 and have their chores done by 9AM, ready to start working for the day. they work until 5PM, and then have free time until bed at 10:30 (if they can stay awake that long!)

someone at our house is always hungry- this is not surprising, considering the fact that we have 3 teenage boys, and that they are doing hard, manual labor most of the day- this makes for some very hungry workers around 3PM. this summer, for the first time, i have assigned someone the chore of making snack. it's usually something simple- cake, jello, bread or buns, crackers and marshmellows or muffins. they all look forward to something home made with love, and enjoy the respite before heading back out to work.

another added (and unforseen) benefit is that i have been able to save on the grocery bill. with a planned snack, we have less foraging and grazing, which means we're not eating as much. we do go through a lot of sugar, flour and eggs, but overall i'm not buying as much, and what i have bought is planned out better.

it's just a small thing, i know, but it works for me!

DISCLAIMER: I had absolutely nothing to do with this!

D just got home yesterday after a 2 week hiatus staffing a sea cadet boot camp at fort indiantown gap, near harrisburg. we have observed that he is very tired- he fell asleep in the bus station in harrisburg, and missed the bus to williamsport. he had to stay overnight in hburg, and catch the morning bus. anyway... he's home now, and after oversleeping this morning, he was ready to go at it again. D, and the other boys worked all day at clearing brush, disposing of the plaster in our newly dug hole, moving rocks, and finishing digging the foundation along the front of the addition.

apparently D still has not caught up on his sleep, because as he was waiting for G to make snack, he fell asleep on the freezer. also apparent is the fact that i'm not working N hard enough, because he not only took the opportunity to take a picture of the snoozing brother, but also
 

DID THIS:
 

the really funny part was that D had NO. IDEA. that he had a beard and mustache just like johnny depp. when he first came inside for snack i was flabbergasted. after the initial shock wore off, both G and i found that we were having a hard time talking to him without the overwhelming need to turn around and walk away, before we snickered out our nose, or something like that. D didn't seem to suspect anything, but he did repeatedly ask "what are you laughing about?" this was made even funnier that he would ask this question with a straight face. i briefly considered sending him to the convenience store for milk, but knew that would have been carrying it a bit too far. oh well. N did tell him a little later, and i will say that D took the whole thing very well. for someone so tired.

yesterday the kids and i spent the day visiting relatives in Bethlehem. we don't have much family, so we could do the whirlwind tour in just one day. first we stopped to see my great aunts- Mary and Olive. if you think of the Baldwin sisters on the old TV show, The Waltons, you can have a pretty good picture of what they are like.

all my life i can remember the aunts being a part of our lives. there are many pictures of me and my mother spending holidays and other important milestones with them. we would often stop in for a visit, and i know that my mother always tried to keep in touch with them. in turn, i often take my own children down to see the aunts on special days, and since they have lived in their house for 71 years, the pictures all seem the same- just different clothes, new wallpaper, and the children in the picture get older: first my mother, then me, and finally my children.

i have made the trip down to see the aunts after each of the children were born, to show them my newest baby. this Christmas M and i took the girls down- it was going to be their first time seeing baby B. it was so reminiscent for me of the same trip that i had taken almost 20 years earlier, with my own mother, to show off my first baby- M. this will be a tradition that i hope we will be able to continue when M has her own children.

we also stopped to see another aunt, from the other side of the family- my aunt sandy. i could fairly say that she is my favorite aunt, and she has always been a loving and supportive figure in my life, even though we often drift apart in the busyness of raising 10 children between us.

i have never had the close family relationships that i so eagerly wanted, and at times desperately needed, but i am thankful for what i do have. i know that even though we are all busy with many things, there is always something grounding about visiting blood relatives, and feeling that attachment with them. someone that you knew you when you were a little kid, and can say "do you remember that time when you were visiting at our house, and ate the artificial apple from our fruit bowl?" or, "remember when i offered you a lick of my ice cream cone, and you ate a whole scoop?"

we all long to be close to people, and feel loved- it is a God given need in all human beings. as my children grow, and as some are preparing to leave our home, i am strongly reminded that I am the anchor of the boat that is My Family. it is me that builds traditions, and cements the life-long relationships that will foster that sense of connectedness. It will be my job to provide the home atmosphere that encourages the returning of the children, and staying involved in their lives.

this can and will be a large and daunting task, and even terrifying at times, but with God's help, i pray that i am up to the challenge. above all, i want to be a Good Mother.

Aunt Olive and Mary with the 2 little girls.

all things chicken

we are being inundated with chickens around here- over 100 at last count! along with that shocking number comes a need to house them, and we've been working at managing that well. the last batch of chickens (our layers) were still in the utility room as of yesterday morning, in anna and betsy's little swimming pool. that was not working too well. the breed that dave bought is buff orpington, and ours seem to be a bit flighty. with all the work going on underneath them, i was afraid that they would jump out, and fall down into the basement! ( in case i forgot to tell you, there is a large section of the floor missing in the utility room. large- as in 3 feet by 16 feet.) it makes it hard to carry out the wet laundry, too.

dave decided that it was time to build another chicken tractor. we both like this one better- it's not as heavy, and it only takes one person to move it. also, it cost under $100, and only took him one morning to build. and of course, anna was there every step of the way, lending her help and encouragement! just in case you don't know, the purpose of a chicken tractor is to have the animals be able to have access to fresh grass on a regular basis. we move them just about every day, and it's funny to see them scurry around and scratch in the grass, to see what they can find and eat, before another chicken comes along and snatches it away!

i took a couple chickens over for A to play with while dave was finishing up.

now all the chickens have plenty of light and fresh air. they are all happily clucking around.

way too much coolness for one day!

my hungry work crew shows up faithfully at 3PM for a snack. today i had something special in mind- 5 minute chocolate cake. besides being fun to make, it tasted good, too! here is the recipe- try it!

4 T flour, 4 T sugar, 2T cocoa, 1 egg, 3 T milk, 3 T oil

mix dry ingredients in a coffee mug. add wet, and stir. microwave on high for 3 min. allow to stop rising, tip out on plate, and enjoy!

amazingly, it really works! we decided that i will make peanut butter icing, and keep that in the fridge. that way the boys can have icing with their cake and milk. yum!

and then another really cool thing happened today. i was out hanging laundry and noticed that as G was mowing the lawn, he kept stopping to gather something from the ground. wondering what it was, i went to see, and he had found all these little toads. we gathered a bunch up, to save them from a horrible death, and after he was done mowing we put them all back. they are all no bigger than 3/8", and i thought that they were really neat.

Guest Friday

Guest Fridays - N

Well, this house is really coming along since we moved in. It should be, with all the work we're putting into it! Dave, with a little help from me, has gotten most of the replacement joists under the floor in the basement, and should be finished sometime next week. All that remains on that front is to dig the last bit of the ditch(es) around the addition, to allow for the pouring of the concrete to hold up the foundation, so we don't have to do this again in twenty-five years! (With all of this digging, I am reminded of the movie Holes, based on the novel of the same name by Louis Sachar.)

Elsewhere, we are nearly done with the plaster removal in the upstairs sitting room and adjacent bedroom. All that remains to do is final sweeping, vacuuming and mopping. Then, we three boys will move back in, and drywall it at some undetermined point in the future. (Incidentally, in all the ripping out we've done in this house, you would think we'd have found some sort of old coin or something. But nope, not a thing. I think when we start putting the upstairs back together, I'll drop a roll of pennies down behind the drywall, just to make someone's day 50 or 100 years in the future.) Even with the metal detector we haven't found anything interesting.

Ta...