The boys are spending the night with us tonight, so Denton called to ask if they could bring their paint so that I could paint their faces. I told him that would be fine and he hung up. Nikki called right back to make sure that I understood what he wanted and didn’t agree to something that I did not want to do.

We were only on the phone for a second. When our conversation ended, Nikki turned around to find this:

Hudson was being transformed into a crow! Denton said, “All done Hudson! You are gonna look fabalus!

Then Hudson took off around the room

flapping his wings and saying, “Caw! Caw!”

Monday morning the boys were at my house and Denton suggested that we go for a hike. Hudson and I thought it sounded like a good idea. Matilda always goes on our hikes, but on our way out they asked if Willow and Rose could join us. So, there we went;

three humans, two goats and one dog.

Denton, (surprise, surprise) appointed himself to be the leader.

We found a little frog.

We went down to the creek and then

stopped to look at the buckeye crop.

There was also a moment of silence at One-eyed Sally’s grave.

As we were approaching this spot, Denton said,

“Listen to the birds singing a beautiful song.” To which Hudson replied,

“Yes, it was my great- grandmother’s song.”

A few years back I discovered that my cholesterol was elevated, so I have been on a statin drug ever since. Recently my doctor agreed to let me stop taking the drug if I agreed to change my lifestyle. Then, after several months we would do lab work and go from there. I was doing very well until the wedding, at which time I began a three week cake and ice cream diet.

Now that I am back on the straight and narrow, I have decided to come up with my own cookbook for lowering cholesterol. Since oatmeal and salmon are both on the list of foods to eat to keep cholesterol in check, I figured that I could kill two birds with one stone by combining them. Hence, “Salmon Oatmeal“.

The first time I fixed it (for myself, of course) Joel said, “Oh my goodness Susan, that’s just not right!” I know what you’re thinking, especially if you’re not an adventurous eater, but just stay with me.

Season a small salmon fillet (I used kosher salt and freshly ground pepper) and cook in a skillet

with a little olive oil, onions and garlic. While that is doing its thing, microwave ¼ cup of old fashioned oats with ¼ cup of water just until the water is absorbed. This takes about 20 seconds.

   
 

Put the oatmeal aside.

When the salmon is done, pull it apart with a fork, incorporate it into the oatmeal along with the onions and garlic. Then garnish if you like. I used fennel.

After only about fifteen minutes, you have yourself a tasty, heart healthy breakfast…that is, unless you’re a texture weenie.

   
 

   
 

   
 

   
 

   

I don’t think that I would have the patience to be a photographer; or at least the kind of photographer that deals with groups of people. It’s hard to get everyone to do what you want them to do at the same time.

As you know, my son Adam got married last month. After the ceremony, fourteen of us were summoned to the front steps of Loyd Hall Plantation for a group picture.

Of course there was the bride,

the mother of the bride,

the father of the bride,

the brother of the bride,

the grandmother of the groom,

the sister in law,

one nephew and, last but not least,

    

the other nephew.

Of course there were some who really wanted to get this thing over with and cooperated very well. I don’t feel the need to point them out; except for the grandmother of the bride,

who struck a pose and never moved a muscle.

I guess that getting eleven out of fourteen to work together was not bad…and it only took seven tries.

Any time they get a chance, Willow and Rose get into the laying pellets that I buy for my chickens.

So, I got to thinking…

If they ate enough, maybe they would start laying eggs and then we would be rich. However, we would probably wind up as a side show in a traveling carnival. Then it happened…

    

One of Willow’s horns punched through the bag of feed. With Rose’s head still in the bag, Willow got a little panicked and began to go in circles twisting the bag tighter and tighter around her horns until…….

her brown eyes turned gray. Rose, whose head was now trapped in the bag, didn’t seem to mind one bit.

In May of 2011, my cousins gave me one of their five week old Boer goats. I decided to call her Willow.

Because she was so young, she decided that I was her mother. So, when she was out of her pen and I got out of her sight, she would frantically search for me and cry really loud.

She would sit on my lap,

ride with me on the golf cart

and even serve as my welding assistant.

She became, well…..a second dog.

On the next to last day of 2011, Willow stood on a barrel that she had rolled to the edge of her yard, and jumped over the fence… which would have been fine had she not caught her foot in the wire. Joel’s mama discovered her walking around eating grass with the bottom part of her back leg dangling.

Pretty nasty huh?

So, we rushed her to the vet expecting them to amputate, or even worse, suggest that she be put down. The vet who did orthopedic work with the large animals was not there, so we had to leave her and would not know anything until the next morning.

After the orthopedic vet examined her, he said that he would really like to try to save her leg, but it would be a challenge and a process.

To begin with, he put her leg in a cast, which she pulled off the first night. Then he tried a splint.

After nine weeks with her leg in a splint, (Not the same one, oh no, she got a new one every week.) she was as good as new.

The vet called her a miracle goat.

I guess you could say that she came out smelling like a rose. Speaking of Rose…

This spring, I brought home a friend for Willow.

Her name is Rose. Rose was about 12 weeks old when I got her, so she hasn’t bought into the idea of me being her mother.

She’s very sweet and goes on walks with us, but is still a little skittish. She’s not the sit in your lap kind of goat…but as we know, miracles do happen.

Josh and Nikki went to Shreveport for a few days to daylily regionals, so the grandparents did some tag team babysitting. The boys spent most of their time in their super hero costumes.

Sunday morning, about five minutes before Josh and Nikki returned, Batman (Denton), informed me that Superman (Hudson) had swallowed my mother-in-law’s hearing aid battery.

After calling a doctor friend and checking the internet, we discovered that this was not something to just ‘pass off’.

Therefore, a trip to the E.R. was in order. When we told Hudson he had to see a doctor, he said, “Oh no, they’ll cut my throat.”(This was something that his Meme had told him to try to keep him from putting things in his mouth.) When we mentioned that we were taking him to the E.R., he said, “NEW YORK?!!!” But, I don’t think he was disappointed.

He jumped through all the normal hoops to get to a room.

Once in the room, he got settled,

and did a little deep breathing.

Then he went to Radiation for some x-rays….

only to find out that he only thought
he had swallowed a hearing aid battery. So…I called Joel, who found the battery on the couch.

The moral of the story is this….don’t put a hearing aid battery in your mouth

even if you are a super hero.

Diddid a little

di

It’s been a while since my last post, so I thought that an update would be in order.

Hudson and Denton are now five and a half and serving as pastors of a small church.

Well, actually, they just got new outfits for Adam and Laura’s wedding.

Adam and Laura were married on the front lawn of Loyd Hall Plantation on May 12^th.

The boys weren’t the only ones with new outfits.

Joel and I almost had to wear name tags for our friends to recognize us. By the way, the man with gray hair and glasses is Laura’s great grandfather, Mr. Woodrow Young. He is ninety nine and WALKED down the aisle to his front row seat.

Josh and Nikki are expecting their third child in August.

This ONE is a girl and her name will be Josie Lynn.

I took up welding a little over a year ago, and in a couple of weeks hope to have a new welding shop/studio on the hill overlooking the pond and Josh’s daylilies.

This piece is called “Heart Set Free”.

A friend and I are making metal salmon to raise money for Alaska missions.

We are cutting some of them out of old truck hoods.

This is part of our ‘Salmon From The Hood’ series. So far we have finished ten pieces that are on their way to Alaska….and we will be too, on July 17^th.

 
 

I bought each of the boys a compass. They know that they can use them to see which direction they’re going and that if they stand still long enough the arrow with the red tip will point north…whatever that is. Being still is the issue…and being patient enough to wait until the arrow has come to a complete stop. (That’ll preach.) But then, guess what. The arrow doesn’t point to true north. It points to magnetic north, which depending on where you are, might not even be close to true north. Go figure….which is exactly what you would have to do. Just having an idea about direction isn’t good enough if you’re on a serious journey, and you know what…..we all are. We need to be in tune with true north and not put our trust in something that might pull us off course. If we’re walking in the light, we can rely on the sun to help us find true north. If we’re in the dark, once again, we’ll need to look up. We’ll need to find the pole star, the star around which all others seem to rotate. This star is part of a constellation that is emblematic of the kingdom of our Lord, Ursa Minor, or Jesus’ Lesser Flock. A compass is very handy, but the most accurate direction is obtained by looking toward heaven.