My quiet 67th birthday

This was supposed to be a low-key and quiet birthday with no celebration.  After all, we already had plans to do a joint birthday dinner for Barb and me on Oct. 16.  Barb’s birthday is the 28^th and mine is on the 12^th.  Our son, Matt, and his girlfriend Mary Louise Roberts had planned to bring us a wonderful meal.

But the day got started with our new kitten named “Roy” deciding that he wanted to make my day special and he got in my face every way possible to insist that I know that he is purring up a storm and wanted to snuggle while I was at my computer checking e-mails.  What a guy!  We have had him for a few weeks and he has doubled in size.  He is a “rescue cat” that came to us from Kara Stambach, a member of our church, and the Lucky Cat Rescue.  A gentleman named Roy found our kitten after it was abandoned in a Habitat project and Kara nursed our Roy back to health.  He is so much fun…full of energy…and runs around the house like crazy and then plops on our laps or shoulders and purrs loudly.  We are so grateful to Kara.

Then we headed out for the main event of the day, a trip on the “Steam into History” steam railroad out of New Freedom, Pennsylvania.  The event was sponsored by the Epworth Everybody Else group at our church (nicknamed E3s) and it began with everyone gathering at a nice café in the heart of New Freedom close to the train tracks.

We arrived just in time to see the replica steam engine arrive from the morning trip.  Lots of loud whistles and the sound of live steam gushing from the engine.  How exciting!

Across the street from the restaurant was the company store where they had lots of Civil War memorabilia, puzzles, games, clothing, and toys to enhance your railroad experience.  Nearby, there was also a museum in the old New Freedom train station.

Our goal was Hanover Junction.  The historical importance of this railroad is the Lincoln took these trains to get to Gettysburg to deliver his famous address and Hanover Junction was the connecting point that

allowed Lincoln’s train to connect to Gettysburg.  Regrettably, it was also the same route where Lincoln’s body was taken back to Illinois for burial following his assassination.

The route from New Freedom to Hanover Junction is only ten miles long. The trip takes an hour.  But it was filled with beauty as we saw small towns, large farms, and numerous streams, rivers, and creeks adjacent to the tracks.  The railroad featured volunteers in period costumes and a talented minstrel who entertained us with songs along the

way.  On the route back, the conductor was a walking/talking history lesson.  I thoroughly enjoyed it. I shot 95 pictures and posted them on Picasa here.

And then my day got even better!  Waiting for me in my computer was a nifty video performed…and created…by our other wonderful son, Robert, who lives in Portland.  I liked it so much that I posted it on VIMEO and hope you will check it out:  https://vimeo.com/76779158  I continue to be amazed and grateful for the creativity of our sons.

And finally, a heartfelt “thanks” to all of the folks who posted a happy birthday wish on Facebook. Thank you.  It has really made this day special.

Two month old chickens can fly

Our hens are two months old now.  Their birthday was Saturday, October 5th.  They are thriving in their new outdoor chicken coop and their chicken run.  They are friendly, calm, and surprisingly able to fly.  The Plymouth Rock takes particular pleasure in flying up to the roost which is five feet off the ground.  I'm quite amazed.  I asked my neighbor, Art Wannlund (who enjoys the chickens as much as I do), for a little help identifying the breeds and this is what he was able to learn.

Chicken #1 Buff Orpington

Buff Orpingtons are a very popular breed for backyard flocks. They are extremely friendly birds, love people, and even seem to enjoy being picked up and carried around the yard. They are great chickens for children as Orpingtons might well possess the sweetest personality of the popular backyard chicken breeds. Buff Orpingtons are very hardy in all weather conditions and lay medium to large size brown eggs. Orpingtons also have a bantam (miniature) counterpart.

Chicken # 2 New Hampshire Red or Rhode Island Red

 Rhode Island Reds are very interactive chickens and are wonderful producers of medium to large size brown eggs. Though social and people oriented, they can become aggressive, especially the roosters. Overall, Rhode Island Reds are great birds to have in a backyard flock with their consistent egg production, hardiness (Rhode Island Reds are extremely hardy in both hot and cold climates), interest in people, and their entertaining antics (Rhodies have individual personalities that are endearing). Rhode Island Reds also have a bantam counterpart.

 New Hampshire Red Chickens (or simply New Hampshires) were developed from the Rhode Island Red in the early 1900's to intensify the characteristics of the Rhode Island Red in terms of hardiness, egg production, and early maturation. New Hampshire Reds are a lighter shade of red than the Rhode Island Red and like the Rhode Island Red, the New Hampshires are very interactive with people and can be extremely friendly and calm or can occasionally turn aggressive, especially the roosters. New Hampshire Reds are very hardy and tolerate heat and cold well. New Hampshires are fantastic egg producers and lay large size brown eggs. New Hampshires also have a bantam  counterpart

  

Chicken #3 Plymouth Rock

Plymouth Rock / Barred Rock chickens are an old American breed and come in a variety of colors: barred (most common), white, buff, and silver. Very docile and calm, Plymouth Rocks / Barred Rocks are a wonderful addition to a flock, laying large brown eggs, and are extremely hardy, especially in cold climates. Because of their kind personality, Plymouth Rocks / Barred Rocks are an excellent choice for children to raise. Plymouth Rocks / Barred Rocks also have a bantam counterpart.

Chicken #4 Delaware

Delaware chickens were developed in the state of Delaware in the mid 1900's. They are white in color with a few black speckles and are well adapted to both the heat and the cold. Delaware chickens are quite calm and friendly birds and make excellent backyard flock members. Delawares are wonderful producers of large eggs, medium to dark brown in color. Delawares also have a bantam counterpart

Busy Summer Ending

Wow.  This summer has flown by and we have so much to be thankful for!

Let me begin with a little news about our four hens.  They are seven weeks old and they now live outside.

The redwood chicken coop is their "safe house" to protect them from foxes and other vermin.  There are bricks around the base that extend down eight inches and underneath of their coop is a buried mat of wire mesh to prevent anything from digging up and up.  Outside of their home, I have built a 12' by 8' chicken "run" which has been described as the chicken palace.  It's a lot like a jungle gym with a roost five feet up for the chicks to look down on the world.  The chicken run has a wire mesh roof to keep the hawk from attacking them.

I'm told by our chicken experts at The Mill in Hereford that we can expect them to start laying eggs when they reach five months of age. While some people say the chickens will lay eggs for only two years (one a day), others tell us that we may have eggs coming our way for four or five years.  Either way, having these chickens has been a lot of fun already and our neighbor, Art Wannlund, correctly observes that "it feels like a farm now".

The next thing that has been keeping me busy has been one of my favorite activities...videotaping and editing weddings.  The first wedding was two weeks ago at the beautiful Peabody Library.  They were a young couple...Noah and Jessica...that my sister Pegg knew and it was tremendous to videotape their wedding.  They gave me permission to invite others to see the video which is posted at https://vimeo.com/74142653 . It was a beautiful service...a beautiful bride...and a beautiful setting.

And as awesome as that was, I followed it up one week later with another sensational wedding in another fabulous setting.  This was a wedding for a young lady from our church that I knew when she was growing up (yes, she's all grown up now!) and they chose to have their service at Swan Harbor Farm in Harford County next to the Chesapeake Bay. Again, I am grateful to Zach and Nicole to allow me to videotape their wedding.  Nicole's aunt officiated at the wedding.  It was beautiful and family-oriented affair.

In between these weddings, we took a little vacation during the Labor Day week down in Ocean City and have made a discovery. That's the time to go to O.C.!  The crowds thin out, but the weather was excellent and the water was warm.  I'm an old Ocean City person from my childhood and I loved it.  One of the highlights was to visit Assateague Island and see the famous horses.  What surprised me was that DNA samples from the horses have determined that the old story about them coming from a Spanish shipwreck is not true.  They are from here.

One of my other highlights from Ocean City was to get up at 5:30 a.m. twice and go down to the beach to watch the sun rise above the water. Each time, I found fishermen who were already there and actually catching fish.  Never happened to me when I tried it.  I also found the remains of this sand castle that had been built the night before.  The tide was coming in at daybreak so it wasn't long until the castle became history.  We were traveling with our good friends, Wayne and Judy Sutter, and they just made the five-day vacation even more memorable.

Another project that has been keeping me busy these

 days has been helping Pegg and Sue clear the Christmas trees from the land where their future driveway is going to go.  They are selling three lots behind our house and the driveway cuts from my driveway to an access road owned by the Ruhl family that leads back to Pegg and Sue's property.  It was pretty hard to visualize how that was going to work, so Pegg hired a contractor to remove the trees and I've since been working on cleaning up the underbrush beneath the remaining trees and digging up many of the stumps that are not part of the driveway.   I plan to re-seed the area and get some grass growing there again.

Remember that tree top that fell on me and put me into Shock Trauma for five days a couple years ago?  Well, the other half of that tree top came down during a recent storm so I decided it was time for the entire tree to come down and become firewood.  I run a little firewood business on the side mostly for my very good friends, but this wood is extraordinary.  It is red oak and its clear of any knots and very straight.  Awesome wood.  But it is going to take a year or more for the wood to season (dry out) before it will be suitable as firewood.  I have a 27 ton gasoline log splitter and I'm putting it to very good use.

Finally, a word about my Mom and her situation.  As many of you know, Mom (90 years old) had to move to Symphony Manor in Roland Park a few months ago because of her memory loss and physical condition.  Barb and I spent the afternoon with her (red slacks) on a Symphony Manor "walk" through Roland Park and it was delightful.  The highlight of my day.  This was one of her very good days and she looked terrific.  I am really grateful to have this memory of her on a very good day.

Next time, I'll tell you about "Roy"....our new kitten.

Raising chickens

I wanted to give you a little update on the chicken project. First, some history.  My grandparents moved to 746 Monkton Road in 1927 when it was a rundown farm.  My grandfather had contracted tuberculosis and had spent many months in an institution recovering.  “Moving to the country” was the prescription for health back then and they purchased a three-acre farm where they raised 600 chickens.

Here is a picture of the feed house…the two-seater outhouse…and the chicken coops. At the far right, the chickens had a pen where they could run around and make a racket. They loved taking dust baths which apparently is good for their feathers.
 

We are doing this in cooperation with our neighbors Courtney and Matt Bishop,  Art Wannlund, and Dave and Tammy Starling to bring back chickens to the Fishel family farm.  We had a meeting and decided to keep it “interesting” and order four brown egg chicks…a mix of different breeds. The chicks arrived on Tuesday of this week at the U.S. Post Office in Hereford and they were 36 to 48 hours old. They arrived all alive and healthy!

Courtney picked up the chicks and brought them back to the “brooder” which was part of the contribution that Barb and I have made to the project.  It is an enclosure with a heat lamp and water and feed the ensures the chicks are kept at 95 degrees for the first week and then we raise the lamp and lower the temperature five degrees for each week thereafter.  Courtney’s children…notably Brooke…are providing the loving the chicks need to get acclimated to being held.

One of our first surprises was the cost of chick feed.  I went to The Mill feed store to buy a five pound bag which would have cost $6.  But the attendant pointed out that we will go through a 50 pound bag in only ten weeks.  It cost $17.  Pays to buy in bulk. Our second surprise has been their growth. We are already seeing feathers.

While Courtney is raising the chicks, which should be ready to go outside in ten weeks, I have been building the coop and the foundation, pictured on the left.

It pleases me that the coop is going to be sitting right where my grandparents had their chicken coop so  long ago.

Just a word about what is going to keep the foxes and vermin out, those concrete blocks for the foundation extend down eight inches and underneath the soil is a wire mesh.

Taking no chances!

videos and harvest time

A lot has happened in the last couple weeks and, first of all, our hearts go out to my cousin, Jack Graybeal, and his wife Barbara who lost their son in a car accident last weekend in the Woodbine area.  The funeral will be this Saturday morning and it is my privilege to videotape the service.  I can't imagine the grief that comes from losing a child at such a young age.

The good news is that I have have a lot to videotape in the last few weeks that is a positive note.  I was commissioned by the northern Baltimore County 7th District Recreation Council to videotape and produce DVDs for the participants in "The Jungle Book" and "Pocahontas".  The children involved in these productions range in age from very young to late teenagers and the talent they display is astonishing.  You may remember that our son Robert was the music director for these productions for several years and that is how I got involved.

I also have been busy making a DVD slide show for two wonderful young people who are getting married in a month and I've been hired to videotape their wedding.  Jessica and Noah are bibliophiles.  Jessica is also a gifted writer and speaks French fluently.  She graduated from University of Chicago in June, 2003 with a degree in English.  She did a 3 month post grad publishing course at Columbia U. after college graduation, then started at Penguin. Noah graduated from Dartmouth in June, 2004.  He did the same post grad publishing course at Columbia U. after graduation from Dartmouth in 2004, then started working at Random House.  Two talented people who have charming parents.

After that, I have another wedding to videotape for Nicole Lovelace, a little girl from our church who is all grown up now.  But I still think of her when she was six years old and the life of the party in Sunday School. Time flies.

This is harvest season and there is a lot happening here on the farm.

First, we have been blessed with an abundance of potatoes, peppers,  tomatoes (large and small), onions, and strawberries.  We have dug up only half of the potatoes so far.  Today, I washed them off and let them dry.  We already had a couple potatoes for dinner tonight!  We cooked them on the grill the old-fashioned Boy Scout way...wrapped them in aluminum foil, put a little oil and seasoning on them, and mixed in some fresh onions and carrots and let them cook for 15 minutes over a hot fire.  Boy, were they good!


The other big farm news is that we are going to raise chickens.  It will only be two or three chickens and it

will be a joint project between Barb and me, our neighbor Courtney Bishop and her children, and our other neighbor Art Wannlund.  Barb and I are providing the chicken coop and the brooder kit.  Art is providing the location (where my grandfather used to have his chicken coops!) and the fresh water and electricity.  And Courtney and her kids are buying the chickens and will raise and care for them.  Barb and I are looking forward to a few of the fresh eggs but mostly we look forward to seeing the lifestyle of raising chickens alive on this farm again.  Art has been wonderful about helping me get some of Granddad Fishel's vegetables going again, such as the strawberries and the asparagus.  These were plants that I had forgotten how to grow but he remembered.  For some reason, I've always been good a remembering how to grow tomatoes and potatoes.

One final note, as an aside.  I've discovered how fast a person can gain weight...and then lose it.  I had to stay awake for three days last weekend to videotape all three productions of Pocahontas (they changed the cast each show) and I filled myself with sugar and caffeine. A really bad idea and I gained seven pounds very fast.  As soon as the weekend was over, I threw myself into every physical activity I could to lose the weight before my weekly Medifast weigh-in on Wednesday (today).  Surprisingly, I was down two and a half pounds from last week!  I felt like one of those prize fighters who goes on a crash diet to make his weight class.  Of course, now every part of my body hurts.  But it was worth it.

Next up:  vacations in Canaan Valley, West Virginia...and later...in Ocean City, Maryland. Can't wait!

the blog begins

It’s funny. On the one hand, it seems Barb and I have been very busy, but on the other hand I’m having trouble remembering everything. So here goes…

You may recall it was the Sunday before last when I returned from the church mission trip to a well-run United Methodist camp in Maine and I remember that it took several days for me to recover. Several of us discussed later how tired we were…particularly due to the 13 hour trip home which really sapped our strength. But, it was a very good trip in which we got a lot accomplished.

Immediately upon my return, I was tasked with scanning and putting together (with music) an eight minute video of Bill Lee, a longtime friend from Epworth UMC, who had passed away from cancer. He was the Maryland Highway director for several years and the funeral was a very big deal (write up about him in the Baltimore Sun). We have been friends with Bill and Betty Lee for many years. The viewing was a Lemmon Funeral Home on Tuesday a week ago and the funeral was held at Towson UMC last Wednesday. Here are the pictures of Bill Lee:

Fast forward to last Saturday, Barb and I did our monthly “grounds maintenance” at Epworth Church in which we are taking care of “Pulpit Hill” and the flowers around the church patio. They had fallen into serious dis-repair and no one was assigned to handle them, so we made it our monthly mission to pull weeds. The other thing I did was use four gallons of vegetation killer to knock down weeds all around the church campus. It took hours to accomplish, but I am hopeful we made a difference.

The Cockeysville-Timonium Lions decorated our trailer for their float again this year. The Hereford parade was held June 30th and the Towson Parade was held July 4th, so the trailer (float) got double exposure again this year. It was nicely decorated and the Lions helped me “undecorate” it July 4th and its already back in service moving firewood.

Later that afternoon (July 4th), Barb and I led the active adults group (Epworth Everybody Else) to Oregon Ridge for the annual July 4th Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concert and fireworks. We had a nice turnout. Pictures of the concert and fireworks:

Also for the last couple weeks, I’ve been working early mornings and late at night (not during the hot mid-day) to split all of the wood from the 61 foot poplar tree that we cut down. And Pegg was kind enough to bring up some dogwood from a tree that Adam cut down. It has all been cut up and split and now I am stacking it on the wood racks. I am more than half done on that. Very good exercise! Good workout.

Last night was our second quarterly meeting of the Epworth Seniors Ministry. So far, this is going really well.

It was a project that I took on because I wanted the seniors (70 and older) of our church to know that they are remembered and appreciated. We are up to 54 members of the group. The first event was a Saturday morning pancake breakfast. The quarterly gathering last night was a crab feast and cookout. Barb and I shuttled people from the church to the house where the event was held. We had a little excitement during the evening when a deer walked past us and the Baltimore County Police helicopter circled overhead apparently in connection with a nearby incident.  Pictures of the crab feast:

We’ve had several folks use the pool recently, which is always gratifying. Our pastor, Rev. Trish Watson, and her newly adopted daughters…and our neighbor Courtney and her three children…have been over to beat the heat.

This Friday night, I’m booked to videotape the annual 7th District recreation council music production which usually is held at Hereford High School, but this year it will be held in the Fellowship Hall of the Hereford United Methodist Church. Matt and Rob, you would be amazed by the work that is being done on Hereford High School to install a completely new air conditioning system. The auditorium is closed for the summer while the renovations are going on. The rehearsals for the production are being held in the cafeteria of the 7th District Elementary School near Maryland Line. We stopped by yesterday to check it out. While I’m videotaping, Barb will be joining about 26 other people…including our neighbor Art who is her “date”…at the Friday night Orioles game. We purchased the tickets in bulk and I am wishing our Orioles well. We took Art to another daylight game a week ago and it was hot and sunny, so I purchased Art an Orioles hat. He has promised to wear it for the game Friday night. Barb now has a couple official Orioles shirts to wear, so we are getting into the spirit of the games.

This morning, Barb and I plan to visit Mom. We try to visit at least once a week, but we are nothing compared with Sue and Pegg who visit more often. As you know, these visits are increasingly stressful, so I’m not sure what to expect today. Pegg and I are booked to fly to Providence, Rhode Island next Saturday at 11:30am for a memorial service for Eric Zimmerman, one of the children of the Zimmerman family that was so close to our family when we were growing up. Eric was a book-binder and one of the most gentle people I have known. I am making a video of the event for his wife, Kendra. I very much look forward to seeing his brothers (Loy and Mark) and his sister (Amy). I am presuming their mother, Weezy, will attend, but I’m not sure. Weezy and our Mom were classmates in nursing school together. Pegg and I will fly back on Sunday departing at 11:25am and returning at 12:35 p.m.

Otherwise, the garden we share with Art is going crazy thanks to all of the rain. We grew broccoli for the first time this year and it was a screaming success. The white onions also have done very well. The tomatoes are just coming in and the potatoes have had a fine season so far. Also, we planted several varieties of peppers and they are having a banner year. The thing that I am watching most closely is our asparagus. Spurred by Art’s success last year with his initial planting, we attempted to get some asparagus roots planted and we already have gotten our first shoots. We will let the asparagus establish itself for a couple years and then we should be able to start harvesting some shoots. I remember well how successfully Granddad great his asparagus. With the success of the plants, of course, has been the success of the weeds, so I will have to do some work on that, too. We even got some strawberries this year, our first year for planting them. I am grateful to Art because I have learned so much from him about what can be grown in our little garden.

One of our most fun tasks this week has been to administer the medicine to one of the cats of our friends, Wayne and Judy Sutter. I say “fun” because I get to find the cat named Turtle down in the Sutters’ basement each day. She is a mercurial cat (a Jellicle cat?) because she is very good at hiding, but each day she had decided (after a few minutes of calling her) to make her presence known to me and then she purrs up a storm. She is an elderly cat, but she allows me to hold her and carry her upstairs to receive her medicine and then I pet her some more. She’s not thrilled about taking the medicine but she’s a very good girl and affectionate. Talkative too. That’s my report from the farm. Ed