20160412 + Up in the am and had a discussion with D about his phone... into work. Busy productive day. D went to physical therapy, and then had to drive himself to his game in Newark. I Headed home and straight to G's first game of the season. He got to do some pitching and up to bat 3 times and hit the ball each time, no walks or strike outs, 1 pop out and 2 ground outs. I had to leave early to get to a Scout board of review. There were 3 Scouts in, 2 unprepared... Home and had a discussion with D about his school work... To bed.
20160411 - Up in the am and to Waffle House for a 'Directos Meeting'. I LOVE meetings at Waffle House, steak & eggs! Then in to the office for a day of email and catchup. Home for a yummy 'Shake & Bake' pork chop dinner. Then DJ&I headed tonScouts where I got a ton done. Home and talked to L, a teacher friend of hers stopped by to chat tonight, I made a couple calls and then got Doc for Bible Bangers. We had a great conversation about 2nd baptisms (they arn't necessary). As we we're talking a man walked up to our table and said 'Do you remember me?', my great memory didn't allow me to answer, but a couple of the others did. He continued 'Back in December I was in here and heard you talking. I stopped by and asked you to pray for my mother Mary that was having an operation the next day. I wanted to stop by and let you know that the surgery was successful. She got out of the hopital right before Easter and is doing well, she can't walk yet, but she is getting better every day. Thank you for praying for her. The power of prayer works." We thanked him for letting us know and welcomed him to come back to the 'Church of the Golden Arches' anytime. He thanked us again turned and left. How awesome is that?!
20160410 + Up nice and late and nice and warm. We all got suited up and headed out to meet the scouts that spent the night outside again last night and the temp got down to 16 degrees :-o We all gathered in the Farmhouse and the Scouts held their closing meeting that included roses and thorns of the campout and a prayer. As the scouts filed out they each got a little bottle of maple syrup. The Scouts did their final cleanup and hit the road. GpaWD&I did some outside cleanup while GmaWLJ&G got the Farmhouse cleaned up. After things got good a cleaned up we headed up for a nice lunch. As we packed the car the little boys turned in to demons (very tired little boys). We got on the road and all 3 boys were dead asleep in 15 min. Home, got things unloaded, cleaned up and settled in for homework. D&I ran to Giant Eagle and got some food. Home and found tiny 'X' pastas for L's class next week. We had some dinner and then D&I headed to a 'Home Church' parent night. I listened and and then asked questions about this Xenos based home church my son is attending. So far so good. I will have to do much more investigating before a conclusion is draws... I left D there and got home to chat with Lna bit about the meeting then Chris stopped over to watch 'Fear the Walking Dead'. Stayed up a bit longer with D to ship some Ebay sales.
20160409 - L woke up to find a clock in the hall, G was the 1st boy up and ready to go, he headed out with GmaW. J up and explained the clock was ticking too loud so he had to put it in the hall... D&I up and all out to a beautiful crisp snow covered Farm morning. We all headed out and met up with the frozen scouts that were busy making breakfast. D, directing the scouts and I helped GpaW get things ready and things look really good. Roger and Dale had the sap rolling in the old cast iron kettle and the steam melting the falling snow.
Soon relatives and friends from near and far filled the yard, barn and house. Tours were given, maple syrup making lessons and stories of days gone flowed by while introductions and new connections were made. The Boy Scouts started their side dishes and lunch was prepared on the grill and inside.
Soon the food was read and with the snow nearly everyone went inside to eat. I walked around and took pictures and thought how happy Great GmaW would be to see her house so full of wonderful people. We had 95 people here, 27 from Troop 98 that spent then night in the barn and tents on the South yard.
After lunch the sap had boiled down to the right temperature to officially be Maple Syrup. We pour it off and filled the jars of the golden brown glorious goodness, we think it's the best we've ever made!
Things started wrapping up and the Scouts headed off on a hike up through the camp and to the falls peppered with continuous snowball fights. Cold and wet the hikers returned to the Farmhouse to warm up, eat some leftovers for dinner, play games and hangout.
We look forward to this day to start our Spring off with family and friends each year and this year despite the snow was no exception. We are ready for spring with our maple syrup reserves and hearts full ready for the warm weather and crazy busy schedules to kick in.
No matter where you travel from.
When you get to the Farm,
you know you're home.
Thanks to all who helped prepare, those who came to share, those that came to play.
20160408 - Up in the am saw everyone off. I planned to head to Ikea in Cincinnati to pick up a sink for L and order a countertop for the kitchen. L and I talked about it for a bit and think we'll hold off. I got to the desk and got a Tom of things done. I ran out for some new carpenter pants for tomorrow and a couple other stops. Home, L home and we tried to do some things on the PC with our health insurance while she cooked some stuff for tomorrow: FAIL... G home and I forced him off the Xbox to run some errands with me. We got air in the tires, gas, dropped stuff off at the post office, got lotto tickets, dropped off donations at Goodwill and got back home before D&J got home from school. Everyone home so we all loaded up and headed to the Farm. We got there and Gma&paW have been very busy, the place looks GREAT. We helped with a couple of things, but not a lot left to do. We headed to the Chinese restaurant for a crazy loud dinner. Home and about 10 cars showed up full of Scouts. We headed down to the barn to greet them, lay out some rules and see that they have the lay of the land, or the barn...
20160607 - Up into work day of meetings and getting things done. Met with a large team at the end of the day to get ideas like doing that. Home and D drove me to J's game where L&G were watching. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot it started hailing... They waited for the hail to stop, smart..., and then called the game, J's team won! We all headed home, had some dinner and then settled int the basement to watch the last episode ever of American Idol.
20160406 - Up in the am and in to work for a full day at the desk getting things done. After work I headed to the ballpark to meet up with LJ&G to catch some of D's game. He got in as a pinch runner and got forced out at second but got his hands up to break up the double play. It was raining and we stayed until the bottom of the last inning and then headed home to have left overs and catch American Idol.
20160405 - Up in the am and into work. We had the Sales Team onsite today taking tours and learning about our operations. D&G both had games today that got cancelled due to extreme cold and rain, love Ohio weather... So I went out for dinner with Dave and the sales folks. Home late, talked to L for a bit, then downstairs to talk with D while he watched baseball.
20160404 - Up in the am and in to work. Had a long day of getting things done and lined up for the rest of the week. Snowing today so all games cancelled... Home a bit late, got something to eat and then headed to Scouts with D&J. D was fired from his Quartermaster position with the Scouts because he hasn't been to meetings due to baseball weightlifting. I got some merit badge info and hung out until the end of the meeting, it is amazing how big the circle has gotten. D ran me to the gas station after the meeting and then we headed home for some ice cream.
20160403 - Up late in the am and got a couple things done at the desk. Then we all piled on D's car and headed up to the Farm. We had a nice lunch with Gma&paW and then headed out to get some things done. D&J got the wood-house straightened out, LG and GmaW cleaned up the yards and GpaW and I fixed an electrical issue in the Farmhouse. We all headed out to the barn and covered some holes in the floor and put 'CAUTION' tape up. J climbed way up and cleaned up some wires. We loaded up and headed south to get G to baseball practice. D went to practice with G&I, he likes being around the little kids. It was a good chilly practice. We stopped by John's to pick up keys for Tuesday's game. Home and J&I gave Lilly a bath. We got Lilly all cleaned up and then got some dinner. D off to youth group and J got G&I some ice cream. Little boys to bed and the guys showed up to watch the disturbing season finally of the Walking Dead.
20160402 - L up early to go get D from his vacation. D home and got ready for his double header, told us a little about his vacation and then left for the games. Up and to the desk to get some things done. LJG&I to Lowe's to get some subway tiles for a backsplash and schedule an appointment for countertop measurements... Home for some lunch and to finish things up in the office. L started shaving Lilly and then LG&I headed to D's second super windy, rainy and cold game. Home L trimmed Lilly some more, D&I got caught up on stuff and then LJG&I headed over to the McClains through the SNOW for a relaxing evening. It was a lot of fun and good to relax. We followed Tom home because his brake lights are not working. Home and D was dead asleep on the couch in the basement with food from Wendy's still in the bag. Poor boy was exhausted.
20160401 - Up in the am and into work. Got a bunch done and headed home a bit early. L didn't want to leave the house, living room, couch for her bday, so J and I headed out to get dinner. We had to go to Subway for J, Wendy's for G and L&I got great big burgers from the Gahanna Grill. Home and Coach John was there, we got some things done for baseball and caught up a bit. After dinner we watched a couple of movies and watched D's progress on his return from vacation. I stayed up late to go get him and then he decided to stay all night there :-s
