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The Triplets are HERE, Hawbakers come to fish, More flooding

6/14/2011

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The triplets were born yesterday! Angela made it to 28 weeks, which was Sunday, and yesterday (Monday) her water broke and here came the triplets! It is so early and they are SO small. Jack is having a hard time - he's only 1 1/2 pounds and isn't breathing entirely on his own yet. Katie and Chloe are doing better, but they are only 2 lbs 2 ounces and 2 lbs 4 ounces. So tiny. Jeff called me at 4:45 AM and told me Angela was being prepped for delivery (it was only 2:45 Calif. time). Chloe and Katie were born at 3:36AM (CA time) and Jack was born at 3:37AM. Jeff said the minute between the girls' births and Jack appearing seemed like an hour.

I can't wait to see them. I leave tomorrow morning for California to join Angela, Jeff, the triplets and all of Angela's family.

Jeff sent a picture of Katie at only a few hours old.   David Vanderbilt already has Katie becoming a musician with such long fingers! I took the  miniture rose picture (above) after I found three little roses budding very early in the morning. (Obviously I didn't get back to sleep after Jeff called me at 4:45AM!) There were only three roses budding - 2 pink and 1 yellow. How appropriate! 

Send all of your prayers for their health and well-being. They are going to need all your good thoughts!

Other photos show the stonework that Dave Haury (talented mason that he is) has completed for the greenhouse.

And  -  I was happy to welcome the Hawbakers to the Land. Kendell and McKenna came with their Dad, Karl. McKenna loved the worms. Kendell caught the big catfish that Karl is holding.  What a catch!

All this in the dirtiest pond ever! We had another flood this past week - the 2nd one in two weeks! With the huge flood of last year, well...that makes three floods in a little over a year. Just to think they used to happen every 6 or 7 years. My! the climate is changing, all right.

So, dear Reader, I am a bit keyed up tonight as I prepare to fly to California and see my little grandchildren. Keep them in your prayers, please!

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Greenhouse warmth, House-site, Fault Lines again, Ed Begley Jr letter, and more

2/12/2010

1 Comment

 
Picture

Morning:

Good news! Randy, the owner of Ekana Nurseries in Mendota, along with his landscape designer, Mike, will visit the house site next week, and give me their "take" on exactly where the house should be located on the hill.  We have a pretty good idea where it's going to be. Mom, who sited my present cottage, has given her opinion, as well as Dave Feltes (retired from Universityof Illnois-Extension, who occasionally comes over to help with the bees), Dave H.  and even Smitty and Chris! I  value all of their opinions. Now Randy and Mike from Ekana will add their opinions. I can't wait!

I'm running errands today. But before I go, I stand in front of the cottage looking out at the pond, still all white, with a hazy sun overhead. Even though it isn't full strength, I feel the sun's warmth. There is no wind. It's absolutely still. Paradise.

I smile. I look up at the hill.  ...Little by little, step by step, you, dear Reader, and I will develop this House-on-the-Hill. I know you will be just as thrilled as I will be.

I sigh a  good sigh  - a sigh of contentment. How fortunate am I!

Later Afternoon:
Returning to the Land, I check out the greenhouse. It's nearly 80 degrees in there! Only 24 degrees outside, yet the greenhouse is picking up the sun's warmth as it tilts higher in the sky. I hustle back to the cottage, quickly heat up water on the stove, pour it in my solar shower and whoosh! I'm out in the greenhouse taking a very comfortable shower! Who ever said one has to have running water to enjoy the comforts of home? And how I appreciate each shower I have! Taking baths in small containers is wearing thin about now. But then, you must keep in mind my famous saying" "Never underestimate a woman who can take a bath in a dishpan and come out smelling like a rose!""

Ah, but a shower in the greenhouse. How nice it is!

Enough of the practicality of living out in the wilds...

The Telegraph ran my letter to the editor in today's newspaper on page A6 (The Reader's Voice) with the title: "Shook up about quake, fault lines and nuke plant." I still can't imagine why any geologist or engineer would okay a nuclear power plant near, or over, an earthquake fault. Dear Reader, take a look at the two northern-most fault lines in the photo above, which came out of the Rockford Register Star yesterday. (The Star did an excellent job of reporting.) You can see where the lower of the two faults really does end at Oregon (if you know your maps well) and the uppermost fault (Plum River fault) really does end under or near Byron. Amazing! And may I say, quite scary, too.

I guess I'll do what everyone else does...I won't think about it -- until we're hit with another earthquake. (!)

Alana composed her letter to Ed Begley, Jr. What a sweet letter. She shared it with me, so I am sharing it with you.

"Dear Ed,

A dear friend of mine, Jane Heim, is planning and going to build a green home. The home and surrounding acreage which includes a beautiful pond and trees, will be used for retreats, teaching folks about sustainable living, etc. We live in northern Illiinois, Paw Paw area, where turbine farms are located.

We would enjoy you giving us any suggestions/ideas regarding obtaining recycled materials, solar panels, etc. Jane now lives in a small cottage, with no running water, heated by a wood stove. She is getting older and would like to have a new home with running water, solar heat, etc. that she would share with others. Jane is a very active, delightful individual, who helps people and her community in many ways.

Please visit her wonderful blog site at  www.buildthathouse.com

I chuckled over the "getting older and would like to have a house with running water..."  I truly have such wonderful, kind friends helping me.Which reminds me, thanks to Dave H., I now have five fishing poles ready for my family (and friends) when they visit. It's going to be a great summer!And thanks to many hours of work by D.S. Vanderbilt, I have a good video to share on YouTube.

The sun is setting - glowing modestly pink just above the white earth -everything soft and muted. Time to send out my seed orders.

Dear Reader, may you  enjoy the Olympics, and have an evening as still and beautiful as it is out here on the Land ...
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    Author

    Jane Heim is a writer and lifelong activist for sustainable living and organic growing. She is author of The Directory of Working Women, What to Do When the Stock Market Falls, and Car Living Your Way.  She is also the author of Chemical Cowboys, an article that has recently appeared  in Acres USA.  Ms. Heim is also the author of an upcoming article on www.motherearthnews.com
    Ms. Heim originated and developed the Organic Education Center for Oregon Tilth in partnership with the City of Lake Oswego, Oregon. She Co-Founded Spray Drift Educations Network in 2011, IOGA original board member.  S
     he presently lives in the Midwest in a cottage overlooking her lake.

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