Nick goes to Washington DC

Nick is in Dc to receive a grant for research in Taiwan this summer. He is being honored by the National Science Foundation for his work on "The bleaching of coral reefs by the UV rays of the sun"(that is Mom's interpretation of the scientific description) He called last night and said He has met other Grad students from numerous Universities that are also receiving Grants to do research in China, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. His project will take him to Taiwan in June and July and He will be part of a team of about 20 scientists. He has really found his passion and seems to excel in studying the ocean. Who would have thought all those trips to the ocean as a little boy would have prepared him for this adventure?
He flies home tonight and we will meet up with him tomorrow to get all of the details of this trip before He leaves on Friday for Morea(Tahiti). He will return to the reseach station there to join his team and continue his research . This trip will last 6 weeks and the weather there should be beautiful. He has become the seasoned traveler and makes all of his own travel arrangements.
Needless to say" We're so proud of him"

We love Kids

Springtime here means babies.... Here are some pictures of some of our newest " kids" As of today we have 6 Mama Goats and 8 Goat kids, we are bottle feeding one set of twins because their Mama doesn't have enough milk. We also have 2 sets of lamb twins and about a dozen baby chicks. We get so excited about each birth!

Delta Tau Omega Alumni visit in Malibu

Today, Ashley and I traveled to Pepperdine for an Alumni luncheon and Songfest. We had a great day! One of my Delta sisters, Liz Leahy worked with Tara Lawrence in the Alumni office to include a group of fellow Delta's in the Alumni luncheon and Songfest. We had a beautiful meal in the Art Museum next to Smothers Theater. We then were given tickets to Songfest, a long standing student production. The first year was 1973 and Steve was the first Host with his friend Marti Hathaway-O'Rear. I had the priveledge of serving as Host in 1979. We had great seats and loved the entire 2 1/2 hour performance. The music and dancing were so great! One of the long standing traditions is to invite any and all alumni on stage at the end of the show to sing " Let there be peace on earth" It was so great to be back on campus and re knew old friendships.

Spring is almost here

We love springtime on the farm! The calendar says that March 20th(Pam's Birthday) is the first day of Spring, in fact when Pam was born, the woman in the room with her Mother said," If I had a baby girl born on the first day of Spring ,I would name her Spring Flowers", So glad Pamela Jo won out! The weather is cool in the morning and evening but so pretty during the day and everything is so green, and of course lots of babies re being born here. Right now we have 4 lambs , 6 goat kids and a couple of dozen baby chicks, It is so fun to have all of the babies...... Friday was our first field trip visit by a kindergarten class from St. John's Luthern School. Next week we will have 3 schools here and each week after we have groups coming to visit.
We plan on getting our kitchen garden planted and then we will transplant our roses and create a beautiful rose garden. The trees are beginning to blossom and flowers are blooming every day.
Spring is really about new beginnings.....

The week before surgery

Steve's surgery is scheduled for Monday, March 16th at 7:30 am. Dr. Cory Albertstone is the Neurosurgeon and the surgery will take place at St. Johns in Oxnard. He will spend the night in the hospital and will come home on St.Patricks Day. The hard part will be keeping him down for 6 weeks. He has really struggled with lots of pain for a month now, so it will be a relief to have him comfortable again and off of all the pain meds. We're asking for your prayers for the hands of the surgeon and for a speedy recovery.

Planting Apple Trees

This is the time of year that the Farmer plants bare root. Well, our apple orchard got 7 new Anna apple trees. These apples are from Israel and are green with a pink blush. Picking season is in June and July and our claim to fame is that we won a blue ribbon for these apples at the Ventura County Fair. Steve spent part of December and January pruning the entire orchard. The Anna's have blossoms and we're afraid that a cold snap with make them bare again. The next variety to be planted is Fuji. To finish the orchard, as well as fill in the naked spots where trees have been eaten by gophers, we'll need to plant 18 Fuji's. We love our Orchard and loved sharing it last picking season with hundreds of school children. We're praying for another successful harvest.