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hip hip hooray!

I "finished" putting up the last of the apples today. There is 1/4 of a bucket left, but my darling husband agreed that between their small size and bad places they weren't worth peeling and cutting, and he suggested I feed them to the chickens. YES! My very conservative husband who almost never wastes anything suggested I give produce to the chickens. Brownie points for him!!! So tonight after I finish the dishes, that canner is going into the pantry to stay for quite some time. Yes, my happy dance is about to commence.

And after 2.5 hours at the Orthopedic Services, we have some answers about his wheelchair. Both motors are bad - one shot, the other just not working well enough to continue using. Good news is that parts can still be ordered. We've decided to go ahead, whether insurance pays or not. That chair can be repaired within 2-3 weeks. A new chair...that would take 8 weeks if everything moved like a well oiled machine...which it never does. We are (I should say Bobby is) researching chairs and looking at options. His chair is 11 years old. While there have been a lot of amazing improvements in the wheelchair world since his last purchase, like computers, if the new bells and whistles don't help you function in day to day life just as good, if not better, than before, they're really not worth the price.  I think the wheelchair repair guy was shocked at how much debris (grass, rocks, straw, sticks, etc) he pulled out of the casings underneath trying to get to the motor. While they were showing us new models, I asked how they did on terrain. I got this blank look from the sales girl and the repair guy looked a little stunned. "Terrain?" the asked."Yes. He spends a lot of time outside, and I want to know how stable this chair would be going up and down hills and inclines." The lady was speechless; the guy shook his head and said "I understand. Trust me. I have a pile this big (he held his hands about 12" apart) of debris from outside in my office I cleaned out while trying to analyse the electrical system."  I'm not surprised. I wouldn't be shocked if there were cracked corn (from when he helps me and feeds the chickens or geese) in there. I don't even think a spider or toy car would surprise me. Their surprise made me wonder if most of their clients are sedentary.

I don't have my garden area cleaned up yet. That will probably have to wait for Saturday or next week. Meanwhile, our incubator is up and running, thanks to fellow chicken owners sharing fertilized eggs with us. Hopefully our young birds will begin laying before the fall starts (all our old birds that were laying have met the new neighbor in the field - Mr. Coyote). Bobby said if we hatch some out now, they'll be old enough to start laying in the spring. And he's right. So another adventure begins.

And life moves on.

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