2009-03-16 - 5:21 p.m.

Yesterday morning we started a game of Scrabble and when we finished it at the end of the day, you'll never guess what happened! Since Mom was helping us, the joke became that Mom tied herself 205 to 205 representing me and George. Sarah came in at 187 and James had 186. We've never had scores so close before.

It was a rainy day yesterday and the game lightened our spirits. Also, Mom and Sarah made a delicious lentil stew with diced turnips, turnip greens, tomatoes, and onions. We topped it with fried onions and sour cream. We also had a slice of the new whole wheat bread recipe that Sarah soaks the wheat overnight. It is very healthy and delicious. This soup and bread is one of my favorite meals. It's very inexpensive but it has great flavor and it is filling. Esau sold his birthright over a stew like this, but I wouldn't go that far.

This morning when we went to do the farm chores Spencer found a kitten in the hay bin in the goat shed. He asked me to get it out since I could fit. I reached in and found a live kitten and a dead kitten.

Later, James had me crawl under the big hay bin in the sheep pen. I found two dead kittens. I had to crawl in the mud to get under there, and when I found the one that was soft and limp, I put my finger on it to check its pulse and I think I actually felt it die. I felt its heart beat a little and then stop. The other one was certainly dead because it was stiff as a pole.

We buried the dead ones and took the live one to the dry carport but the momma cat immediately came and took it back to the hay bin in the goat shed. James found another live kitten but it was smaller than the momma cat's baby. He gave it to the momma cat and she nursed it like it was her own. That's good because it is hard to keep baby kittens alive on formula. James roped off that section of the goat pen for a nursery so Uncle Bob and the goats can't get in there to trample them.

Imagine being that momma cat and all your babies die but one and then you have to adopt some poor abandoned stranger.

The Spartans were bad about abandoning their babies, too.

All this today reminds me of when a fox killed my favorite chicken. She was the best about not pecking me. She would hop out of the nesting box when I came in to collect eggs in the morning and she would let me pet her. I'll never forget how I felt that morning when I saw a trail of her grey feathers and she wasn't to be found in either the chicken coop or the chicken run. She would never have just left us, no way! That was a very emotional day for me.

I've been reading the chapter books from the series called The Boxcar Children. I'm reading about a book a day. They are very entertaining and I now feel like I know the characters. I've read six so far and I'm not tired of them yet. The Yellow House took longer than a day because it was thicker than the rest.

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