It's ON!!

I spotted a ground hog today. In my yard. Going under the Groundhog Love Shack (more commonly known as our shed). Seriously!?! The games have begun. Me against the groundhog. They have a terrible history of mowing down my garden in short order and if there's anything that can irritate me quite like that...well...I don't know what it is. So, what shall it be? A motion sensing sprinkler? A Bear Grylls-inspired snare? Razor wire? Specially trained attack chickens? Ground hog burritos???? Time shall tell...

And speaking of animals (aren't my transitions oh-so-smooth...ha!) James has always been fascinated by snares and wants to catch an animal. A month ago he made a clever squirrel snare, making a wire loop and putting peanut butter and Craisins in it. He rigged it up in such a way that the loop was nearly invisible and right along the path a squirrel would take down a branch. The squirrel took the snacks, but left the snare. James was miffed. This week, he rigged up a little rabbit trap. We have a rabbit we call our 'pet' because it sits in the same exact place in the yard every day. I don't know why he wants to catch it or what he would do if he did. I think it is more of a challenge for him. He dug out one of the termite traps the previous owners had installed. It left behind a narrow hole about 10 inches deep. He laid a cloth napkin over it and made a trip wire out of a piece of twine and two twigs. His idea was that the rabbit would run along, perhaps attracted to the lovely pumpkins printed on the napkin, and then couldn't proceed past the trip wire. It would thus step on the napkin and fall through into the hole. Never mind that the hole was sized more toward a small mouse, or realistically a few over sized crickets. But I've got to hand it to him! He is clever, and determined. I hope someday he catches something someday.

Lancaster

The kids and I went to Lancaster today in honor of James' spring break. We picked up Aunt Sally and went to a few places. I am happy to say that I came home with some fabric, a whole bunch of flax seed, spices and 50 pound bags of oats and whole wheat flour. Yay!! Who gets excited about that stuff? Me! We came back and ate lunch at Aunt Sally's. She managed to send them home with more candy than I care to think about, which is now stashed away in the cabinet. We didn't see a whole lot of Amish activity today...perhaps they were having a convention somewhere? Do Amish convene? Hmm. On the way home, traffic was a breeze. That is, until exactly 6 miles from our exit on the turnpike. Then it became a parking lot. It was not stop and go. It was stop. For 35+ minutes. Ugh. Fortunately we had hit the library yesterday and stocked up on movies. That DVD player comes in handy sometimes! So I put in a movie and the kids were reasonably entertained. It may have also had something to do with being tired and coming off a sugar high. When things finally got moving (there was an accident a few miles ahead) every lane but ours moved. I waited thinking someone was turning their car back on or something. Well, I'll take 'or something' for $400 Alex, because the lady 3 cars ahead of us was completely zonked out, catching flies. People were honking and she kept on sleeping. I have to wonder how long it took her as cars passed her on either side. I am sure she felt super when she finally came to, parked in the middle lane of the turnpike with traffic buzzing around her. Talk about a power nap!!

P.S. I just looked up the accident. It was SEVEN cars! Fortunately there were only minor injuries. A ladder fell off a truck, and the accident shut the turnpike down for miles.

A Day In The Life

Last week James came in and declared that they were having 'the most fun ever!' When your kids tell you that, you've really got to wonder...what the heck are they doing????? Well, in this particular case they had made a leash for a chicken. They were having a grand old time. The chicken was not. She would panic and run. The handy little slip knot James tied would cinch up around her neck and she would have to slow down. Poor girl. I told James he could only walk her a short distance IF he ran along side her so she didn't get choked. Then we let her go  back to doing what chickens do best: scratching.

P.S. These pictures pretty much sum up Katie. She's a nut.

P.P.S. This was on a day where I did NOT sanction her outfit. I try to give the girl a free day every now and again, and boy does she take some fashion liberties. I'm all for artistic licence but when she ends up looking like one of the Olsen twins after a 3 day bender I must draw the line.

In other news, here is the Challah that I made. Ain't it purdy? It turned out really good, and made delicious french toast!

And speaking of purdy, behold: aftermath of an eye appointment. Creeeeeeeepy!

Pictures!

I figured out how to put pictures on the new laptop! So now I shall bombard you with random pictures and their corresponding commentary.

The Squatch takes his marshmallows very seriously. You can just see the gleam in his eye.

Katie trying to roast her marshmallow just so. Unlike James and I, she doesn't like hers burnt.

Marshmallow aftermath

Our Swedish Candle log...pretty nifty, huh? We've had two fires with it so far and there is enough left to have one more.

Eggs! The white one is a store egg, the far left is an egg from one of our new chickens that hasn't figured out how to increase the size yet. The two on the right are the monster eggs some of our champion chickens lay. The far right egg is from Big Martha, who has laid big eggs from the very beginning. No wonder she is the one to make the most noise when she lays an egg!

And here is the purse I knitted! See Grandma? I did it!

Your Handy Dandy Reference Guide

Yesterday at the farm I was privy to some rather amusing conversations about farm stuff. One of the conversations was regarding the differences between bulls, steers, and oxen. One member of the conversation was sure that castration would stop the steers from growing. In order that you don't end up sounding like a goofball in times like these, here is a handy dandy reference guide to the nuances of farm animal classifications. I'm sure you're dying to know.

The Cow

Bull: a male cow
Heifer: a young female cow (before having a calf)
Steer: a male cow that has had his dangling bits removed
Cow: generic term, but also refers to a female cow that has calved
Ox: a steer of any breed that has been trained to work

The Chicken

Rooster: a male chicken
Capon: a castrated male rooster (you have to wonder who ever got the idea to do that to a rooster anyway...)
Pullet: a young female chicken
Hen: a female chicken

The Pig

Boar: a male pig
Sow: a female pig that has had a litter
Piglet: a very young pig, before being weaned (I just learned this one...even though the pigs at the farm are little, they are weaned and 10-12 weeks old, therefore qualifying as 'pigs'

Which reminds me...when we were in college we used to occasionally eat at a place called the "Pork Barrel Cafe" which was in a double wide trailer and wallpapered with newspaper clippings about pigs. It was a classy joint. Amazingly, there were actually separate bathrooms for men and women. I say amazingly, because we are talking about a place whose menus are supplied in a magic marker scrawled school folder. The signs on the doors differentiated between 'Boars' and 'Sows'. On one visit, we saw two women who had no doubt stopped to fill up at the 'Last Chance Gas Station' before heading out into the wilds of Utah. The women stood in front of the doors, trying to determine which door they should use: boars or sows?

Hatchery

We had hatchery this morning and it was cold, again! I am hoping that spring weather will arrive, and stay, very soon. This week is 'New Faces' week at the farm. The pigs arrived, the chicks came in the mail, and a new team of oxen arrived from Maine. The oxen are 5 years old and named Jim and John. Except...with a 'Maine' accent....so John is pronounced 'Jawwwwn'. Apparently he will only respond to that particular pronunciation. Today our job was to help with the school programs and we taught the kids about carding wool. They also got to see a sheep being sheared the old fashioned way (with hand shears). And the best part of the day was seeing a lamb that had JUST been born seconds before. We made it there just as the lamb had dropped. Unfortunately our kids were back in their class, but us moms enjoyed the miracle of it all. The lamb laid still for what seemed like too long, but then started to stir. The poor mama was tired out, but she eventually got herself up and took care of her little baby girl. As it worked out, one of the school groups was getting the sheep spiel when the sheep gave birth behind the woman speaking. She said she wasn't sure what to do, because she didn't want the kids to think it was a bad thing, but she knew that some people would be upset. In the end, she just rolled with it. She said she would be sure to get a few angry letters, as they have in the past, by angry parents. But seriously!? Why would that be upsetting? I would have loved if my kids had been able to see it happen.

Miscellaneous

• James had his very first field trip today: to a nearby middle school for their production of 'Beauty and the Beast'. I can't wait to hear how it went.
• Jeff started studying for his PE exam. In October. That makes me a study widow for a while. I going to try to get a lot of sewing done, and start a new painting.
• I am almost done with my painting. I finished my class last night, and only have a few things to do on my painting in order to fine tune it. Taking this class was SO much fun, even if I felt like an elder compared to the whipper-snappers in my class.
• Tyler and Katie spent the morning going between their pretend 'doctor's office' and their beach/ocean set up. They put band aids on their stuffed animals and gave them 'medicine'. Then they got into their swimming gear, goggles and beach hats and went 'swimming'. That is one activity they love to do and every few weeks they get into playing it again. It's pretty cute!
• I have realized that I am a new recipe fiend. I try several new recipes each week. This weekend I made Challah bread and it came out good. It was the prettiest bread I've ever made with all the braiding. We used it to make French toast, which the kids made sure was Dad's french toast, and not mine. I get no respect around here. But alas, Jeff's French Toast is not only the best thing he makes, it is the ONLY thing he makes. I think James ate 4 or 5 big slices.
• And last but not least...Grandma....this one's for you! I have taken up knitting again! Poor Grandma tried hard to teach me how to knit. I couldn't figure out how to cast on or off, and I was painfully slow. I made a scarf when James was little and it took me a year to do. I wouldn't have attempted it again if not for all the neat knit and crochet things I see around the web and friends who egged me on encouraged me. I tried it again a few weeks ago and am making a purse for Katie. I have purse part done, and I am working on the strap now. I will put a picture up when it is done, and it won't be a year from now!

S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G

James' new thing is to spell out conversations with me. He is very good at spelling and he can spell quick! He will spell out whole sentences for me like 'Can I have more peas please?' or 'Tyler is being a pest.' I spell my response and we go back and forth, spelling as we go. Jeff was amazed the first time heard it. Sometimes we try to test him by giving him big or tricky words, but often he gets even those right. The boy can spell k-n-i-f-e without skipping a beat. I am glad that he is getting a good handle on spelling now, so that later in life he can articulate himself without using spell check and text lingo. And in other educational news....Tyler has apparently been paying attention to all the practice we've been doing around here. He keeps saying things like 'Hey! Chocolate starts with chocolate chips!' And 'owl starts with orange!'

Hatchery

Today Tyler, Katie and I started the Hatchery program, which is similar to Farm Hands. Tyler had trouble adjusting to me leaving, which is kind of unusual because he is my most adventurous kid. He had some problems at church recently, but he said it was because another kid was always mean to him, and now that his favorite teacher is back, he has been fine. So...I am praying that he will adjust without any issues. Today, the kids got to learn about maple sugaring. They made their own spiles out of staghorn sumac and helped their teacher make pancakes which they ate with syrup made right on the farm. Us moms were put to work! It was like boot camp compared to Saturdays. First we had to push the old manure spreader across the barn yard, where we later got it stuck in the mud. Good thing the workhorses were nearby! Most of the women shoveled manure in from the sheep barn. The mama sheep are getting ready for lambing. Just yesterday, the first twin lambs of the season were born. To say they were adorable would be an understatement! They were so tiny. Another mom and I got barn duty, cleaning out stalls and getting ready for the school groups. I also had to patrol the barn for what was termed "Modern Crapola." So I trolled around for McDonalds cups, plastic buckets and florescent bailing twine. Can't have that in a 1910 barn! The end result of this is that I am very tired and probably very stinky. I ran this morning too, and that is adding to the ambiance...ha!

Thanks, Dad

First of all, I would like to announce that I am typing this on a fancy new laptop named Violet. Jeff bought me a fancy new touch-screen laptop and we shall see if I can figure out how to work it the thing before my children graduate from high school. The reason her name is Violet is because I had to choose a name and a color for it and the art nerd in me flared up.  Alas, that is not what I am here to ramble about. On to more interesting subjects!

My dad...he has bestowed upon us various gifts, such as a demented sense of humor and a love of learning (Mom had a lot to do with that too). I have also inherited his squarish hands and obnoxious nose-blowing sound effects. But the thing I am here to talk about today is history, as it relates to every dang landmark from here to California. You see, I have this strange propensity for blurting out every bit of history I know about a place, mostly while we are driving. A short road trip might include commentary about the house that 'stored fabric for the soldier's coats during the Revolutionary War' and the parking lot that 'used to be a pig farm'. Half the time, I am not even sure how I know the things I do. I suspect that years of reading everything in sight, even down to the ingredients on the shampoo bottle, have something to do with it. It wasn't until a few months ago, when we went to the Farm Show with my parents, that I realized I got this from Dad. As we drove, he pointed out an apartment high rise that he remembered driving past in the 60's when going to visit his Grandparents. He remembered where they parked when Mom had her exam, and various other tidbits along the turnpike. I found it to be quite amusing that this is some sort of inherited trait...now I can blame some of my weirdness on Dad! he, he! Fast forward to last week, Jeff and I went down to the city to hang out with my bro and his wife. Nate began to launch into the history of his neighborhood, telling us which famous people lived on his street (Grace Kelly) and how his apartment building used to be a bar, and how there is a hidden hatch to the basement under his carpet. And I had to laugh. I also had to inform Nate that we both have the same trait, inherited from Dad. So if you ever need to know what really did happen on this sight in 1798, what color that house used to be painted back in 1953, or just exactly which tree it was that George Washington stuck his bubble gum to on that fateful Christmas Eve just before he crossed the icy river and tromped into modern day Trenton, NJ to defeat the Hessians, you know who to ask!

Gloves

I was helping Katie clean her room the other day. Amongst all the craft shrapnel lying about, I found the toes of two of her fluffy socks. I was not a happy camper and I asked her who cut the toes off those socks. She looked at me ever so matter of factly, and said 'I did. I was making gloves.' Of course. I tried to stay serious but I couldn't. In the end, I told her that it was very clever to try and make gloves out of fuzzy socks. (I think she was going for finger-less gloves like Grammy's) However, from now on, no cutting up clothes or sheets, etc. for craft purposes unless otherwise sanctioned.

James' Dr. Seuss Hat

James' class recently had a Dr. Seuss party in honor of Reading Day. The teacher sent a note that the kids could wear Dr. Seuss gear if they had it, but not to go out and buy it. Just a week ago, they had the 100th day of school and were supposed to dress up as 100 year olds. I had tried to find a wig or an old man hat for him to wear, but the thrift store was sadly picked over. In the end, he chose to wear Grandpa Cheyney's suspenders and a bandana in his pocket. The rest of his class went all out, and I think he wished he had a better costume. This time around, I was determined the poor kid not feel shamed! After he went to bed I made him a Dr. Seuss hat wrangled together using felt, scratch paper and his head circumference. I was happily surprised that it fit him perfectly! He woke up the next morning, saw it and was thrilled! Which is good, considering I spent an hour on something he will probably never wear again. I am sure the other two will get good use out of it when they get into school too.

Katie's Artwork

Here is a painting Katie made a while ago. I finally found a frame for it and got it painted. I love having her artwork hanging on the wall!

And I Thought Of You...

First of all, I would like to note that we have been written up for the second time in the Grand Junction, Colorado newspaper...and both times were NOT in the Blotter. It's a family first! My friend Erin writes a Home and Garden column and she is doing an Apocalypse Pantry Challenge, inspired by our hurricane survival tactics. They are going to see how long they can last eating from their pantry. My bet was originally 5 weeks, but after hearing of her husband's propensity to hoard cereal and their vast collection of pasta, I think I might extend my wager. And all of this kinda-sorta ties in to my main post today, and that is the things people associate with us. Whenever someone says 'I saw ________ and I thought of you' it is NEVER something like:

• I saw this nice documentary about normal people who buy their eggs at the store and let their kids eat school lunch and I thought of you...
• I saw puppies and unicorns and I thought of you....
• I read this neat article about Mr. Rodgers and I thought about you....

It goes more like this:

• I saw this survival show where they made pickled reindeer hearts with homemade vinegar and I thought of you....
• I read an article about this freak who keeps chickens in a Winnebago and I thought of you....
• I saw some gold-dipped chicken talons and I thought of you....
• I saw a crocheted chicken hat and I thought of you....
• I watched Bear Grylls eat the kidneys from a live Water Buffalo and I thought of you....
• I saw where someone sewed themselves a 12 person tent entirely out of recycled umbrellas and I thought of you....

Are you seeing a trend here? I have pretty much settled in my mind that I am a freak of nature, and I am OK with that. Besides, if things get ugly Jeff can build our own power plant in the backyard, I can have a big garden and we can make Possum and Squirrel Gumbo over an open fire. 

Buzz

Yesterday we made homemade Gak. It is the coolest stuff. To make it, you mix equal parts white Elmer's school glue and water (usually about 1/4 c. of each) with a few drops of food coloring. In a separate bowl, mix 2 c. water with about 1 TBS.+ of Borax. Pour the glue mixture into the Borax solution and it turns to a rubbery glob of Gak. We made it a lot as kids and now my kids like to make it every now and then. The kids had a blast playing with it and it kept them entertained for quite a while. However, the festivities came to an end when Tyler decided that Gak would be fun to put in his hair. Of course, he let it sit there for a minute or two before he told me. That gave it a chance to settle in and surround each individual hair on the top of his head. I couldn't get it out. I tried giving him a bath, but that didn't do it either. The comb would not get it out, because the comb would just get entangled in the goo and become stuck. I had to pull out the clippers. Jeff is the usual barber around here, but I did my best. Even the electric razor had a hard time getting through the gak. Now he's sporting a nice buzz cut just in time for...winter. Now if that doesn't inspire you to make Gak for your kids, then nothing will!

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Behold, the ear flap hat! I am thinking that we would be one step closer to world peace if every one had their own cozy flannel ear flap hat.

A few weeks ago, we had friends over and I made this monstrosity of a dessert: graham cracker crust, melted chocolate, and homemade marshmallow spread on top. Jeff got out the trusty torch and browned the top. You know that the torch is worth keeping around when you can fix leaking plumbing and brown the delicate peaks of marshmallow deliciousness. It was really good, and really sweet. I was glad we had people over to help eat it.

Here is a journal I made for my sister. I am having so much fun sketching out designs and turning them into journal covers. 

Pretty Bird

Back in the olden days when Jeff and I were dating, a cockatiel walked up his Mom's driveway. She caught it and brought it inside. Jeff's mom just so happened to have a bird cage in her shed, even though she had never owned a bird. (She is a major pack rat, and I used to tease her that if an elephant walked up her driveway she would probably find something to put it in, and she would agree with me) She put the bird in the cage and kept it as her own. As it turned out, the bird talked. Its favorite phrase was "Pretty Bird " which it would loudly proclaim every time you walked in the door. The bird would also whistle at you. Between Pretty Bird and Tater, a person could get to feeling pretty good about themselves.  I taught it a specific whistle just by doing it whenever I was over there. My mother-in-law taught it to say 'Shwoo, shwoo!' That was what she always said in place of whistling when she thought someone looked good, because I guess she couldn't whistle. 'Pretty Bird' stayed around for quite a while, until one day it flew out the door. Oh, the horror! They drove around for a few days looking for the bird with no luck. I can't remember if it was days or weeks, but low and behold the bird showed back up at the house. Pretty Bird lived with her for almost 10 years I think, before meeting its demise. If there were to have been an autopsy I would bet money that bird had lung cancer from all the second hand smoke. But we shall never know.

Nicknames

Recently I overheard a friend call her little girl Zippy. It made me a) realize that we have a lot of nicknames for our kids, and b) maybe we're not the only ones. I am not sure what it is about nicknames, or why certain people are more prone to them than others. For example, James' repertoire of nicknames consists of James-Bo, or Bo-Bo. Katie has a few more, like a million and one derivatives of Ki-ki and Keekers. There is Ki-ki Beekers, Ki-ki Squeekers, Ki-ki Von Bueller, and the list goes on. She is not a fan of these names, so we try to stick to the Katie approved ones most of the time...such as 'Sunshine' and 'Darling' and 'Kate.' Moving along to Tyler, that kid has a list of nicknames a mile long. His primary nickname is 'Squatchy' which is short for Sasquatch. He also answers to 'Baby Squatch' and 'The Squatch' among others. Other monikers include: Mini-Beast, Nuggle Muffin, Mr. Squishy, Pocket-Sized-Dictator (PSD), T-Bone, Big T, T-Bird, and the list goes on. Jeff and I also have nicknames for each other which have questionable origins...like why on earth does Jeff lovingly call me 'Lurch' on occasion...I will never know. I suppose coming from the same guy who called my sister Rat for years it can be explained. And Jeff has been called 'El Heffe' for a long time, which I think was started by Phil. I had no idea there was a song by that name, or that it meant 'the chief' until recently. Good thing it wasn't something obscene! What about you? Any awesome nicknames you want to tell me about??

Farm Hands

I forgot to add this to the last post. On Saturday James and I had our Farm Hands program. My friend is also doing it with her son, and it is fun to have them along. Due to cold weather and possible snow which never materialized, there weren't many visitors to the farm. We were sent to help with collecting the maple sap. They collect it the 'old fashioned' way, by horse team and wagon. We followed the wagon all over the farm. The wagon would stop and we would collect the sap buckets and pour them into milk cans on the back of the wagon. The sap must be collected every 24 hours. It is amazing how much sap is collected in just 24 hours! The sap buckets are 2 gallon, and many buckets were nearly full, or full to the brim in just that short time. A tree gets one tap for every 8 inches in diameter, so some of the larger trees had two taps. It is basically a little spout hammered into the tree. The bucket hangs on a hook below the tap with a cover to keep out leaves. Incidentally the cover does not keep moths out, but they are strained out later. It takes 40 gallons of sap from a sugar maple to make one gallon of maple syrup! You can tap any type of maple, but their sap is less sweet and therefore takes much more to make syrup. The sap is clear and thin, very similar to water. In fact, it tastes like faintly sweet water. In three hours, we collected 350 gallons of sap! That was 3 and a half wagon loads. They said it is a good year for sap. The weather should warm up a bit during the day, and fall below freezing at night to bring the sap up in the trees. Once the sap is collected it is poured through a regular kitchen sieve into a holding tank and pumped up to the barn loft. It is fed down into the 'sugar shack' where there is an evaporator that slowly evaporates the sap until the sugars become concentrated and the syrup reaches boiling. The sugar shack was a nice short break from gathering sap, because it was warm, smelled of maple syrup and wood fire, and complete with a few old timers who happily answered all my questions. The evaporator is wood fired, so they have to keep a really hot fire. The syrup gets strained through a paper filter and a really heavy thick wool filter. Then they bring it to the exact temperature by hand, and bottle it up. The kids get to help with each step of the process, and sample the syrup. It was really good! My favorite part of the day was seeing James running across the pasture with a sap bucket swinging, ear flap hat flapping in the breeze. He looked so happy and he was having so much fun. I am really glad we can do this. I could sign him up for Karate or soccer or something, but I don't think he would really enjoy it. This program was made for him!

Miscellaneous Ramblings

• I had my painting class last night and Tyler did NOT want me to go. The little stinker actually hid my coat in his room. He gets major points for creativity with that one. I am plugging away at my painting and having a blast doing it! On Sunday while everyone else was napping, I got in an hour and a half, sitting in front of the sunny window and painting. It was lovely.
• I have realized that James has a weird and annoying habit of chewing on the corner of his coat. It is starting to get frayed. I pulled a card out of Dad's playing book and put a dab of Tobasco sauce on the coat. It wasn't five minutes before I heard James spitting in the yard, trying to get the taste out. I hope it works. When we were kids, we had a dog named Stealth. We kept him on a rope outside so he would not run off into the wilds of Loma. When he learned to chew through his rope, Dad put tobasco sauce on the rope. Although Stealth has never been known as a smart dog, or anything even close, he did figure out that he needed to find a different place on the rope to chew through.
• Speaking of Stealth, he was our one and only dog. I specifically remember driving out to our friends' house to choose a puppy. There were little black puppies all over the kitchen and Dad shook his keys to see who would come over first. I guess Stealth did, because we took him home. He was a very friendly dog, part black lab and part golden retriever. Dad had dreams of making him a hunting dog, but an early incident involving a close-range truck backfire sort of ruined Stealth's chances of being around loud noises, gunfire included. I do remember Dad putting a pheasant wing (or something) on the end of a fishing pole and dragging it all over the place to teach Stealth to track the scent. At one point, we left Stealth in the care of some friends on their farm. He managed to find and eat a significant amount of rat poison while there, and he was never the same after that. He was still friendly, but his intelligence level was rather diminished. He would howl at the moon, squirrels, and nothing at all. Which is probably why when Dad heard him howling one night, he disregarded the ruckus. Turns out, someone was breaking into the church that night. But enough rambling about Stealth...
• We got a new-to-us couch last night, delivered via bread truck by none other than Jimmy Stewart himself. I thought that was random and funny. Through a random set of circumstances we ended up being on the receiving end of a free leather sectional. As it turns out, I have no sense of space...as in, what will fit where. I just can't estimate things like that, and the couch was not going to fit in Dad's truck. Lucky for us, Jimmy Stewart lives next door to the couch people, and had an almost empty bread truck handy for delivery. Thus, we got a couch delivered in a bread truck via a complete stranger named Jimmy Stewart.