We were half-awake and stumbling out the door on our way to low mass when our post office called us to say that our shipment of chicks had arrived. Dad and I went to pick them up after dropping off some of the kids at mass. The post office looked deserted when we walked in and the desk was closed off. I could hear the person back behind the wall of postal boxes sorting mail so I asked through the wall (a little timidly since it seemed a strange thing to do) about picking up the chicks. The lady met us around the back and helped us load up 4 boxes filled with chirping fuzz balls. We drove the birds home and set them up in our sun room with heat lamps, thermometers, and little dishes of water. The temperature is very important since it must stay around 90-95 degrees. In preparation for the chicks David had built a (very elaborate) brooder “cabin”. My uncle, cousin, and grandparents all helped with the process which included first moving the mammoth brooder outside and near the house. Once David had finished installing the water-feeder, and feeding troughs, heat lamps, thermometers, etc. we moved the boxes out and transferred the little chicks into their new home. Most of the chicks are broilers which we will raise for meat and the others are Rhrode Island Reds which we will be our egg layers. David and Dad are building portable structures to house them once they outgrow the brooder.
It felt really good to roll up my sleeves and get a little dirty planting potatoes. I think in all 8 rows were planted today and each row was about 50 ft long. Most of the family was outside working early: Gemma was planting carrots and lettuce, David and Dad were constructing the chicken brooder (about 300 chicks are arriving in a few weeks), mom was organizing stuff in the boxcar, Tommy was pushing Rosie around in the stroller, Joey was stopping up holes in the boxcar for wasp prevention, and Kateri and I were planting potatoes. The sun was shining very warm for most of the day and at one point I lay down right there in the dirt and just soaked in the sunlight ... it felt so good. Kateri helped me plant the taters by placing the small wedges of the seed potatoes (one every foot) in the canal I was digging . After a row or two she decided she would rather play with Nutmeg - our adopted baby girl goat. She and Nutmeg are best buds and they play together for much of the day. After lunch Joey and I together finished the last of the rows and now we are just hoping for a little rain tonight so we won't have to go out and water the seeds tomorrow. 
