News From The Meadows

We started the year with our family picture

and sent it to friends and family members as a

Happy New Year picture instead of a Happy

Holiday card! Always fun to have a big group

photo, even the dogs enjoyed the glam. We

were just missing a chicken and a pig in the

portrait of our family! Im sure Norris would

have been happy to hold Collette on his lap!

HaHa!

We continued to do our yoga with Arlette on

Tuesdays. This wonderful chair yoga is espe-

cially helpful in the winter, to get the sore

muscles working and stretching. I saw Joan

was even using weights to the yoga session,

and trying to get Barbara to do the same! Nice

work everyone for participating!

We have changed our nail salon and the new

nail salon loves when we come visit and really

do a good job getting us into chairs and not

making us wait too long. Murielle, Bev, and

Jenn have a good time pampering themselves!

The casino this month was as ice cold as the

day was. Barbara and Jenn didnt come home

with any winnings, or any of the money they

went to Oxford with either!

We celebrated Elaine’s birthday on the 25th

with a delicious ice cream cake!

Dine Arounds

This month was a dissatisfying month of Dine Arounds.

Our first dine around was breakfast to the Sedgley café on the 2nd. Barbara had stuffed French toast. Jenn and

Carl had cinnamon raisin French toast with sausage. David had an omelet with home fries. But as delicious as the

food was, it was on the pricey side for breakfast and it was freezing in the restaurant. Everyone ate with their

winter coats on, and it was still cold! The wait staff also had light jackets or sweatshirts on! We got there right as

they opened so maybe the heat hadn't kicked on yet, but it was still too cold for our people!

Our next adventure was to the new Pierrette’s in the Auburn mall, where Papa Johns used to be! We have been

patiently waiting for the grand opening, which was on the 25th, before we went so they could be seasoned be-

fore we tried them. Unfortunately that didn't help. Carl had the French onion soup, that was cold, so cold the

cheese wasn't melt-ey. Barbara had cold meat pie. Jenn had a chicken sandwich that was supposed to be hot and

with cold gravy. Bridget had a wrap that was supposed to be cold, and it was! They didnt accept any cash that

day, only cards. Then Jenn used her card and it got charged three times! She had to call her bank cancel two of

the charges and make sure the wait staff knew that she had been charged triple the amount!

Hopefully February will bring us some better out to lunch luck!

The Funny Farm

The barnyard has been pretty quite this past month. On the really cold days the chickens, ducks, and of course,

Collette the pig stay inside their houses but the goats roam around chewing on their hay, Christmas trees, or rip-

ping bark off of birch trees. We made a burn pile when we were insulating the new chicken Taj Mahal, and every-

one has been loving climbing it, hiding in it, and scraping against it. Even the little chickadees and squirrels are

loving it!

Even though we haven't had too many cold days, knock on wood, the goats eat their hay and stay warm by doing

laps around the field. The chickens keep their feet warm if they are outside by catching rides on the back of the

goats or just by staying inside their houses in the sunshine through the windows!

My chicken, Fern, has a twin. Almost identical other then the twin looks old because she has a few white patches

on the top of her head. She doesn't mind when I get them mixed up and she gets extra attention. I still call for

my chicken and she will come right to me but doesn't get excited to be picked up like she used to… In the new

house the laying boxes and roosts are about chest level with me so I give the chickens a little rub when I go by

getting eggs and they just cluck with happiness!

Occasionally Joe the goat will spend the night in there with the chickens or with Collette the pig, but mainly he

hangs out in the old house thinking he’s the king of the castle. He is the best chicken feet warmer, he almost con-

stantly has a chicken or two on his back.

Collette. Collette. Collette. She is enjoying her house so much she doesn't want to leave at all. She did stick her

front leg out one of the nice days in January, but then didnt want to give up her territory and backed right back

into the house. She has a foam camping mattress covered in straw a little area to walk around, some beams to

scratch her butt on, and a pine shaving area for her bathroom business. And then a removable piece of plywood

where her water and food go incase she get “hog” wild while eating and drinking we can just replace it. I wres-

tled with her the other day, we had fun until she started using her teeth, then I just pet her and she calmed right

down until she rolled over to get her belly up for rubs. I think that is the biggest thing she misses is her company

whether that’s constant people talking to her through the fence, or her best friend the duck. Besides that I think

she is doing fine and she cant wait for warmer weather.

Della

Della is our house keeper on Mondays. She has worked for The Meadows for 3 years and is an all star in the Maine Special Olympics. She

recently got elected as a New England Representative on the Board of Trustees for the Special Olympics. This means she travels all over

helping to make decisions for the special Olympic games and raising money for different events and offering inputs for the games, help-

ers, and of course the food.

In August the Summer games were in Washington state where she was the goalie for the Maine Soccer Team. The last weekend in Janu-

ary she went to the winter Olympics in Sunday River where she participated in Slalom and Giant Slalom with racing gates and finished

second for her skill level!

Tyler and I recently went to watch her in her bowling league at Sparetime and it was really fun to watch and cheer her and her other

league members on and she did a lot better then Tyler and I could think about scoring! Must be her special “galaxy” ball.

Della is always busy doing things from cooking for her house-mates, bowling, prom planning, crafting, swimming, hitting the treadmill, or

even just going to Cumberland farms for a slurpie. We love to hear all her stories when we see her on Mondays.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1

2 3 4

Salon

Yoga-10

5

Nail Trip

6

Shopping Trip to Walmart

7

BINGO

8

9 10 11

Salon

12 13

Dine Around

14

Valentines Day

BINGO

15

16 17

Presidents Day

18

Salon

Yoga-10

19

Happy BDay Barbara!

20

Shopping Trip to Walmart

Happy BDay David

21

BINGO

22

Happy BDay Renee

23 24 25

Salon

26

Ash Wednesday

27

Dine Around

Happy BDay Norris

28

BINGO

Happy BDay Eunice

29

Last Leap Day for 4

years! Next one 2024!

The Meadows Senior Living

Pobox 629

Greene, Maine

04236