Dewy Morning

From yesterday:

The problem with writing when I really don’t feel like it is that I sometimes forget things that I could say. Such as, yesterday when I went out to move the water in the garden, there was a chipmunk on the rock wall (which is another topic—out here, they are called stone walls). Chipmunks drive me nuts. They’re cute but what they do to the garden is far from cute. Paul has a friend who discovered this really effective stuff to take care of them. The problem is that it is $200 for 12 traps and the bait. He, the friend, split with someone else and has no more chipmunks. I like the idea of no more chipmunks. I don’t mind them in the woods or even in the yard; I do mind them in the garden.

This morning I decided to go on a walk. It is a mile from the house to the end of Pitcherville Road which is very convenient. I thought I would see if Seth and Cedric wanted to go on their bicycles—they like to do that. They did. Then I thought it might be good to take Scooter and Trista. They love going for walks. The only problem is that Joseph wanted to go as well and I didn’t want to go at a 5-year-old pace. When Scooter goes, she goes and it isn’t slow. Cedric encountered another problem in the form of a chain falling off. It happened not far down the road. He came home for Laura to help him put the chain back on and then took off again but never caught up with us because the chain came off again. In spite of everything, our walk was good. We didn’t go all the way to the end of the road but that was okay.

One reason I thought a walk was in store today is that I’ve been sitting around too much. In the heat, I don’t feel like doing anything and I’ve been sitting a lot working on birthday stories. My ankles have been getting fat in the heat and because I’m so fat right to begin with right now. So, a walk was good. I’ve missed going to the fitness center but when we have places to walk, there really is no excuse.

When we got home, I decided to walk by the goats and see how they were doing. Goldilocks was fine. She’s been eating the vines smothering the stumps I’d like to plant flowers on next year. Snowflake had gotten tangled up in a tree so I fixed her up. Princess was fine but she’s going to need to be moved soon, maybe later today, so she can get to more tasty food.

Yesterday I cooked up six flavors of ice-cream. I finally got smart and those with the same base I did together. That is four: chocolate, vanilla, mint and coffee. Other than those, I did peanut butter and ginger. It is much faster doing the four together. It would have been an all day long endeavor (not really; it would have been an all afternoon one though) otherwise; the way I did it was much better. Last night I got the mint frozen. Laura never washed dishes last night so that was it for yesterday. This morning, because Laura hadn’t done the dishes, I had to wash those things needed for milking. Also, I washed the freezer can so I could put the chocolate in to freeze as it had been in one of the bowls I use for milking. So, chocolate was frozen this morning and currently coffee is in progress. Pretty cool.

We are going to have the BLTs for lunch that we were going to have for supper. I will go start cooking bacon soon. I like to do it in the oven so it doesn’t splatter all over. I hope two pounds of bacon is good enough because that is what is not frozen. There are only six of us to eat anyway. And three of us are small.

And this morning:

Another good morning! We have dew! And it was cool!

Two pounds of bacon was enough. I thought it should have been since the last time we had BLTs we had all of us plus Adam and that is what I used.

Adam was prevailed upon to come over and take everyone to Goguen’s for kayaking/canoeing/swimming. I didn’t particularly want to go because I like water when the weather is hot; it was not hot yesterday. So, Laura, Cedric, Seth, Joseph and Nick were all gone all afternoon. I froze the rest of the ice-cream and made a chocolate cheesecake and read. It was quiet and almost surreal.

The entourage arrived at home just as Paul and I were getting ready to leave to go eat. That was good timing. They had macaroni and cheese and salad. Paul and I went to the Chinese buffet in Leominster. It was good but I got full way too fast. When we got home Adam and Ryan were still here. Adam had to work last night so he ended up leaving Ryan here. Seth just went up to get him out of bed. He’s downstairs now going potty first (before eating his cereal). He’s really cute. Now everyone is up and moving around.

I think that we might have blueberry picking on the agenda today. Paul found a place along the road in the south part of Hubbardston where there are lots of blueberries. I know that Paul is planning on working on the chicken coop foundation and Nick helping him. I am not sure what we’re supposed to do with a lot of blueberries. I could make a lot of jam. I wouldn’t mind freezing some for future use but we still don’t have ton of space in the freezer. Other than that, we just have the usual Saturday stuff. Oh, the goats need to be moved as well.

Currently, Ryan joined the boys in their room to go make 'sounds.' He was finishing up his cereal and said, "What's that sound?"

I said, "I don't know, what sound?"

"The boys," he said.

"Ah, yes," I agreed, "they're good at making sounds." So he wanted to help them make sounds but he had to finish his cereal and drink his milk. Now he's up helping them. Laura is putting dishes away and Nick is doing something on Laura's computer. Paul is eating his breakfast and reading an article on the internet. Joanna and Amena must be up by now and will be getting ready to come home shortly. It will be nice to have them back; I miss my girls.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!