Last Day of August

Good morning! I was wondering what I would do when I reached page 100 in this and it appears that I will just keep going as page 100 was reached yesterday and now I am beginning page 102. And we are at 72,807 words. Pretty darn cool. Especially since I started this particular document when I began sending daily emails.

Yesterday was quite a day. After all the little people left for school and Paul was headed to work, I took a shower and Laura and I emptied the brush out of the back of the truck that Paul had brought home the day before. Then I washed and labeled peach jars and took them downstairs. One dozen jars fits rather nicely (unless they are wide mouth jars) in the boxes that the peaches came in and they stack nicely two high on the shelf. In going through the jars, one hadn’t sealed. One out of 41 isn’t too bad. By the time that was done, Laura and I had peach milkshakes that she made for lunch and then it was time to take George and Fred to school.

I put the crate that they stay in at night in the back of the truck. It took us a while to find the leashes because someone had put them on the refrigerator and didn’t remember putting them there. It may have been me who put them there but I don’t remember. Once they were found, we got the boys and put them in the crate and left for school. George decided to lay down but Fred never did. I wanted to park at the end of the building by the gym (which also happens to be near the police station) but there weren’t any good parking places so we drove around the front and parked at the far end of the parking lot (because it was at the far end and farthest away from all the lovely children playing outside). I went in to see where Mrs. LaRose would like us while Laura stayed with the boys. We decided that by the garden would be good which is down where I wanted to park. I went to collect Laura and the boys and we made our way through the throngs of people to the garden.

The kindergarteners were very well behaved. They sat in a circle and at least most of them got to pet them and hold their leashes. Joseph got to tell them a little about goats—what they eat, where the live, and the like. Seth’s class never actually came over as a class. They were on lunch recess when we got there so most of them came over to see the goats but they were making too much noise so Mrs. LaRose kept having to shoo them away.

Laura in the red shirt has Fred. George is more in the center of the picture. Joseph is on Laura's right.

Joseph is holding on to George. Laura still has Fred.

Joseph and George.

Seth with George and Joseph.

A bunch of 6th graders. Amena with George and Laura with Fred.

Several of Cedric’s class came over but they didn’t come as a class either. Amena’s class did come although she was annoyed because Mrs. Doyle brought the 5^th graders too. I got a picture of the 6^th graders at Amena’s request. Laura and I decided that the boys that age have mastered drama queen behavior. One boy touched a goat and kept saying, “I touched a goat. I actually touched a goat.” Poor goat. One boy, a 5^th grader, has goats. His family has LaManchas and Nubians and you can tell that he is used to dealing with them because he knew exactly how to pick them up.

So, that was that. When we got home, the boys were glad to go out in the field with their mama. I folded three loads of laundry and Laura went to work on the garage some more. Joanna didn’t work until 5:00 and spent most of her day at home doing laundry and cleaning her room. She and Amena have been butting heads, mainly because Amena thinks she has to have things her way. After laundry, I made two batches of grape/rose hip jelly. One I had to add more grape juice to so it’s darker than the other but they’re both pretty.

These are the grapes down by the stream that we picked to make. . .

the juice that we put in jars to make. . .

the jelly that is so pretty.

Small people got home while I was doing jelly and then, as it often is, we had total chaos for a couple of hours. They needed to put clothes away that had been folded. Joanna left for work. We had leftover ham and potato salad for supper along with sliced tomatoes and cucumbers. We had lime sherbet for dessert, had family prayer and read from Moroni and then it was time for bed. I was so tired it was unreal. I’d emailed Paul earlier asking him to get sugar if he had time and went home the right way to get it. He went but realized he’d forgotten his wallet so couldn’t get any. Since he was near a friend’s house, he said he’d go visit since he hadn’t seen them for a while. I figured there wasn’t any reason to stay up and I was so tired that I went to bed. I listened to a chapter of Helaman while I knit two half rows on the socks I’m working on but no more because I didn’t even feel like knitting. Then I listened to some music while I read for a while. I heard Paul get home and I heard Joanna get home and I didn’t even feel like reading so I turned off my computer and put my book away and turned off the light. I was asleep before Paul went to bed.

This morning, Joseph came to bed with us a few minutes after 3:00. At 5:20 I had to get up and use the bathroom because there was no way I could hold it another 40 minutes. The next time I looked at the clock it was 6:17 so I sort of hurried out of bed and took the dogs for their walk before milking. Pretty exciting. Most of the time I like to milk, it’s quiet and I like the alone time. Sometimes, I think it will be nice to take Princess and Snowflake to be bred because there will only be one goat to milk. Even after they come home, there will only be one goat to milk.

Today I was going to hurry and take Seth and Amena to get their glasses. I was going to hurry because Joanna works at noon today and I thought it would be nice to leave Cedric and Joseph home with her. Then I decided I didn’t really feel like hurrying. I also want to get peaches and I’ll have to get sugar as well since Paul wasn’t able to get any.

Paul and Laura just left a few minutes ago. Joanna and Amena haven’t taken the goats out yet. Joseph finally finished eating and washed his bowl and spoon and went outside to find Cedric and Seth who were down by the stream. I’m still tired. And I want to get peaches? And apples next month? And school for me and soccer start next week? Am I crazy? Most likely.

Have a great day.

Thoughtless Stupor

From yesterday afternoon 4:49 pm.

Good afternoon! I hope you don’t mind my getting a jump start on tomorrow. I was looking at posts on Facebook and saw a term that infuriates me. ‘Women of color.’ I’m almost tempted to use a word in a not-so-good way. What the heck do they mean? Come on!

Deep breath!

Family. Please hold up your arm or grab a mirror and look at your arm or any part of your body that you choose. Are you transparent? Or translucent? Is there any pigment there or are you albino? ‘Women of color.’ Are we not all ‘people of color’? What the (blank)! I am very sorry but what is wrong with saying black? Or Negro? Or Indian? Or whatever? Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not in favor of terms such as ‘nigger’ or ‘chinc’ or whatever. They are derogatory terms and more indicative of behavior and attitude than color of skin or race and if you use one of them in front of me, I’ll likely have something to say. But use ‘woman of color’ (or ‘man of color’ or ‘child of color’) and I’ll likely have something to say as well. What would you call Scooter, for goodness sake? Dog of color?

It’s time to get the table ready for supper so I’ll be off for now. Don’t think I’m finished with this though.

And from today at 7:44 am.

And a good morning to you! Along the same lines as my little diatribe yesterday, I find it particularly annoying when people are referred to as Irish-American, African-American, Polish-American, or whatever. Quite frankly, if you live on either of the American continents, you are American. If you live in the United States and are a citizen, you are a United States of American. I fail to understand what gives us the sole right to refer to ourselves as “American”—is it because we have “America” in our name? Whatever the reason, it is, in my opinion, flawed.

This is a good time, perhaps, or not to mention some thoughts on our government. Actually, I think not. I will, however, tell you one of my favorite quotes. “Can you think to sit upon your thrones in a state of thoughtless stupor, while your enemies are spreading the work of death around you?” This is Moroni, captain of all the armies, complaining to Pahoran, chief judge, of the government’s neglect of the armies. I love “thoughtless stupor” and think that most of our politicians act with “thoughtless stupor” today. For example, you’ve surely heard of that idiot Republican in Missouri, Todd Akin? You know, the one who said that victims of ‘legitimate’ rape don’t get pregnant because their bodies have a mechanism to prevent conception. He claims that doctors told him that. If so, the doctors are even bigger idiots. Is this what we breed in Missouri, or did they come from somewhere else? If a woman is at the right point in her cycle, she is perfectly capable of getting pregnant if she is raped. Her body may react in certain ways to the stress of the situation, but it won’t ‘prevent’ pregnancy. In fact, if some bonehead deposits sperm in her, she could conceive up to about five days after the incident.

Yesterday was a pretty good day around here. Laura wanted to go down to Holden to look at a scooter. Joanna went along as well in the event that Laura got the scooter to drive it home. Laura said it was way down on 68. It was so far down on 68 that it was on 122A. Pretty cool, that. The scooter is a pretty color, blue, but it hasn’t been driven regularly it sounds like since it was new three years ago. It wasn’t in very good shape, the seat was lumpy and the floor covering was ripped and it didn’t want to start. On top of that, the woman who is selling it want’s something like $750 for it and the guy who has it at his garage couldn’t even give Laura her phone number. She didn’t get it. On the way home and once we were home, she and Joanna looked scooters up on Craigslist and found much nicer ones for $200 to $250 less.
Laura and I picked grapes down by the creek. Funny thing about that. Earlier in the day when the canine girls and I had gone for our walk, we went down the hill and over to Daniel’s grave. As we were walking along the ‘road’, I smelled something kind of fruity but I wasn’t sure what it was so I just chalked it up to one of those things that you never quite figure out. After picking the red grapes by the place we’ve been dumping weeds by the creek, we walked down toward Daniel’s grave. We watered all the plants and then noticed more grapes—so we picked them. Also, there were some rose bushes near there with some berry-looking things I’m thinking may have been rosehips.

When we got up to the house, I rinsed off the grapes and got out the steam juicer and put the rose hips we’d picked at the beach in with them. At one point, I lifted the lid to see how everything looked and guess what? The smell was the same scent I’d beheld earlier in the day down by the creek. Had something recently been in the grapes eating them or just disturbing them? I do not know but the smell was the same.

Cedric and Seth ended up not having Scouts last night so the boys all got to stay home with Laura. Joanna was still at work so only Amena and I went to church. I hurried and cleaned the kitchen because Joanna said the Young Women were supposed to be cooking something. Well, they didn’t, so my hurrying got the job done fast for no real reason. I had both a book and knitting and ended up not reading or knitting. Instead, I visited with Marlain Beaudette and Rebecca Kemp and had a very enjoyable time (which is unlike me when it comes to visiting).

Yesterday I was looking up when to wean goats because, quite frankly, I didn’t remember any specifics. I ran across this link in the process: http://www.autumnfarmboers.com/ If you have time, you should read some of the stories there. They are about goats and some of them are absolutely hilarious.

I finally got the lime sherbet made yesterday so we have lots of that sitting in the freezer downstairs. Laura started cleaning out the barn yesterday which is quite an undertaking. Joanna went to work and then came home because she had two hours between shifts. Tomorrow there is no school. Today the youngest four have already departed for school (quite some time ago—school technically starts now). I haven’t seen Joanna out of bed yet. Laura ate breakfast but then disappeared upstairs again. I’m sure they both think it’s too cold down here. Paul is eating breakfast. Someone is supposed to be to work today at 9:00 that Sha Nan wants Paul to talk to. Paul is in the process of eating his breakfast so there is little chance of him getting to work by 9:00.

The truck needs to be emptied today. Preferably this morning (according to me). George and Fred are going to school today. Other than that, the only thing on my agenda for today is getting laundry caught up. It’s a good day for it because it sure feels autumish.

Have a wonderful day!

PS—AD, we are praying for you—hope everything works out just the way it’s supposed to.

Splendiferous Day

Well, the first day of school was okay. Seth and Cedric like their teachers but they might be confusing. One is Mrs. McDonald and the other is Ms. McDonald. None of them had homework but they all had papers for me to fill out. That’s always fun. I just love filling out the same papers in quadruplicate. At least when Daniel brought stuff home after the first couple of days of 7^th grade there were different things to fill out. And that year Joseph was still home so there were only four. There will only be four for the rest of the time until Amena is out. What an odd thought.

This morning I was looking at Facebook and saw a post someone had put on. They had just shared it and I have no idea if it is true or not but that doesn’t really matter. The jist of the story that went along with it is that a 14-year-old boy was shot several times by his stepfather while protecting his 6-year-old sister from the same man. Without proper treatment which his mother can’t afford, he is not expected to live. If the story is true, the stepfather deserves to be raped so he knows what it feels like to have done to you what he wanted to do to the girl and then shot several times without being killed so he knows what the boy feels like before being fatally inflicted with something.  If it isn’t true, there are enough similar stories that it still makes my blood boil.

Depending upon what you believe, you may believe in the creation, you may believe the BIG BANG theory, you may believe something else. I happen to believe that we have a God and that he created not only the earth we live on but many others as well. I happen to believe that they are all beautiful and that they are all populated by people who look like. . . us! Sorry, no green or blue skinned aliens. I also have read that of all these worlds, we live not only on the most beautiful, but also the most wicked. I find this easy to believe, especially as I look around me and see/hear/read about some of the things that happen on this beautiful world. Life is precious. Anyone who willingly takes the life of a child deserves to have his/her life taken.

Anyway, busy day around here yesterday. Once all our small people left on the bus that was ten minutes late, Paul and Laura eventually left for work. Joanna eventually left for work at noon. I was, shhhhhhh, alone for the first time in a long time. THIS is what I expected my life to look like last year. However, although my life looked how I expected last year, it is only a surface thing.

First, I grated zucchini. I froze 18 cups for future use and used 2 for a zucchini rum cake and 4 for chocolate zucchini bread.  After grating zucchini, I made yeast bread. I used all whole wheat this time and it didn’t turn out very well (which is not because of the wheat). It tastes okay but it collapsed so it looks funny. Actually, backing up just a bit, I had to grind wheat before I could make bread. As I think I’ve mentioned before, I do the grinding outside on the back porch. If I do it inside, it gets flour dust all over the place and I’m guaranteed to have to use my inhaler. By doing it outside, I avoid mess in the house and usually do not have to use my inhaler. I didn’t yesterday. The hopper holds about three cups so I put three cups in and go inside and do things, then I go back out and put in three more and go inside and do things, etc., until I’ve put a total of 10 cups in. Then I turn it off, bring in the bottom, empty it into the jar I keep it in, and then do it all again. Yesterday, once when I went out to put in more wheat, I startled a chipmunk which quickly scurried off the porch. Again when I went out, I startled probably the same chipmunk off the porch. This time it had been much closer to the grinder. Daring little buggers. I’ve given Nick permission to come shoot at them when he gets his new airsoft gun.

In the afternoon while I was waiting for bread or cake to bake, I worked on potato salad to go with ham for supper. Out of three bags (5 pound), there were enough potatoes to fill the 7-quart pot that I usually use. Rodents had gotten into them and done some damage and many had gone bad. Generally speaking, I do not like rodents. I had to dump a lot of potatoes in the ‘compost’ pile in the garden because I didn’t want to give all that stuff to the goats. Yuck.

So, yesterday saw the making of four loaves of yeast bread, a zucchini rum cake, four loaves of chocolate zucchini bread, potato salad and the cooking of two hams. Here and there I got some laundry washed as well and managed to strip and make my bed (which is fun because it consists of two sides so that the head and foot of each side can go up and down independently of the other side). Busy day.

Paul and Laura got home and told me that Laura’s hours have been cut way back so she’s pretty anxious to go apply for something else. Blair can still have her come in a couple of days a week but currently that’s it. Paul says there are orders that need to be put together to be shipped and he doesn’t understand why they aren’t being done but from how things are, I’m not surprised because there seems to be neither rhyme nor reason to much of what goes on there. More sales would mean more work for Laura but if she finds another job, she might not be able to work there also.

Joanna’s ITP has been acting up. About two weeks ago, I called the doctor’s office to make her an appointment. The soonest she could get in was last week on Wednesday but she ended up working that day so she couldn’t go in. I called to make an appointment for Cedric and told them that Joanna really didn’t need to be seen by the doctor but did need an order to have her blood drawn. Cool. I took Cedric in and asked about things for Joanna and the receptionist said I should talk to the nurse when Cedric went in. I did and he said that Joanna should be able to get in the same day I call but said nothing about any orders. I decided to wait until Monday morning to call because Joanna would know her schedule by then and we’d know which day she could go in. Well, she had Monday off so I called and she got to go in at 9:20. So I wouldn’t have to take all the kids, she took her scooter. When she got in, the doctor said, “What are you doing here? Your mom called and said you just needed a standing order so that’s what I did.” Well, that’s great, but no one told us! Anyway, there are standing orders at both labs now and Joanna had her blood drawn. Her platelets were at 11 and now she’s taking prednisone for a few days and is supposed to go have her blood checked today. It usually does the trick in just a couple of days.

Milking this morning was milking. Princess went first which I like and I’ve decided that I must resign myself to hearing the bus every morning while I’m out. Speaking of busses, the bus Daniel would have come home on yesterday was later than usual, probably due to it being the first day of school and the first day of a slightly new route. I was wondering if I’ll always hear that bus in the morning and just always know when it’s due in the afternoon or if that will stop when it would have been time for Daniel to be out of school. The fact that Amena will actually be on that bus next year is interesting. I sure wish she didn’t have to get on it alone. However, life is what it is and my wishing won’t change that.

Back to milking, I’ve been using a banana box to hold up the bucket for Snowflake. That’s been working pretty well but we’ve had some good dewy mornings and some rain so the box is getting pretty soggy. This morning Princess finished her grain and because I expected Snowflake to be first, had the box in place, so Princess was smelling the box and decided to take a taste. She ripped a piece off and chewed on it but did not find it to her liking so she spit it out. We’ve got lots of bugs around and many of them are particularly buggy during milking. I think this is so because I’m just sitting there and my hands are busy so I can’t be brushing them away constantly. One of them, I don’t know what kind, bite and then later where they bit is a little blister surround by red. The blisters are very small—the largest I’ve noticed is about 1/16 of an inch in diameter and the red is probably only about a quarter of an inch in diameter. The problem is that they itch and the blisters are very easy to scratch right off. Fun, fun, fun.

On the agenda today are fun things like making the sherbet I haven’t gotten to yet, looking for grapes down by the creek (they’ll be good for turning into juice and then jelly), taking Laura to look at a scooter, and more laundry. Pretty exciting.

Have a splendiferous day!

Joseph's Sixth Birthday Party

Joseph's birthday is August 22. As it fell on a Wednesday this year, a very busy Wednesday, we celebrated after church on August 26. Waiting those extra four days were torturous for him (I kind of felt the same way waiting for him to decide it was time to be born)! The long awaited day arrived, however, and Joseph had a good day. 

 



Joseph was combing Nick's hair.

The cake. Actually, two, but they kind of got melty and slid against the sides of the boxes. We all thought it would have worked well if he had been turning 8 instead of 6.

Want to know about the largish candles? I'd forgotten to get some birthday candles so we had to use what we had on hand. The large red one has three wicks so he got that and the three smaller ones.

Thinking of a wish.

Very pensive.

Almost got one.

Here goes!

Nick wanted to use the camera so these next few were taken by him.

Very studiously eating ice-cream cake.

Waiting for hers.

Eating and dishing.

This one needs a good caption but I haven't come up with one yet.

Caught her!

Amena will cover her face or not smile or something. Laura will give you a corny face.

Let the opening begin.

He got some good ones, don't you think? The rest are back to me.

Laura being Laura. I like pictures like this.

The reading of the card.

This is a good one of Amena. Good as in she's not avoiding the camera.

For the most part, the rest are somewhat self-explanatory. I've captioned a few.

Add caption

"This is awesome!"

 

I liked all the crumpled up paper.

Spider Joseph.

"Huh? Where is it?"

Hair glue. For spiky hair.

Darth Joseph. He's a natural.

Darth Nick and Spider Joseph dueling.

And again.

 

A bit blurry, but Darth Laura nonetheless.



Cool Spider Nick.

And there you have it--Joseph's sixth birthday party. Tune in for the next one next month--Joanna's 18th.