Yesterday was fairly productive day around here. Adam had worked the night before but I texted him anyway asking if he’d be available to take me to where the Jetta was so I could pick it up and do my errand running in it rather than the van. I did everything I could waiting before I could wait no longer and left in the van. I went to Winchendon to get the tool for castrating the kids. I went to Hannaford to get garlic and dill because at that point, I still planned on making pickles. I stopped at Walmart to get a new canning pot and jar lifter, paint for Joanna, Q-tips for me and Joanna, toothpaste, painters tape for Joanna and I think that’s it. That was enough—it took an hour and a half. I got the canning pot first, happy to find that they’re made in the US, and decided to get a pot lifter as well thinking that having more than one is a good idea. I used to have two anyway and one of them disappeared. Then I was paint-ward bound where I got the tape. Then, they didn’t have the right base for the color Joanna wanted but the guy said he could use a different brand and get pretty close. I said sure since it is just for the closet. Paint always takes a few minutes so I went and got the Q-tips and I remembered that we needed toothpaste. The paint still wasn’t done when I got back but almost so I just stuck around. When I went to check out, every line was at least two long so I picked one where the two had fewer items than the rest.
Have I mentioned that I hate shopping? People go along and stop look down an aisle and think, “Oh, gosh, do I need anything down there? No. Okay.” And they proceed to the next one and the same thing happens until finally they turn down an aisle. And you know how Walmart is, there is always something in the wider aisles so that you can’t go around the slow pokes (and, Grandma, they’re not all older people, if they were, I wouldn’t mind so much because to my thinking, they have a legitimate excuse; the people I get annoyed with are within 10 years of my age either up or down). Drives me nuts. Waiting in line is just as bothersome although sometimes it is amusing which somewhat mitigates the annoyingness. Yesterday was only slightly interesting as the line I was in had a curious cashier. I don’t remember the name other than it was a female name that started with an A. I’ve seen this person twice before. Once walking out of Walmart while I was waiting for someone and once in the foyer area where the vending machines are. Both of those times, this person had black hair. Yesterday it was reddish blonde. One of the most noticeable things before was the tattoos on the arms because this person, honestly, is about the size of Cedric. Another noticeable thing is that this person smokes and I would guess has for some time (you know, some people just exude a general comfort level about some things—this person did with cigarettes). I thought this person was a young man who either is very rebellious or has very lenient parents. It’s possible, I suppose, that either one is still true. However, when I was in Walmart yesterday, this young man was dressed as a young lady. And had the aforementioned female name beginning with an A. So, curious. It’s amazing the things you see in the world today. Especially at Walmart.
When I got home, I got everyone fed lunch and got to work in the kitchen. Actually, before breakfast, I’d cleared off and washed the counter so that I’d have some available work space. After lunch, I started making things. First, I came up with eight loaf pans because I intended to make four loaves of yeast bread and four loaves of chocolate zucchini bread (it is SO yummy!). I started with yeast bread thinking that I could mix up and bake the other bread during raisings. However, it was a perfect day for yeast so raising didn’t take nearly as long as I had thought it might. Therefore, I got things ready but didn’t actually get the zucchini bread mixed up until the yeast bread was in the oven baking. When it came out, the zucchini bread was ready to go in. The yeast bread looked good but I could tell that it had big air pockets at the top. I think I’m out of practice. It isn’t hard to make and one loaf is already almost gone so I should be able to practice more relatively soon. The chocolate zucchini bread turned out very well (and it is SO yummy!).
Adam called toward the end of my kitchen adventures around 4:00 and said, “Am I bad?” Since he’d been sleeping and had just woken up, I let him off the bad hook. The place where the Jetta was was going to be open until 6:00 so we had time for him to get here (he lives about half an hour away) and go pick it up. That was fun. The Jetta is quiet and smooth and like a new car again. So nice.
The cub scouts were coming over yesterday to see George and Fred. Speaking of them, after I got home and before I got lunch for everyone, Cedric helped me do the dirty deed. We put them in the stanchion and I rubber banded them. Then they were allowed to go out with the others. When I went out to grind wheat (which I do outside on the back porch so that I don’t have to breathe in flour dust more than I have to already from baking), both kids were doing a goat version of whimpering off and on. Poor things. They’ll make much better pets for someone as wethers than they would as bucks and they’ll be better eating as well, depending on what happens in their futures. When I came in, Seth was concerned that I had done something really horrible to them. I told them that I hadn’t hurt them (discomfort is not the same as pain, right?). Seth wanted to know what I had done so I explained it to them. It was rather comical. Especially Joseph and the concept of ‘balls.’
Anyway, back to the scouts. They were coming over to see the kids. We had leftover stuffed peppers for supper along with some fresh bread. We got that cleaned up, Adam took Amena to church since she was the only one who needed to go (the boys, of course, were staying home and there is no more institute for Laura [and consequently no reason for her and Paul to get home early on Wednesday] until school starts in two or three weeks and Joanna was at work). I figured that the boys could all try goat milk and have some chocolate zucchini bread after playing with goats.
They begin arriving at about 7:15 which is when I expected. Marlain Beaudette is one of the scout leaders and was first to arrive with her son Neal and daughter Rachael who really wanted to see the goats too. Then Eric Brimhall arrived with his son Mac who is in scouts and Mac’s two little brothers Tanner and Quinn because they have to go along for the ride since mom was at work. Next was Nikki Geske and her brood (she has four, Aaron, Drew, Bria and Chloe but I don’t remember if Bria came or not) as well as Rebecca Kemp who is also a leader and Logan Troop. That was it other than Cedric, Seth and Joseph who were, of course, already here. Quick count: five adults counting me and eleven or twelve younglings. Holy crud. Anyway, the goats were a hit. So was the trampoline. Marlain and I came in to cut up bread and pour milk and everyone kind of followed along. The bread was a hit with the adults who were also surprised at the milk and the milk was a hit with the young crowd. Logan, Neal, and Aaron all had seconds of milk (so did Cedric and Seth but they hardly count since they’re used to it). Logan’s family buys raw cow milk in New Hampshire so he’s kind of used to the idea of raw milk anyway. It was pretty good and they were all gone by 8:30.
This morning sometime before 2:00 I woke up enough to be aware of an awesome lightning display going on along with the accompanying rolling thunder. At one point, the rain was just pounding down and I thought, “Behold, the heavens have opened!” I was really something. I had to use the bathroom and when I was done, I heard Seth. The storm had woken him up and because he didn’t have a pillow (they’d been playing with them earlier in the living room), said he couldn’t sleep. There was a pillow hanging off the end of Cedric’s bed so I tossed that to him. I didn’t hear any more from boys until around 4:00 when Joseph came in and wanted to sleep with me.
Paul and Laura finally left and Joanna and Amena are finally taking the goats out. The boys are all upstairs, supposedly cleaning their room. I am going to do pickles today as it’s the only thing on my list other than the usual every day kind of stuff.
Have a terrific day!
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