Well, here we are, waiting at the doctor’s office. Cedric just needs to get the two shots that he needs in order to go to school on Tuesday. If it were Amena who needed the shots, I wouldn’t have worried about getting them before school starts since she really wanted to do homeschool this year. However, Cedric doesn’t; he likes school, so here we are.
Yesterday was not a good day. In fact, it was a downright crappy one. The boys weren’t getting anything done in their room. Amena was cooperating but it wasn’t her room that needed to be cleaned. Cedric was actually getting things done for the most part but the room wasn’t.
Cedric emptied the truck of wood and I drove it up to the house where he, Amena, Seth and Joseph (actually, I’m not sure how many of them really did help, but they were all told to) cleaned out the rest of the little bits of stuff from the back of the truck. They did that while I was taking Joanna to work. When I got back, we had lunch and then I decided we needed to go and do all the things that needed to be done.
I moved the truck to its normal parking place and then we left. Our first stop was the bank because I wasn’t sure if the place we were going to get peaches took checks or debit cards. Next was the eye doctor in Gardner where the kids go for their exams so I could get copies of Amena and Seth’s prescriptions. Then we were on to Leominster where we dropped off a loaf of bread at the Myler’s. If you recall, they are the family who had a baby in the bathroom Monday. Noone answered the door so we just left it on the doorstep inside the porch. Later, when we were home, I sent Heather a message via Facebook letting her know that it was there and that we were the guilty party for leaving it. She said they’d already eaten most of it.
Next was the Walmart Vision Center in Lunenburg. It has occurred to me that for someone who really doesn’t like Walmart, I sure do go there often enough. I do like the Vision Center though. Anyway, when we got there at 2:24, there was a sign that said they were closed from 2:00 to 3:00 for lunch. Who ever heard of taking lunch at that hour? Good grief! Anyway, I wasn’t in any kind of mood to stand around and wait so we went to Lanni Orchards which is literally just down (or up) the street from the shopping center Walmart is in. In fact, Mom and Grandma, we drove right by it on our way from and to the airport (not that I expect you to remember it).
We got four boxes of peaches which looked really nice. We got grade B which basically just means they’re not uniform size. There are small ones and large ones and everything in between. Mostly, they’re very nice sizes and they are free stone which is good and I realized after I called to reserve our boxes that I’d forgotten to ask. I’d still do clings, but I really prefer not to because if there is a neat way to do them, I haven’t figured it out. Amena really wanted me to get a pint of berries as well, but I didn’t want to use a debit card just for that and I only had enough cash for the peaches and I certainly wasn’t going to write a check for some. So, she talked to Seth and Cedric as they’d both brought some money with them and I donated fifty cents from the van (which I’d put there anyway) and she got a pint of raspberries. There were enough for everyone to have seven and two of us to have eight. We thought it only fair that Seth and Cedric get the eight since they donated the most money to the cause and then Seth gave one of his to Joseph. They were very large and very good. It made me sad because I know that if we were in Idaho, we’d have as many as we want for the cost of going to Vaniman’s and picking them because Diane said they’re going nuts and she doesn’t have time to keep up with them and the blueberries and she felt the blueberries were more important.
We got back to the Walmart parking lot and it still wasn’t three o’clock. So we waited. We actually waited until we got there to eat the raspberries which was nice because we got a shady parking spot. Even after eating them, we still had about 15 minutes to wait. Amena wanted to go inside but I didn’t so we just waited in the van which wasn’t that bad. When the time was up, we went in and I showed Amena and Seth the frames I’d like them to choose from (the $9.00 ones). As it turns out, they both found frames they liked in that section (which was nice because they didn’t really like the more expensive ones). So we went and got glasses ordered. Even with transitions lenses, the grand total for BOTH was only $195.00. What a relief! I was expecting more along the lines of $150.00 each because that’s what Daniel’s was with $9.00 frames and transition lenses. I guess we know who had the worst eyes. Since we’d already gotten the peaches, we were free to go home from there so we did once Seth and Cedric bought gum and Joseph and Cedric used the bathroom.
I still wasn’t in the greatest mood and wasn’t paying attention to the road much so we ended up taking a wrong turn. Two, actually. One while we were still in Lunenburg but it just took us by Fitchburg State University and dumped us on the road we’d have been on anyway. And, quite frankly, I think it was shorter than the way I usually go (which won’t be true once school starts in a couple of weeks). The second wrong turn was farther on. I should have gone left to finish going through Fitchburg and then into Westminster but I went right which took us through a different part of Fitchburg and then a different part of Westminster before dumping us in Ashburnham. Which was okay as it took us right by the church once we were in Gardner so we left our garbage there. It’s actually a pretty drive going the way we did, it just takes a little longer.
Now we are home again. Paul and Laura are gone, which I expected, and Joanna has put a load of laundry on to wash. Unfortunately, it will need to be dried which is not good because today is already warmer than yesterday which was warmer than the day before which was beautiful. So, the dryer will add heat and humidity and on top of that I’ll be adding heat and humidity by canning peaches (and most likely making pickles) today. So, we’re in for a hot and humid day. At least at the end of it we will have some yummy peaches and pickles.
Once we got home and got everything in the house, I got a drink of water and realized that while we were at Walmart in Lunenburg, I could have gotten some salt for the water as the water was pretty gross and in need of new salt. That being the case, I went to the Walmart here and got six bags (they’re 40 pounds each so I was hauling 240 pounds of salt around inside Walmart while I also got cocoa powder, baking chocolate, regular and wide mouth lids for canning and sugar. You push (or pull, as I did) 240 pounds around in a cart at Walmart and let me know your opinions. At home, I brought in all the bags but left the salt in the back of the truck.
We had tacos for supper and I let everyone have a peach for dessert. They are sooooo good! I am glad that I got them and I am planning on getting more next week. I am envisioning peaches in jars and peaches in cobbler and peaches just sitting on the counter being beautiful. I love peaches (but not in jam).
Milking this morning was milking. Snowflake and Goldilocks are similar to milk in that their teats are pretty near the same size ad situated the same. I basically use three fingers for milking because if I use four, my pinkies get in the way and milk gets sprayed which is messy and wasteful. Snowflake just stands there for the most part once she’s done with her grain as opposed to Goldilocks who starts dancing. That’s not fun. I can use all four fingers with Princess but she’s now lopsided and has way more milk on her right side which gets milked by my left hand and my hand gets tired. Tandem is nice—right left right left right left, sing song sing song sing song. Left alone (or right) isn’t. Left left left left—no good. Even when I trade off every now and then, it’s still just something of a pain. At least she’s a good goat for the most part.
On the agenda for today is canning peaches, making pickles, collecting things from the garden, maybe making cake and maybe making spaghetti sauce. I will probably be picking Nick up between 10:00 and noon. So, a busy day.
I hope you all have a wonderful one.
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