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.