Rainy Augst 12th

Good rainy morning to you! So far, other than having to get out of bed in the first place, so good. I got up, the dogs and I went for our morning walk, there were no puddles in the house (like there were the last two mornings), I went in the kitchen and was happily surprised that the dishes were done so I didn’t have to wash milking paraphernalia, milking went well and we got done as it began sprinkling and before the rain actually started. Seth is up and dressed for church and has eaten. No one else has managed to come down but I hear someone on the stairs. Cedric. Who is dressed; mostly.

Princess managed to get a bug bit or something on the very tip of her right teat and it bled a little bit and made a scab. For the past several days this has made milking something of a milky adventure. The first day, I picked the scab off which made her bleed as I was milking. I don’t mind blood in the milk too much IF I know where it’s coming from because it settles to the bottom and the top can be poured off and the part with blood discarded (or given to the canine girls). However, it’s better just to avoid it if possible so the next day, I just milked with the scab in place. It took forever and milk was coming out in two medium streams and a couple of small ones. I could sort of aim a larger stream into the bucket but then all the rest went out. I could sort of aim everything in the bucket and some would get there, but much did not. Yesterday was worse in that it took longer and sprayed, literally, everywhere. It was something like an umbrella of milk. Today was much better. I picked at her scab deciding that today I’d deal with blood if there was any, I didn’t want to sit out for a million years just to milk one goat. As it turns out, the scab must have been about ready to come off because there was no blood. It was so nice to milk normally and get her right side emptied out all the way.

I’m trying to remember what happened yesterday. It was Saturday and so some Saturday things got done. Joanna worked. Laura helped change the catalytic converter. Paul did some stuff. I did some stuff.

Joanna got off work when she was supposed to at 1:15 so she got home about 1:35. Laura was done with the converter at about noon and made $100 doing it. She was offered more but wouldn’t take it. I cleaned the upstairs bathroom sink because it had mess in it from the bedroom painting project. I also worked on the counter in the kitchen because there comes a point when I can’t handle everything being there. Paul worked on getting ready to pour cement for the last side of the chicken coop foundation. He had to stop when he disturbed a couple of yellow jacket or wasp or hornet nests in the roots of some weeds. He came inside and found the bug spray and went out and sprayed. He also went to the bank in there somewhere. After lunch, Adam came over so he could take Paul to pick up the Jetta. Before they left, they knocked down the nest on the eve of the front porch (the picture from yesterday), sprayed it and Paul drove over it in the truck. Seth is disappointed because he wanted to take it to school for show and tell.

Laura started the dishes after lunch but then had to take a shower because she was planning on going to a Young Single Adult activity in Worcester. Her ride showed up at 3:00 before Laura was completely ready. Her ride was Kim Trivett who happens to be nice and easy to talk to so we visited for the few minutes it took for Laura to finish getting ready. Can you believe she insisted on brushing her teeth? I told her no one would care; that she could have just taken a pack of gum with her. She didn’t go for it.

I thought I was going to have to go pick Amena up at the West’s but she wanted to earn some money picking up rocks out of their yard so she did that and Emily just brought Amena home since she had some errands to run anyway. I love people like that. So many people from around here complain if they have to go more than five seconds out of their way, it’s a breath of fresh air when someone doesn’t mind. And I’m more likely to be willing to meet them half way. So anyway, Amena got home sometime between five and six I think.

Since it started raining in the early afternoon, I let the boys watch Spiderman 3 after they brought the goats in and took showers. Then we ate fish sticks and leftovers for supper, had family prayer and read scriptures and ate ice-cream.

When Paul got home, he had five big bags of popsicles and four pork loin roasts that needed to be transferred quickly to the freezer. He got the popsicles thinking that it had cooled down so it would be safe to get them. Then he got outside and realized, it wasn’t any cooler and was in fact even more humid. This meant that he couldn’t really stop for fuel or at the other store he wanted to other than to run in quick and get what he’d gone to Leominster for in the first place (more pizza for tomorrow).

I finished cleaning off the counter for the most part. There are still the things on it that sort of live on it until the back room is finished and there is a pile of library books that I was going to return to the library when I went to pick Amena up. Now, if I happen to get a few boxes of peaches, I’ll be able to get them done without having to clean the kitchen. That will be nice. I need to make some phone calls and see about making that happen.

Well, I need to go speed some people along in getting ready this morning. I hope you have a deliciously wonderful day!