Last Weekend of June

Good morning! Actually, it’s way too humid at the moment. There are three boys in the back room playing Uno. There are two girls upstairs slumbering and one not. There is one grown-up boy upstairs attempting to wake up. The goats are milked and the dogs fed and I am having graham crackers and milk for breakfast.

Saturday Paul took Cedric out to get some shorts in the morning and then came home and went to Worcester with Steve Trivett so that Bill Ence could look at the underside of the Prizm that the Trivett’s bought from us. While he was gone, Walter Cyr came over. Paul had called him a couple of times so Walter had tried calling Paul a couple of times and then just stopped by. Paul wants to get a very heavy wood stove from Walter’s house to take for recycling and they have been having no luck connecting on Saturday mornings.

Saturday afternoon Paul split wood. Cedric handed him the wood while Amena, Seth and Joseph stacked. I went out and helped for a while and then the end that Seth and I had been working on decided to fall over. The reasons included a bad foundation because it had been pushed over to the edge of the pallets on which the wood is stacked. Rather than restacking it there because that particular pallet really needs to be replaced, we started working on the other end where Amena had been working. After building up a section to about the right height, I decided that it would make sense to do two rows at once because it would be more stable so the second row was begun.

Saturday evening Paul took Seth out to get fuel and some shorts.

Pretty exciting day. I decided that it is never cool to only have one book going so I have Falls the Shadow upstairs and Brisinger downstairs. The only trouble with this arrangement is that it takes more days to finish one book. However, this is counterbalanced by the fact that two books are usually finished in the same amount of time that two books would be finished in.

Yesterday was yesterday. We went to church. I got to teach the Beehives and because I was there for that, Alicia Willard asked if I’d be willing to teach Laurels in July. She needed someone for two weeks and wondered if I’d be willing to do both or would just want one. I’m fine with both and said so and she was so happy. She said she’d asked about seven people and none of them were willing/able to do it. Quite frankly, I think that’s ridiculous. Not that she’d asked, but that no one would do it. Seriously—what’s wrong with people? The only reason I’d say no is if I already had committed to doing something else at the same time or if I had plans to be somewhere else.

Jeremy West fixed my computer up so it is all better now. Sigh. It is nice to have friends who are able and willing to do such wonderful things. It really is. He took it to church yesterday so I brought it home and have been catching up. So nice.

Yesterday afternoon, Paul and I took the boys to Comet Pond. They had fun in spite of everything. For one thing, we went before it closed so there were too many people there. For another thing, there were four life guards and a guy from DCR there so about half an hour before closing, they had everyone get out of the water for a ‘safety check’ which included the lifeguards taking magnets along the bottom of the swimming area in order to find fishing hooks. More about that in a minute. For another thing, they lock the gate at 6:30 and ask everyone to get out of the water at 5:30 because they actually close at 6:00. That part isn’t too bad because you can park along the highway (and people do all the time). For another thing, you can’t use masks if they cover your nose. For another thing, you can’t use noodles.

Paul keeps his ears open all the time. I usually do but had taken knitting with me that needed some concentration so my ears weren’t working as well as they do most of the time. It appears that the reason parking permits, which had to be bought, are no more is because Hubbardston turned control of Comet Pond over to the state. This is why the guy from DCR was there and there were so many lifeguards. We’d only been there once before when they were ‘open’ and there was only one lifeguard on duty. Quite frankly, given the amount of space there is for swimming, I think having four lifeguards is a bit over much. So far, attendance has been pretty high this summer and if it continues to be high, the state wants to start charging $5 a head according to the DCR guy. $5 a head? Really? $5 a car, maybe.

And what is the point of not allowing masks if they cover your nose? Is there a safety hazard? If you are under the water, it isn’t like you’d be breathing in through your nose and most likely you’d be breathing out through your mouth. And what’s the deal of not allowing noodles? Is it just because the state is in charge now so we have to have a bunch of arbitrary rules? I mean, seriously? What harm are noodles? Granted, the kids like to blow water on each other with them, but that doesn’t hurt anyone and they wouldn’t do it to people they don’t know. When they are playing with them at home (and shouldn’t be) they will hit each other (which is why they aren’t allowed other than in the water) and that doesn’t feel too good, but they don’t do that when they have them in the water. It isn’t like they’d be going out into water that is too deep for them with them because the rope is so close now that Seth was more than half-way out to it and the water was only up to his waist. It driveth me crazy and causeth me to think that government is all corrupt, crazy, way out in left field, unaware of reality, out of control.

Today is today. Since I’ve been reading so much, Laura thinks I should read the book she’s been working on. I’ve read part of it but not the whole thing and some of it still needs editing so I will perform that service for her. The only problem with this is that I’ve been doing so much reading lately that I am ready to do more writing. I guess that means I really need to speed up the reading so I can finish the books I’m on and then the last ones for each series. Maybe I’ll be done by the end of the week.

And, pretty much, that is about it for now. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

(And, Diane, don’t get rid of your goats yet—I’ll tell you more on the phone.)