Jump Start

Good afternoon!

Somehow, in the morning the following day, I manage to forget to mention things that I spent time thinking about the previous day. For example, since we got Misty, I’ve been thinking about dogs and cats and people. Misty is super cute and had a good day yesterday with no messes in the house. She follows me everywhere and even likes to sit with me on the couch if I’m reading (I finished the book I wanted to, by the way). Right now, she’s under the table as I’m sitting here typing this. She loves to play but not alone. She likes to be outside, but preferably with someone. Anyway, she’s a pretty good dog but she is a dog.

It seems to me, and if you don’t like my overgeneralizations, that’s fine but I won’t apologize for them, that dogs are, in general, high maintenance, and cats are low maintenance. The people who love dogs, have very low tolerance for people who would be considered to be high maintenance. The people who love cats have more tolerance for people who are high maintenance. Overgeneralized, I know, but I stand by it.

What a beautiful day!

The boys and I had a good time replacing flags at the cemetery this afternoon. I picked them up from the school and we drove to the cemeteries just south of Hubbardston (technically just south of the center of Hubbardston—I still have a hard time with the way towns and cities are set up in Massachusetts). I didn’t take any pictures but it was just beautiful out and the boys really enjoyed doing it. Of course, I could feel the tears just wanting to come when I saw people who were born the same year as Papa or served in the same war. Mom, there was one guy who was born just 17 days before you; he served in Vietnam, as one might guess. I just love cemeteries; they’re so peaceful.

And now I need to go to Barre to pick Amena up.

The flag Seth put on Daniel's grave.

And tomorrow morning, if there is someone in labor or due to be induced, I won’t have time to get anything written. But if I do it now, I should be able to post it quick in the morning before I go. Good strategy, eh? I could even go so far as to have it already saved as a draft on the blog and then actually do the posting in the morning. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! (Now tell me what movie that’s from.)

The kittens getting adventurous.

I decided to just for fun and because I really didn’t feel like dealing with dinner to take the boys to Friendly’s to eat. Well, and to give Joanna a nice tip. So, we went. I’d already decided to not go to church due to Amena’s not going to be there and Cedric’s having Scouts moved from last night to tonight. I really enjoyed doing the flags this afternoon and that’s what the Boy Scouts are doing tonight at the cemetery behind the church in the center of town.

Sooooo, at 5:00 the boys and I went to Friendly’s armed with one of my coupons for a free three scoop, two topping Sundae. Wednesday you can get two children’s meals for $1.99 with the purchase of an adult entrée so it really is a good day to go if you’re going to. And, going anywhere with Cedric, Seth, and Joseph is bound to be entertaining as long as you remember to take the right attitude with you. And especially since they are growing up a bit and are less likely to act like 2-year-olds. I was not disappointed.

We were sitting there with our drinks and Cedric was talking about you don’t know who sat there before you did. He said, “Someone could have had a nuclear fart right here. Or someone could have picked their nose and wiped it on the table like this (he demonstrated wiping an imaginary bugger right under the edge of the table) and you could go like this (he slid his hand along the table) and get it on your hand.”  I should have recorded the conversation, or at least written it down. He told Joanna that Friendly’s needs a couple of big televisions for people to watch. Joanna told her manager and she said to go to Buffalo Wild Wings. Then he asked if the volume for the music could be turned up and Joanna said, “No.”

“Well, does that mean they can’t turn it up or they can but they won’t?”

I told him it meant that they could, but they won’t. That, of course, stinks and is ridiculous.

Picking ice-cream was interesting. Seth and Joseph were supposed to get a one scoop, two-topping Sundae but Seth wanted two kinds of ice-cream. It just went on and on and on and was very entertaining. AND I got two survey things to fill out. I always do them for Joanna because she’s the best server there. And the cutest.

By the time we were done, we needed to get straight home to pick Amena up and drop her off at the triplets’ house so that we could get to Hubbardston and drop Cedric off. We did fairly well. Cedric wasn’t more than ten minutes late. I decided to not go to church. It really wasn’t a hard decision which is unfortunate but it is what it is. Once Cedric was dropped off with instructions to call if he needed a ride home, Seth, Joseph and I came home. I dropped them off at the bottom of our hill so that they could go pick up an item that needed to be returned to the house or barn (items such as bicycles, shovels, wagons, etc.). Then when they got up to the house they could watch a movie or play a game. Seth chose game, Joseph chose movie. I hope it’s about done because it’s half an hour past bedtime right now.

And I’m thinking it would be better for me to write posts in the evening rather than the morning because I’m thinking more about what happened during the day instead of what needs to happen during the day. I’m not sure it will change anytime soon because mornings typically work better but maybe I’ll give evenings more thought than I currently have. We shall see. The cool thing is that if no one is in labor or due to be induced, I’ll be all done and will have time in the morning to do things I wouldn’t if I wrote. And right now rather than folding clothes like I ought to be, I would probably be wasting time on the internet so it seems like a pretty good deal to me.

And since the movie isn’t over and I still have some time, I can tell you more! This is so awesome and groovy!

This morning Paul asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. I almost said, “As long as there isn’t a dog at the end of it,” but I controlled myself. It was to the barn to measure things. He is planning on working on the barn to get it ready for the goats. None too soon either, because although the door of the goat shed is in need of being replaced, the whole shed really could stand to be thrown in the burn pile; the floor is getting bouncy in places. Anyway, I’ve figured out a floor plan that will take up almost a quarter of the barn not counting hay storage. It will be nice to have the hay and grain all in the barn instead of in the house. The bucks are going to go one way or another and we will keep one of the young ones as a buck and the other as a wether. I think it’s all good and am curious as to how long it will take to implement everything.

Now the boys are getting ready for bed, or at least are upstairs, and Libby is not a happy goat. The kids are in the crate finally tonight so I don’t expect Libby to be a happy goat. I’m not sure why I insisted on having the kids in the crate because if there is someone in labor or an induction scheduled, I’ll have to milk before I go. Oh well, no one said anything I do has to make sense, right? Tonight might be a good night to sleep with ear buds in.

Other than everything else I’ve mentioned, I planted some flowers in pots this morning and planted some on Daniel’s grave this afternoon. There are more down by Daniel’s grave but the bugs were not really fun and Misty on a grave site is like the proverbial bull in a China shop. Not fun. So tomorrow or Friday I’ll finish that project. I also deposited in the garden a bunch of celery and avocados that Paul brought home from work. Blair bought a bunch of both and quite a bit went bad. They were all so far gone that the goats weren’t interested at all (and I still don’t understand why people think goats will eat anything—they actually tend to be somewhat picky eaters in my experience).

And tomorrow I’m on call. If no one is in labor or due to be induced (are you tired of reading that yet?), I might go to Auburn with Julia to the $1.99 fabric store. Otherwise, I’ll fold clothes and plant flowers and maybe come up with some bug spray using essential oils.

Have a splendiferous day!