785 (establishing direct control, Mercian King Offa re-asserts control of Kent deposing rival Egbert II; Charlemagne is also involved in the middle phase of the Saxon Wars)

Good morning! We had another busy day yesterday. In the morning we had school, as usual. Joseph was having trouble getting things done but Seth sailed through without any issues. After lunch the boys played with Legos for a while which isn’t a huge surprise around here. If school were nothing but playing with Legos and occasionally stuffed animals, it would be a breeze. Except when they decide to fight about them. That is never fun and at such times it is tempting for me to take them away and not let them play with them for weeks or even months or even years.

More water but less color now than there was last month.

About 2:30, we went out on our first letterboxing expedition. In the morning while the boys were working on school, I worked on our stamp. The first one I didn’t do so well and it was facing the wrong direction. The second one turned out better and was facing the right direction (which happens to be left). Emily and Adelaide West came over and we went with them. Emily had never been to Barre Falls Dam so I think it was fun for her to not only go letterboxing but to see something new. Adelaide seemed to have fun, too, and I know the boys liked having her along. They like to entertain her and everyone is entertained by her.

I love old cemeteries.

There are two at Barre Falls Dam and there were a couple of others that I printed the directions to but we really didn’t have time to look for them because we had a full rest of the day. One of them is supposed to be at a Warren Cemetery but where the map shows it is I really wonder because it’s right in the middle of some houses across Elm Street from the Center School. I might have to do some investigating on it. The other is on New Templeton Road. Maybe we’ll look for that one this afternoon.

Opening the first box.

After that, we got Cedric and went to Joanna’s to carve jack o’lanterns. That was fun in spite of the fact that we kind of had to hurry because Cedric had scouts. The funny thing is that Cedric is the one who needed to go somewhere and he was taking the longest to get his done. Joseph finished first although I scooped most of his innards out and Joanna did his cutting. Seth did his all by himself. Cedric had Joanna cut out his nose and mouth.

Cute (not so) little mushroom. It was about an inch and three quarters across and three high. There were some others that were about seven or eight inches in diameter.

On the way home to drop Seth and Joseph off and get Cedric’s book, I remember that I still needed to milk the goats. So I hurried (as much as you can hurry with such things) and got ready to milk and then went and did it. You can hurry to get ready and you can hurry in with the milk but you can’t really milk any faster than you can and the milk will not strain at a faster rate just because you’d like it to.

In spite of everything, Cedric was only fifteen minutes late and did not miss the night hike they had planned. I had managed to get my laptop and ear buds but instead of using them, ended up visiting with Deb Trottier (Ryan’s mom) the entire time. Paul Farrel and his mom arrived after the boys had left on their hike so Deb and I got to visit with Donna. That was nice. I now have a couple of people who either will or might be interested in milking goats for me when I need to be somewhere. Donna said she would be willing because it would be an occasional thing which she would not mind (they have male goats which you do not milk J) and Deb suggested that Kyle who lives next door to them might because he loves animals and would love to have a farm. He’s in 9^th grade.

I got the next campout paid for and then we went home. Except that Cedric was climbing a tree and Dillon Charland thought that our lovely green car was his brothers. That was kind of funny. When we got home, Paul had a bunch of stuff that needed to be put away. And I hadn’t had anything for dinner so I ate some Wheat Thins and yogurt dip. And a yogurt. And a handful of some spicy bean things that are kind of like poofy Cheetos. They are mostly flavor and air and I’m not terribly impressed. Unfortunately, Paul got about six bags of them for me; there is no way I’m going to eat them all. Another example of a good deal that isn’t.

And that is all for now. Have a terrifical day!