Happy Birthday, Aunt Julie! (And spoiler alert for Star Wars.)

Good morning! And a Happy Birthday to Aunt Julie! I hope you have a fantastic day!

Yes, I should be out milking but Zoey isn’t giving much milk right now so a wait won’t kill her. Also, if I am still at this in ten minutes or so, I’m going to need a break anyway so it really isn’t a matter of life and death.

I have been very quiet as of late for several reasons. One being that I have been busy. There is so much to do, never enough time to do it. Still, if not for the next reason, I’m sure I would have still found time. Another is that a couple of weeks ago I was in the middle of a project and I got up to do something in the kitchen and when I turned around, my screen had gone blank other than a Microsoft logo and a circle indicating that something was happening. Well, nothing really was and it appears that my hard drive fried. This is the second time since I’ve had that lap top which has been only four years. Highly annoying because I had so much stuff on it that I hadn’t backed up; namely my story about Hywel and Cailín and all of my doula and midwifery homework.

However, last night I went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens with a friend, Diana Chunn, and Joanna. It was fun. It was annoying. If you have not seen it yet and do not want any unwanted rather blatant plot hints, you should go see it first. Just let it be known that I have warned you so you can’t get mad at me if you find out more than you want to.

For one thing, I’m pretty sure I read at some point in time that George Lucas had decided not to do any further movies because there was so much material already out there in the form of books published about the Expanded Star Wars Universe. At one point in time, I had around fifty of these books and had read them all. At that point, there were approximately fifty more in publication that I did not have and I felt so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of material combined with  my lack of money to buy the books and my lack of time to read them if by chance I found the money that I sold them at a yard sale. Only four exceptions including The Art of Star Wars which included the script and the three books from the original movies. I still kick myself over this upon occasion; some of those books were very well written by some very good authors. And right now I could use them for reference.

For another thing, I did a search before beginning to write/type this: “how is star wars the force awakens different from the books” (using correct capitalization doesn’t typically matter so I don’t usually bother when performing a search although sometimes I do). Hmmmm. Well. It’s time to go milk because once I continue down this particular path, there will be no turning back. See ya!

In other news while I’m waiting for the water bucket to fill, I’ve begun saving anything important on my R2D2 flash drive and that is where this document will be living once I’ve finished up for today.

In the past couple of weeks we’ve had two goats die. They were both young but I have no idea what happened with either one. Twinkle Toes got diarrhea and it had gone away but then he just got super thin and fell asleep and didn’t wake up. Gabriel seemed fine until a couple of days ago when Seth and Joseph went out and said that he was laying down and couldn’t get up. They took a blanket out and put him on it with lots of hay piled up around him and some grain to nibble at but the next morning he was dead. We still have Zoey and Goldilocks but that’s it. I don’t get it. Julia actually asked if someone might be poisoning them; someone cut the Christmas lights she had on her porch into about 9-inch lengths so I guess it’s possible.

Also on my fried hard drive is all the stuff for Seth and Joseph for school. Let me just say that that is highly annoying. Starting over from scratch is not really much fun. Unless perhaps you want to make big changes, which I did not.

Now I’ve milked and eaten breakfast and helped Joseph scramble eggs. Time to get back to this Star Wars thing.

Maybe I shouldn’t make such a big deal about things. Maybe I should. Maybe if George Lucas had been in charge things would be different. Maybe not. I think they would. This is why: ‘Lucas was initially involved as creative consultant,[2] though he stepped away due to Disney's descision to take the story in a different direction than his original outlines.[24][25] He later elaborated in an interview with Stephen Colbert: "The original saga was about the father, the children, and the grandchildren. I don’t think that's a secret to anybody—that’s in the novels—and the children were in their 20s and everything. But they’ve taken it in a different direction, and I'm excited—they didn’t use my story, so I don’t know what they’re doing."[26]’

Here are the notes from the above paragraph (which I got from Wookieepeida: The Star Wars Wiki’s Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens):

24. Breznican, Anthony (November 20, 2015). George Lucas on new Star Wars film: 'They weren’t keen to have me involved'. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on November 22, 2015.

25. Romano, Nick (January 20, 2015). How George Lucas' Star Wars 7 Ideas Were Used By Disney. Cinema Blend. Retrieved on January 20, 2015.

26. Crow, David (April 18, 2015). Stephen Colbert Says He Never Wanted to Host the Daily Show. Retrieved on April 25, 2015.

One of these days I think I’ll read the sources but that day is not this day (partly because I gave the goats hay and I’m beginning to itch and I’d really like to get this done before I take a shower).

So, Lucas is quoted as saying Disney had “taken it in a different direction…” Let me just say that I’ve never been a huge Disney fan to begin with and I guess I should not have been too surprised. I mean, really, every movie they’ve done based on a book or story has been changed from the original. Plus, I can’t stand Snow White.

Well, they departed. Big time. Big, huge, humongous, gargantuan, time. I can’t begin to overemphasize this. Gigantic, colossal changes. Holy freaking heck, man!

Han and Leia do get married (which is not actually mentioned in The Force Awakens) and they do have offspring. But instead of a boy named Ben, they have twins named Jacen and Jaina as well as another son named Anakin (which Han was in favor of but Leia really had to work through because she had to forgive her father before agreeing to name him that). Luke marries a woman named Mara Jade who is the Hand of Thrawn. Thrawn was a grand admiral, and not human which is amazing because Palpatine did not like non-humans. At first, Mara’s job was to kill Luke but with the death of Thrawn, Mara was able to overcome her brainwashed past and while fighting the Ssi-ruuk, they fell in love and were married (long, interesting courtship, they had). They had a son named Ben and he was a good ten years or so younger than Han and Leia’s children. So the fact that the bad guy wearing the mask is Han and Leia’s son named Ben just doesn’t work for me. Sorry, Disney, big fail on that one.

Jacen actually does turn to the Dark Side and becomes a Sith Lord and his sister Jaina is the one who kills him but that happens in the books after I stopped reading (I need to do some more reading, I think).

Chewbacca is in The Force Awakens. I love Chewy, don’t get me wrong. But he was killed in a battle with the Ssi-ruuk. His death was devastating; not just to Han and company, but to the reader. I still can’t believe it happened. And yet it did. Death is like that. At the point this movie is taking place, he should only be appearing in flashbacks. I guess I knew when Peter Mayhew was slated to be on the cast for this movie that all was not well but one can always hope.

Luke is instrumental in finding those strong in the force to found a New Order of Jedi. He may have been the last one for a time, but certainly not long enough to go off and hide from the universe because his sole pupil went bad. He did teach the twins and Anakin but as of the time I stopped reading the books, none of them had gone bad. There was a young man who did. His name was Kip something and he did cause a lot of damage but he did turn away from the path he was taking toward the Dark Side although he died in the process.

There is no Resistance. Leia is elected as Chief of State after Mon Mothma of the New Republic which she did a lot to help create. There is no First Order, which in The Force Awakens is the remnants of the Empire.  

And Supreme Leader Snoke? Are you kidding me? The actor who plays the part is good (it’s the guy who played Gollum) but that’s all I can say positive about him. The name is laughable. The character is ridiculous.

All I can do is release a huge sigh and wonder if I’ll live through watching it again when I take the boys. The purist in me says no. The purist in me says I shouldn’t even take them because they won’t even know the difference between the real story and this piece of crap that is making Disney a cartload of money. And I didn’t realize I felt quite so strongly about it, but I guess I do.

However—Will I go watch the next installment? Yes, I will. But only to see how the story progresses, not because I love Star Wars. Honestly, I really hope that none of the actors read any of the books because to have read them and to agree to take part in this enterprise would be sacrilege of the highest order.

So, my low down is this: the special effects are fantastic (way better than Episodes IV, V, and VI), the acting is pretty good (way better than Episodes I, II, and III), the story leaves a heck of a lot to be desired and I honestly do not recommend it for people who love the Expanded Star Wars Universe.

Have a great day!

Poop

Good morning! Actually, I’ll let you know how good it is in about six minutes when I know if Amena and Cedric both got on the bus. Actually, I’ll let you know if it is good at that point. If it isn’t, I’ll be catching up with the bus. Or at least if they don’t get on the bus, I’d better be catching up because I’m not making three trips to Barre today.

Yesterday was okay. Saturday was okay. Friday was okay.

I like this picture.

Friday Seth, Joseph and I went to Barre Falls Dam to plant Joanna’s Wild Child letterbox. I was expecting to do a loop but when we were at about the 1.7 mile mark I realized I should have looked at the maps more closely because there is a gap in the trail when it comes to a river. A gap where there used to be a bridge that is no longer there.

I like this one, too.Except that there are obvious issues with the "stitching" that took place. You should let me know if you find one or more. One thing for sure--Massachusetts isn't all that green right now.

So, Covered River Road is no longer appropriately named. We could have gone on a different loop but with just my phone it was hard to know for sure how long it was.

There might be something hiding on the other side of this tree/these trees if you happen to go letterboxing.

It looked longer than the one I’d been hoping to take and I knew that if we took too long we’d be dealing with the sun setting so we just went back the way we’d come and found a place to plant Joanna’s box. I think we found a good spot and in the future sometime, I want to take that other loop.

Just hanging out.

Saturday involved collecting food for Scouting for Food and planting garlic and cleaning out one room for the goats. (Amena made the bus but at the other end of the driveway.) Collecting food was easy. Cleaning out the goat part of the barn was easy. Planting garlic was easy. Cedric was supposed to empty the manure out of the truck into the last two beds I currently have in the garden and took all day. Joseph helped with garlic. We had to pull some grass out of the bed first and it was the stuff with the really long roots.

The garlic bed before working on it.

When I had the garlic in but not covered he thought one of the cloves was some of the grass and pulled it up. His expression was priceless but of course I didn’t catch it with the camera. He did a fine job of returning it to the dirt.

The garlic bed ready for garlic.

The main reason I wanted to clean out the goat barn was to mulch the garlic and Egyptian walking onions (they were planted Saturday as well). That was accomplished and I covered two other beds with mulchy stuff as well. I’m not sure when I’ll get to the rest of the barn but I’ll cover as many beds as possible with what I get from it. I need to fix the two beds behind the house and decide where I want them so that they can be filled, hopefully before snow flies.

Yesterday was just Sunday. Other than Paul, Seth and Joseph taking the collected food to Rutland, it was a pretty typically average Sunday.

One thing I thought interesting which I don’t really want to elaborate on much, Dan talks to Joanna and tells her that the reason he isn’t smiling in any of her wedding pictures is because of me and he has nothing good to say about anyone and thought that none of us wanted him there (which may have been true). He called two Sundays ago and the boys weren’t here so he wanted to talk to me and he’s all just the same as usual; somewhat awkward and telling me that he thinks we all need counselling and then making a big point of telling me that Laura said goodbye when he left. Great. Interestingly, Cedric and Amena had the biggest problems they’ve had for some time within 48 hours of this conversation. Yesterday, he told Cedric that the reason he called back at 9:00 the previous Sunday (which call was not answered because I didn’t hear my phone ringing because someone turned the volume off) was to see if perhaps Cedric had wanted to ask if he could go live with Dan. Really? He still has nothing good to say about me or any of the rest of us even after going on rather extensively when he came out for the wedding telling me how he’d been working on forgiving everyone. I don’t think he has. I think he is an interesting mix of a narcissist and something else and the only feeling I have for him now is pity that he must stay in the past and is not able to move on. Well, that’s not entirely true but I’ve spent more time on the subject than I was going to.

And, I’m sorry to say, I’m not done. I did not spend any time writing anything between October 5 and about the 15^th. I picked Dan up from the train station in Fitchburg on the Thursday before the wedding which happened to be my and Paul’s anniversary. I gave Dan, Seth and Joseph a ride to Dunn Park later that day. I gave them a ride to Walmart the next day. Saturday I picked Dan up and took him to the wedding. I may not have particularly enjoyed my time with him but I think that Joanna did the right thing in inviting him and I was doing my best to do the right thing as well. It is true that Paul did not want him to be there. He didn’t want to sit at the same table as Dan and I can understand that. Joanna had her reasons for putting him at the table with us and I happen to agree with them. It annoys the heck out of me that I went out of my way to do things for this man and all he can do is say that it is because of me he didn’t smile for the pictures. Get over it.

Now I’m done. For today.

Up for today are fairly typical Monday-type activities.  I am going to make an apple pie with dried apples later today and see how much pumpkin I have in the basement for pumpkin pie. I’m not feeling any particular urge to make any other pies so I probably won’t. I think Paul said yesterday he’d cook the turkey. Honestly, that’s the least of my worries. It’s super easy to take care of the turkey; it’s everything else that is time consuming and I usually hate doing. Thanksgiving is fine and we should be thankful for our blessings but I think we overdo it and I honestly hate having to make all this food so we can behave in a gluttonous manner for a few minutes. Seriously. Where else do people spend days cooking and baking for a meal that takes about fifteen minutes to consume? Really. I timed us a year or two ago. Everyone was done eating in about fifteen minutes. That didn’t include pie because, unlike Paul, I like to have my pie later, but still. Fifteen minutes and it’s done.

Have a wonderful day.

Mockingjay, Part 2

Good morning. The link to sourdough carrot cake still is not working so I guess there won’t be any today, either. That’s okay because we really don’t need anything like that. I mean, I did make sourdough chocolate cake yesterday and Joanna brought us cinnamon rolls last night. It just doesn’t get much better than that. The amazing thing is that after eating two of them, Lincoln said he really doesn’t like them. Joanna says he’s perfectly happy to eat the sticky buns or whatever they are that come in a package for a dollar. I think he and Paul must be related; they both like crap from the store way too much. Paul may like more of it, though.

If you haven't read the book or seen the movie and you plan on going to watch the movie, you might want to skip the rest.

Joanna and I went to see Mockingjay Part 2 and it was good. It didn’t depart from the book as much as I thought it was going to from the previews which is good. There were some annoying places where it obviously did but overall, it was good. I do wonder about a couple of things, though.

Did Snow really think that Coin had been playing her own game in a bid to take over his position? I personally think he did. I mean, a snake can see and recognize a snake, right? Honestly, I think I like Snow better than Coin (if you can imagine liking either of them) because, as he said, “At least I don’t waste resources.” Coin obviously was quite willing to do so. This is evident when she was willing to send in the bombs that first killed many innocent children and then the medics and others who’d gone to assist the victims of the first blast.

When Boggs told Katniss that Coin had wanted Peeta all along, it seemed clear that he knew what Coin had planned. In spite of the fact that he worked for Coin and was loyal to her, he also knew what the focus needed to be. He knew what Katniss had planned to do and he supported that. On the other hand, Katniss was more likely to be killed by going to the Capital than by staying in District 13 so in a way, Boggs was actually doing Coin a favor. I think Coin was perfectly aware of how things were likely to play out when she told Katniss to stay in District 13. I like Boggs. In the book I like him a lot more. In the movie it just seems too obvious that he is actually playing into Coin’s hands whereas in the book, he is helping things move along as they need to. This, I believe is at least partly attributable to the timeline in the movie versus the timeline in the book. What takes weeks to unfold in the book happens in just a couple of days in the movie.

Then there is Plutarch. Did he know what Coin had up her sleeve? He obviously knew Coin before the events unfold in either the book or the movie as he was part of the underground movement but how well did he know her and what she ultimately wanted? I think he knew a lot. Coin wanted Peeta. Plutarch wanted Katniss. Peeta would have been perfect for what Coin wanted from a mockingjay; saying and doing the right thing was instinctual for him. Peeta would not have worked for what Plutarch wanted and knew would need to happen, based on my thought that he knew exactly what Coin was up to. Katniss worked pretty well as the mockingjay; all that needed to happen for her to say the right thing was to get her angry. Maybe angry isn’t the right word. She needed to have her righteous indignation riled up. That isn’t the same thing as being angry. Still, Katniss was exactly what Plutarch needed to bring about what was ultimately best for Panem.

Finally, when did Katniss decide to kill Coin rather than Snow? I believe in the book she had only the one arrow. In the movie I don’t recall if she had one but it seems like she may have had more. Had she made up her mind before she marched out? Did she make a final decision just before she let lose the arrow? I do not believe her action was premeditated. Clearly, she had to meet Snow and have a conversation with him in his garden because without that, she would not have known exactly what kind of a person Coin was or what her intentions were. That she was not a kind or even a good person, Katniss knew. That she wanted to take over was beginning to be noticeably apparent when she answered Haymitch’s pointed question about the length of time she would need to be an interim president. He was obviously quite aware of the inherent dangers of this action.

All of this just leads to one question: what would have happened had Effie not pulled Prim’s name out? From that moment, everything began working to bring about the downfall of Snow and his government and, ultimately, Coin’s ambitions to take his place. Were there others in other districts who could have done what Katniss did? Was there anyone else in District 12 who could have? Maybe, maybe not.

Anyway, just some of my thoughts. I’m ready to go watch it again, but from the back of the theater this time (we sat pretty close to the front and it’s kind of hard to watch the whole thing from that angle), and if the new Star Wars movie does as well as Mockingjay Part 2, the world will be a good place for a few hours.

Have a spectacular day!

Creative Sleep

Good morning! Yes, it is almost time for the boys to start school. Yes, it is true I am still sitting at the table just finishing my cranberry orange bread and milk for breakfast. Yes, there are a million things I could be doing. However, I was perusing Facebook because the recipe for sourdough carrot cake won’t load from the King Arthur Flour website so I had to do something, right?

While in the middle of said perusing, I came upon a post by a friend. Or perhaps repost is a better word. In either case, she’d posted, or reposted, an article about sleeping late and how people who do are smarter and more creative. Hmmmm. Becky might agree with that, I don’t know. It was in composing a response to this that I determined it is because of things like this that a blog is really the way for me to go—most people post relatively short responses to posts. I attempt to write a book. Or at least a lengthy essay.

I’m not sure I agree. I like getting up early. Honestly, 5:00 is a bit much but usually only when I have to in order to make sure Amena and Cedric are getting up. Really, all I’m doing is waking them up. They don’t typically GET up until I go the second time which is supposed to be 5:30 but sometimes isn’t. If I were getting up just because I wanted to, the story changes altogether.

Going with a completely voluntary getting up in the morning, I still like to be up sometime between five and six. It is quiet; there usually aren’t other people up and about and if they are, they don’t often have demands. I can get things done (think creative here). I can work on log/notebooks. I can knit (which I don’t usually do unless I have something to watch/listen to). I can work on my own school work. I can wash dishes (which provides time for thinking creative thoughts). I can do nothing. I can read. I can bake and/or cook. I can look things up online which is usually for a creative or educational purpose (but not always).

When do I go to bed? Well, in order to get up at 5:00 because I need to wake children up, I need to get to bed around 10:00. In order to get up between 5:00 and 6:00, I can go to bed later. In Idaho, I found it very easy to get up with the sun in the summer before 5:00 and go to bed with the sun after 8:00. Keep in mind that just because sunrise is at 4:42, the sky is getting light before that and just because sunset is at 8:51, the sky is light beyond that. I remember being up at 10:00pm and it not being dark and I remember being up at 3:00am and it not being dark.

What does this all mean? Just that I don’t think when I go to bed or get up has anything to do with my creative juices. On the other hand, if I’m feeling particularly creative at 9:30 at night, I’m not likely to want to go to bed at 10:00 and probably won’t. I may or may not have trouble getting up at 5:00 the next morning. But I really don’t think it makes any difference when it comes to my creativity. I won’t comment on my intelligence and you can infer from that whatever you’d like.

And that, my friends, is why I should have a blog rather than just post replies to what other people post, or repost, on Facebook.

In other news, I think I’m done with my Hywel and Cailín story. I don’t have a title for it yet and Laura is going to do some proofreading for me. I’ve sent her the first ten chapters so far. I’ve been reading/proofreading for her as well. I’ve done everything she’s sent me so far and now I need more.

Joanna and I are going to go see Mockingjay part 2 tonight at 9:30. That should be fun. There is a showing at 7:00 as well but I want to wait until the boys are in bed.

Right now in the oven I have a sourdough chocolate cake. I’m going to put just regular frosting on it rather than using the recipe that is with the cake. That stuff is just too much. Too much sweet. Too much coffee flavor. Too  much volume. Also, I have a pot of Diane’s beans on the stove and a loaf of sourdough bread to go with them for lunch. I want the cake to be for lunch as well. I really wanted to make a sourdough carrot cake for lunch but the recipe won’t load from the King Arthur website and I’d kind of like to give it a try before another one. On the other hand, if it turns out that it’s pretty close to the others I’ve found, I might just be annoyed and irritated. On the other hand, I’ve got a chocolate cake in the oven so what difference does it make at the moment?

And that’s if for now. Have a lovely day.

Cold Camping

Good morning, one and all! What a lovely day it is! Cold, but lovely. I wasn’t going to write this morning because, like the previous several, I just don’t feel like it. However, there isn’t really anything else I feel like doing either so this won.

Happy Birthday to my baby sister, Marie!

Friday night Joseph and I went on a Bear Cub Scout campout. Friday night we had pita pizza, Dutch oven pineapple upside down cake, and s’mores. Not bad and all utilized the camp fire. The boys came up with some pretty interesting scary stories. It was cold, but we’ve got decent sleeping bags (each one consists of three bags and each bag increases the cold rating). In spite of the bags, I discovered that if you go to bed with cold feet, a good bag is not going to help. The rest of me was fine, my feet froze. As a result, and partly because I forgot my pillow, I didn’t sleep much. I know I did some because I had a dream, but not much. Plus, at least two of the other parents were snoring. Just FYI. The snoring didn’t keep me awake; I’ve slept through Paul snoring and if I can do that, I should be able to sleep through anything. Except cold feet.

Joseph and I were in the green tent. When I saw this picture and in light of the attacks on Paris the previous night, I wondered how many of these boys might find themselves at some point in their lives facing cold, unpleasant conditions as soldiers. While I hope it does not happen, it could. World War I was the "war to end all wars." What might the future hold for these boys? Indeed, for all of us?

In the morning, I mixed up the sourdough pancake stuff that I’d taken for breakfast and stuffed sleeping bags into bags and took them home so Seth and Cedric could use them for their scout campout/hike. I milked once I got home and then Cedric wanted to know if he could use my boots. Well, I left them at Brinker’s (where Joseph and I camped out) so we had to go get them. Once we left, Cedric realized he’d forgotten the food for dinner at home so we had to go home and get it. In spite of all the fun stuff, we still made it to the Carignan’s before 8:00. Only by three minutes, but still..... There was only one other car already there (not counting Carignan’s) and on the way out, I saw four or five going the other way. Most of them waved and/or I recognized.

Once I got back, there were two pieces of bacon for me and there were some still slightly warm pancakes so I had breakfast. After clean up there was knot review and then Whittling Chip fun. It was cold. But my feet were much happier with Birkenstocks than with boots. When I asked Joseph if he had fun, I fully expected him to mention the cold but he just said, “Yeah, it was fun.” He didn’t mention the cold at all.

For the Whittling Chip, Joseph took a bar of soap that I’d made, of course. The other boys had Irish Spring, Dove and Ivory. One of them said something and I said, “I don’t even touch that stuff.” One of the dads, after examining the label, said, “You just do everything, don’t you?” Well, yes, yes, I do. If I decide I want to do something, I do it. And since the soap I make is far better than the crap (oops, did I say that?) from the store, you bet.

This is Pack 12 at the top of Mount Monadnock holding a French flag to show their support for Paris. And, I think, the world. Cedric is behind the white stripe and Seth is sitting on the rock wearing the maroon sweatshirt.

When we got home, I had lots to keep me occupied. I finished some sourdough bread I’d been working on for a few days and made English muffins. There were dishes that had accumulated so a few got done and then I’d make more and then some would get done and then I’d make more. I also made some carmelized sourdough biscuits. The onions smelled heavenly but the biscuits are not on my list of have-to-make-again recipes. The bread turned out beautifully in spite of the fact that I forgot to score the top before baking and this morning I made my bruschetta using it and it tastes really good in spite of the fact I forgot to put salt in when mixing the dough. It has that lovely sheen that you expect from a good sourdough bread and it is most definitely on my list of have-to-make-again recipes. I’ll make sure to not forget the salt next time and I’ll start adding whole wheat flour and see what happens.

For dinner we had the English muffins and biscuits. To go with the English muffins we had a ham steak and eggs and I made hollandaise sauce as suggested by the blog for the English muffins. I would add more lemon juice next time but it is super easy and turned out super thick.

The dishes finally were done and I started folding the mountain of clothes on the couch while I listened to a couple of really good conference talks.

This morning I milked and had breakfast. Joseph had breakfast and is whittling another bar of soap. Amena went to take care of Ben, the horse next door down the street. Paul already showered and is actually eating breakfast.

At some point, I will need to pick Cedric and Seth up at Carrignan’s and this afternoon I have a midwifery workshop to attend.

Have a wonderful day!

Carving

This is going to be short because there is so much to do and so little time in which to accomplish it all.

Every stamp, at least those that I carve, begins with a drawing.

Life has been very life-like around here as of late. Yesterday there was no school for the Quabbin district so I scheduled Seth and Joseph for no school as well. I really think it would be difficult to get work done with the distractions provided by a Cedric and an Amena. I know they can be distracting when I’m attempting to get things done sometimes.

The drawing is transferred to the Speedy-Carve (which is a lot like a 4" x 6" x 1/4" eraser).

Yesterday I had an appointment with the dentist in the morning. That went well. No cavities. After, since I was already out and about, I decided to go to Michael’s to get some Speedy-Carve. That’s the stuff that I use to carve stamps. Since I was near the exit for Coggshall Park, I thought I’d go check on “To Have a Child....” because someone reported that they couldn’t find it. I parked in the parking lot and got out and realized Birkenstocks were not the best footwear for such an activity so I left and went home.

Then carving begins. This is really not a good picture but at least you can tell I've been doing something due to all the little shavings or whatever you call the little pieces of stuff I've carved off the block. Or sheet. Or whatever.

I really wanted to take the boys to Barre Falls Dam and do the Cold Creek loop but they took turns not cooperating so it ended up never happening. Very annoying because it was a beautiful day just perfect for a lovely hike in the woods. If they get done early enough today, we will go today instead. (Actually, I think these plans have changed since the Cub Scouts will be doing this hike Sunday and I would like to go with them. We will go to Dunn Park maybe and find some of the stamps we haven't there yet.)

All finished. Can you tell what it is?

There was a Pack 12 leaders meeting last night. Before I left, I told the boys that they needed to recite an Article of Faith for scriptures and that they should say family prayer even though it was only them. Cedric did the 1^st AofF and I thought he would only want to do that but he told Seth and Joseph to do one as well. Can’t complain about that. Seth did the 4^th (it’s is favorite, I think) and Joseph did the 6^th. Cedric also said a prayer. And, yes, I am relying on Seth and Joseph for reporting most of this.

I always have to try it out to make sure it doesn't need any fine-tuning. I didn't think this did so this is what it is.

There is so much more I could say but I just don’t feel like it. Although I will treat you to a paragraph that I wrote yesterday but did not post:

Doctors, especially obstetricians, must carry massive amounts of malpractice insurance. I’ve heard that this insurance typically costs in the neighborhood of $100,000 each year. The fact that in 2000 over 70% of American obstetricians had been sued for malpractice indicates. . . . what? That they have to have it in case they get sued? That maybe the reason they are being sued is because of what they are doing? I find that last suggestion to be an interesting one and suspect that it is true.

The progression from first idea (top left) to the final drawing (the one cut out) to the stamp and stamped. Any ideas which child of mine this might be for?

Have a fantastic day!

Another Short

Good morning. Yesterday was an okay day other than the evening. Sometimes teenagers are not my favorite people.

It started raining yesterday afternoon so the goats needed to go in. Snowflake is not doing well. In fact, I would say she’s on her way out. She may actually be gone when I go out to milk. This is very sad because she is a good goat. This is, unfortunately, or not, depending upon your point of view, life and the way it goes.

I found some pictures for you. This is Seth's Canadian. He was just going to be a LEGO person but he evolved. This was supposed to be in native costume but because he started out as a LEGO person, I guess Seth figured it was okay to simplify. I guess he's right.

I went to bed by 10:00 last night and I still didn’t want to get up this morning. When my alarm went off at 5:00, I went to tell Cedric and Amena that it was 5:00 and then I went back to bed. When my alarm went off at 5:30, I didn’t care and didn’t get up until 6:02. I went to tell Cedric and Amena what time it was and then went back to my room to get dressed. I need to check the doula calendar; I think I’m signed up for tonight.

I made Boston brown bread yesterday and it was interesting. I liked the previous brown bread. The Boston I’m not so crazy about. I’ll probably give it another try eventually but it has to have more salt in it. I don’t know how people can eat bread with no salt. The bread yesterday did have salt, but not enough. Yes, I realize I like salt. I realize other people do not like it as much. That’s fine. If I am going to take the time to make something at my house for my family to eat, I need to like it. If you make it for your family, you can leave the salt out if you’d like. Some things you can add salt to later, bread isn’t really one of them.

This is one of my projects for today. I need to get the garlic separated and get ready to plant them outside. I also need to plant the Egyptian onions Margaret Armstrong gave me. They've been living on a paper towel on a saucer in the kitchen window for more than a month, and doing well, but it's time to get them outside in the ground as well.

Seth’s last soccer practice was cancelled due to rain.

I don’t really feel like writing anything and I don’t think I have any pictures to add to this once I post it. Life is life and we’ve all been busy and we’re all alive.

Have a great day.

What does it say?

Well, good morning! I woke up to no electricity. I don’t know, or at least don’t remember, what Quabbin policy is when there is no electricity in an area of the district but I took candles up to Amena and Cedric so they can work on getting ready. The biggest problem in my mind is that I didn’t charge my phone or my laptop during the night so my phone is about dead and I have limited time on my computer. At least I have something.

It is times like this I would like to have a wood stove in the main part of the house because I’d be able to cook some rolled oats or make hot chocolate. As it is, I’d have to build a fire in the basement and if you could see the state of the wood stove in the basement, you would know that the electricity might very well be on by the time I even get everything cleared away that is on or too near it. I didn’t put all the stuff there and I don’t know where it is supposed to be. It is times like this that I wish I’d been here for the remodeling phase for the house. A gas or propane stove would be equally nice but would have required my presence during that phase as well.

Cedric gave me his report paper for PE last night. He got, as I expected, an A. A low A which is somewhat curious, but an A.

There really isn’t much to report from yesterday. Seth and Joseph did school. Amena and Cedric went to school. Joseph had scouts in the afternoon and won’t have any next week because there is no school on Tuesday. I went to Barre to pick Cedric up and he asked if he could watch a soccer game and that he could get a ride home with Ryan. I was slightly annoyed that I’d driven over for nothing but let him stay. Cedric and Seth had scouts but Cedric didn’t go. Amena wanted to go to Walmart between Joseph’s scouts and Seth’s scouts so I took her. I watched a doula webinar while she was in so my laptop was not charged enough to take to boy scouts so I took Seth, dropped him off, came home. While I was home, I took a shower. Then it was about time to go pick him up so I did.

The boys weren’t quite done when I got there so I went inside. Kathy Garland and Chris Barbera were talking in the kitchen area so I went there rather than hang out in the main room. Chris said, “She isn’t even wearing a Star Wars shirt.”

I stood up and held my arms up, “Take another look.”

She looked and laughed and said, “I love it!”

I was wearing my sweatshirt that looks like Chewbacca’s chest. It was pretty funny.

Up for today is more of the same. No scouts but church tonight.

I mentioned Monday change happening and I have to say that I am adjusting to the idea of some of the change but other parts of it I’m extremely apprehensive about because I know there is a potentially huge time factor involved and I really don’t have that much time. Homeschooling Seth and Joseph takes a huge chunk of time. I am able to get some things done while they’re doing their work but there are some things I cannot do because they do need help and guidance. Being involved with cub scouts as the Committee Chair takes a bit of time. Not a ton but an average of an hour or two each week and sometimes more. Finishing up my doula certification is going to take a few hours of my time although that will be done at some point in the fairly near future. Doula work takes some time, especially if someone is in labor during the shifts I sign up for and just because I sign up for the 11 to 7 shifts doesn’t mean that I don’t have to sleep in the morning if I go in which is more time. Midwifery studies take some time. I should be spending at least 16 hours a week on that which boils down to 5.2 hours each weekday (because I don’t do any on Sunday and Saturday’s are usually too crazy to get much done). Every second weekend of every month there are midwifery workshops I need to attend and that takes up my Saturday and/or Sunday afternoon. And then there is church. Soccer and cross country are about done but when they’re going, I have a boy to get to practice and games and another boy to pick up from practice or meets; that takes time. Milking the goats takes time and I do it every day.

So, basically, my weekends are full. My days require at least six hours of school between me and the boys. Add to that the other myriad things that must be done (I didn’t mention cooking or other household chores in my paragraph above), and I really don’t see how I can realistically add another hour or more of preparation for the change. So, we’ll see what happens.

In the meantime, it’s 6:26 and I don’t know if the bus is going to be here. Have a wonderful day!

And, Laura, have a spectacular birthday! Hard to believe it’s been almost a quarter of a century!

It would be easier to pick a title if I only wrote about one subject.

Good morning! Cedric and Amena are both having a hard time getting going this morning. I didn’t want to get up, either. I didn’t really want to go to bed last night, either, which did not help my not wanting to get up. I suspect that is the problem they are having as well.

Getting ready to put everything in Laura's letterbox.

I had fun cooking yesterday. After I found the brown bread recipe that I used (which is very good, even after spending too much time in the oven), I discovered that there are non-yeast version of brown bread as well. The two that seem to be most prominent are Irish brown bread and Boston brown bread. At least one of them calls for raisins so while I may try whichever one does, I will not be actually adding raisins unless I do to one half for Paul. I might try one of them today. The Boston recipes call for cooking the bread in molds which typically seem to be about 28 ounce to 1 pound cans. One I saw says to bake it, one gets cooked on top of the stove. This would come in handy for people who did not have fireplaces with ovens yet although I’m sure the early settlers did not have one pound coffee cans in which to bake their bread.

Up close of the jack o'lantern. I like the stamp itself more than the image you get after stamping. I'm not sure why but one of these days I might carve another one and replace it.

Yesterday afternoon after Amena got home, we went to pick Cedric up who actually ran more than a mile and was not ready at 3:30 like he thought he would be (so it’s a good thing we didn’t get there any earlier than we did or we’d have been waiting even longer). Once we had him, we went to Joanna and Lincoln’s to meet their new kitten. They aren’t sure if the kitten is a girl or a boy so the kitten doesn’t have a name yet. I looked and, quite frankly, I couldn’t tell. Pretty, though. And spoiled.

Ready to be locked in.

Seth had practice and for practice was a boys against parents game and I was actually mentally prepared for it this time. However, because my boys didn’t want to leave Joanna’s and were being somewhat twerpy, we left late and would have missed most of the game. Not to mention it was also a Meet the Doula night and I really felt like I should go so I would have had to find a ride home for Seth or be really late myself. I ended up being really late, anyway.

Ready to be hid.

The doula program is undergoing major changes. Meredeth stopped working at Heywood Hospital some time ago and she is who got the program going from its inception something like eight or nine years ago and had been working as a doula much longer than that. Now, Karen has resigned her position as the manager of the maternity unit and she was the push for the program from the inside. Not only was she the push, she was the organizer and scheduler and go-to person. Now there is still Paulette. I don’t know what her official title is but she’s like the head honcho over all the nurses. She is a proponent of the doula program as well but acknowledges that she does not know how it was run on a daily basis because Karen did all that. She is still willing to help the program move forward but already had a lot on her plate and with Karen being gone, has even more.

All of the necessary items for Alisha's letterbox. You can see we got new boxes. They are similar, but different. The same size, which I like. The next size bigger would allow for a larger log book but I am of the opinion that really isn't necessary. Maybe someday.

I think the doula program is a valuable asset to the hospital for those women who give birth there. For those of us, like me, who know there is a better way, it still seems overly medicalized. Doulas are great and do provide for laboring and birthing women options that would not likely be available to them, but they are volunteers with no power to do other than what they are specifically allowed to do. I will continue to do my part, and I will be more diligent than I have been for the past few months, but I do not know for how long I will do this. I think there are other options that might be a better fit for me and I think it is time to explore them.

Up close of Numero Uno.

Paul got home safely last night. I’m not sure when but I did notice he was in bed at some point in time. He said that Sunday it was in the high 80s and there were people with parkas on in Arizona. If so, the 51° or so we are expected to get to should feel nice.

Cedric got his report papers yesterday. I can’t really call them cards because they aren’t that any longer. And I shouldn’t say he got all of them because he only got four. I can’t complain about his grades in spite of a C in English. He struggles with that so any sign of improvement is good enough for me. He got Bs in Geography and Science and an A in math. Still to come are Art, Gym, and Spanish. I expect decent grades in each of those.

The moon was even bigger last night. Maybe because it was actually full? It was certainly beautiful, as well.

I won’t comment on Amena’s grades other than to say that procrastination does not pay and her tendency to want everything to be perfect leads to less than perfect grades because too often she turns papers in late.

Now I believe I will be off. It is almost time to watch for the bus and I have many fun things (and many not-so-fun things) to do today. And my Enter key still needs some work. My right pinky is getting tired of having to hit it so many times before it does what it is supposed to.

Have a fantastical day!

Too Cold to be Cozy

Good morning! My Enter key isn’t working the way it ought so sometimes when I think I’ve gone to another line, I haven’t. It is quite annoying.

In the barn this morning, I was thinking about a couple of things. One, dogs are still disgusting, I’ll explain my line of thought in a bit, and two, life is much more simple in a barn.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not what you would call a dog person. I always thought that I liked dogs, and, really, I still do. I especially like dogs that belong to other people. For example, the Vaniman’s have had dogs as long as I can remember and I love their dogs. I like dogs that live outside most of the time. When it’s cold out, yes, the dogs should come in, but generally, I think they should be outside more than in and I think that good fences are a must (or one of those collars that keeps them close to the house). Why? Lots of reasons.

For one thing, and I think this is true only for some dogs but I’m not sure why exactly (it might have to do with the fact that some dogs have hair that keeps growing, must be cut periodically, and doesn’t seem to fall out much, and other dogs have hair that grows to a certain length and then stops, but they shed) smell bad. I have never been a fan of giving a dog a bath and that has not changed.

Second, on the occasion a dog pees or poos in the house, they don’t use a litter box. If you have carpet, I feel sorry for you but at the same time, I don’t. If you have hard wood floor, like we do, all I can say is, I hope the dog doesn’t make a habit of it because it will eventually soak in and then I really feel sorry for you.

Third, and I realize that this is entirely dependent upon the breed and the individual dog, they are too dependent and needy and in your face and have nasty habits (like eating goat and cat poop).

Three is enough.

We currently have only one dog, Misty. She is some kind of spaniel and she has decided that I am her person. This is unfortunate for her because I will never shower upon her the love that Paul does. She is one of those dogs that needs a haircut periodically and could use a bath every week. She is always under foot and has to go and see what I am doing all the time. If I go to the basement and she doesn’t realize I’ve moved from the kitchen, she searches frantically for me until she has found me (which often means I’ve returned to the kitchen). She, being some kind of spaniel, has sinus issues which I understand is a problem with the breed. This means that when she eats or cleans herself, she has trouble breathing and she sounds awful; something like a pig only worse. She likes to pee and poop in the house. I realize that this is partly due to the fact that Paul has had dogs that pee and poop in the house for years. We’ve been here for seven years and I’ve been cleaning up the messes for that long and I know that they were happening much longer because there are three spots in the house where the floor is discolored from it.

In spite of all that, Misty does have a sweet personality.

Cats, on the other hand, have a purpose (catching rodents) and Kitty is very good at it. They generally take care of their pee and poop by either doing them in a litter box or outside and they generally cover them up when done. Joseph has mentioned that it would be nice if dogs did the same thing and I have to agree. I understand that some dogs have a purpose. Some still work on ranches and many are companions for their humans. I don’t know of any cat that regularly needs either a haircut or a bath.

Cats make better midwives because they will observe from a distance and only intervene when necessary whereas a dog will be right there in your face which is often not the best course of action.

Life in the barn is so much simpler. Life is all about survival. While there are alpha and beta animals, everyone generally knows their place in society and for the most part, life gets on pretty well. I generally like barns. I don’t care for our barn but it wasn’t meant to be a barn, it was meant to be a milking parlor and as such has a different set up. Even so, there is an area of the barn that I do like. That part is where the goats live. The goats are my dogs. Each has her or his own personality and each has his or her own way of approaching me. The girls all like to have their heads scratched, especially Snowflake and Goldilocks, and they like to come up and stand close, kind of like they do with each other.

It is raining today so there is a coziness to the barn that is not present even in the house. The house would be helped if there was a fire and if it was less cluttered; clutter to me does not equate cozy. There is no electricity in the barn which is fine with me. Considering the fact that my three youngest boys seem to have a certain affinity to fire, which might be genetic, I probably should not be okay with having a lantern for light but I’d rather have running water in, or at least near, the barn than electricity. There is a window right by the milking stand anyway, so unless it is completely dark, there is some light.

The fact that there are windows, with panes of glass, in the barn is a bone of something, I’m not sure contention is the right word, for me. Barns, in my opinion, should not have panes of glass in the windows; at least not where goats are able to get to them with their feet. Cows are okay with glass. Horses might be but I can see how they might not be. Goats and glass do not equal a good combination. Windows with wooden shutters would be fine.

My only problem with the barn today had to do with the dog. She doesn’t like to go out in the rain but she loves to go out to the barn with me. She loves to eat the goat poop that has managed to get in the walkway. She loves to eat the goat toenails I’ve cut off the goats. Today she felt that it was perfectly acceptable to poop in the walkway. Can I say yuck? Yuck!!! There is a certain smell to the barn that has a lot to do with goats. But to me it isn’t an unpleasant smell (until it’s hot and humid in the summer). Dog poop, on the other hand, is an unpleasant smell no matter the season or humidity.

Good morning! Well, that was yesterday and today I have not been out to milk yet. It isn’t raining, either. But I did just let a brown bundle of over-anxious fur in and she is dancing around acting for all the world like she expects me to feed her when she has ample food and water in her bowls. Silly creature. What she’d really like is to get to Kitty’s food.

A cool little waterway we hadn't noticed last time we visited. The potential near this thing for hiding letterboxes is great. The only drawback is how close to potentially many people it is.

Yesterday  morning I got a phone call that didn’t bode well for my calling as Young Women President. All I will say at the moment is that change is inevitable and sometimes we end up really loving things we think we’ll barely be able to tolerate.

Last night I was perusing Facebook and found a recipe for baked beans. It was an ah ha moment for me because this recipe says to use a bean pot. I’m not sure I’d ever heard of a bean pot before but the really cool thing is that I have not just one, but two! I’d used them for holding sourdough and Amish friendship bread starters but they are not airtight and the bugs got in and so they really didn’t work for those things. I am not sure if Paul knew what they were for because when we arrived here, he had them up on top of the fireplace (I’m not sure you could call it a mantel) sort of as decoration. Now that I know what they are and what they can be used for, I plan on using one today to make baked beans.

Mirror Lake from the south end. I don't know what it is about Massachusetts, and maybe it isn't confined to MA, calling ponds lakes. Okay. Maybe I spoke before I should have. I just looked up the difference between a lake and a pond and the difference is: a pond is a shallow body of water that supports rooted plants throughout while a lake is deep enough that light does not penetrate all the way to the bottom. Given this definition, it appears that a pond could have a very large surface area and a lake could have a very small area. Given the shallowness of the mountains around here, I'm really kind of surprised there is any body of water deep enough to be considered a lake.

Last night after I made this wonderful discovery about bean pots, I went in search of white beans. I could find black beans, pinto beans, even kidney beans, but white beans were being elusive. While I was searching, I found, of all things, a sprouter in a box from Kitty Rolfe. I hope she really meant to have it with the stuff she sent over because I’ve been wanting one and will certainly put it to use. I brought up a jar of mung beans as well and will put those to use probably today as well although it would be good if I can get the house a bit warmer first to encourage growth. I did eventually find white beans and put two pounds on to soak before bed.

While searching for beans, it did occur to me that it might seem odd to some that I would want to make baked beans while we have cans and cans of them in the basement. This is yet another reason why I should be more involved with shopping because I would rather make my own baked beans than have them in a can. The only advantage to cans is that they are already cooked. Beans are so easy to cook and/or bake that I really don’t see that slight advantage as much of one. I’d really prefer to utilize the space by having something I really like and would rather use.

The moon was big and beautiful last night. This is before it was dark, obviously. It was very pretty out and a lovely ending to the day.

Currently I am thinking that Amena is not going to make the bus. She wasn’t up yet when I just went up to tell her it was twenty-five after six and that she only had fifteen minutes in which to get ready. I might be surprised, but given that she now has ten minutes and is just getting clothes out of the drier, I’m not going to hold my breath.

Yesterday afternoon Seth, Joseph and I went letterboxing at Coggshall Park in Fitchburg. I wanted to take Amena and Cedric as well but figured that we’d be able to go to Joanna’s to meet her kitten and could call that Family Home Evening. The only problem with that is that Joanna texted and said that Lincoln’s friends were over watching the Patriot’s game. The only problem with that is that Sunday is often the only day we can all go anywhere together at the same time. Anyway, we’ll just have to wait to meet the kitten and we successfully found one letterbox (we are now up to 32) and planted two (we are now up to four). Today is supposed to be up to 51° and sunny so it would be a lovely day to go hunting for more. If the boys get done with school early, maybe we can go find some of the ones at Dunn Park that we haven’t found or some in south Gardner.

Amena did not miss the bus and now it is time for me to go pay attention to the goats. Have a terrifical day!

Short and Sweet

Good morning! There is a problem with having too many interests. A serious problem. I need to do many things that I enjoy doing and I want to do many things that I enjoy doing. I need to make some liquid soap and some lotion and I want to make note/log books. I’ve been talking myself out of the lotion and liquid soap just because they require me to be in the kitchen (why that is such a terrible thing is beyond me so don’t ask) rather than at the table. I think this is a quandary only during the time the boys are working on school stuff. It’s much easier to answer questions and give instructions if I’m at the table and can see what they need, etc. So, what does this mean? It means that right now is the time to be in the kitchen. What does this mean? I’ll be relatively quick today and probably will finish and post once we’ve begun school stuff.

This is the view from the oven.

Yesterday I printed out the clues for twenty letterboxes in Fitchburg, Gardner, Phillipston, and Princeton. Those in Phillipston are all along one road and were all planted by one person. Those in Gardner I grouped together according to location; there are three groups. Those in Princeton are at Wachusett. The one in Fitchburg is at Coggshall Park and I figure we can find it when we go to plant the two we’re planting tomorrow. Joseph and I looked for three out at Barre Falls Dam yesterday after scouts and only found one. One of them we know we were in the right place because we found specific things mentioned in the clues. The other we know we were in the right place because it’s obvious but we either couldn’t find the specific or the box is missing. I suspect it is missing but could be wrong. We did scour the area pretty thoroughly. At least we found one.

Our fire yesterday felt quite lovely in our chilly house.

I need to look for a couple of socks for my mother that she thinks she may have inadvertently left here. If they are here, I guess I’ll stick them in with her popcorn when we send it. Speaking of popcorn, does anyone want some? We have until Friday to sell it. If you want some and you are far away, I can email you what is available and you could send the money via PayPal.

That’s about it for now, I think. I will now get myself to the kitchen and begin working on lotion and liquid soap. Have a spectacular day! 

I'm Back!

Good morning! I am back!

What a past few weeks we’ve had! Wow! We’ve had lots of everything covering the entire spectrum from really wonderful to really heart/gut wrenching. I am so glad that our family grew by Lincoln and that Joanna found such a wonderful man to spend her life with. I am profoundly sad that our family will not get to meet, at least not in this life, the tiny soul that departed this life before birth. Still, if an unborn babe of just nine weeks gestation does indeed have a soul and is therefore a person, and I believe this to be the case, then our family in heaven is growing and Uncle Daniel is there to lend a hand and provide whatever is needed until the rest of us join them in a few minutes (I’m talking eternal timeline here).

This is a good place to take a picture, yes? Not that I really care what anyone else thinks, anyway. We will continue visiting cemeteries and taking pictures like this one.

When I took Laura and Blaine to the Manchester airport on the 11^th, which was a Sunday, everything went well even though I was very tired and even stopped in the parking lot where I will stop and wait for arrivals. I was thinking I might take a quick nap but after parking and stretching and getting a good drink, I felt pretty okay so I took off and made it home okay.

This has to be one of the most original headstones I've seen. I love it! As you can see, Seth and Joseph liked it as well.

When I took my mom to the Manchester airport yesterday morning, we left half an hour after when I left with Laura and Blaine but otherwise the trip was similar with the exception of my not being so tired. I don’t think the half an hour made a lot of difference, I think it was all about the lack of sleep I’d been getting before the first trip as opposed to that for the week before the second. Which was good because when I got home yesterday, Cedric was sitting at the table eating cereal and he and Amena should have been on the bus ten minutes prior to that. Amena was upstairs. I’d woken them both up at 4:00 and they each had the opportunity to set an alarm but fell asleep before they could do so. Amena woke up at 6:37 and woke Cedric up then. I ended up taking them to school so that was a lot of fun.

I love the flag and what it represents (the freedom part, you know). I love cemeteries. A flag in a cemetery is a beautiful thing.

Other than that, the day was semi-usual. Seth and Joseph did school. I looked at AtlasQuest at some point while they were doing their work and discovered that a new letterbox had been planted in Barre the day before and hadn’t been found yet. That was pretty exciting because we’ve never been the first finder before and potentially could for this box. Since we needed to go watch Cedric run for a cross country meet, I thought we could stop and find the box on the way and thus kill two birds with one stone. And so we did.

This is the start of the race. Cedric is in the dark grey sweatshirt behind the boy with the light grey t-shirt. To me, it looks like he's in a triple tie for 4th here but he insisted that he's in 6th.

Our weather has turned cold and my hands are reflecting this fact. I’ve got quite a few little cut-like owies and patches of red on the backs of my hands and fingers. Lotion helps if it is the right kind so that means I’d better get with the program and make some of the right kind because living with this stuff is not fun.

Coming up on the finish. He was 7th overall which is not bad but not the 4th that was his goal.

My poor mother had to live through a week of cold. Today is supposed to get up to 60 which means the house will be lucky to maintain around 55 so I’m thinking that a fire is in the future for today. Yesterday would have been quite nice out if not for the wind. All the trees are losing their leaves rather quickly because of it and today the leaves are already blowing in it.

The boys and I almost have two new letterboxes to go. They are for Laura and Alisha and are Almost Halloween (guess what her stamp is) and “...to Have a Child. Alisha’s stamp is a banner with “Numero Uno” written on it and a “#1” between the Numero and the Uno. You still have to guess what Laura’s is. At least until I take pictures and therefore take the guess work out of the equation. As long as Paul gives me my tape, we can get at least one of them ready to go today and maybe the second as well; it depends on if we use a container that we already have or if I feel the need to go get one. The box we found yesterday was actually a Talenti gelato container which we have quite a few of. They covered the actual container with black duct tape. Pretty clever. If we do something like that, I’ve got some very colorful duct tape we could use but I’m not sure that would really be the best option because if not hidden well it could potentially stick out like a sore thumb.

Seth had soccer practice as usual for a Monday and although he was about fifteen minutes late, I actually got to write over 600 words on my story. That was very nice. Especially considering that I won’t get to work on it tonight while waiting for the boys at scouts.

And, what is up for today? Well, school, of course, for the boys. I need to get to work on some school stuff as well. I did get materials and plans for the boys done for this week and the next two. Three weeks at a time is not bad. Six was a bit much. I think I should maybe aim for four next time because that’s almost an entire month. For November and December, it’s almost an entire two months. Actually, now that I think about it, I’ll probably work to get everything done up to the end of the year when I do it next time.

Other than that, Joseph has scouts this afternoon. Cedric will need to be picked up from practice. There will be no scouts for Cedric and Seth tonight because for some reason it has been changed to tomorrow night. Probably someone’s work schedule didn’t work. That’s fine other than the fact I will have to find a ride for them to and from because I really need to be at church before 6:30 and won’t be done until after 8:00.

A cool thing that happened this past week was on Saturday. Saturday was an extremely busy day. I wanted to have Joanna and Lincoln over for dinner while my mom was here and we picked Saturday. Then Lincoln’s work schedule changed so he had to work during dinner-time. So Joanna said, “What about lunch?” Lunch? Joseph and I needed to man the popcorn selling at the Post Office from 11:00 until noon and then I was supposed to hurry to church for a Super Saturday activity that actually started at 10:00. “What about breakfast?” Well, that would have to be no later than 8:00 because Seth had a game at 9:00 in Holden. I was ready to say nevermind to popcorn and Super Saturday when Joanna said that would work even though Lincoln didn’t want to get up that early. (I don’t blame him—if I didn’t have to get up early anyway and didn’t have a problem staying in bed, I wouldn’t mind sleeping in until at least 8:00 on a Saturday morning—it just never works for me.)

Friday afternoon my mom and I were going to go to Webs and drop Seth and Joseph off with Joanna but I was just tired of the constant going, going, going and so we didn’t go. Joanna came up with the idea of having them sleep over since she and Lincoln would be coming over for breakfast anyway, so I took my mom and Cedric with me when I took Seth and Joseph over. We all went to Walmart because my mom needed some nuts to snack on and Joanna needed to get some things for dinner. So I ended up driving anyway but not as much as I would have had we gone to Webs. And it was fun visiting Joanna.

Saturday morning I got up at six and got some things going before milking at 7:00 (which I need to do now so this will be ending shortly) and we ended up having breakfast sausage, applesauce, red velvet pancakes (from a box because Paul got them), sour dough pancakes, and chocolate chip pancakes. Seth was late for his game but only by about five minutes (I figure it took us an additional five to get down to the field). They were playing a team they’d lost to before so it was important to all of the boys that they win and they did! It was a good game and the final score was, I believe, 5 to 3.

We went home, Joseph and I changed into scout uniforms, Joanna and Lincoln took off and Joseph and I went to the Post Office. While we were there, an accident happened by the rec field but it was all cleared out by the time we left. When we got home, I got ready to go to church and my mother and I left for there. That was fun and then we went home. We got home by 4:00 and at that point, there was nothing left to do other than stay home and get things done.

And now I must get out and get the milking done. Have a fantastic day!