Instantaneous Communication

Good morning. It’s nice and wet outside. Inside I’ve managed to make hot chocolate, wash the leftover dishes from last night (but not those from making hot chocolate), fold two loads of laundry (which Cedric already put away [they were mostly his]), and correct Seth and Joseph’s papers from yesterday that I didn’t get to yesterday. I also managed to wake up a few minutes before 4:00 to use the bathroom and wasn’t able to go back to sleep quickly enough so rather than lay there thinking about things I need to do today, I decided to actually get up and start on them. There is a load of sheets in the drier and a load of darks in the washer. The fun just has no end.

This is what the sunrise looked like on the 23rd. It was very pretty.

There are some things I like about the instantaneous communication of today and some things I do not like. I got an email last week from Cedric’s science teacher asking about a project. I knew he’d worked on it but had no idea why he had not turned it in. One day he said the room was rearranged and he couldn’t find the bin it should have gone in and the next day he just forgot. I knew he had it, because I looked through his back pack, and I mentioned this when I responded to the email. This morning I read another email she sent yesterday. This time she was asking if I’d seen another assignment when I went looking and no, I did not. He really had no response when I asked him about that this morning so he gets to work on it today after school unless he finishes during flex block of some other time during school.

This is what Joseph and Maddie looked like on the 23rd. Aren't they just the cutest little uncle and niece?

I also got an email from Amena’s English teacher. They are reading The Crucible and had a quiz. The email was a rather generic one and a mass-send to all the parents of students who got less than 70 on a quiz. Personal emails I don’t mind from teachers because I know that they are actually aware of my student and have a concern or something specific to say. When I get mass mailings, I have no such feeling and I’m not a huge fan of them. Especially when I hear from my student that only ten people in the class of over twenty scored over 70. Amena doesn’t like the way this particular teacher grades things and I have to say that grading in high school should be fairly uniform, especially within a school. Amena also said that there was another high school English teacher who was well-liked by students (I think that says a lot for any teacher, personally) but her teacher went to the administration and the other teacher ended up getting fired. Granted, this is what she heard from another (now graduated) student, but with the way the world is today, I believe it is very possible. Quite likely, even.

Just another view of that awesome sunrise since we didn't get to see one this morning.

To this email from the English teacher I have not responded. There are so many things I could say, so many directions I could go. If more than half the students did not do well on a quiz, is it possible that there is something deficient in how the material is being presented or taught? Given that Amena also reports that there is an attention-never-brought-to-board on the side wall of the classroom which at least occasionally has information that might be found useful by students, I think this is likely.

And just another view of these two because I don't know how anyone can get enough. Please note that I did not post this to either Instagram or specifically to Facebook.

Never having been to this classroom and never having met this particular teacher, there is a lot I do not know. I do know my child, though. I hope that no teacher ever thinks that I will take the side of the teacher over my own child just because the teacher is the teacher or is an adult. I also hope that no child of mine ever thinks that I will take the side of my child simply because my child is my child. There are always two sides to the story. That all said, based on what I do know, I have my thoughts and opinions in this particular case.

In other news, I looked at the clock at 7:09 and realized I needed to go milk. Once I got out to the barn, I realized I needed to take care of the grain before I could milk since I neglected to do it yesterday. In other words, it wasn’t a ten-minute operation; it was a twenty-minute operation.

Cedric has a cross country meet this afternoon unless it is deemed to be too wet. Then I’m not sure if he’ll have practice or not. We will have to wait and see. As of right now, it is still on. The weather is supposed to clear up, or at least the rain is supposed to stop. Weather reports are only so reliable, though.

Seth and Joseph have school stuff to do. I have school stuff to do but no appointments and other than going to watch/pick Cedric up and take Amena to and from work, no reason to go out and about. I’d love to go out for a field trip but I’d really love for it to be a hiking field trip and I’m not sure I really want to do that until this cold/cough is gone.

Unless I write a very short blurb next time, this will be it for this 100 pages as I’m on page 100 of 100 and word 64,033. Not that the number of words has much to do with anything.

And that’s about it for now. I hope you have a fantabulous day!

What does your day look like?

Good morning! Lots of interesting thoughts running through my mind this morning. For one thing, it’s amazing to me that something like R2D2 can have so much stuff stored on/in it. I mean, I have two full-length manuscripts stored on it plus a whole lot of other stuff. Just an incredible thing that we have at our disposal today.

As I was milking Zoey, I was thinking about the different things I’ve walked into this morning and comparing them. These things happen, you know, when you are sitting and milking a goat. For example, the humidity this morning has been palpable. The humidity and the spider webs are very present this morning; the only real difference is that the fog is diffused and while you can feel and see it, it easily moves and you are able to walk through it as opposed to the spider webs which are very concentrated and must break in order for you walk through them. I don’t purposefully break spider webs, by the way, but if they build their webs where I must walk, something has to go and it isn’t me. Or, in another way of looking at it, I do have to go and therefore the web does as well.

This guy (or girl--I don't know how to tell the difference) was sitting there when I was driving off for the first appointment (which I found out had been changed to 12:00 rather than 11:30 while en route). Just sitting there. Cute little bugger. But I couldn't help but wonder where Kitty was because she needs to take care of this thing, cute or not.

Lastly, if you have only two children, you really have nothing in common with me. Perhaps that is harsh. Perhaps I should say you really have very little in common with me. Especially if you have a husband who is willing and able to help provide taxi service. Say you have two children, a boy and a girl, you have a job, we’ll say you work from home to make the comparison easier, and you are involved with other things such as scouts and sports.

Let’s talk about that husband first. Does he work? Hopefully. Does he work from home? Does he have an office job? Is he on the road a lot?

Working from home can make life easier or more difficult depending on what exactly his work entails. In general, I’m going to make the assumption that the reason he works from home is because he has some kind of an office job that can either be done from home or is self-employment. This being the case, he can most likely take a few minutes to an hour or so to take children to the doctor or drop them off at school or take them to practice or scouts or what-have-you. If his job requires being on the phone and he sometimes is not able to get off, well, that puts a kink in his helping you with taxi service. A kink, however, is not a permanent issue. Unless he’s on the phone all day long which is possible but does not seem likely. At least, not for the same call.

If he technically works from home but his job happens to be construction or something of that nature, he will of necessity have to be away from home for extended periods of time from an hour or more to weeks. If his jobs are near enough to home that he is able to return home every night, he still can most likely help with transportation to scouts and practice at least some of the time. If he is gone for days or weeks, well, that is something else entirely.

Let’s talk about those children. Your son is in Boy (or Cub) Scouts and your daughter is in Girl Scouts (or Brownies). Hopefully you have a division of labor and your husband can be involved with your son and you can be with your daughter, or vice versa, whatever works. Hopefully you aren’t the Cub Master for you son’s pack as well as the den leader for your daughter. But maybe you are. If you are, we may have more in common than otherwise.

Both of your children are involved in sports. Your daughter plays soccer and runs track. Your son plays baseball, basketball, and football. Poor you. This is practice every day of the week, and I get that. It is also most likely more than one practice at least some days of the week, depending on what grades your children are in. I get that. And then there are games and meets and conflicting schedules and I hope your husband is able to help out or you can work out some carpool deals with fellow parents.

In spite of scouts and sports, at least your children attend public school. They get on the bus in the morning and you don’t have to worry about them (even though you do anyway) until they either get home on the bus or you have to pick them up from school to transport to scouts or practice or you pick them up after practice.

Your job. You work from home. Because you work from home, people assume that you have all this time on your hands. “Oh, you’re home, you can do this, right?” Please excuse the eye roll here. Your schedule is fairly flexible but because you have to be available for clients from different parts of the world, you have to be available at some really odd times. And while you can generally schedule your work load around the schedules of other family members, there are times when you are just absolutely inundated with work.

I get all that. I really do. But you really have no clue what my life looks like.

For one thing, I have three full time jobs.

I am a homeschool mom to two boys. They are not twins which means we cover two grade levels. I am grateful it is only two at the moment, because it has been up to five in the past, and I would absolutely love it if the two in public school would chose homeschool even though it would increase the work load. Each grade level is like a job. It means individual lesson plans. It means that even though we may cover the same topics for science or history, they are working at different levels. It’s a lot of fun and I love watching them learn and grow but it’s a lot of work and a huge responsibility.

I am a student. I have a full work load of my own studies which includes a heck of a lot of reading and studying and assignments. I usually do not get everything done in a day, or even a week, that I would like and often I wish I could add a few hours to the day in order to finish. Hasn’t happened yet.

Part of being a student is being an apprentice or student midwife. I get to go to prenatal appointments and am to the point where I will be going to the births as well. I did spend most of two nights at a labor a few weeks ago and had she not transported, I would have been present for the birth and another birth is looming ever present that I will be present for (unless she has her baby before I arrive which is always possible) but these are not currently the norm. The norm is about to become me being present for every birth. Currently that will be in a mostly observational position but that will change over time as I learn more.

Let me paint you a picture of what this looks like.

Yesterday, I went to a Massachusetts Midwives Alliance meeting. I am not a member right now but by the next meeting, I expect to be. This doesn’t mean much because I will be a student and as such will have no vote, but I will still be present and will be learning. This meeting was four hours long and was held in Jamaica Plain. This is what it really looked like:

Left the house at 7:45 to meet my ride in Gardner. She was running late so we didn’t leave Gardner until about 8:20. Traffic was terrible (I thought it would be better since it wasn’t what I would consider to be rush hour) and a trip that could take an hour and 19 minutes actually took almost two hours which got us there late.

The first half of the meeting was business. Honestly, I thought it was going to be much longer than two hours the way the conversation kept going back and forth. It sounds like I missed a really interesting meeting in June.

At noon, the business portion was over, it was time for lunch, and it was agreed that people would talk and eat.

The second half of the meeting was peer review. What that means is that a midwife or two gives the details about a particular client (details such as what happened and when, not name and address information); typically a birth that was difficult in some way. The case is discussed and comments and suggestions are made and discussed. The idea is to bounce ideas around and help everyone improve quality of care.

Everything was done by 2:00 and we left. Traffic was bad again but we arrived back in Gardner around 3:30 or so and I was home by 4:00ish.

That was that part of the day. Amena also had work and needed a ride there and home. Seth had scouts and needed a ride there and home. I can’t really be in Gardner at 8:15 to pick Amena up and then Pinecrest Lodge at 8:30 to pick Seth up so I asked a fellow parent if Seth could get a ride home; he could.

Today, I kept Amena home hoping I could get her in to see the doctor this morning because her asthma has been really bad due to the high humidity and the fact that she also caught a cold. No luck. They had an opening at 12:30 but Amena didn’t want to miss the whole day of school. So I made her an appointment for Monday at 3:30 (because that’s the next available opening) and took her to school. That worked out well because I could also drop Cedric’s shoes off for cross country today even though it added 45 minutes of driving. Which isn’t bad considering we may have been sitting at the doctor’s office for two hours had we gone.

Then I came home, formally started the school day for Seth and Joseph, took a shower, continued school stuff for the boys, and continued working on this.

At 11:15 I need to leave to go to a prenatal appointment in Gardner at 11:30. Then there is an appointment in Winchendon at 1:30. Rather than come home beween, I’ll take letterboxing stuff with me and see if I can catch a couple if I don’t have something else to do (which I already know I do have but might decide not to do it). After that appointment, I will come home. Seth and Joseph need to go to the library and then I will need to pick Cedric up. Then Amena needs a ride to work and I’ll have to go to Winchester to meet and carpool to the next appointment at 6:30. Amena has to get a ride home from someone else because I won’t be back in time to pick her up. Well, probably not. I might be.

By the time I get home, I’ll have to make sure stragglers are getting to bed and then it won’t be long to bedtime for me.

Somewhere in there I need to find time to read, study, and work on assignments for my own school work. And make sure my children have food for lunch and dinner. And everything else that needs to be done.

Other than my three full time jobs, I am the Committee Chair for Hubbardston Pack 12 Cub Scouts, seminary teacher for Amena, a married single mother (which is another conversation altogether), a soapmaker, mother of a cross-country running, mother of a Cub Scout, mother of a Boy Scout (I’m hoping Cedric will change his mind and decide to do scouts this year), etc., etc., etc.

You may think it is harsh that I say you have no idea what my life looks like if you have only two children. If I had only two children, they would be Alisha and Laura. Laura will be 25 next month. If I had only two children, I would have only three grandchildren, I would have no children still at home, I would not have as much on my plate as I currently do. I would certainly not be a Committee Chair, I would probably not be teaching seminary, I would certainly not have to worry about homeschooling two boys aged 10 and 12, I would not have to worry about taxi service for the 14- and 16-year-olds.

In short, you may have a small idea of what my life looks like, and now you may have a better idea, but you still don’t know what it’s like to live it.

In spite of that, life is basically good. I’m basically happy with where I am (other than physically) and I’m happy with where I’m going. I just don’t have any extra time to do anything so don’t be disappointed if I don’t drop everything else and do whatever it is you don’t have time to do. I’ll do what I can but other than that, please don’t hold your breath.

PS I did not write this in response to any one particular request. There are many things I would do if I had more time and there are many things I wish I had the time to do. I expect that in about ten years I may have more free time. Until then, we’ll just see.

In the meantime, have a fabulous day on this beautiful one!

Time To Get Busy

7:57 am

It is raining. Which means it is also wet. I have three loaves of bread in the oven and the milk is almost strained (because I weighed it and then forgot). I did three Spanish lessons in Duolingo and got my Irish notebook out. I made Amena tea to drink on the way to school.

Yesterday I did not walk a mile but I did walk. I ate a green salad. I drank almost 96 ounces of water. I also had a Sunday headache in the morning that was exacerbated by major stress and turned into a massive headache by the afternoon. I finally broke down and took an ibuprofen before bed with a decent amount of water hoping it would be gone in the morning. I even was in bed not long after 9:30.

Okay, I lied. Well, not really. I don't have any new pictures for you so I borrowed a couple from Laura and used another one from Saturday. This is Elias with his toes peeking out. Isn't he a cutie pie? I need to see him again. I need to hold him again.

When I woke up to use the bathroom, the headache was still there. When I woke up to make sure Cedric was awake (Amena was already up and showering), the headache was still there until I walked out of the bedroom. I went to lay back down until 5:30 and the headache was back. When I got up at 5:20-something, my headache was still there but went away when I left the bedroom again. Currently, I’ve finished my first bottle of water for the day and doing what I’ve done so far downstairs has not brought it back. However, I just helped Joseph take Misty upstairs so she can have a bath and the headache was right there.

Right now I’m going to go grate some zucchini to stick in the freezer. I’ll be back. I think.

9:20 am

I grated zucchini. When I am fairly certain I’ll be grating more to freeze, I’ll put two cups grated in a quart freezer bag and squish it down in the bottom of the bag and fold the bag over and then freeze it. Then, when I have more to freeze, I add two more cups grated and freeze the whole thing. When I don’t think it’s likely I’ll be freezing more, I put four cups grated in a quart freezer bag and freeze it. Currently, I have about ten bags full plus a couple small ones left to have for lunch.

And here he is again. These were both taken earlier this month. If Laura took them the same day she sent them, this one if from the 14th and the first one the 11th. At any rate, I need more pictures.

The bread is also out of the oven and we have begun school although the boys are taking their sweet time actually doing their math since that’s what they decided to do first today.

It is no longer raining but it is still quite wet. The humidity is probably quite high although perhaps only 99% rather than the 100% it was while it was raining. I just checked. I was correct. There are times I would like to be wrong but I’m afraid that as long as we remain in Massachusetts, I probably won’t be when it comes to things like this.

Now the boys are doing their timed math for math.

And this cutie! Just look at that little hand in the corner. Baby dimples are so stinking cute!

I need to find the PiYo DVDs and mop the living room floor so I can do that. The dog peed and pooped in the living room this morning. I’m sure you can guess how happy I am about that.

Paul lifted one of the bags of garbage and said, “This is heavy.”

It should be. It’s about ten pounds of chicken. I took it out to thaw Saturday night and when I cut the plastic packaging yesterday morning, the stench was awful. No chicken for Sunday dinner. We had stroganoff instead. It was good but just added to the stress of the day.

And now, I’ll be off.

Have a fantastic day!

The Best, the Worst, the Goals

Yes, I should be on my way to bed. Guess what? I don’t feel like it.

Do you remember ever hearing this: “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”

That was my day.

See what I mean? I have a cute baby for hours and this is the first picture I put in here. Some of the ants in the driveway are making this for us. Aren't they thoughtful? It's soft and squishy and I didn't touch it with my hands; just my shoe.

It was the most incredible day ever! Maddie was here while Joanna was at work and she is so cute that my heart melts just thinking about her. (Just for the record, I feel the same way about Elias and Alisha has a couple of boys I love, too.) She slept most of the time, was awake part of the time, ate a little of the time, was terribly cute all of the time. Oh, yeah, it was good. Especially when she smiles and talks. Or sleeps. Or you get to change her diaper and see her cute little chunky legs. Or whatever she happens to be doing. She never cried. She was here from about 7:45 to about 3:30 and she was held for all but about twenty minutes. Heaven must have babies in it.

Now this! This is just about the cutest thing ever! She was asleep on Amena's bed for part of the 20 minutes she wasn't being held.

It was also an incredibly annoying day. Especially when I told Margret that I’d rather stack wood than be in the house and when I went outside to finish stacking wood, it was done. Or when I had to ask a certain boy about 500 times to wash the five dishes I asked him to wash last night. Or when I looked at the hot chocolate I heated up for myself and realized that drinking the stuff is not getting me where I want to be and that I need to further change my eating and exercise habits in order to keep making the right kind of progress.

I need some goals. See, I have this little Maddie and this little Elias (and these other two little boys) and I get to be their grandma. And that is a wonderful thing. But I don’t want to be an old, fat, frumpy grandma. I want to be able to do fun things. I want to teach these little ones to love the outdoors and letterboxing and hiking and skiing. And I can’t do that if I can’t do those things. So I need some goals.

And these little feet! One day in the not-too-distant-future they'll be running all over the place. Now they are just cute little baby feet hidden in socks and quite worthy of having their picture taken.

Here are those I’ve thought of in the past few minutes:

PiYo six days a week.

Walking at least a mile every day.

Walking at least five miles three or four days a week.

Eating a green salad a day, usually with homemade Italian dressing.

Drinking at least 72 but preferably 96 ounces of water daily.

Going to see Billy Idol by the end of 2017.

You may not understand why that last one is on the list but that is okay. I don’t even know if Billy Idol will be doing any concerts next year but the goal stands if he does. If not, I’ll change it as needed.

So, focusing on the best of the day, I intend to make myself better and I intend to make other goals in order to make life better.

Have a fantastic night!

Accidents...Never Happen

“Accidents never happen

In a perfect world…”

That’s a Blondie song and I want to know how I got it stuck in my head while I was asleep.

When I woke up at 5:00 to my alarm, there were a few things running around in my head. One, the dream I’d been in the middle of. Two, “Accidents never happen…In a perfect world.” Three, the fact that I needed to visit the bathroom. Four, the thought that I needed to make sure Amena and Cedric were awake.

So I got up, checked on Cedric, checked on Amena, used the bathroom, went back to bed, and turned my alarm on for 5:30. I need to get going early this morning but there was no need for me to actually get up that early. However, Cedric came in to get a towel and left the light on so I got up to turn it off and got back in bed before I realized that me being in bed was going to do no good so I got up.

This is a happy Kitty sitting on Seth's lap.

I think the song might have had something to do with the fact that I needed to use the bathroom. In my dream, I’d gone twice.

This dream was interesting. Paul and I went to the West’s for dinner. As we were walking in the house, he told me that they were moving. As in the next morning. I had a hard time digesting this because I’d spoken to both Emily and Jeremy within the past 24 hours, Seth was supposed to go do some work for them in a few days, and neither had said anything about moving. Not only were they moving, they were moving to Sanford. As in California. I couldn’t go in and face all the people who were there so I went for a walk in order to process this information. When I got back, everyone other than Paul, the West’s, and another couple were gone. There was no food left but that was okay because I wasn’t really hungry. Emily was trying to explain that they thought I already knew they were moving but once I process something, I’m fine with it (Am I really? Or was this just part of the dream? I’m not quite sure.). Conversation was cut short in any case because the other woman there was in labor and suddenly there was a bed for her.

This is a super cute Maddie having tummy time.

She was squatting on the bed and once I realized what was going on, I went to her and said, “Hey, let me help. I’ve given birth to eight babies and I’m a trained doula.” She just smiled and then had a contraction. I worked with her to visualize through the contractions and everything was going well. I didn’t have a clue what was going to happen for the actual birth but I wasn’t worrying about that right then. She got up to use the toilet but as she stood, she had another contraction and as she was leaning against the wall she said, “So I want to know is should I homeshool or not.”

Really? I said, “Well, that’s something you need to discuss with your husband but my opinion is that you should. (I said more than that but I’m not going to tell you what else I said because it was way too personal—sorry but not.)”

She groaned and my alarm went off.

This is a super cute Maddie having a nap while Grandma holds her.
Grandma. That still seems so strange. But Maddie isn't. She's super cute.
And cuddly. And perfect.

Yesterday was a pretty okay day. It was an early release day for Amena and Cedric and Seth and Joseph were almost done with their work by the time Cedric got home. I really wanted to go out letterboxing and hiking, which I mentioned yesterday, but I also wanted to go see Joanna and Maddie (and Lincoln). We ended up going to see Joanna. And Maddie. And Lincoln once he got home. The boys were mostly interested in playing games and watching TV but I was mostly interested in Maddie. Well, and Joanna. I got to hold a sleeping Maddie for something like an hour. She drank a little bit of milk but wasn’t really hungry; Joanna said she’d eaten not long before we got there. She was mostly sleepy. And oh so cute! So, no letterboxing or hiking but still okay.

Joseph had scouts and it was blessedly short. I had a killer headache by the time it was time for scouts and didn’t feel like taking forever in the store so I’m glad it didn’t. There was stuff going on at church that Amena, Cedric, and Seth should have gone to but I was tired of arranging for rides for people, can only be in one place at any given time, and figured if Paul had time, he could stop by and get them. He didn’t so they didn’t go.

Right now I’m thinking I could actually go back to sleep but it’s approaching milking time and it’s a busy day. After milking, I’ll need a shower and then it’ll be time to get on with everything that needs to happen.

I need a million dollars. I just thought I’d throw that out there. So you know. You know?

Have a terrific day.

Postcards from Yesterday

Good morning. It is a beautiful day. The sun is shining; the temperature is nice. The humidity isn’t that great but the temperature is such that it somewhat mitigates the effects of the humidity. 

They had a pretty good walk on this particular day (which was Monday, the 12th).

I started to write yesterday but got interrupted by Amena and her need to go to Walmart before they opened and then Tops to see if they had what she needed and then back to Walmart. Then it was off to Hardwick and by the time I got home, it was time to start school for the boys and the day was such that nothing more in the way of journal writing or blog posting was accomplished.

Joseph counted over fifty mushrooms.

Some were quite colorful.

Some were like funnels.

Other than a fairly nice drive to Hardwick, a nice outing with Joseph, and an okay day of school for Seth and Joseph, the day was crap. Glad it’s over and cannot be revisited other than in my mind because that’s bad enough.

And, as usual, there were some interesting trees. We'd already planted the letterbox we'd gone to plant or it might have ended up in this tree.

Today is a new day. You know, Postcards from the Past is one of my favorite songs. You should listen to it sometime if you aren’t familiar with it. It’s very applicable.

I guess if people really are allergic to goldenrod this would not be a good place to go for a walk. It was very pretty and a bit on the warm side.

Anyway, today. Today is an early release day. Amena has driver’s ed this afternoon. There is no cross country practice. I would love to get outside and go for a hike. It is very hard to get Seth and Joseph excited about these things but I’m going to see what I can do about it anyway.

And so it is. Have a wonderful day.

Weekend in Review

Good morning! It is always a good morning when Amena is downstairs and ready five minutes early. It’s also good when Cedric has a plan to complete the science prjoect he did not do over the weekend. To be fair, although he could have worked on it a bit Friday afternoon and yesterday afternoon, he had a busy weekend.

The weekend was somewhat crazy. Saturday was Field Day which meant scouts manning booths and participating in a flag retirement ceremony. I could do without the booth manning but I really enjoy the flag retirement ceremony. I thought I’d signed us up from 11 to 1 but it turns out I’d actually signed up for 12 to 2.

The clouds above were really pretty and the clouds below looked like a storm approaching.

In the morning, Amena had driver’s ed which meant taking her to Gardner at 8:00. Then I needed to go to the West’s to talk to Mari Paz. I was going to go at 9:00 but there was so much to do I wasn’t sure how I was going to get it all done and get over there. I ended up going after I picked Amena up which worked out pretty well. Amena kept an eye on the little girls while Emily ran a couple of errands and I visited.

We hurried home and got ready to go to the rec field and went; I was convinced we were more than half an hour late but we were actually almost half an hour early. Which is unfortunate because the smells wafting around of friend food were making me feel somewhat nauseous so we left at 1:00 rather than staying for the flag ceremony.

At home, we just had usual Saturday stuff to do. Plus, finishing a reading assignment, completing and submitting the written assignment for that particular reading, and taking the quiz. Fun times all the way around.

Yesterday was interesting as well. We had a pretty good storm in the morning that resulted in a pretty good downpour lasting about five minutes, a tree branch breaking off a tree across the road and falling into the road, and no electricity. I’d planned on having some ribs in the oven while we were at church but because there was no electricity, that didn’t happen. I figured I could put them in once I picked Cedric up and got home and we’d just eat late. Good plan until Cedric called and said he’d just get dropped off at home. I left church anyway so I could put the ribs in the oven.

We didn’t eat until 4:30 but it was all good. You know, good being a relative term. I made hot chocolate so that people wouldn’t starve or anything and we had a salad to go with our ribs and then had strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Then Paul wanted to take the silver Jetta to Lowell because it has a slew of issues that need to be addressed. I’ve been driving it for the past week with a nice red rejection sticker which just thrilled me no end. I have the white Jetta back now and it’s heavenly. Just FYI, the soundtrack of The Phantom of the Opera lasts all the way to Lowell plus a little. The first half of the soundtrack of Les Miserables almost lasts all the way home from Lowell. I really wanted to plant a letterbox in commemoration of 9/11 but there ended up not being enough time before it got dark.

And there you have it. Well, sort of.

Where were we? In New Mexico. Where were you?

Cedric spent the weekend completing his Order of the Arrow ordeal. It sounds like it was very interesting to say the least. Friday he was suffering something of an attitude because he really likes going to Field Day to hang out with his friends. I saw Ryan, Jacob, and Paul there as well as some others so I know he’d’ve had fun. Still, it’s my job to prevent that, right? At any rate, I think scouting has the potential to help him become a better person in general including a better friend. I’m pretty sure Daniel would want him to continue with scouting and I know my dad would. I’m pretty sure my dad would be really happy to have some grandsons who earn their Eagles.

And there you have a more complete story. Which is good because it’s all you’re going to get because it’s time to go milk now.

Have a fantastic day!

Free Child Care?

I read a headline yesterday: “Pregnant Mum Who Couldn’t Find a Babysitter Strapped Toddler to Her Back and Went to Work.” That is just fantastic. It’s great she has a job she could do that (she’s a sports doctor). Not all women could. It was a comment about this article, however, that made me really think. The comment was, in effect, “Why do we not have free universal childcare?”

Hmmm. Let’s think about that. Free. What does free mean? I hope you are ready this. Merriam-Webster says:

1          a :  having the legal and political rights of a citizen

b :  enjoying civil and political liberty <free citizens>

c :  enjoying political independence or freedom from outside domination

d :  enjoying personal freedom :  not subject to the control or domination of another

2          a :  not determined by anything beyond its own nature or being :  choosing or capable of choosing for itself

b :  determined by the choice of the actor or performer <free actions>

c :  made, done, or given voluntarily or spontaneously

3          a :  relieved from or lacking something and especially something unpleasant or burdensome <free from pain> <a speech free of political rhetoric> —often used in combination <error-free>

b :  not bound, confined, or detained by force

4          a :  having no trade restrictions

b :  not subject to government regulation

c of foreign exchange :  not subject to restriction or official control

5          a :  having no obligations (as to work) or commitments <I'll be free this evening>

b :  not taken up with commitments or obligations <a free evening>

6 :  having a scope not restricted by qualification <a free variable>

7          a :  not obstructed, restricted, or impeded <free to leave>

b :  not being used or occupied <waved with his free hand>

c :  not hampered or restricted in its normal operation

8          a :  not fastened <the free end of the rope>

b :  not confined to a particular position or place <in twelve-tone music, no note is wholly free for it must hold its place in the series — J. L. Stewart>

c :  capable of moving or turning in any direction <a free particle>

d :  performed without apparatus <free tumbling>

e :  done with artificial aids (as pitons) used only for protection against falling and not for support <a free climb>

9          a :  not parsimonious <free spending>

b :  outspoken

c :  availing oneself of something without stint

d :  frank, open

e :  overly familiar or forward in action or attitude

f :  licentious

10 :  not costing or charging anything

11        a (1) :  not united with, attached to, combined with, or mixed with something else :  separate <free ores> <a free surface of a bodily part> (2) :  freestanding <a free column>

b :  chemically uncombined <free oxygen> <free acids>

c :  not permanently attached but able to move about <a free electron in a metal>

d :  capable of being used alone as a meaningful linguistic form <the word hats is a free form> — compare ⁵bound 7

12        a :  not literal or exact <free translation>

b :  not restricted by or conforming to conventional forms <free skating>

13 :  favorable —used of a wind blowing from a direction more than six points from dead ahead

14 :  not allowing slavery

15 :  open to all comers

Did you read all of that? Some of it is quite interesting. For this discussion, we need to focus on 10, “not costing or charging anything,” because we are talking about child care that is free, or not costing anything, for the parents. That is great. However, are the people providing care going to be freely giving of their time as suggested in 2c, “…given voluntarily or spontaneously”?

You don’t think so? I don’t think so, either. I know I certainly wouldn’t. I don’t like babysitting. Never did. I love my own children and I like babies, but I don’t like watching them for random strangers (that’s relative, of course). I was going to watch the daughter of a friend this morning but the child in question is a lovely girl who is helpful and cheerful and really is not in need of being watched (although I completely understand the why’s). I was going to do this with no expectation of being paid. I was going to do it for free, you might say (although my friend has done much for me for free, as well, so you might say it would be something of a trade).

Unless we take away the freedom of individuals (which I believe we already have to a great degree) and do the opposite of 3b, “not bound, confined, or detained by force” and bind, confine, or detain people to provide child care, I don’t see how we could provide truly free child care. And if someone is being forced to watch children, how good is the care going to be?

So, if we have so-called “free” child care, exactly who will be footing the bill? The parents can’t pay for it because then it would not be free. Employers can’t pay for it because it will end up coming out of the parents’ paychecks. The government can’t pay for it because it will end up coming out of paychecks in the form of taxes. Church? Not everyone goes to church and child care isn’t really what churches are all about. Service organizations? It seems to me that most of the people who volunteer with such organizations are either 1) grandparents or that age, or 2) super busy with a job and family already. Some grandparents are fine for child care (I’ll be watching my granddaughter when my daughter goes back to work and will be providing care for free but I consider it a win-win for both of us and if I had a regular job, I might not be able to do it) but some are not. I mean, I’m a fairly young grandparent (less than 50) while some are in their 80s or 90s (and some of them are in good shape, granted, but I hope you understand what I’m getting at here).

Who wouldn't want to watch this bundle of cuteness? She was just waking up and seeing a whole lot of things she'd never seen before. What an evening!

So, free child care is not free because someone has to pay for it. It’s kind of like public education. It isn’t free. It never was. It never will be. Someone has to pick up the tab.

Do we want a socialized government? I mean really, do we want a socialized government? Do we want a government that will provide for us medical care, education, child care, etc., etc., etc.? In France, income tax appears to be at least 36% but up to 75%. If you want to do me a favor (for free), you can research tax rates in other socialized nations. I’m not in favor of that. US tax rates of 15% to 39% are bad enough. You’d rather start with our high being the low? Are you kidding me? I mean, that’s what having a socialized government would look like just from that perspective.

We got the fire going and then too much wood was added too quickly. We did, with the help of Lincoln, get it going pretty good later and did get our corn and sausages cooked. Couldn't stay out for s'mores, though; it was just too buggy.

The idea that we need free child care is just a symptom of our very dysfunctional society. Our very dysfunctional society says that both parents must work in order to provide all the necessities of life for their children. Part of the dysfunction is that necessities often include very blatant wants. (You need an Xbox? Really? Will that keep you warm and/or dry? Will it fill your belly? Oh, it will keep you entertained. Have you ever tried reading a book or playing a board game? Oh, those are boring; you have ADHD. That’s another discussion. For this discussion, an Xbox fills no NEED. You need brand name clothing? Really? Nike shoes keep your feet warmer than any other brand? Yeah, right. I don’t think so. In fact, I know that to not be true.)

The clouds were really pretty.

This is what I think should happen. People should take a hard look at what they have and what they really need. Once they’ve cut back to necessities, then the wants can come into play.

I also think we should look at our very dysfunctional government. Houses and cars should not cost so much. People should be paid according to their skill levels and we need to understand that skilled workers are not always college educated. We should not have $15 minimum-wage because that just drives everything else up and still is not a living wage. Minimum wage was never intended to be a living wage.

Free child care? No freaking way, man. Let’s fix the root problem rather than expecting more for nothing.

Just a Humid Day

Good morning. You know that 70° and 97% humidity at 5:13 am is not a good thing, right? Forty minutes later it isn’t any better; in fact, it’s worse. 70° and 99% humidity.

Yesterday morning before I went out to milk, I noticed that my lungs were itching. That is never a good thing and when I went out to milk, I started coughing. I used to cough like that. When we lived in California and I would take a shower, my lungs would itch and then I would start to cough. When my asthma was bad, I would cough up globs of gunk. When it wasn’t too bad, I would just cough. In the shower. You know, someplace I’d expect the humidity to be high. I didn’t just walk outside; that’s just ridiculous.

When I went in to shower and get ready to go, Paul said that it wasn’t supposed to be so humid. The weather said humidity was supposed to be in the 60s. Well, it’s pretty normal for it to be higher early in the morning so you can’t base morning humidity on what the daily average is supposed to be. And this is the east where people used to move away from when they had lung issues. I can certainly understand why they did.

According to what I’m looking at the humidity is supposed to be around 70% today. That is so not cool. I really wanted to go letterboxing but I might settle for working in the garden. Just driving to Barre to pick Cedric up from school is going to be bad enough. Especially since I still don’t have the white Jetta.

I suppose I should make a smoothie. I’ve been doing well for the past three or four months when it comes to weight loss but for the past couple of days, I have not. It’s time to stop this little trend before it really becomes one and a smoothie for breakfast is just the trick. And then a green salad for lunch. And then we won’t talk about dinner because it’s going to be a campfire dinner. Still a smoothie and green salad for breakfast and lunch and hopefully a walk will more than make up for what dinner might look like. Besides, if I make a smoothie now, Amena can take some with her for her breakfast.

My motivation doesn’t seem to be with me. It’s so much easier to just sit here and pretend I don’t need to eat.

This was taken from in the garden at 6:26 this morning.

Smoothie made, partly poured into a receptacle for Amena to take, and given to her as she walked out the door to catch the bus at the west end of the driveway (the bus normally stops at the east end). Another part is poured into a jar sitting by me. Once it was made, I thought I’d go outside and take a picture of the humidity. Yesterday while I was milking, it was so visible that visibility wasn’t too great. Today it isn’t as visibly noticeable but it’s currently 97% and you don’t have to see that to know it’s there. Because I was outside, I thought I’d take a picture of some of the sunflowers in the garden. I did but it isn’t all that bright outside so I don’t know how good they are. I thought I’d take a look at the artichokes, too. We’ve got one I should have picked a few days ago but didn’t. I thought I’d see if it would break off. It didn’t. It did leave a sticker in my finger, though, that didn’t want to just come out so I sucked on my finger and I can tell you that artichokes leave something on your skin that tastes very bad. Very bad.

This was taken from the driveway alongside the garden at 7:15. You  can see the sunflowers at the bottom left and the mullein on the right.

Yesterday was an okay day. I went to Vermont with Katie which has been interesting every time so far. Yesterday we stopped at a bookstore. A used bookstore. It has some very old books and some that aren’t quite as old. Some very interesting books. I’m pretty sure Paul would like some of them but nothing spoke to me in a way that indicated I couldn’t live without it. Which is a good thing because the way to not spend money is to not have any.

This isn’t very long and I’m afraid it isn’t very interesting but at least I have pictures today. I’m not sure how good they are, but they exist. Even if this isn’t terribly thought-provoking or otherwise stimulating, I am going to call it a day, so to speak.

Have a good one.

PS I just went upstairs to get the cord for my phone so I can transfer pictures (and music). I said to Paul, "It's another nasty day."

He said, "It's supposed to be nice with humidity in the 60s."

"Nice?" I questioned, dubiously. "Anything over 50% is NOT nice."

I guess it's all about perspective, I guess. And, honestly, anything over 30% is not nice.

And now I need to go milk before I finish this all up.

Shorts

I.

Good morning! New phone=I got up at 5:00. I got up at 5:00=Amena got up a few minutes after and got in the shower. Amena got in the shower=she took a LONG shower. Amena took a LONG shower=Cedric just got in. Such is life.

New phone=capability to take pictures. Capability to take pictures≠pictures in a blog. At least not yet. The replacement arrived at about 5:17 yesterday afternoon. I had time to get it activated and that’s really about it.

II.

Conversation between two vehicles yesterday:

As an Escalade passes a Jetta because the Jetta slowed down to let a bus continue turning across the road: “Jerk!”

A couple of minutes later: “See, didn’t do you any good to pass me, did it? You got stuck behind a REALLY slow car.”

“Yeah, I know. My driver’s an idiot. Always in a hurry.”

“Hah! My driver doesn’t want to draw any attention to herself because I’ve got this really pretty red R on my windshield.”

“Oh, yeah, that is kind of pretty.”

“She doesn’t drive me much, anyway. She usually drives a white one. She says I shift too easily.”

“I just shift automatically.”

“Yeah. She says that’s boring. I guess I’m turning here; she wants to avoid driving by police headquarters.”

“Oh, yeah. I see. Been nice chatting.”

III.

As you know, I’m not a huge fan of public school. We are currently in the second week of school for this year and already I’ve been subjected to one of the reasons why I don’t like public school EVERY single day.

The bus arrives.

One or two students get off the bus (so far, it’s mostly been two).

One or two students walk up the driveway.

One or two students walk in the house.

One or two students begin:

“Mom, I need this for school.”

“Mom, I need that for school.”

“Mom, don’t forget about this.”

“Mom, I need this.”

“Mom, don’t forget…”

“Mom…”

“Mom…”

“Mom…”

IV.

Yesterday I went up in the attic to go through Daniel’s things because I know that he had a scientific calculator for school. I didn’t find it but I found some other cool things. I discovered that it really is not cool to open boxes if you aren’t prepared to see what is in them. It might not be entirely fair of me, but I found myself wishing that the younger boys were a bit more like Daniel. He didn’t badger. If he needed something, he told me. If I could get it, I did. If I couldn’t, I would as soon as I could.

V.

Today is another day. My eyes itch. The roof of my mouth itches. It never cooled off during the night below about 65° which means it never cooled off since it was only up to about 69° ever. It is humid: 97%. We have a projected high of 83°. Can I just quit?

VI.

Have a good day.