Last one for today.

Saturday

April 8, 2017

10:13 pm

I should be in bed but I really, really wanted some hot chocolate so I washed some dishes, plugged my ears in, and made some hot chocolate. I’m going to attempt reading shortly but wanted to write a few words beforehand.

This is a wheel (say, what?!) from an old mill along the Burnshirt River in Barre. All pictures in this post were taken along said river or the Ware Rail Trail on April 13. Do you see the evidence of beaver? We also saw a frog but he (or she) didn't show up in the picture.

First, let me briefly tell you about my evening. I’ve been working with the boys to get them in bed by 9:00. It has been a real struggle in past months and there have been nights when I’m on my way to bed not before and often after 10:00 when one or more of them has been perusing the kitchen for a snack or making that one last trip to the bathroom. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve done better at having dinner ready for them as close to 6:00 as possible. That gives enough time after to get some things done. It isn’t perfected and there are some nights when we don’t eat until 7:00 but there are some nights when we just browse. Dinner time is a work in progress.

Still, we’ve met with a fair amount of success in three boys in bed by 9:00. Cedric has had a couple of nights when he stayed up later getting help with homework. Last night I don’t know when they were in bed because I didn’t get home until after 11:00 but the night before, they were in bed by 9:00. Tonight, I was leaving at 8:00 to pick Amena up in Hardwick. Seth and Joseph actually wanted to be in bed by 9:00 so I set the timer for 8:50 with instructions to turn the timer off, brush teeth, and get to bed since I wouldn’t be back yet by then. When I got home around 9:15, not only were they in bed, they were asleep!

Beaver dams like you wouldn't believe! There were four although you can only see two here.

Now let me tell you about my day yesterday. It was LONG, but good. I got up at 5:00 to make sure Amena and Cedric were getting ready then went back to bed and got up for good at 5:30. I made smoothies but no hot chocolate because both Amena and Cedric left the Thermos-type containers they use for it at school. I made bacon cheddar chive muffins so there would be some ready-made food in the house while I was gone. I milked and took care of the goats while the muffins were in the oven. I showered and got ready for my day including two 5-gallon (which are never completely full) containers of fuel in the car (that was before the shower).

I gave Seth and Joseph instructions for the day and then took off at about 8:10 am. After approximately five hours and forty-four minutes of driving approximately 253 miles, one prenatal, two postpartum, and one initial visits (which took at least an hour each), a quick stop at Chipotles for dinner (very late at 9:30), and a couple of hours of paperwork, I arrived home at about 11:30 pm. LONG day. But good.

River debris made for interesting ripple patterns.

Let me tell you about Wednesday. It was a good day, as well, although different. There were two postpartum visits that day which required a bit of driving as well but not as much as yesterday although we visited two states rather than all in one. The really interesting thing about Wednesday happened on the way home. Katie got a flat tire. It wasn’t in the greatest spot but not the worst, either. She has AAA which is nice and we basically just got to sit and wait for a truck to come. While we were waiting, I espied a tree that looked like the perfect candidate for a letterbox. It looked like it had a hollow at the base with a large rock guarding the front. Finally, I said, “That tree is calling to me. I need to go take a look.” And I opened the door to get out.

Katie said, “No, you can’t go.” She explained, “I’m afraid I’ll get hit while I’m in the car. It’ll be like one of those reports you hear when the person survived because she felt like she needed to get out of the car. I’m getting out, too.”

She got out and I was on my way up the hill to the tree when she spotted the truck and it was time to get ready to leave.

Sometimes I just have to wonder what might happen if the choices we make were different. What if I’d just have gotten out of the car and gone up the hill? What if I’d driven to that appointment as I’d considered doing so I could plant a couple of letterboxes on the way home? It might be a silly game but it’s an interesting silly game nonetheless.

When I got home, I had taxi duty to do. Amena to pick up in Orange so she could leave her car to be worked on again and then to take her to work. Cedric and I had a mandatory meeting for the DC trip which is next week. Then picking Amena up from work. When I got home for good, it was around 8:00 and I had a headache because my water consumption was far less than it ought to have been. I had some tea and lots of water and by 9:00, the headache was almost gone.

Then Paul got home. As soon as he walked in the door, the headache was raging again. I washed a few more dishes and then decided I’d had enough and went to bed. The boys, as you may recall, were already in bed.

I laid in bed attempting to get comfortable but my head was not having anything to do with that. It was up and down to use the bathroom (all the water and tea had to get out), and then attempt getting comfortable again for about four hours. At 1:30 I got up and looked at my phone hoping it wasn’t too late because I still wanted to sleep. It wasn’t too late, but my head still hurt. Still, that was the last wake up until just before my 5:00 alarm went off. The headache was almost gone at that point so I went back to bed, I think, until 5:30 at which time I got up to do smoothies and hot chocolate because at that point, only Amena had forgotten her Thermos-type container at school.

They were not happy to have this taken but I wanted to compare it to one we took by the same sign last year or the year before.

And there you have a few interesting days. I was going to drink hot chocolate and read Darth Plagueis and listen to Billy Idol or Journey or something but this is taking longer than I thought it would so I’m going to call one cup of hot chocolate and almost 1120 words good for the night. Especially since it’s way past my bedtime and it doesn’t matter how much I’d like to sleep in, it never happens.