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.

Just Life

Yet another example of time speeding by whether we are having fun or not. Hopefully we are having fun along the way because if we aren’t, it isn’t likely to change; it’s all up to us to have fun or not.

This morning I woke up because Amena was getting a towel for a shower. I got up to use the downstairs bathroom and noticed that it was 6:09. Holy crap, Batman! You’ve got to be kidding me! I went to bed early and everything. Not good enough. So, we’ll see how it goes as for missing or not missing the bus. I’m hoping…

In other news, rather than go to a Verizon store yesterday, I thought I’d give giving them a call a try. At the very least, I would be wasting an additional twenty minutes or so and that’s easy enough to do just getting lost in Facebook or AtlasQuest or even just email. So, I spent a couple of minutes locating the phone number and then I had to use Paul’s phone (very strange experience) to call.

Everything was all good including the fact that the phone was replaced just last month because the issue last month was not a damaged screen. Did I ever mention anything about that here? My phone started wigging out less than a month after I got it. It would restart when I wanted to turn it off. It would turn off in the middle of the night or turn on, depending on if I’d turned it off or on before bed. I actually took it in to the store in Leominster (the one I thought was in Lancaster) but the woman I talked to couldn’t find anything wrong with it. I don’t remember if it was later that day or the next when I thought it might be a good idea to do a reset and see if that helped but it wouldn’t do one. I would turn it off, and it would restart right away. So I went to Verizon.com and had a chat with one of their online people. He was giving me different ideas and then suggested removing the sim card. Well, to do that, the phone has to be turned off. It wouldn’t turn off. He said, “Well, your phone is still within the warranty period, what I can do is send you a new one.” Really? Cool. The only problem is that I was leaving for Utah hours before it would arrive so I had it sent to Laura and Blaine’s. It arrived before I left, I think. The same day, at any rate.

Because my phone was behaving enough to use for the most part, I didn’t open the new one for a couple of days. When I did, I realized that the old one needed to be returned within five days. Ooops! At least I was within that time period. I’m glad that the old one started wigging out again, and more seriously than it had been, or I might have missed that five-day deadline.

Everything with the replacement was great until Sunday when it was dropped. Now, I can’t see anything on the screen so I’m glad that the new replacement will be here today by 8:00 pm. I obviously need an alarm clock.

The good news is that Amena and Cedric made it on the bus.

In other news, it sure is funny how our having Egg Drop Soup led to Jay making Egg Drop Soup for his and Becky’s dinner yesterday. Isn’t social media great? I was going to have eggs with some peppers we got from Nick’s mom that are supposed to be really hot. I’ve got to try them out and see what I think. Amena tells me that his dad loves hot stuff but that these particular peppers (red bananas) are too hot for him. We shall see. Once I get around to eating one.

School is off to an okay start. I thought I’d try a less structured day and week and see how it goes. For example, let the boys know exactly what needs to be done by the end of the week but let them do it as they choose. So if they want to just do history one day, that’s all they do. If they want to just do math one day, that’s fine. The only constant I will insist on is reading every day. And I suspect that math will happen every day because they tend to want to hurry through a lesson so they’ll be done. I’m not sure being able to hurry through five lessons to be done for an entire week will appeal but I could be wrong.

Allergies have been terrible since I got back from Utah; yesterday might have been the worst from a plugged up perspective. Most of the day, I could blow or snort some of the snot out of my sinuses but there was still so much that I could not breathe through my nose. Today I have a little airflow on the right side. The left is still completely blocked. I cannot begin to tell you how much fun this is not. I don’t know what causes all the snot to finally let loose but if I did know, I would be activating it.

Today should be a fairly low key day. Other than my replacement phone arriving, Joseph has scouts this evening. I hope that the white car is done so I can take the silver car and get the white one. Paul got two Star Wars steering wheel covers, one with Darth Vader and one with Stormtroopers. I chose the one with Stormtroopers because it is more obviously Star Wars than is the Darth Vader one. There is more contrast with the white as opposed to the whole thing being just black and grey. Anyway, it will be fun, I guess, to put it on. I might have to clean the car, though.

Other than Cub Scouts and school and a new phone and maybe the great car switch, that’s about it other than the usual stuff. With a new phone, there should be pictures again. That will be nice. Reading is fun, but pictures are nice, too.

Have a fantastical day!

Anyone Who Knows Me Very Well

Good morning!

Anyone who knows me very well knows how much I do not like public school. It’s all about making all types of children, triangles, squares, circles, ovals, etc., fit a uniform learning style, circles. There are a very few schools out there with personalized learning for individual students but unless class size is small, which almost never happens, it doesn’t really work out very well. Also, there is a very limited amount of recess. Even when I was in school a million years ago, we did not get as much recess as we should have. I seem to recall morning and afternoon recess along with a sizeable chunk after lunch. Assuming that amounted to an hour and we were in school from 8:30 to 3, it wasn’t enough. Now, students are lucky to get one fifteen-minute recess in the morning and another fifteen minutes after lunch. There is just too much crap they have to have shoved at them. And all too often, recess is denied them as a form of punishment. Then there is homework. We won’t even start on that at the moment.

Anyone who knows me very well knows how much I dislike school lunch. I remember when I was in elementary school that I preferred taking my own lunch and I know that I did at least part of the time. I remember one time in particular when I had this sandwich. My parents had a lot of NeoLife stuff and one thing was this cheese powder. You could mix it with water and spread it on bread and have a sandwich. I loved the stuff and this sandwich was made with whole wheat bread and these cheese spread. I remember this particular lunch because I had a conversation with a classmate about the sandwich. I no longer remember if she thought it sounded good or not, I just know that we had a conversation and the subject was the sandwich.

There were times when I had school lunches, too. I don’t remember liking many of the menu offerings. There are actually only three things I remember being on the menu: canned green beans, canned corn, and pumpkin cake. I probably shouldn’t tell you the story of the pumpkin cake because it isn’t very nice. Maybe another time. Or not.

What are we trading for public school and school lunches?

In a perfect world, all teachers would love what they do and would be paid well for what they do. In a perfect world, students would get fifteen minutes of recess for every forty-five of classroom instruction. In a perfect world, school lunches would mainly consist of food grown at the school by the students. In a perfect world, there would be no homework other than possibly classwork that was not finished. In a perfect world… But we all know we don’t live in a perfect world.

Yesterday was a day unlike any other. It also wasn’t all that spectacular or anything.

I did discover that the elderberries I thought were gone weren’t. I picked all the ripe ones and put them in the juicer. I didn’t get as much juice as I thought I would but still, every little bit is more than nothing.

Before I went to Utah, I had about three blooming calendula flowers on a rather small plant. When I got back, the plant was huge in comparison and there were literally dozens of flowers. Yesterday I went out and picked most of them that hadn’t gone to seed; they are now in a bag drying.

Most of our beans were ready to be harvested and eaten or preserved while I was gone so rather than pick a whole lot of overripe ones, I left them. We should have a few to save for the garden next year as well as some to cook.

I also looked at the corn (because who could not when the beans are planted with it) and picked four ripe ears. Paul bought a dozen late last week and then another six Saturday even though I told him not to. I’d much prefer to eat those from the garden and will be much annoyed if they end up too ripe because we waited until the inferior corn from the store was eaten. I guess it’s up to me to make sure that doesn’t happen. The problem is that Paul seems to be the only one who doesn’t seem to care if it’s from the store or from the garden. Such is life. Corn will be for dinner tonight.

There is a lot of basil that needs to be harvested and dried. It might be fun to see if I can make some last all winter.

Anyone who knows me very well knows that I love my goats and it is now time to get myself outside and take care of them. They followed me all over the place yesterday and ended up in the fruit trees on the hill. Paul was getting some wood from someone in Hubbardston and they would come over to help unload and I guess one of them attempted to make friends with Zoey or Goldilocks. The goats weren’t in favor of this and took off. Smart goats; they know better than to trust strangers.

Have a fantabulous day!

Fun? Fun!

Time flies when you’re having fun. Is that what I’ve been having since I got home? Constant allergies which translates to runny nose, itchy and sometimes runny eyes, and itchy roof of my mouth. That’s fun? I was so desperate yesterday that I took drugs. I really should know by now that all that will accomplish is a plugged nose and the constant desire to sleep. That’s exactly what happened. The itchiness abated somewhat, but not completely, the nose plugged up so that only occasionally did a small rivulet escape and need attention (which is an interesting experience if nothing else), and the eyes were slightly less prone to excess moisture. Fun.

In other news, there has been too much going on for fun to register. School started last week. That’s fun. Cross country started last week. That’s fun. That is especially fun since Cedric can’t run without a physical. He should have had a physical while I was gone but I was gone. The one from last year expired on the first or second day of school. He’s got an appointment for the 9^th (that’s Friday). In the meantime, it appears he can practice IF he has a note from the doctor stating 1) that he has an appointment for a physical on the 9^th, and 2) he is capable of running. Thursday we got a note saying he had an appointment. I left a message Friday but am not sure if it resulted in a second note.

Seth and Joseph had a slow introductory period in to school for the year. This week will see the beginnings of more. This year is going to be a bit different from last year. I’m hoping it will be easier for them and for me with our new format which I will not divulge at this time (because I’m having so much fun, you know).

This is what milk production looks like since I've been home. The morning I got back, I milked and got 89.6 ounces. I didn't count that because Zoey hadn't been milked out completely for days. On the 25th, I got a whopping 3.9 ounces. Except for the little (big) glitch where I was seven hours late and the following day when I was an hour late but it was six hours earlier than the previous day, we've seen a steady increase daily to the point where we are almost back up to the solid half gallon. Barring any further glitches, we should be good.

Last week was something of a comedy of errors. For one thing, I got a call Wednesday morning (like 12:30ish am) that someone was in labor and I could head over. I did. Not much happened and around 1 Katie said I could go home and see to the boys. I went home and milked seven hours late, took Seth and Joseph to the library, picked Cedric up from the practice he couldn’t run at, took Amena to work, went with Joseph to scouts, got another call that things were picking up and I could head over. I asked Jonathan Brinker to take Joseph home and went home to get ready to go and then went to pick Amena up. I got a text asking if I could pick up a Dr. Pepper and bag of chips so I ran (literally) across the street to a gas station and got those. After waiting for what seemed like ever, I was about to call Paul and ask him to pick Amena up but she came out. I took her home, was just behind the Brinker’s after dropping Joseph off, and took off.

Around 2:00am Katie made the decision to transport. Ranee and I cleaned up (she did most of the work because she knows where all the stuff goes and I did a lot of watching and carrying out to the car). Then I took Ranee home which was fun in and of itself culminating with being pulled over because the lights for the back license plate were out. At least the trooper said he’d never pull us over again. Can they do that? On the way home I accidentally ended up going toward Petersham. I don’t usually mind that drive but it was early in the morning after no sleep and it really wasn’t a good time to go letterboxing (not to mention I didn’t have my stuff for that) so I turned around and went the shorter way.

Friday I went to a couple of prenatal visits with Katie. During a discussion about fetal position I had an aha moment; I like those sometimes. For some reason, I’d been thinking that there are about a million to remember, probably from page 385 in Anne Frye’s book Holistic Midwifery, Volume 1. The aha moment was when I realized that there are eight basic positions. The differences come from what part is presenting. Most of the time, it is the occiput. That just made my job a lot easier.

Saturday I made and canned eleven quarts and three 24-ounce jars of spaghetti sauce, froze about 20 quarts of strawberries, and made a gallon of yogurt.

Yesterday was the day I decided to take drugs for my allergies. I could barely stay awake during church; I didn’t even feel like knitting and only got about eight rows done. After, we hurried home and ate and then I took Amena to Hardwick. I actually had to pull over on the way home to close my eyes for a few minutes. Crazy. If I had letterboxing stuff with me, I could have gone to Amena’s and stamped the stamp in the section of my book where I stamp those I’ve carved.

In the evening, as usual, Dan called. That was fine. The problem came when Cedric, who was eating strawberry shortcake, decided he needed to have a private conversation and picked my phone up with dirty fingers. He dropped my phone. He dropped it! As a result, there is a crack in the screen and I can’t use it because the crack prevents me from unlocking it. Did I overreact? Yes, yes I did. I had to replace it once already because it was wigging out and it isn’t paid for. Now it appears Motorola will replace the screen once but I need to go in later today to find out for sure if that will work. I hope it will. And I can tell you that Cedric will not be touching my phone again for a very, very long time because he has a bad track record with my phones (he put the first and only crack in my Mini-Droid while it was in my possession).

I’m not sure how much I thought I’d be writing today but I think I’ve exceeded it. Have a fantastic day and forgive the lack of pictures: no phone, no pictures.