Friday bullets, August 3, 2018

And suddenly it's August!

I'm never so happy I'm a homeschooler than when I start to see people post about buying extreme amounts of school supplies, or back to school pictures when I'm still most definitely in summer mode. My school supplies for the year? Four 25 cent spiral notebooks, two bottles of school glue, and a package of tape. I'm not sure the tape counts, though, as it is a perpetually needed household item. I will still buy some new colored pencils and some new sharpies, but as actual school supplies go, this is it.
The hot tub to duck pond saga continues. First there was this:

Only to discover that the hole needed to be deeper.

And then after a couple more times of lifting the hot tub in and out, it was put into the ground.

Now it needs to be filled in, and some type of stone pavers need to be acquired to create a more natural border. My only contribution to this whole ~~ordeal~~ plan was to say it was fine as long as it looked pretty, and did not look as though a hot tub fell out of a passing plane and landed in our yard. We aren't quite there yet.

We've discovered Nefertiti inside the basket we use to hold the vegetables we've harvested quite often over the past three days. It's almost as if we have a cat garden out back, and she's been harvested.

Rooster, the rooster seems to be turning a little bit mean. After he came after me today, I decided that maybe one of our chickens really could end up in the soup pot. He needs to watch his manners.
I spent quite a bit of time on Monday trying to figure out this whole Russian visa-thing for P. Thanks to my adoption world contacts, it seems I have found a courier to take her passport to the embassy for us. I'm also not looking forward to getting the Cuban visa, either. I seem to be getting a crash course in visas to communist countries. If only P. could use the 10-year visa for China that she already has!
I made a galette for the first time last night. A galette is a fancy sounding name for a free form pie. Pretty much, I made pie crust, rolled it out on a baking sheet on parchment paper, put the filling on it, turned the edges over, and that was it. It was easier than a regular pie, and everyone loved it. Well, everyone except the youngests who still don't yet care for zucchini.

Home ground whole soft wheat flour for the crust, zucchini and dill from the garden, eggs from the ducks. It's so very food-y, isn't it?

Many of our eggs have double yolks.
I have Y.'s cloak done, and now just have to make G.'s. Then I think I will be out of the cloak making business.
The husky puppy litter that we will be picking from are three weeks old, and they are cute! We will know for sure which puppy is ours in the next couple of weeks.
We finished reading Surviving the Applewhites yesterday, and I am once again smitten with the idea of putting on a play in a barn. Between family and friends, we could totally do it. It's just the very large barn that is the sticking point. Barns always seem to be the sticking point, don't they?
We are getting nearly a dozen chicken eggs a day, and at least three duck eggs. This is good. We may soon reach a point where I could sell some.
Tonight was the library's picnic to celebrate the end of the reading game. There was a beautiful macaw there that people could hold if they liked. G. decided it was very much like having a chicken perch on your arm.

E. (with Y. in the background)

There was also a Polynesian dance group which performed. R. and Y. both got up and joined other girls doing the hula, and TM then later joined the men. He did quite a good job... I wish I had a video to share with you. The library then had so much left over food, that they sent a bunch of sandwiches home with us. Lunch!

And now, I need to say good night to people, and then the older children and adults are going to play a new board game which we checked out of the library. Yes, our library has games, of all varieties and skill levels, which they allow to circulate. I think that is so cool.

Enjoy your weekend!