Friday bullets, June 28, 2018

Sorry I kind of disappeared there for a bit.

• On Wednesday afternoon, I was hit full force by an illness completely out of the blue. I spent most of the rest of the day huddled under several blankets, shivering. I'm pretty sure I was running about a 104 degree fever. As a result, I wasn't actually resting, but my fevered brain had somehow decided to plot out a complete novel about a mild mannered blogger who runs afoul of an increasingly fascist government and who ends up killed by a firing squad at the end. It wasn't restful.
• Yesterday, I was at the feeling better, but not well enough to be up and doing something. I am a bad patient, because I am not patient. I do not actually like lounging around in bed all day. I find it totally frustrating.
• As you read this today, I hope I am feeling back to my more normal self, and can be functional again. Oh, I hope...
• We have a chicken in the kitchen again. This time it is just one, and it is Chickadee, our all black hen. People told me Wednesday that she was making funny noises and that the roosters were picking on her, but I was too sick to do anything about it. Yesterday when I was outside, changing the view as to where I was sitting, I realized her funny noises were because I was pretty sure she was sick. So, we got out our extra dog crate, put it inside the house, and put the bird in the crate. I really, really, really hope she is the only one. 
• G. and L. have enjoyed their week at VBS. It has been a bit of a stretch for them, since they didn't really get sufficient recovery time from church camp. I'm glad this next week is looking pretty calm.
• I found a James Harriot book that I had not read. I didn't know he had written a fifth book in the All Creatures Great and Small, called Every Living Thing, and has been out for quite some time. I picked it up because it was about as far from the imaginary novel which had been roiling through my head, and I needed a distraction. I had forgotten how much I loved the first novels when I read them in high school. I'm pretty sure they were the biggest reason that I wanted to be a vet for so long.
• The things in my garden are starting to look like actual plants. Earlier in the week I was able to get out and do some weeding, though I still have a bit to do. There are also some things such as lettuces and carrots that I think I need to plant some more seeds, as I don't have very much coming up. But the baby bok choy looks as though I will need to harvest it this weekend.
• I've heard Fluffy the rooster crow over the past few days, but I hadn't heard Rooster. Well, I finally heard Rooster the rooster crow. Let's just say, he won't be bother the neighbors very much.
• P. received all of her uniform parts for Class Afloat in the mail yesterday. It's a nearly complete wardrobe which included some pretty high tech outerwear. Of course, she paid for all of this high tech outerwear and what not. We did have to have a little lesson in the uses of a kilt pin.
• We have not had tea time in two weeks. This seems odd, and we will need to remedy it next week when life returns back to a more normal rhythm. We are also in the middle of a book that none of us is terrible excited about, so the motivation to gather everyone and read is low. I'm going to have to just take some time this weekend and finish it to see if the payoff is worth it, or if we should just scrap it and move on to another book.
• I have some ideas, but am curious... if you suddenly found yourself awash in hot chili peppers, what would you do with them? I can see the future when I look at my garden, and it holds hot peppers.
• D. has finished Jane Eyre, and I have happily handed him The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I cannot wait for him to read it, because now he will get all the jokes that I can't explain to him when a reference to the book comes up.
• You know you have good friends when they get together and skulk in the dark around your old house, peering in windows, to see what has been done to it. It's not good people, not good at all. All the wood has been painted white, no more pantry, no first floor bedroom. I feel as though I need to go and offer an apology to the house for leaving it in such clueless hands.
• I managed to process all 40 quarts of strawberries with only a very few going bad. I have a gallon size bag of dehydrated berries, 2 1/2 pints of jam, and 2 1/2 gallon bags of frozen strawberries. The frozen ones will be made into jam when I have a chance, in the meantime, they're just going to hang out in the freezer. We also had strawberry shortcake and strawberry pie. 
• I'm sure there was more that I was going to share with you, but my addled brain cannot think of them now. I cannot wait to be back to 100%.