Friday bullets, July 27, 2018

Let's dive right in. This might be a little chicken-heavy, just warning you.

• I have discovered that I heartily dislike full moons. After months and months of tracking behavior, we have decided that one of our children becomes extremely difficult (ie shrieking and not sleeping) around every full moon. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it. It's almost to the point where I check what the moon is doing before planning anything.
• The garden is flourishing. Over last weekend, I picked 22 cucumbers and several zucchini. This means that I also spent time this past week putting up 15 quarts of dill pickles and 2 1/2 quarts of bread and butter pickles. We've also eaten beets, beet greens, lettuce, green onions, and basil (both Thai and sweet).

• The hot tub to pond project continues. The wood is off around the outside of the tub, and the tedious process of hacking off the foam is in process. The large hole that needs to be dug for the hot tub to go in is also being dug.

It's actually a good foot or so deeper now than when I took this picture.

• It seems we actually have 22 chickens, not 21. Children kept telling me that there were 22, but I didn't believe them. So older children went into the coop at night, when the chickens were all roosting and not moving around. There are 22. I ordered 20. We thought we had 21. But evidently, chickens are like water bottles, and you always end up with more than you thought.
• Here are some pictures of chickens which TM took with the good camera, while he and P. were out counting chickens.

This is Rooster, the rooster

This is Rooster and Fluffy, the other rooster

• The chickens and ducks are laying more eggs. Most of the hens lay brown eggs, though we have four that lay pastel eggs. The duck's eggs are cream colored. Very few of the chickens use the nesting boxes. We find eggs all over. The ducks just seem to lay them where ever they happen to be. They also lay them all during the day. It is not unusual that every few hours a child will announce, "I found an egg!" Now, for those of you with chicken experience, this is probably not news. But for those of us to whom this is new, we are a little surprised, as there seems to be an understanding among non-chicken people that hens lay eggs in the morning, in an orderly fashion. We have been misled.
• I have finally gotten around to really looking at and inventorying the horse-stuff I bought a few weeks ago. I think I did pretty well for what I paid. Here's the list: 4 large blankets, 3 medium blankets, 3 small blankets, 4 hoods, misc. blanket hardware that I scavenged from the unusable blankets, 1 lunging whip, 6 buckets, 1 butt strap, 4 fly masks, 3 halters, 2 saddle pads, 2 bits, 4 hoof picks, 1 blanket hanger, 3 saddles, 2 pairs of stirrups, 1 pair stirrup leathers, 2 helmets, 1 large bin of riding clothes, 1 hay net, various medicine, 5 girths, 1 saddle cover, 1 pair fetlock boots. I threw out four or five blankets that were too damaged or mildewed. The rest just needs to be cleaned, and most of the blankets need some repair work. 
• Of course, no one wants to lug a dirty horse blanket up to their sewing machine to fix it, so the first step is to wash them. I got four done today.

• I read something the other day that kind of surprised me, and wondered if other people feel this way. A mom wrote that she feels guilty when she cleans when her children are around. At first I thought, "Huh?!" After thinking about it, I decided it was because she felt as though she should be paying attention to the children, but I'm still not sure. Has anyone else heard this or felt this way? Is this a thing? How do the children learn to clean a house if they don't first watch someone else do it? I'll be honest. I don't get it.
• We are reading Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan for tea time. I love this book; it is such fun. If you don't know the story, the story centers on the Applewhites, who are a family of talented artists. Some of my children are now concerned that they don't have a 'thing'. The polymaths among us keep trying to say that having one thing is limiting and over-rated. (Polymath is my new favorite term, right up there with autodidact. It means, "A person of wide-ranging knowledge or learning.") It does make me want to put a show on in a barn, though.
•  I am speaking on homeschooling high school next Monday at an area homeschool event in DeKalb. Email me if you want details.
• The dinner table discussion last night centered around the questions which family member would you choose to do The Amazing Race with. I was not a top choice. Heck, I wouldn't even pick me. They often have to do something either involving swimming (not my strong suit) or doing something high in the air. I don't do things high above the ground. Not even to win a large sum of cash. I would not be a good team mate. Many of my children, however, are dare devils. Bungee jumping was mentioned, and L.'s face lit up with the discovery that such a thing existed.

That's all for now. Enjoy your weekend!