Just kind of an ordinary summer day
Today was one of those blissful days where I never had to get in my car to go anywhere. I planned on spending the day catching up with laundry and paying the bills... because I know how to have fun. G. and I did the barn and the birds first thing, then I sat in the sun and had my breakfast outside. This having breakfast outside thing, sitting quietly, watching the trees and the birds while I sip my coffee is one of my very favorite things about summer. Sometimes a child will join me briefly or play beside me while I sit and sip. L. joined me this morning, crushing up some of the wild strawberries in the garden to make 'ink'. (Don't worry, these are not eating strawberries. They are small and bitter. Every year someone tries one hoping that this year they will be sweet, but they never are. L. can make as much ink as she desires.)
One interesting thing that happened this morning was R. decided to play with a toy. I know that this sounds hardly newsworthy, but it actually is. She will play if I prod her and stay with her, otherwise her shelf of activities and toys just sit there as if she has no idea what to do with them, which is probably the case. She will carry around her doll and stuffed unicorn, but they are more comfort items than actual toys. Today she came downstairs carrying a caterpillar that makes noise and moves in different ways depending on how his links are connected together. I bought it for her over two years ago and for all that time it was as if it didn't even exist. Until this morning. She played with it all day, to the point where its batteries needed to be replaced. Usually I don't buy toys that require batteries but I thought she would like this and it would get her on the floor and crawling. I was right, it just took 2+ years for it to happen.
Laundry was next. Laundry is always next it seems. As with breakfast, I mainly do this by myself, but often a child or two will pop in to see where I am or to ask me something or to tell me something terribly important. As ridiculous as it seems, by the time I had sorted, started, folded, moved, and resorted so people could put laundry away, it was lunchtime. (It had been more than a couple of days since I had done laundry.)
Lunch happened. I felt relaxed enough to take my lunch out to the back porch along with a book and sit and read for a while. Other people hung out on the back porch reading or chatting as well. At the end of lunch, I got a text from P., who had gone to the gym with A., to tell me she got the job she applied for. I was thrilled for her. She is going to be working weekends doing set-up for an event venue just down the road from us. In a pinch, she could walk there if the car situation was desperate. Plus, it will give her weekdays free to ride and take classes or whatever else she wants to do.
In order to avoid paying the bills a little longer, I then hustled everyone outside to do a general pick-up so that D. could do some mowing since it was actually sunny and not pouring rain. Once that was done, I was out of excuses and sat down at my desk to work on bills. Along with the usual distractions of people asking me questions right when I'm trying to add something (okay, who am I kidding, I rarely add, I was probably subtracting), I received a text message from M. this time. The news we had all been waiting for finally came, and M. has been officially accepted into the highly competitive vet tech program for the fall. I'm very excited, especially since it has been a ridiculous amount of effort for M. to get everything that was needed for the application.
Back to the bills for a bit when another text message arrives, also from M. Would we take another cat for the barn who is not going to get adopted and needs a home? His name is Diesel and he is cute. Having lost control quite a few animals ago, of course I said yes. I did point out that it was not a very big barn and that we were probably now at barn cat capacity.
I finished the bills, no thanks to Avis Europe who, even though they said they would take the unexpected charges off our card neglected to. And calling Apple on the phone? I don't recommend it and am actually surprised Dante didn't add it to his Inferno. But they are all paid and I don't have to think about it again for a while. I realized when I was done that it was later than usual, so start scrambling everyone to get ready for teatime.
We all got distracted, though, when we realized that M. had brought Diesel home and was setting him up in the barn.
And why were people following M. around? Because the hot tub is taking another step towards becoming an actual pond.
We have a good pump for it now, and M. just finished making a filter for it. That would be that green Menards bucket you see. It is filled with lava rock and cotton batting. The pump takes the water from the hot tub pond, pumps it through the filter, and the clean water pours back into the pond. Right now it is running to be sure everything works, to see if there are any unknown leaks in the liner, and to see how quickly the pump and filter combo clear the water. If all goes well, the next step is to finish leveling the liner, then start doing some landscaping to hide the bucket and hot tub edges.
This was all fascinating stuff, so no one felt like heading inside until about six. I started dinner (macaroni and cheese with sauteed spinach) while smaller people relaxed. We are still working our way through the chosen birthday dinners and desserts. That's what happens when you have three on the same day and your tradition is choosing dinner and dessert. It was too hard to get everyone to agree, so we just have three days of it. Yesterday was L.'s dinner of Reuben sandwiches and raw vegetables and dip followed by sundaes. Tonight's was G.'s choice with root beer floats for dessert.
Everyone is in bed, the barn is settled, the ducks and geese are in (chickens go to bed early, ducks and geese like to stay up late), and I'm about to turn off the computer and curl up with a book.
One interesting thing that happened this morning was R. decided to play with a toy. I know that this sounds hardly newsworthy, but it actually is. She will play if I prod her and stay with her, otherwise her shelf of activities and toys just sit there as if she has no idea what to do with them, which is probably the case. She will carry around her doll and stuffed unicorn, but they are more comfort items than actual toys. Today she came downstairs carrying a caterpillar that makes noise and moves in different ways depending on how his links are connected together. I bought it for her over two years ago and for all that time it was as if it didn't even exist. Until this morning. She played with it all day, to the point where its batteries needed to be replaced. Usually I don't buy toys that require batteries but I thought she would like this and it would get her on the floor and crawling. I was right, it just took 2+ years for it to happen.
Laundry was next. Laundry is always next it seems. As with breakfast, I mainly do this by myself, but often a child or two will pop in to see where I am or to ask me something or to tell me something terribly important. As ridiculous as it seems, by the time I had sorted, started, folded, moved, and resorted so people could put laundry away, it was lunchtime. (It had been more than a couple of days since I had done laundry.)
Lunch happened. I felt relaxed enough to take my lunch out to the back porch along with a book and sit and read for a while. Other people hung out on the back porch reading or chatting as well. At the end of lunch, I got a text from P., who had gone to the gym with A., to tell me she got the job she applied for. I was thrilled for her. She is going to be working weekends doing set-up for an event venue just down the road from us. In a pinch, she could walk there if the car situation was desperate. Plus, it will give her weekdays free to ride and take classes or whatever else she wants to do.
In order to avoid paying the bills a little longer, I then hustled everyone outside to do a general pick-up so that D. could do some mowing since it was actually sunny and not pouring rain. Once that was done, I was out of excuses and sat down at my desk to work on bills. Along with the usual distractions of people asking me questions right when I'm trying to add something (okay, who am I kidding, I rarely add, I was probably subtracting), I received a text message from M. this time. The news we had all been waiting for finally came, and M. has been officially accepted into the highly competitive vet tech program for the fall. I'm very excited, especially since it has been a ridiculous amount of effort for M. to get everything that was needed for the application.
Back to the bills for a bit when another text message arrives, also from M. Would we take another cat for the barn who is not going to get adopted and needs a home? His name is Diesel and he is cute. Having lost control quite a few animals ago, of course I said yes. I did point out that it was not a very big barn and that we were probably now at barn cat capacity.
I finished the bills, no thanks to Avis Europe who, even though they said they would take the unexpected charges off our card neglected to. And calling Apple on the phone? I don't recommend it and am actually surprised Dante didn't add it to his Inferno. But they are all paid and I don't have to think about it again for a while. I realized when I was done that it was later than usual, so start scrambling everyone to get ready for teatime.
We all got distracted, though, when we realized that M. had brought Diesel home and was setting him up in the barn.
This is Diesel.
Here are the two acclimating barn cats side by side in their crates.
Here is what Rosebud thinks of this new turn of events. She has spent a lot of time giving Diesel terrible squinty looks from behind her litter box. Diesel hisses at her when he notices her. Yes, things are going well.
P. was saddling up Emmy while this was going on, and she rode (with D. as second person around for safety) while I read. I then took D.'s place and everyone else followed M. around.
We have a good pump for it now, and M. just finished making a filter for it. That would be that green Menards bucket you see. It is filled with lava rock and cotton batting. The pump takes the water from the
This was all fascinating stuff, so no one felt like heading inside until about six. I started dinner (macaroni and cheese with sauteed spinach) while smaller people relaxed. We are still working our way through the chosen birthday dinners and desserts. That's what happens when you have three on the same day and your tradition is choosing dinner and dessert. It was too hard to get everyone to agree, so we just have three days of it. Yesterday was L.'s dinner of Reuben sandwiches and raw vegetables and dip followed by sundaes. Tonight's was G.'s choice with root beer floats for dessert.
Everyone is in bed, the barn is settled, the ducks and geese are in (chickens go to bed early, ducks and geese like to stay up late), and I'm about to turn off the computer and curl up with a book.
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