Friday bullets, July 24, 2020

It's good that it's Friday, because short, unrelated stories about general life is about all I can handle writing-wise at the moment.

• Some days I feel so overwhelmed by the world, that I just have to turn things off. I find it a tricky balance to stay informed and to maintain mental health.
• We are slowly continuing to work on the barn and get things as I would like them. J. has measured for the tack room, with the next step being ordering the lumber. We did figure out a way to close off the two big doors so we can keep them open now to let air in. See?

They make a huge difference.

• TM, of course, took a much more interesting photo of the door guards.

• I finished reading Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover last night. Yikes! Oh my goodness, I have so much to say that it is going to have to wait for another blog post.
• I fear that we have reached a new level of division in our country where one gets asked if one is an athiest if one severely criticizes the potus.
• I'm afraid that I am going to have to pull out the lettuce and reseed. The salad we had last night had reached a level of bitterness that could not be ignored.
• We are also on the very end of the snap peas. They will be coming out, too. I think Brussels sprouts will be started in their place.
• We are overrun with chipmunks. Our next door neighbors moved, taking their really good barn cat with them. We are seeing a huge increase in the chipmunk population as a result. I'm kind of afraid to try another barn cat just to lose it to coyotes. I don't think G.'s heart could take that.
• I think I'm going to need to get up a little earlier in the mornings if I am going to get done everything that I would like to get done in a day. Of course, getting up earlier means I should probably go to bed earlier as well. The problem with this is that it would cut into my reading time, and I don't like my reading time cut into. It's a vicious circle.
• Is it weird that I'm considering handing G. my Great Courses DVD set on Ancient Greece so she can listen to it? She adores listening to audio books, she adores learning about Greece... I may try it. It will certainly be very different from Percy Jackson.
• I'm afraid that I am going to have to make more masks for everyone. They get lost, they don't get put where they are supposed to, the laundry doesn't get done in a timely manner, etc. etc. It turns out that 12 masks for 12 people just isn't enough. Imagine. 
• On the subject of masks, I also made the less-than-timely realization that perhaps I should come up with a better storage solution than throwing them on the counter, you know, back when life was going to be back to totally normal in 8 weeks. I'm not willing to donate an entire kitchen counter to masks for months on end.
• Our coffee maker is just moments away from dying. To make coffee now, you have to stand next to it and constantly turn it on again after it turns itself off. I think it is about four years old... maybe. Certainly not older than that, possibly younger. We make one pot of coffee everyday; it is not being overworked unless coffee makers are not designed to make coffee everyday, but then that raises all sorts of other questions for me. Why can a simple appliance not last for more than a few years? It is so frustrating!
• L. has written at least two chapters in her next novel. She has read it to J., but I haven't heard it yet.
• Does anyone else feel surprised that it is still July? Usually summer zips by, but not this year. It seems as though summer has lasted for about five months already. I have completely lost my sense of time.
• So. Many. Cucumbers.
• D. made chocolate cookies for me yesterday because I wanted one. They were very good. He's a keeper.
• Neither of our vehicles sound good. My solution is to turn up the radio. Some of my children tell me this is not a good strategy, though they are not offering to pay for the repair bills.
• G. and L. have a habit of wandering into a room I'm in and randomly telling me something that they want. Today L. wandered in and said, "You know what I want? I want a boa constrictor." Other than, "Oh," I'm not sure there is very much to say to this.
• A. ran out to get syrup for the waffles this morning, and decided to be the fun sister and added strawberries and whipped cream as well.
• R. announced yesterday that she was 15 now. This is pretty big news as she had been having difficulty remembering that she was no longer 14.

See? Now it is late and I still want to read which makes getting up earlier hard. I could use a few extra hours in the day, but only be able to pull them out at bedtime for reading. I think we should special reading hours that don't count in the regular day. Wouldn't that be great? Good night everyone.