Friday bullets, August 13, 2021

And it's Friday again. Funny how that works. August is zipping by too fast, no doubt because I have a lot that I want to get done and am dreading the week we take D. to school. 

• K. has made at least two more helmets since I last posted. He has had to slow down a bit because the cardboard is running low as is the glue stick supply. That was the bag of glue sticks that turned out to be much larger than I thought it would when I ordered it, and it was so immense, I thought I might never have to buy a glue stick again. Silly me. K. has taken care of that. It's time to order more.
• Bristol came up lame last Saturday. I think we have finally figured out what was going on. She is now on antibiotics and is doing much better. 
• G. has been working on writing a book about different types of birds and how they do and don't get along and how they have to band together to save the world. (I think that's the plot she told me.) It meant that I was asked to put innumerable books on hold about bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, and ospreys. I don't know where she came up with the osprey part, but it turns out they are kind of cool birds.
• G. asked Y. to draw the cover for her book, so Y. then wanted me to put innumerable books on hold about how to draw birds. One of them turned out to be a DVD which everyone happily watched one morning while it was storming.
• Summer slide? Phht.
• We have had a week of pretty intense thunder storms. They just haven't come at a time where I can appropriately enjoy them, which would be curled up in a comfy chair with a book and a cup of tea. (So many things are best enjoyed curled up in a comfy chair with a book and a cup of tea aren't they?) Anyway, the winds in one of the storms were strong enough to knock over a large willow we had growing by the stream in front of our house. 

It is going to look pretty bare there when we finally get the willow taken away. Everyone (okay, really L.) has been wanting a weeping willow, so this may be our opportunity to plant one and fill in that space.

• I have books and things arriving daily, both ones that I bought and ones that arrived at the library. I told J. that I am pretty much a miser until it comes to gathering resources for school, and then I'm buying things right and left. From today's haul.

A DVD for history and one for geology. The picture books are for the Creative Collaboration class because we are going to talking about jazz and improvisation. 

This is a library book, but is also for my Creative Collaboration class.

• P. is going to start as job as a riding instructor at a local barn this week. 
• W. passed his vet tech exam! So once the paperwork goes through he will be an official certified vet tech.
• This is TM's last week of basic training, for which I know he is very thankful. He goes straight into individual training, but that is supposed to be much easier to get through.
• We finished reading the second Flavia de Luce book at tea time. One of the perks of reading to only older children is that I can read things I wouldn't have been able to with younger ones also listening. My girls have fallen in love with Flavia. So much so that I was asked to put the next book on hold. Not for me to read to them, mind you, but so they could read it to themselves. It takes too long when I read out loud because I am only willing to read two chapters at a time. 
• I should have known from our Harry Potter experience. That would have been when we purchased three copies of the newest book because the fights over who would get to read it at any given time were not worth my while. It was far easier just to buy another copy... or two. The Flavia book arrived at that library today and somehow L. managed to get her hands on it first. This put G.'s and Y.'s noses out of joint and if L. is doing anything other than reading, they are quick to insist she go back to the book because they want their turn at it. I should have put it on hold with multiple cards so we had more than one copy.
• K. has been looking forward to this weekend for days. His very best buddy, P14, came out on the train today to spend the weekend. We will take him home on Sunday.
• I was a little tempted this past Wednesday when our area schools all started of my children either lounging around on furniture reading books or up in their rooms making things and share them labelled "Not back to school day!" But I didn't because it seemed a little bit passive-aggressive. 
• I've been reading a 400 page book for the past week or so, and finally made the call last night to not finish it even though I'm at about page 250. It kind of kills be to not finish a book I've already put that much time into, but it is going sooooo slowly and I just don't care enough about the story or the characters that it would probably have taken me to the end of the month to finish it. I'd rather spend my time reading something I'm actually enjoying.
• I took an online class earlier last week about raising sheep. Some day I will have sheep. I will! I will! Of course, the price of lumber dropping is the first step in that whole process because we would have to build a small sheep shed for them, since the barn is officially full. 
• Anybody have a good geology related chapter books? Other than Journey to the Center of the Earth, of course. I have more than enough chapter book about ancient Rome, but geology is a lot tougher. And after our experience with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, I'm a little hesitant to pick up another Jules Verne book. 
• In looking for that old post I just linked to, I realize that we haven't covered Rome since the 2013-2014. I truly didn't think it was that long ago, because I remember doing it pretty clearly. But K. would have been 8 and G. and L. would have been 5. No wonder they don't remember listening to any of the books I have been mentioning to them.
• The barn next door to me is now up for sale. Anyone want to buy it for me? Pretty please?

And with that little pathetic plea, I'm going to head to bed now. Have a good weekend everyone!