Libertarianism

I have always been a bit of a nonconformist. I think that's why people who knew me as a child (but not as an adult) are surprised that I am going into ministry, though I think becoming a UU minister is pretty nonconformist!

Lately, I have been feeling constrained by a preponderance of rules in the world. Often, this is the speed limit ;). But some of it is just how one has to get "special" permission for so many things. And so many rules are made to deal with common sense issues, that are not always black and white.

Currently my town code enforcement is driving me crazy. They want me to get rid of my chickens because we technically live in residential zoning, not residential-agricultural. However, RA zoning says that you can have chickens if they are more than 200 ft. away from another residence. Even though we're R, our chickens are WAY more than 200 ft. from another residence, because we have 2 acres. The zoning officer told me I could file a variance and promised to send me the specific code so I could use it to fill out the paperwork, but he didn't.

Then yesterday, I got a letter saying that we had to get rid of the chickens and he wouldn't ALLOW a variance. And, he said it would cost $75, but there is no list of variance costs, let alone the codes themselves online. I think he just made it up, as there is a blank line on the form to fill in the variance fee. Shouldn't there be a specific amount for variances? I mean, the FINE is only $25 but they want $75 to file the variance?

I am feeling ridiculously up in arms about this, but am doing my best to remain super-polite to the code officer. It seems that he is on a bender in our neighborhood and other neighbors have felt his wrath as well. One of the joys in living in small town America I guess.

Anyway, this is the kind of thing that makes me want to be a Libertarian. And things like making kids wear shoes at the Museum of Play. Or in the archeological dig at RMSC, where your shoes immediately get filled with recycled tire bits, which is supposed to be dirt. Or having to park facing the "correct" way on the street (I got a warning about this on my very rural street in front of my house two weeks ago!). Or random age discrimination, like not allowing minors to volunteer at lots of places. I could go on but I'll stop.

Ebb and Flow

Yesterday, I got a migraine. I have been having a really hard time managing them; the last few months, they have lasted for several days at least once a month, and the medication has had some really unpleasant side effects, aside from not working really well.

For the first time, I got a combination of meds to work, with the only side effect being that I needed to sleep them off. Today, I am feeling hopeful that I broke it, and it won't come back this month! So I woke up happy to shower with the light on (no aura!), and took the kids to a play, which was really cute and they all behaved themselves.

I came home to find out that one of my FA forms went missing and I didn't get FA - I have a call in to find out wth happened. Then I found out that I had two unauthorized charges on my checking account for iTunes - for which I don't even have an account. Had to go to the bank, fill out forms to maybe get my money back, cancel my debit card...UGH. I am so used to the ease of having a bank card and not dealing with cash or checks. This sucks.

I came home from the bank and cried. So frustrated!

I am hopeful that the rest of the day will improve. Tomorrow's supposed to be awesome weather and I plan on spending it at the park or something nice with the littles.

Now work, then more chauffering. Hoping the sunshine cheers me up.

Need....More....Hours....In....The....Day

1. RE is starting with a teacher ingathering tomorrow. I have to go into the office and make a zillion copies today with my littles in tow, and the printer is down, and I haven't been able to login remotely and I'm tired of technology problems!

2. I haven't been able to login to my online classes at ALL and emailed 3 people and got no response, and finally just created a new account and now can get in but am already way behind on reading and assignments. Argh!

3. I have to get stuff ready for the Wellspring retreat next week so have to stay after church on Sunday to do that.

4. I have to get the fall clothes out for the kids. Every year I think I have them organized but then over the summer everything becomes a mess, so I have about 12 huge boxes of clothes to go through and I have to drag them upstairs, wash everything, put all the summer stuff away, and find time to drag all the outgrown clothes to goodwill - and where the heck can I take old toys now with the new lead laws about selling used toys? I have so much crap to get rid of and nowhere to take it and I don't want to throw it out!

5. My husband and I are struggling now that seminary is a reality. He is refusing to help with any housework, cooking, yard work, or attend anything at church. WTF? This is a huge stressor and even if he would talk about it, I don't know how to make time this week, but since he wont' talk about it anyway, I guess it will sit on the back burner until he's ready. Meanwhile, the lawn needs to be trimmed on the edges, the chicken coop needs to be cleaned and have fresh hay, we need chicken feed, I have to go to the grocery store and have no money, the bathroom is digusting and the downstairs needs to be vacuumed but the littles trashed the playroom before I could vacuum it after I cleaned it a few days ago, so I have to pick up again before I can vacuum!

Oddly enough, I am pretty centered and know that it will all get done somehow, but I could really use an extra husband right now, who isn't giving me attitude.

Gray

It feels like autumn already. It's supposed to get below 50F tomorrow night, and it's been gray and cool with intermittent rain and sun all week. We need to get our wood and stove ready, and I still have to paint the porch and get the window sills on the east side of the house stripped and painted.

Then it will be time to get the cold weather clothes out for the kids, which is a 2 day project at best. My calendar for September is, yes, exciting, but perhaps a tad overwhelming when I factor in all the cold-weather preparation.

Today it was finally sunny and gorgeous. I got out with the dog for a super long walk this morning and am tackling a schedule of homeschool lessons with the older girls. Jude had a lovely visit from his "kindergarten" Lilac Children's Garden waldorf program teacher this morning. During which I tripped over our Learning Tower and think I fractured my little toe. Again.

Tomorrow at long last I leave for Chicago. I can't wait! I'm meeting my sister and nephew at the airport, get my keycard for my housing and hit orientation full speed ahead! Today I have a final interview for my "internship" community component this year. I hope it goes well; it could also offer me extra work hours for pay.

The baby's sleeping, so i'm off to tackle chores for 45 minutes before I leave. Soren started back to the gym this week so I won't be home till 10 and have to finish packing!

Yummy Day

A perfect summer day - no humidity, around 80F, and less bugs. I loved my meditation walk this morning and actually got some peace from it. I've had a hard time letting go of intruding lists lately, so this was good. And I've got a lot of money stress again, so it was a real coup.

Chickens: yard time. Check.

Yard and gardens: Weeding. Check

Veggies: Fresh corn picked and cooked within the hour. Check.
Ditto with fresh gazpacho with cukes picked fresh. Chillin' in fridge. Check.

Kids fed, happy, and in bed. Check.

House. Semi-vacuumed. Check.

Took Jude to the doc for expected verdict of virus and a lab slip for a salmonella check. Lab was closed though. Surprise - He LOVED the male doc, totally cooperated for him and his male nurse (who used to be our doc's nurse and I love), and wants to switch to this doctor. If it means cooperating and effective health care, I'm all for it. I feel guilty though. I adore our doctor and love that we all see the same person, but Jude just doesn't jive with her when he needs to be checked out. She's a little too forward and loud and funny for him. Dr. Howe is a guy (major points in Jude's book), mellow, let me take Jude's temp, and explained everything before he touched him. So I will figure out how to make the switch on our insurance and break it to Dr. Jeanne. He will still see her if Dr. H. isn't available, and when we visit with the other kids or me, so it's no like she'll never see him. And they're in the same practice.

I'm reading First the Ecstacy, Then the Laundry. That pretty much sums up my questions and struggles with integrating my spiritual life with the rest of my life. I'm anxious to get past the intro and into the meat of it. I'm also sporadically reading "Are You Running with Me, Jesus?" which is somehow a charming book of my kind of prayers.

Off to watch 24. I had a yummy dream about Kiefer Sutherland last night which morphd into a yummy dream about hubby ;). Like Hubby would jump off a building and grab onto a helicopter, but I guess that's why they're dreams!

A break in the action

The mosquito action that is. Today it was finally 80s and sunny, and I was able to get the kids and myself outside for some fresh air and sunshine. (However, it is now muggy and cloudy and we're expecting our daily thunderstorm.) Honestly, I cannot remember the last day it didn't rain. We have had the 2nd coldest summer ever here.

But today was a perfect summer day and the mosquitoes, which are so bad that I can barely tolerate taking my morning walk (along with the deer flies) seemed on temporary hiatus (they're back in action this evening though).

I think our corn will be ready soon though, and cucumbers are just about there. There is an ENORMOUS squash of some sort that I don't remember planting too. The tomatoes are still green, green, green. Just not enough sun to let them ripen. I'm worried about the punkin's too - there aren't any plants, just flowers, and if they don't start soon, they won't be ready to harvest for fall.

I got a TON of weeding done and discovered that our apple tree that produced *nothing* last year is dropping copious amounts of small, early apples. I had to take a wheelbarrow-full out to the field for the deer, but found about a dozen that were edible. I'll have to go out with a ladder and harvest some for applesauce next week. Our other tree isn't near ready yet, but both pear trees have a ton of fruit on them and the grapes actually have fruit on them this year - last year, nada. The hops are sorely neglected; I haven't been able to get hubby to help me stake them up; hopefully we can trim them back and clean up that plot this fall and give them another chance next year. I think I could still harvest a bunch and dry them. I also found 3 more huge garlic bulbs today, with beautiful scapes on them. Yay!

The raspberries are still producing but it's so difficult to tolerate the mosquitoes enough to harvest more berries. We froze some but I just realized that my fridge/freezer is on the fritz and the freezer was not cold in spots. Shit. I can't afford a new fridge right now, or a repair bill. I can use our smaller fridge for now, but it's not in the kitchen, so a little inconvenient.

I spoke with Rev. Miller today and worked out the details for tomorrow's service. I'm hoping I can talk the family into coming, and then we can go to the Park Ave. fest. Just to browse; I love looking at everything and hearing the live music! I didn't get to see the free Rusted Root this week because Jude was still not feeling well :(. What a bummer! Oh well! There will be other opportunities :).

The week stretches out before me without the girls here. I'm hoping for hot, dry days, so we can be outside and I can wrestle the yard into submission. I love my yard, but it's a lot of work with the fruit and the garden. But the chickies are easy; tomorrow I hope to clean out their coop and the brooder as well. I'm also going to clean out the bunny cage and hose it and scrub it.

Oh, and for those who don't believe in God - there was a miracle here today. My husband mowed the front yard for the first time this summer! I've been doing it and hate it. I can't wait till we have a riding mower again. i hate paying the lawn guy to do the back forty.
Off to have grilled kabobs and corn on the cob!

Picky Chicks

Mama Leghorn and her 6 chicks. One of the brown Rhode Island Red mixes died on Sunday. It ws malformed and we nursed it along, but it didn't make it :(. The speckled chick is a Speckled Sussex and came from another hatching but was a runt (it's not a runt now!!)


My three Americaunas


The nesting boxes


Mama Leghorn (Elvis, the kids call her) and chicks. 2 Leghorns, 2 leghorn/partridge rock,2 rhode island red/leghorn, and the speckled sussex.



One of the leghorn/partridge rock mixes

We got our chickens last Wednesday, and although we lost one chick, we have one healthy mama and 6 week-old chicks, plus three Americaunas that are about 9 weeks old now. The older ones are outside in the chicken tractor, but the babies and mama are in a brooder in the house. They're getting restless already, but they're not supposed to go outside for another month? I'm not sure they will last that long ;). I figure as long as they're big enough not to escape from the coop and get eaten by the cats, and it's warm, there's a nesting box to hang in if they need to be warmer.

The mama and chicks will eat anything - they go crazy over fruits and veggies, fries, rice, whatever scraps I throw in there. My Americaunas will not touch ANYTHING but their mash! I don't get it! I guess maybe they're eating bugs and grass and stuff too (we have't let them free range yet; probably won't until they've been in the coop for another week and know it's home), but I think it's weird that they're so picky.

The chicks are a lot of work; keeping them in fresh water and food; keeping the brooder clean (because man, they STINK), and keeping them from escaping! They're starting to fly to the top of the brooder and mama is getting tired of being cooped (hahah) up, but also can't stand to be away from her babies.

The kids love 'em though and after we sort out the roosters and they are about 6 months old, we should have lots of eggs!

Tending my garden

In the literal and figurative sense. This is the first time I have ever had a veggie garden, and it's huge, but not big enough. I love weeding it, harvesting it, planting in it, finding toads and snakes in it, chasing away the bunnies.

I am childishly pleased at the ears of corn forming on the stalks, the green tomatoes ripening, the tiny little cucumbers and yellow squash appearing under the large leaves.

I'm going to have a little garden of chickens this week finally. The tractor is done, the feed is purchased, the feeders are being scrubbed today.

I'm tending the garden of my family too. Preparing for a new school year for the oldest three . Making behavior charts for my little heathen/raised by wolves young son and daughter who are willful and uncooperative much of the time, driving me to constant distraction and making it impossible to get much done. Showing my daughter how to shave her legs for the first time. Making doctor appointment to deal with dental health, reproductive health, neurological health, skin health, and mental and spiritual health. Families require a lot of planning and organization, just like a vegetable garden.

I'm tending the garden of my ministerial formation. Preparing for some small group ministry and leadership this fall, trying to find money to take an extra class, meeting with a local group of seminarians/ministers/seekers, praying, meditating, and becoming.

I'm waiting on news about potential work for fall, and meantime scrimping and saving and savoring summer and visits and visitors and some lazy time with my kids.

Tending the garden of my life is a joyful thing.

The circle of life

I just joined my husband for a walk around the edge of our property to pick blackberries around the field perimeter, and we heard something. I thought it might be a frog peeping and walked over to investigate.

No, it was a weasel with a mouse. Very persistent. I was almost on top of it when it leaped into the air, dropped the squeaking mouse and fled with a bound. The poor mousie was not in good shape; I feel badly for both the suffering mouse and the weasel's lost meal.

Disturbing, but life is clear and simple in predation I guess.

Seeking Divinity

I miss church. We haven't been there since the end of the RE year in May, what with travel, childcare issues (the littles won't stay in childcare that is unstructured - little elitists), etc.

And it has rained, and rained, and rained. But I realized this morning that every morning the sun has been up, and that i have had wonderful meditation walks, and that I have developed a rapport with the deeper nature of my land, and my neighborhood. I know that the turkeys have 8 babies and that they look a lot like goslings. I know that we have several enormous woodchucks and Jakob knows where all their lodgings are (one being under our studio). I know that there is a buck that likes mushrooms and that he visits our yard in the small hours of the morning.

I hear the birds various songs, and see the pairs of mates; I know the small rodents and snakes that live in my yard (those that survive the cat, and those that don't). The cats don't like snakes. I know my first vegetable garden, with its odd assortment of non-vegetable perrenials, such as raspberries, lilac, roses, and poison ivy.

I know that hummingbird loves our honeysuckle and that I need to buy more suet for the woodpecker who hangs around me while I hang out laundry. I know that the family of the woman across the street, who passed away this winter, comes every week en masse and lovingly mows and weeds and plants the yard and maintains the house.

Church is important. But living every day in religiosity and in touch with my interdependent web is a much larger church.

Religion: Chernus says, “For these scholars, religion is primarily the overall framework a group uses to understand its world and guide its life. This overall framework shapes every moment of the group's experience. It is not something extraordinary; it does not transcend everyday life. Rather it is the constant foundation of everyday life.”

A perfect day!

It is so incredibly beautiful today. The lawnmower consented to work long enough for me to get the lawn mowed too.

(note to ogre: I tried to reply to your comment but it didn't post. I used to use a manual push mower, but we have over 2 acres. About half is left to field/wildlife area along the woods, and there are quite a bit of landscaped areas, but that still leaves way too much lawn to do by hand. Even if I planted more gardens, that means more time weeding and maintaining too!)

Note: Tom called me last night to posit that perhaps we were meant to be Amish. When he got to work, the cooling fan on our brand new Honda Odyssey wouldn't turn off and now we have to take the fuse in and out. Now I have to take it to the shop on Monday (and I spent an hour there Wednesday getting the first oil change, argh).

Our chicken tractor is almost done, but sadly, we aren't getting chickens as soon as we thought. The ones that our friends hatched were more than 1/2 roosters, and our friends don't have enough hens to give us the 4 to 6 I was planning on. I am hoping to find some at the farm they got their eggs from. I don't have time to hatch my own, and want to get healthy ones that will be friendly. The kids are super anxious to get started with the chickens, so I hope it works out; I don't want to buy them from auction if I can avoid it.

Garden:My lettuce is almost ready to eat and the cukes and broccoli are growing like crazy. I ran out of room to plant beans, squash and carrots though I may plant some squash around the corn if I have enough room not to interfere with the tomatoes.

Everyone is in a good mood; I spent a lot of time yesterday making paper airplanes and lego creations with the littles. It was so good to just have time to PLAY!

Off to get back outside and enjoy this wonderful sunshine and perfect temps; the housework is nearly caught up, but whatever isn't done will wait! We're going to Keuka Lake Tuesday to Wednesday, and I can't wait to enjoy the lake and beach and kids.

The Bermuda Triangle

I have detailed my lawnmower woes here before, but for crying out loud. We have a John Deere that needs a transmission, a Bolens articulating that blew its engine, and we just borrowed an older True Value ...it mowed 2/3 of the yard yesterday and then just stopped cold. Battery dead.

Our yard is becoming a graveyard for mowers.

The good news, totally unrelated to out of control grass, is that my 10 yo and I planted all of her sunflowers and morning glories yesterday; weeded the front walk a bit, and around the mailbox; and I should be able to get the rest of the vegetables and seeds in the garden today. We still need to weed the strawberry patch and the front flower beds, but mowing is dead in the water (lawn?) for today unless another battery does the trick.

Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something.

The Bermuda Triangle of my yard has some evil sort of mystery, but the mystery of the earth is also present!

One day at a time

Thank you for all the kind thoughts.

Update on my mother: She has some minor issues from the stroke; she can't lift her toes, has limited vision in both eyes, and some difficulty with remembering words and short term memory overall. Also, her balance isn't great. She is hoping to go home on heparin and with therapy set up for home visits in the next couple of days.

I really wish that she would consider assisted living, or senior apartments; each issue that arises makes it more difficult for her to stay in her own home.

Our friend with leukemia is upbeat and starts chemo today. She is taking votes on what color wig to get if her hair falls out ;). We helped make a poster for her room yesterday, which was nice for the kids. I'm keeping up with her updates on Facebook and sending encouraging words. Having little kids makes me limited in visiting, as they are little germ factories, but maybe I can drop the oldest off for a visit for an hour one day.

Things for school prep are starting to roll in. It's about time to make my plane reservations and schedule my career assessment. That will be a whole lot more paperwork and deep thought.

Yesterday I saw black and white warblers all over the place, and a sharp shinned hawk hunting a field near our house. Chipmunks are everywhere, as are bunnies, deer and fox. Our chickens are growing apace and will be ready to come to our house soon I think!

I have my mentor training for Empowered Girls Alliance this weekend; that will be great.

Today I plan to rest and let the antibiotics do their work; maybe organize Lucy's room a bit; one of her dresser drawers is broken and needs to be repaired. Just a nice day at home with the littles!

A Day of Rest

..not for me though.
Move along if whinging isn't your thing.

Thursday night: Lucy woke crying at midnight. Little sleep ensued the rest of the night. She awoke with a head cold.

Friday night: Homeschool prom. Waited up for all the news. Then hubby and I watched the season finale (I think?) of Heroes.

Saturday night: Jude woke crying at 11:00 p.m. The aforementioned head cold appears to have been passed on to him. He couldn't breathe all night despite Mucinex and being in our bed...hubby and I are sleep deprived.

Sunday morning: RE Sunday. An exercise in frustration for me. The 3s and 4s did the chalice lighting and did it well; however they acted like...well, like 3 and 4 year olds after that, climbing on the stage, talking, dancing. I was not really in the mood and ended up escorting a group of them back to the classroom midway through the service, missing my oldest daughter's class. One of the kids' parents could have been a little more helpful.

There was to be a teacher appreciation reception in the lounge, but it was mobbed by kids and adults of every size and shape; most of them not teachers at all. Last year it was more of a luncheon in a private room. Maybe the budget constraints were the reason, but frankly, I didn't feel appreciated, just lost in the shuffle of a typical post-service coffee hour.

I don't usually complain about such things, but I am tired and cranky. The kids are fitfully napping next to me; coughing, sneezing and sniffling.

I would like to nap, but still need a real lunch, and then I need to mow the front lawn and run the weed whacker around the yard. The parts for our mower should be here tomorrow, but it won't be fixed till Wednesday probably; I'll most likely have to hire someone again for the third week in a row. Doesn't anyone want to donate a brand new riding mower to my household? This whole lawn thing is way too stressful. I just want the damn thing to work for more than one mowing.

Man, do I ever want a nap. And yet, I still have an hour and a half of driving to do this evening to get the girls home tonight. I think I'll be asleep by 9:30 tomorrow; better be, as it's an early rising Monday so I can get to work by 8.

On the upside, the sun's out, and hubster is working on the chicken tractor. My vegetables are thriving in pots, preparing to be planted. My kids are cool and wonderful (and my 2 yo was better behaved in church than the older kids she was thrown in with). And I've got a lot to be thankful for (even though I have stress about mowing the thing, I do have a fabulous yard that I occasionally get to enjoy).

Off to the races.

Spring! and random blather.

There are crocus leaves poking up around the mailbox at the end of my walk!

And I am learning about Lent, all over again. How is it that I was brought up Roman Catholic, and am so incredibly ignorant of Christian ritual and tradition? It is to make one scream in frustration. I'm enjoying the link to Leaflets for Lent posted by Boston Unitarian (I'm too lazy to link right now; look it up), and am still reading Marianne Williamson.

A dear friend sent me the Praying the Word book I wanted, and I am enjoying it very much, and very slowly and deliciously.

This has been a very difficult couple of days, but there are crocuses blooming!

I'm a bit lonely. I had 2 different evenings out planned this week with friends and they both fell through - one because of no gas money and one because Tom is working (a good thing, but sad for my social life). Thank goodness for books and Netflix and Lost on the Internet. And blogs. And magazines (UU World came! and More magazine! and Games Magazine!).

I decided that since my internal outlook was bleak, I would spruce up the house today, so Soren and I remade Emma's bed with her birthday set that my mom sent (pictures on the way!) and I put up the curtains she sent. Then I made curtains for Lucy and Jude's room, but that kind of backfired, because I want to switch their rooms, and after I made what-was-to-be Lucy's new room all pretty and girly with a new to her bedset (Emma's old twin one) and Dora curtains...Jude decided he didn't want to move to her room (even though I put up star and moon curtains there). Darn kids. Uncooperative. I also made a curtain for the playroom, and did a thousand loads of laundry and cleaned out the linen closet, and vacuumed and made beer batter tilapia and asparagus with white sauce.

I've gained 7 lbs. this month, which is highly irregular for me, and I think it is this malaise that has me sitting in bed moping . I'm not even eating that much.

Blather, blather. And our intern is preaching this Sunday and I am going to miss it because I have to teach! ARGH! And I'm supposed to preach the Sunday after Easter, and I have no idea what I'm going to preach about. Supposedly community but I want to throw out everything I've written. I want to find some good readings and such but am having a hard time with Mr Google.

Le sigh. Off to walk the dog one last time and enjoy the warm evening and the stars. The geese are migrating - I saw about 500 this morning when I walked the dog, and some of them were snow geese! They're back! I love snow geese.

Slogging through

This personal growth stuff is a drag sometimes, lemme tell ya. I keep growing, and then I am happy at my progress, and then dontcha know, I find out that no matter how much I have grown, I have more, and more, and more...it's exhausting.

I had a productive meeting with my spiritual advisor this morning. I'd missed her, as we had a long break over the holidays. Thanks (I think I want to thank him, and not kick him ) to David Markham at UU a Way of Life for turning me on to a book on Borderlines which my sister sent me, I have been having a huge paradigm shift, which incidentially, is related to a lot of stuff I was already working on as part of the paradigm shift of having a ministerial vocation.

I was really, really pissed off that nobody ever put a name to what she is before. Not who she is, but what she is. One thing that I struggle with in some of my relationships, especially with my children, and with people I have a hard time dealing with, I am really good at underreaction. Now I know why. So in addition to working on judgement vs. judgmentalism, I'm also working on accessing true compassion when I'm triggered by what I see as ingenuine drama in a situation. And I'm working on accessing compassion for my parents, both of them. I'd already been working on it, but now I have a different paradigm from which to work with.

I swear, I whipped through that book in two days, and I think I underlined most of the introductory chapters, and most of the three sections that described my mother and father, and was relieved to see that I had already accomplished most of the coping mechanisms described. And I was also able to shed new light on the progression of my mother's illness in her behavior and in her relationships to my sister and I, and the rest of her family. I'll never know what caused it...I have my suspicions, but no proof.

But here I am, with a new piece of the puzzle, trying to figure out where it goes, but knowing that because there are mysterious connections in the world, the feedback I've recently been given about compassion and judgment are connected to me being given the gift of knowing that there is a word for what ails my mother, and that my sister and I are not alone, or crazy.

I also had a really good talk with my advisor about my thoughts on abortion, and how it relates to the first principal, and how that is a conflict for some; and about the ethics of euthanasia - both animal and human. And about dealing with death and pastoral care and ... well, we had a really great hour that crammed a lot of stuff into it.

And today has been a blur - no hot water because the propane ran out, cold, snowy, two trips to the city, nothing to make for dinner...I'm heading to get the hot shower I deserve, then to do the dishes from yesterday, and finally to sit down with a cuppa hot cocoa and snuggle with my husband when he gets home! Lucky for him, he's been the recipient of most of my compassionate practice in recent months ;)

Apples!

We have several apple trees and several pear trees on our property. The apples are falling so I thought I better get out and save some of them. The girls took probably 50 lbs. to the field last week, and I picked up enough to make two big batches of applesauce today - 48 c. of apples when cut and cored.

I really enjoyed the whole process. The baby helped me put apples in the crate. Jude helped me turn the peeler/corer, and the oldest and her visiting friend taste tested.

I haven't done a lot of for-fun cooking, or cooking for later use, in a long time, and it felt really good. I'm not very knowledgeable about what to do w/ all this fruit though? Does anyone have good recipes for freezing/canning this bounty of the earth?

What Doesn't Kill You...

Right then. We have an articulating mower and it broke in half tonight. Just ... broke. Some major metal piece came unwelded while my oldest daughter was mowing. Words don't suffice. We just bought the thing, just fixed it, and now it's kaput.

Then, my oldest two just got home from vacation with their dad, where they picked up head lice. This is honestly, my worst nightmare. My 9 yo has thick hair down to her butt. We just spent two hours combing it out and she shivered everytime I found a bug. So did I. I am skeeved out beyond belief. And yes, I know, anyone can get lice...but ewwww.

I am itching all over. Off to get a shower.

Crazy House

So not only have we recently decided that we have to rehome our dog, which has been a very difficult decision, our cat went crazy this week. He has attacked said dog with increasing frequency and intensity every time I try to walk him in the yard. This cat is ancient, toothless, clawless, and apparently has a death wish.

I can not for the life of me figure out what his problem is, but my blood pressure is certainly elevated by the stress. I have had to crate the cat outside when I took the dog out to pee today, every single time.

Not to mention, that we have 1+ acre to mow and currently 3 non-functional lawn mowers. The one that came with the house needed a new transmission, I broke the push mower trying to keep up this spring, and our new-to-us mower threw a belt or something when my daughter was mowing last week. It has been raining for a week straight and the lawn is frighteningly close to out of control. The clover is having the proverbial field day (pun intended) and there are so many bees that we can't go in the yard without shoes.

Our neighbor across the street is selling her house and is working on her lawn almost non-stop. I feel so guilty that our yard doesn't look nice like it usually does - I have been trying very hard to keep the toys neat, the yard trimmed, and the weeding done, and it's all gotten away from me with the monsoon season. We also have a ton of large junk outside the garage that needs to go the dump...but we haven't been able to ascertain where that is in this county, and the website for county disposal authority is not working. I hope Tom can get them on the phone today.

The only saving grace is that our yard is still drenched; I think the mower would make tire ruts in it if we tried to mow. Hopefully we'll get it in working order tonight and I can mow tomorrow. And I thought summer would be an easier time to keep up with the house ;).

A gift: both babies are sleeping at the same time, the dog is safely tied up outside and the cat seems oblivious. A brief moment to breathe, and I think I'll go tackle some weeds outside my office that I can see. (under the Rowan tree!)

I am anxious to attend services this weekend. I need the lift.

A gift

I just discovered that the beautiful tree in my front yard is a rowan tree - revered by those in the runic faith and long known to possess magical properties!

Very cool.