A Little Ray of Sunshine

Thursday, August 31, 2006

It's only August!

And it's supposed to freeze tonight. Last night the weather station recorded 32, but it's out at the airport and isn't accurate for here, or my parents (who are higher elevation). So we covered. It would be a shame to loose the garden when the tomatos are just starting to ripen.
It is cold out there--my husband had to work at midnight, and it felt like it probably means to freeze or get awfully close when he left.
There is a big, fat tomato sitting on the table from one of the Pruden's Purple plants. It is easily as big as my husband's fist. Or both of mine. It is the first of that variety to ripen, and it looks tempting. We may be having it tomorrow for dinner. The plum tomatos are nice except for the blossem end rot. Slice it off, and they taste just fine.
I guess, technically, it's September now.

Mom and I decided that my husband and my dad need to go fishing this weekend. They haven't had nearly enough time to do that over the summer. You should've heard my husband tell his friend (laughing) that his wife and mother-in-law were 'making' him go fishing this weekend. His friend didn't feel sorry for him for some reason! I suppose all men want their wives to tell them they need to go play more, whatever sort of play they enjoy.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

One of those days

Today is one of those days when everything is met with rebellion, tantrums, and tears. I suspect it has to do with the new, Daddy-back-in-school, routine. Once we get through a week or two of it, things should settle out.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Been busy

Beau has some sort of tummy upset, so the boys and I are staying home today. Otherwise, we'd be out and about. It seems like every day since we got back to town something or other has been happening.
We did get our minivan back, but it does need a new engine. So it is sitting at the mechanic's until we somehow find the money to fix it. Somehow must happen before Baby is born--the old Buick cannot physically fit three car seats. The transporters managed to rip the lisence plate off the front bumper and put several holes in it--the company told me they'd mailed the claims paperwork but it hasn't come yet, I'll have to check with them again. About $600, plus replacement plates, according to the body-shop next door to the mechanic. (It has to be fixed so it can hold a lisence plate, unfortunately, otherwise I wouldn't do body work on a '95.)
School for my husband starts Monday. He graduates in December, so we've started the job search process, which works something like this: Since I have more time, I look on various websites and in the newspaper for potential jobs, then email him or show him the ads so he doesn't have to scan through all the other jobs for what he does. He's applied for at least half a dozen so far. We'll see what comes of it all.
One of my 'cello students, an LDS gentleman, planted far too many beans. His wife has canned 51 quarts. She does not want to can any more, that is enough for them (family of four adults) for a year. He very kindly invited us out to pick beans yesterday, and we have two grocery bags of beans waiting to be processed. (Very full grocery bags, too.) And a bag of zucchini and yellow summer squash as well.
We were able to get an old (but well-functioning) freezer very cheaply, so I can freeze some beans. If we are able to, we will get part of a goat for the freezer. I was able also to get a 40lb box of chicken leg quarters cheaply, so that is stored in it. It is an upright freezer, about 20 cubic feet (takes up half of where the kitchen table was) and holds at 0 F on its 3rd coldest setting. Our goal is to open it once a week at most, since that way it will use less electricity and it is a manual defrost model. (I am nothing if not lazy.)
Our DSL modem died (of old age, or a power outage, or the two combined), and Qwest, as usual, managed to throughally screw up. They did replace it, but managed to send the first replacement to an old address (funny, since the shipping label for the old one and my bills both have the correct address), then shipped us another replacement, then didn't bother to contact the folks they did send the first replacement to about what to do with it. It took them two weeks. My husband needs internet for his job, Qwest will not provide replacement dial-up for DSL customers. Fortunately, the University does provide dial-up (those are their servers he works on), unfortunately, that meant the phone line was tied up whenever he was working from home. All day. We have the new DSL modem now.
Baby is fine and healthy, he kicks an awful lot, and he is most definately another boy. I have had quite a few people ask when I was due (3 more months), and when told ask if I am expecting twins. I'm sure this one, like Hemi, will be over ten pounds. The boys are pretty enthusiastic about a baby brother--Beau has a pretty good grasp of what a baby is, this time around, Hemi is just enthusiastic because everyone else is. They've both gotten kicked, Beau, in fact, comes over to see if Baby is kicking just so he can feel him. Beau says he will help dress the baby and bathe the baby and change the baby (we'll see!) and hold the baby. We've pulled out their baby pictures for them to look at, and we point out babies at the store.
Beau is into size 5s, now, three months before his fourth birthday. Except that the waists are too loose, but he is too long in the leg for 4Ts. He needs to learn how to unbuckle his belt by himself now.
Oh, and he can print 'Beau'. We were early for church one Sunday, so I showed him. He thinks it's pretty cool. Beau's not his name, but he's gone by it for quite a while. (His first name is the same as his daddy's, so he needed a good, functional nickname.)