Summer is here--with a vengeance!

For the past several weeks (basically since school let out) we had between 4 and 8 teenage boys here all the time.  They are great boys and I love having the house full, but it has been a little hard on BigGirl to have so many boys around all the time, when all of her best friends live far away, but--in super exciting news--a new family moved into the ward with a kindred spirit girl, and she has found another dear friend fairly close, so her life is getting better all the time! 

There was a LOT of excitement about a pretty big anime/geek convention that happens at a resort about 45 minutes from home.  It was a pretty huge deal in our lives!  BigGirl, LargeBoy, and (over the course of 3 days, a series of 5 additional friends) ended up going.  They went Thurs through Sat.  Whew! They are now thoroughly hooked on cons, and are making plans for next year’s—where there will be costumes involved!!

In the BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL!  SmallDaughter got a BIKE!  The wish of her heart for years and years!  She has wanted a big girl bike, but the lack of all balance has been a big problem! On Friday, we went to Grandpa & Grandma’s, and their neighbor was having a  garage sale.  Their daughter has Cerebral Palsy, and they were selling the perfect bike for SmallDaughter--just her size, BRIGHT pink, with super training wheels (custom made) on the front--for $8 I have a feeling the rest of my summer will be spent following my "bike girl"! 

We did finally manage to get the new, improved, over-twice-as-big garden in! WOOT!  I was so late, I ended up driving to every little Mennonite greenhouse in the county (I am SO lucky I live where I do!) to get the last plants available--but I did manage to get almost everything I wanted--and at crazy clearance prices!  We got it all planted on Wed, and then had forecasts of tornados and golf ball sized hail that evening!  Fortunately, all we got was a nice soaking rain!

I just found out that  my dear friends Jana & Andrew finally named their baby girl (the name they had picked out before she was born just didn’t fit her!)  AND THE WINNER IS: Esther Brenda.  This is what Jana said on Facebook: “So we're ready to introduce our little one to the world. She is Esther Brenda.  We're delighted to have her in our family! Esther because she had the single-handed courage to face the king and save her people, and Brenda, after the lovely Brenda A, who, along with her family, has been such an inspiration to Andrew over the years and has shown him great love. I met her once over 20 years ago, and I still remember that day and look forward to greeting her again someday, but we are certain she is looking down over our little family and cheering us on.”  Yup, I cried.

This week LargeBoy is at Cub Scout Day Camp helping out Grandma, and my sister V is here with us for the week. Last week at Boy Scout Camp it POURED rain on them  on Mon--with added wind to destroy their dining fly, and rip the roof off his tent (one of the big, solid Canvas-on-a-frame, permanent installation kind!).  We picked him up early on Sat, and surprised him with a trip to Cedar Point with a group of his friends--where it ended up pouring rain (enough to make the parking lot shin deep, and coming down fast enough that as they stood at the front of the parking lot, they couldn't see ANY rides!).  When we looked at the weather channel, the entire state of Ohio was empty, except for tiny, severe storms over the islands!   We are thinking he might be a previously unknown rain deity!

We spent the rest of Saturday getting things ready for My Favorite Gentleman to leave.  He is finally in Virginia.  He went down on Sunday. He is really relieved that he is in a better motel than the last one (which his roomie called “the roach hotel”!).   

Also, in a huge chunk of irony (since my last post ended with "the cat got spayed.  She is the last of our female cats to go in, so no baby kitties for a while.  We will have to be content with the mere 8(ish)  cats that are bumming around here" BigGirl found a little (tiny little--probably only 7 or 8 weeks old) kitten under the car last week.  Very snuggly, very hungry!  She is wearing a flea collar, so we are looking for her family.   She is a gray, orange and white calico, wearing a flea collar, and very bouncy and kitteny now! The WonderDog likes her, but she keeps trying to nurse on him--and he DOES NOT like that!  We are still searching for her family, as I am sure they miss her, but I am becoming resigned to yet another addition.  She is really hilarious and entertaining, and she has such a great purr we named her Diesel!  

Also--besides trying to ride her bike in her pjs, LargeBoy’s shoes and her bike helmet, and (after she was dressed) 3 long bike rides, yesterday’s funny SmallDaughter moment was when I went to find her, and she was in BigGirl’s room, proudly putting on every pair of panties in the drawer, one over the top of the other—over her pants!  She ended up with 9 pairs layered on! and she was so proud of herself!  It was pretty hilarious!

Spring is here (!?)

I have my garden planted!

Now, I know it is a little late in the year, but 2 BIG obstacles stood in my way:

1: We have had so much rain this year that it has been too wet for ANYONE to plant ANYTHING. The farmers are just now getting their corn crop in (6 weeks late).

2: I had to move my entire garden. I have completely given up on attempting to use the "soil" of our yard to grow much of anything in. Pure clay. It is such pure clay that my younger sister once made pots out of it, dried them in the sun (no fancy kiln or anything of that nature!) and they stayed good all summer long. Even when they were rained on. That kind of clay.

So I have opted for raised bed,square foot gardening. I LOVE IT! However--the site of my former garden is now the hugely enlarged chicken yard, so I had to move everything. All the raised beds, all the soil. That process was slowed by my complete aversion to having the rays of the sun touch my lily white (read "fish belly pale") skin. I do my yard work before the sun is up, and after it goes down.

And now it is planted and fenced, and growing for all it is worth (I hope!)

Next step: build the onion & carrot planters and plant all the herbs. We also have "Camp Funnawanna" this week with some of our favorite children, doing all kinds of awesome summertime activities--and letting their sweet mom study for her finals in peace!

Update on the week

I got to hold 3 cutie babies this week--sweet! We had a very fun bridal shower, but that means I will be super busy this next week, decorating the wedding. It should be great, I will attempt to post pix.

Next week we have the county fair, where (for the first time) my
4-H'ers will have livestock (i.e. chickens), so instead of cooking the food/making the project, dropping it off and then coming back to see what kind of ribbon you got (blue for my kids, of course!), we have to be there with the chickens, every day. It will be a very different experience. Also, they are due to begin laying any day now. (the chickens, not the children.)

Mr. Prism, My Favorite Gentleman, is off being chivalrous (with my dad), helping a very sweet and quiet divorced older lady move to her new home--2 hours away. He got this job because he has a cargo van. And because he is super nice. I am really happy for Sue who found a fabulous new job (not so easy in this economy), a nice apartment with a nice room-mate and had all of the pieces fall perfectly into place for her. But my guys won't be back until late.

Several people are on the prayer list--Miss Peggy L, who is in really bad shape (physically)--and the doctors don't know what is going on. The "good" news is that the tests for MS, Lupus, etc. came back negative. The bad news is, "what the @#$% is going on?".
Andy P. had a bad fall, I don't know how serious. Sue B. had a heart-attack and the blood thinners caused her previously unsuspected ulcer to have a bleed-out. Natalie W. had rotator cuff surgery (her second)--which I have heard is the most painful of all surgeries. Melanie A. is still having tons of health issues. Maryann B. is still recovering from her heart surgery.

And, in the midst of all this pain and angst, life goes on--babies are born, weddings are decorated, people do kind things for each other (many of them are for or by the same people I just mentioned!) The joy is there if you can see it.

I have a visiting sister (Miss V)for a few days, which is always fun. I am also experimenting with getting out of my comfort zone and cooking with herbs. My sisters would be so proud--I am using basil. (ok, it was only in my spaghetti sauce, but it's a start, right?) This year my (long planned, but even longer procrastinated) herb garden didn't so much grow as EXPLODE. (Need chamomile, anyone?)

I did make a really yummy chicken soup--and the herbs made it crazy good. Also, sitting out on the porch near the herb bed, with the scent of the mint combining with the dill is surprisingly fabulous.

Summer

It smells like summer rain this morning. That is good--the garden could really use it, and so could the lawn*. The chickens are surprisingly silky and soft, quite lovely to stroke--although our chickens are where the term "chicken" got it's negative connotation. They freak out and panic every time you get near ("AAAGGGHH! It's the food! Panic! PANIC!!!!"). Which I don't mind much--especially since the opposite of that behavior is mean attack chickens. I have been around MAC's before, and this is WAY better.

I got the second planting of my garden in (finally!). I am now at the stage where I mostly just ignore it, and let it grow. I am harvesting cucumbers fairly regularly, and I think my first crop onions are "done". I have pumpkins and watermelons setting, and the first (early) tomatoes are nice little green cuties. I can't wait until the big ones are ready to be turned into fried green tomatoes. Three of the surprises of being a grownup have been being introduced to (and falling in love with!) 1) Fried Green Tomatoes 2) Steamed Lemon Squash 3) Fried Cabbage. They each have a knack to them, and they are all UNSPEAKABLY DELICIOUS. I still don't care for lots of veggies, but I am getting better.

Our poor hammock finally gave up the ghost, so we are reduced to sitting around in chairs outside to read. Not a good substitute for laying in the hammock with a good book. Nothing really is. We have found some REALLY good books this summer, too. I will post more about them soon.

I am trying to figure out a way to get a tree house built this summer. The kids are the PERFECT age, and it is just something they NEED. I can't do heights (yeah, stupid, I know--I can't even do "small heights" like 3 steps up a ladder! It is ridiculous! ---But then, most of my phobias are!), so I must find someone else whom I can beg or whine or guilt into it. Hmm, I must think.

*I think lawns are fairly immoral--especially in dry areas. Precious resources like water have much better uses. If I lived someplace where there wasn't enough rain to keep it green naturally, I would have to rip it out and replace it with something native that didn't require so much water! I won't even go into the lecture on how much gas we use to cut our grass--super wasteful! (I am looking at goats for next year, maybe). You REALLY don't want to hear me go off about golf courses in Las Vegas and California!