The Lumberjack's Wife

I walked into my new classroom yesterday for the first time since the end of the last school year.

It is far too hot and summery outside to be looking at that nonsense.

This classroom used to be for 3rd graders, hence the cursive alphabet on the wall.  I am going to have to find a gigantic ladder and take those down and put up my first-grade printing alphabet.

Oh, the humanity.

***

Big changes are happening for my girls.

First, Kate is about to journey far, far, far, far, far away to school.

Like really far away.

We brought her dog, Niko, and met up with her and her very nice boyfriend to say goodbye.

Hadley’s boyfriend, Kason, just left for Coast Guard basic training.  He will be gone for 8 whole weeks and this makes Hadley very sad.

It kind of makes us all sad.  Kason is a fun dude to have around!

Kason’s mom snapped this photo of Kason’s dog waiting for him outside his bedroom door the first morning he was gone.

And that made my feeler’s sad.

Hadley starts college locally here in a couple of weeks.

And please let the records show:  She misses Kason.

***

David and the boys are getting hay.

All the time.  Every day.  Always.

Let’s talk about the process of acquiring hay.

It is the worst.

That’s really all there is to say about hay.

It is 2022.  Shouldn’t we have figured out a better way?

Reader.  Have you ever had to buck hay bales?

Anyways.  Because we are who we are, David’s truck broke down in the middle of a hay field the other night.  He asked me to grab his work truck and come meet him, and I obliged because that’s the kind of gal I am.

David and the boys loaded up in the work truck and we went to a neighbor friend’s house to borrow his farm truck.

And, oh!  Have I told you?

David was promoted at work awhile ago.  He is like a manager type person and no longer drives a work van.

He drives a nice truck and the A/C in that thing is certainly something to write home about.

So, David wants to stay in the field with LD and continue to load bales with the help of farmer friend’s truck.  David would like it if HD and I towed his broken down truck to the mechanic.

Let’s discuss.

David’s broken down truck is the same truck he has had forever and breaks down every 8 weeks.  It is the biggest truck in the world.

Reader.  I bet no one else has a truck this big.

We cannot even insure it with our other vehicles.  It needs its own “commercial” policy.

HD, who is 15, is going to be driving the nice, new work truck and will be towing me, his mother, in the broken down truck.

When towing, one should always strive to be the tower and not the towee, but I had no choice in this situation because David was worried the broken truck would slam into the nice work truck and since I am 41, I was in charge of making sure that didn’t happen.

I knew things were about to get dicey when right away the tie down strap we were using to tow snapped.

David gets a chain.  The chain is, oh, maybe 8 feet long.

HD starts to pull me and I become quickly aware that there is no power steering or brakes in this gigantic truck and I am not so sure I will be able to guarantee that I will not slam into the work truck.

Me:  David!  Are you sure I am the gal for this job?!?!

Reader.  He gave me a thumbs up and went back to bucking hay bales.

In all honesty, HD handled this situation like a champ.  He suggested we call each other and have the phones down but on speaker so we could communicate.  He would warn me if he was letting off the gas or needing to brake.

We were even being all safe and cautious and had our hazard lights going. It was all very intense.

When we were on the highway, he would tell me we were going to steer closer to the shoulder to let others pass us and I just felt he was very mature and handled it well.

And let the records show:  HD and I successfully towed David’s broken truck with David’s nice truck and no bad luck befell us.

When we arrived at the mechanic, I put the key in the overnight drop box and then went back and pulled the emergency brake on the truck.

I have no idea why I did this.  But it just felt like the right thing to do after such a harrowing experience.

***

Check out Matilda’s handsome son-

He should be on a calendar or something.

***

I was checking out at the grocery store and the cashier asks to see my ID so she can confirm I am old enough to purchase alcohol.  She confirms and hands me my ID back.

Bag Boy:  Wait?  Are you really 21?

Me:  Yes.  I am 41.

Bag Boy:  No way!  You don’t even look 21!

So, in summary and summation, I have a new favorite grocery store.

Happy Thursday!

Well.  It has been a hot minute since you have seen this gorgeous cat.

Mama Kitty-mother to Norma Jean Riley.  Grandma to Rio.

Please try to keep up with my animals.

We have no idea how old she is.  We think fairly old.  And, yes.  She has a cauliflower ear and won’t be getting any new boyfriends any time soon.

***

Exciting things have come to pass, Reader!

First, I went on a trip all by myself and visited Sisters Meagan and Jess.  We had a lovely time just hanging out and visiting and they took me to all their lovely local spots.  Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Meagan and I at a lovely lake.

We went on a hike and Meagan stopped to do a bit of fly fishing.

She caught nothing.

Jess and I on a lovely evening walk after dinner.

Meagan and I at a winery.

Twas a lovely visit.

***

David, the boys, and I went up into the mountains in search of The Purple Gold.

Yes.  Huckleberries.

I find huckleberry picking to be a loathsome activity, but it brings joy to David, so off we went.  I have two major problems with huckleberry picking.

1.  We don’t exactly ever know where any are, so we end up driving around aimlessly for hours on end and sometimes cannot find them.
2. I would prefer to not get attacked by a bear.

Up into the mountains we went.  We put the three dogs:  Niko, Norman, and Charlie, in the back of the side by side.

Norman, who feels the need for speed, would not sit in the side by side and kept jumping out.  He would run alongside or ahead of us.  He kept up with the side by side at 20 mph for quite a while.

Since I am 41 now, I worry about the dogs and for some reason think they are infant babies.  So, I made David stop so we could force Norman to rest.

He’s a good boy.

Huckleberry Helper: 10/10 Stars.

Me:  David!  Can you bring a gun?

David:  Why?

Me:  To protect us from bears.

David:  No.  That’s why we brought the dogs.  The bear will get them first and we can get away!

Me:

I am pleased to announce that not only did we find huckleberries, but no bears ate any of us.

We picked one whole liter, which doesn’t sound impressive, but it surely made us feel all fancy pants.

***

David’s grandma turned 100 years old, and his mother put on a lovely party for her.

She looks amazing and gets around so well still!  We have been so lucky to have her in our lives.

Here she is as a senior in high school.

So beautiful!

***

Summer is winding down, but I am still loving my days at home.  The dogs were doing so much better listening, so I decided to chance it and take them on my daily walk to check the cows.

They did a perfect job until the very end when Norman saw the horse and decided it was the Lord’s will for Norman to try and run that poor horse through a fence.

Fear not.  No animals were injured.

Norman.

Farm Dog:  0/10 stars.

And . . . I love him.

So, I must make the dogs stay inside now when I check on things.

Here’s a picture of Niko watching me from the loft window.

Happy Monday!

We have needed to update our refrigerator for ages, and I found one the other day on Facebook Marketplace.  David agreed to meet up and help me, and, Reader, I was simply agog.

I ran an errand right beforehand.  The cashier gal, who was probably the same age as one of my own children, politely asked me how I was doing.

She was probably thinking I would say, “Fine.”

But, no.  I am 41 now.

Me:  I am GREAT!  Right after this, I am going to buy a new refrigerator.

Cashier:  Oh.

Me:  I have wanted a new one for years!

Cashier:  Yeah.  I guess I can see how that would be exciting.

Me:  IT IS!

So, that’s how I am currently acting now in public.

David and I went and we were buying the fridge from the dude and the dude was very curious about all of our life story and somehow we got onto the topic of how we raise beef cows and this was the actual conversation.

Guy:  So.  Does your husband, like, kill the cows sometimes?

Me:  Yes.  Yes, he does.

Guy:  How does he do that?  Like does he electrocute them?

Me:  No?  He uses a bullet?

Guy:  Oh.  I know nothing about this.  Didn’t know if you had like an electric chair for cows?

So, that was something.

Reader.  I have sad news.  All the males in my house were in a rush when moving the fridge into our house.  In their haste, they neglected to take the front door off and now my new-to-me fridge has scratches.

I have ordered appliance touch up paint and am hoping for the best.

Let’s talk about dogs!

Niko loves me.  It is true.  He really does.

He follows me everywhere and I have caught him watching me from the windows if I am outside.

Here he is watching me as I am watering on the deck.

Can you see him?  Can you see him?

And here I caught him watching from my bedroom window as I was giving the chickens water.

Can you see him?  Can you see him?

I have taken a much needed break from painting and started organizing the house.  HD was off of work the other day and he was willing to help me tackle the most dreaded room in the house:

The Storage Room.

HD likes things clutter free and simple.  And anytime I agreed that we could get rid of something, it brought him so much excitement.  He was a huge help and we got rid of a TON of stuff.  It felt so good!  I found an old door that we used to have in the basement.  We have been trying to think of a way to keep the dogs out of the downstairs and HD and I decided that putting that door back would be the perfect solution!  And how lucky am I that HD knew immediately how to install the door for me and did so with ease!

But I did not think this plan all the way through.

We have three dogs and three cats.  The cats are Mama Kitty, Norma Jean Riley, and Rio.  The dogs do not pay much attention to Mama and Rio.  But they have a terrible feud with Norma.  Because of this, Norma spends most of her life in hiding.  She does love me, and can we blame her?  So, if I am around the hides on my side of the bed.

She thinks no one can find her here.

Anyways.

If the dogs ever do spot Norma, they chase her and she flees for her life and climbs high up and hides in the storage room

Well.  I have a new door blocking the storage room.

And I left the dogs unattended in the house for about 15 minutes as I tended to the chickens.   When I came back, I heard a horrible commotion and saw Norma Jean had tried to run downstairs and was trapped by the door.  The dogs had her cornered.  She was all mangled looking and I saw blood on the door.

Poor Norma Jean Riley.

I got the dogs away and got her all cleaned up and discovered she wasn’t bleeding at all!  She had scratched the dogs up.  Hence the blood.  I was proud of her.

I am not sure why I told you that story.  But, there you go.

We were getting ready to go to the river this weekend with my parents.  I told David that all my mom and I wanted to do was float in tubes, but be tethered to shore.  This confused him and I suggested some weird rope stuff he always has called mule tape.

David looked at LD and said:  I need you to go and grab the roll of mule tape out of the pig pen so your mother can enjoy the river.

LD, looking like the ever confused 14 year old boy that he is, did just that for me.

When we were at the river, David took that pig pen mule tape and tethered mother and I to shore so we wouldn’t float away.

It was the most relaxing moment I had all summer.

The dogs would bring me the ball as I sat in the tube and I just kept throwing it for them.

Shall we have a farm update?

Yes.  Let’s have a farm update.

I have about 18 chicks of various ages and stages of growth.

I hatched them myself!

We still have cows.  We haven’t had any new babies in awhile.

Here’s my best gal, Matilda.

She is a brat-and-a-half, but she sure is a beaut!

Sisters Meagan and Jess are in town.  They were going to be at my parents house and Hadley was supposed to also stay the night.

So Sister Meagan called me and this treasured conversation occured.

Meagan:  Taylor.  It has come to my attention that Hadley is probably staying over here and I am wondering what my role is?  Do I need to monitor a curfew?  Supervise the brushing of the teeth?  Make her breakfast before she goes to work in the morning?

Me:  Meagan.  She is 18.

Alright, Dudes!  That’s all for now.

David and I have been married for 22 years now.

That is a lot.

Happy Sunday!

Three of my hens went broody about six weeks ago.  Broody hens are very intense and take their jobs quite seriously.  Two hens gather all the eggs of the 5 total hens and sit on them.  One hen has sat in a nesting box the entire time and, I kid you not, there has never been a single egg under her.

Days and days have passed, yet no chicks ever appear.  It is an oddity.

Full disclosure:  I believe all hatched chicks are being murdered.

I have my reasons.

In an effort to put a stop to this nonsense, and be able to eat farm fresh eggs again, I armed myself with a snow shovel and stole all the eggs from the coop.  I put them in incubators to at least give them a fighting chance.  Because we certainly were not going to be cracking those eggs open to eat them.

And because the eggs had been under the hens for different lengths of time, the eggs are randomly hatching.  Like 1 every 2-3 days.  I have 11 surviving chicks at this time and have lost one.

Let’s talk about the one I lost.

First off-I helped him hatch.

Stand down, Reader!  I am aware that helping chicks hatched is not advised.  But he was stuck in his shell for like 36 hours!  Oh, the humanity!  When I got all the shell off of him, he still had this membrane like sac around him.

He was something else.  Let’s discuss.

After he dried off and was acting like a normal chic, I took him out to the brooder box to meet his new family.  When I checked on him a few hours later, he was laying on his back and flailing his little legs about.  He had turned into a chicksickle because he wasn’t smart enough to walk himself under the heat lamp.

So I put him back in the incubator to warm up.  This was not an inconvenience to me, as I currently have three incubators running on my kitchen counter.

As people do.

Then I set a special new brooder box for him in the house so I could keep an eye on him.  And then the dogs knocked into the brooder box and spilled the water and the chick was soaked again.  I put him back into the incubator.

Then I set the special brooder box on the deck away from the dogs.  And the chick escaped and was hiding under a BBQ grill.  I put him back.  He escaped again and walked himself right off the deck and fell approximately 12 feet.  And lived.

I told him enough was enough and I marched him back to the outdoor brooder box, where he promptly died within 24 hours.

For not getting under the heat lamp.

But other than that-it is going great!

I have decided to paint the entire interior of my house this summer.  And that is not as fun as it sounds.

But it looks SO GOOD when it is finished!

We are painting the walls Amazing Gray by Sherwin Williams and the ceilings Origami White by Sherwin Williams.

Here is a picture of the completed dining room area.

David got me a Calla Lily plant for my birthday!  I want it to live forever and ever!

Please advise.

My peony plant is on point this year and I am able to have bouquets of fresh peonies in the house. I am most likely the envy of the whole neighborhood, honestly.

Here are the peonies I made all by myself along with a cute little sign I found.

See this bird cage and leaded window?

I am going to do amazing things with them.  Because Pinterest is giving me IDEAS, man.

The boys are working full time and I am spending a lot of time at home, painting, and hanging out with my chicks and dogs and cats and cows.  It is a happy existence for me.

Hearing little chicks who are about to hatch chirp inside their eggs is one of the greatest gifts this world has to offer.

Have you heard this sound, Reader?

Have you?

Please notice Rio.

Thank you.

So, I am painting.  And cleaning.  And listening to books on Audible.  And walking dogs.  And checking cows.  And hatching chicks.  And reading actual books. And that is what summer is all about, my friends!

The puppy brothers on our morning walk.

Cows-

Opal

Maisy

While we were camping one weekend, one chick hatched unexpectedly and lived, even though I had not yet removed the eggs from the turners.

I mean.  How cute is that?

We are spending time at the river.  The dogs love it, per usual.

I am, once again, reading my favorite summer book at the river-

These is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine

We had family pictures taken right around Hadley’s graduation.

Left to Right-

Kate, LD, David, me, HD, and Hadley.

Happy Wednesday, Friends!

Two months have passed and I have not written anything.  So much has gone on.  There are many things to update you on, and some things that I cannot write about.  Things have been good, but also hard.  Life, as always, has been busy.

Hadley has graduated from high school.

Here she is on her last day of classes with Charlie-

a bird flew overhead right as I snapped the picture.

She went to two proms with her super nice boyfriend-Kason, and a snazzier couple there could not be.

Hadley and the boys all won awards at their basketball banquet, and, of course, we are not surprised.

LD was MVP, Hadley was Most Improved, HD was best defensive player.

***

Things are going well with Auntie Datenut living in the apartment.  I think she is enjoying being closer to family.  We were able to have a little birthday party with her last month.

***

Another school year ended.  I love teaching first grade.  But this we knew.  Here are some little notes I got from my firsties.

“My favorite thing about you is you love me like a daughter.”

Be still my heart.

And then this one from one of the most “challenging” students-

“You have been nice to me.”

Sometimes I did not feel super nice to him.

***

LD turned 14.  As per his request, I made him his most favorite Kit Kat cake and we went camping.

I turned 41. Kate moved away again.  The boys are both working for a nearby farmer full time for the summer.  I started a big garden project, began to paint the interior of my house (groan), and have been hatching chicks.

For some reason, three chicks recently have needed help hatching.

Here is one from this morning-

Curiouser and curiouser.

So far, I have kept them all alive.

And that’s something.

Happy Wednesday.

This is what I see everytime I sit down:

They love me.

Things have been a whirlwind over here.  Kate got a bit homesick and it was discovered that she could continue her college classes here at home since they were all online, so I woke up at 2 am,  flew down one way,  and drove her home all in the same day.

Because I am THE MOM.  And that is what moms do.

It has been nice having the Fab Four back together again.

LD finished up his basketball season.  He turned out to be a total beast his 8th grade year.

Here’s a quick video of his pal tossing him the ball and LD makes the layup.

And thus ends the 2021-2022 basketball season.

***

HD has his driving permit and, so far, he is the LEAST terrifying new driver we have had.

***

In my fabulous first grade class, I am pleading with my students to SHOW THEIR WORK in math.

One boy wrote-

IT IS MATH.

And here’s another kiddo’s work-

So.  You could say things are going well.

We are incubating chicks and I am about 72% sure I am currently incubating a bunch of duds.  The kids do not know this, but I do, and so I am trying to come up with plan B.

On day 1 of this project, I found this on Hal’s desk-

It is a count down and on day 21 it says “big bay.”  He, of course, meant “big day,” but b/d reversal is a thing in the Land of First Grade.

***

Today was cow sorting day, and, for reasons no one will ever know, David elected Kate to be the castration expert.  So.  Kate castrated a little bull calf.  She apologized to him frequently, which I felt was a nice touch.

When it was time to get to the nitty gritty of the cow sorting, David said something to this effect:

I need someone who is COMPETENT to stand over there.

So, of course, no one moved a muscle.

I was like, dude, just select people and tell them where to stand.

Anyways, I believe Kate,Hadley, and I were on Team Incompetant.  We were just standing and our purpose was to not let cows get by us.

I think Kate is napping on the gate over there.

Being on Team Incompetant isn’t the most thrilling of occupations.

LD was on fence repair elsewhere and David, HD, and Hadley’s boyfriend were on Team Competant and they were able to rope Maisy’s wayward teenager calf.

And then she had to be drug to the correct pen.  She did not like this and fought us all and at one point she knocked me down and I fell in poop.

Happy Sunday!

HD turned 15 and Hadley turned 18.

Babies-

Teens-

HD started his drives for Driver’s Ed, but he has been driving on our property for awhile now and is probably already a better driver than Kate.

Hadley has been working on filling out college applications and absolutely killing me dead while doing so.

Hadley:  Mom?  An I an international student?

For the love.

But then she began inquiring about starting a Roth IRA, so maybe everything will even out.

***

Let’s talk about The Big Move.

Mom and I were scheduled to leave on Sunday, however, Kate became a bit homesick so we adjusted plans to go a day early so we could spend an evening with her on the road, as she was on the way to Auntie Datenut’s.

She is a busy bee and working hard as a CNA at a nursing home/rehabilition center.  She chatted with us about her job and it sounds like she is working her hiney off to make sure she is quickly meeting her patients needs, so that makes me feel so puffed up with pride.  She strongly dislikes having her patients sit in soiled diapers, so I give her two thumbs up!

What a nice gal!

Because of the schedule change, Mom and I had to drive 15 hours in one day, and that is a lot for a couple of old gals such as us.

Also, should we talk about gas prices?

Nah.  Too depressing.

My mom and dad are both originally from Southern California and used to live in the area where Auntie currently resides.  My parents do not completely understand the benefits of GPS and blue tooth and mom came with paper directions from my father.

Like directions.  On a piece of paper.  To read.

Me:  Dad.  I can use GPS and connect to Bluetooth and Siri will just talk to us and take us there.

Dad:  She can talk to you?  Through the stereo?

Me:  Yes.

Dad:  Well, that’s pretty slick!

However, and sadly, my parents do not trust Siri to know the correct freeway routes and have you ever driven in the LA freeway system?  How many freeways do they need?

Over here in our parts we have ONE.

But, I digress.

My parents take this freeway route quite seriously and must shout/talk and take notes.

My dad:  I DON’T CARE WHAT GPS SAYS, GET OFF THE 5 and got to the 210 to the 60 to the 91 to the 15 to the 405.

(That is not what he really said.  I cannot remember.  But he used that many freeways.)

Problem was that father did not have the address for the hotel and so we had Siri rerouting us every five seconds and we ended up lost at a Walmart at 9:30 pm.

I coerced my parents to allow me one try to have SIRI take us there and if we still got lost, we would call dad and get notes.

Siri got us there in five minutes and Sisters Meagan and Jess had dinner delivered to our hotel door and is not that just the nicest?

Mom and I whipped out all of our muscles and helped Auntie pack up her apartment Monday-Wednesday.

On Thursday, David flew in and I picked him up and we went straight to get the Uhaul truck.  The truck was about $400 more than we were originally told, and I tried to fight it and the guy was like:

“Yeah, no.  EVERYONE is moving out of California and we are struggling with equipment.  This is the price.”

So.  That was that.

You know what is stressful?

I’ll tell you.

Loadng a Uhaul and knowing that you are getting on the road with it in just a couple of hours and realizing that all of Auntie’s stuff will not fit in the Uhaul.

So, we started sorting into priority, we loaded all that we could, and we had to trash the rest.

Because, what can you do?

David and I headed for home with the Uhaul and Mom and Auntie left in Mom’s car so they could go at a more leisurely place and stop and visit some sisters.

My mom is one of seven!  Did you know that?

Now you do.

Also, should we talk about gas prices with a Uhual?

Nah.  Too depressing.

David and I got home and the boys helped us unload.  The Uhaul was SO full and as soon as they opened the back, they had to stop several boxes from spilling out.

And then, we unloaded into her apartment and she arrived the next day and now we have a new neighbor!

I am very thankful to David and the kids for helping create this nice living space for Auntie.

We got home from school last night and without being asked, HD went and knocked on her door to check on Auntie to see if she needed anything-and then he fixed something for her.  And that is just plain kind.

***

Spring break is over.  I am back at school.

Here is a cute picture of Rio wishing I was paying attention to her, rather than to bills.

Happy Wednesday!

Things are going great over here.  Not stressed at all, thanks for asking.

The apartment.

David keeps making me caulk and paint and paint and remove paint and then paint and then caulk and then paint and then, oh yeah, plaster, and sanding and painting and , Reader, I am over it.

Also.  I am TERRIBLE at it.  And, yet.  I press on.

After I foolishly thought I was all done, for about the 17th time, he trimmed the crawl space and so that needed to be painted to match the rest of the ceiling.

Me:  Can I paint it now?

David:  First you need to caulk around the edges and then fill in the nail holes with putty.

Me, dying a thousand deaths, yet not being dramatic at all:  Doooooooood.  I am really good at filling nail holes with paint.  Can I skip the putty part?

David:  Sure.  And then you can redo it later the right way.

Me:

So.  I did it the right way the first time.  Even though I do NOT see the point.

We are all very tired.  Our goal was to be completely finished this weekend, but that did not happen.  I just keep saying over and over again:

Well.  I do have Saturday.

Because.  I have Saturday.  And then on Sunday, Mom and I leave to fetch Auntie.

You guyz.  I literally spent like 8 hours removing old paint from window frames this weekend.  And it wasn’t even all my fault!  It was the stupid peach paint that was sprayed when whoever build this house built this house!

Peach paint.  I shudder.

Let’s look at the progress, shall we?  It will make us all feel better.

This is not an accurate representation of the wall color.  I don’t know what is going on with the lighting.  I am not a photographer.

David et al built a porch this weekend while I was wasting away my days removing paint from window frames.

Me:  David, I think Auntie needs more of a ramp then stairs.

David:  I don’t know how to build a ramp.

Me:  Hmmmm.

And then I got distracted and busy.  Oh!  Did I tell you?

I had to spend the whole weekend removing paint off of window frames.

And somehow David figured out to build a ramp.

The new porch is dirty.  We have a mud issue.

Let’s move on.

Along with the apartment building, we are also raising children.  LD is playing many a basketball game and scoring all the points, like the stud we all knew he would be.

Hadley was invited to play in an All Star game for local seniors of our areas.

Hadley and HD both have birthdays this week.  Ask me how prepared I am for THAT.

***

School is stressful these days.  There are so many things to do and we are getting ready for Spring Conferences and progress reports.

I have found that whole-heartedly sing/shouting Celine Dion’s classic hit, “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” truly helps relieve the stress of school.  It is most particularly helpful if you completely belt out the line-“Baby, Baby, Baby, when you-” while doing the morning chores.

Sleeping teens LOVE it.

In first grade, I am reading them more chapter books that don’t have as many pictures as they are used to.  This is a good time to teach them a strategy called “visualizing.”  We call it “making a movie in your head.”

Last week, I was most particularly over all the interruptions while I was trying to read the story.

Have you ever tried to teach first grade?  It’s a wild scene.  You are trying to get through whatever you are trying to get through and someone has to pee and someone is wondering if we missed first recess and someone else has a grandma coming to town and someone’s neighbor’s dog is named Leroy and then someone’s tooth will fall out.

Anyways.  I am trying to get through the story and another precious hand pops up to interrupt me for the 8 billionth time, and no, I am not exaggerating.

The book I was reading has one illustration to go with each chapter.

Student:  Mrs. M?

Me (trying to be patient.):  Yes?

Student:  Mrs. M.  I am making the movie!  You know the movie in my head!  And then you showed me the picture!  And I wanted to tell you the picture looks exactly like the movie in my head!

And then I died a thousand deaths because it was finally an appropriate interruption.

And then someone else’s tooth fell out.

***

Calf number 8 was born the other day.  The calves are all that is precious in this world and there is nothing better than going out to see this after a long day-

We had a bit of sadness with the birth of calf #9.  Mama had gone into labor the night before and when we checked on her Sunday morning, the baby was partially out, but dead.

David and I traipsed on out there at the break of dawn to try and help get the baby out.

When calves are born, usually their feet come out first, together.  You know.  Like Superman.  This little one had one foot still stuck and that is why mama couldn’t get him out.  David had to push the head back into the cow and find the other foot.  Once we had both feet out, David tied string to each foot and together we pulled the calf out.

And it was so very dead.  And mama went over and licked it and I wondered if her heart was broken and then we had to go work on the apartment and David made me caulk and paint and paint and paint and paint.

It is a good thing I am not a complainer.

***

David finally bought me that Number One Wife Shirt, but it comes in the form of a sweatshirt and says Best Wife Ever.

I don’t have a picture yet.

I have been too busy painting.

Later, Gators.