DH had to get out of the house early this morning (7am—gasp!) which left me with a long lovely morning alone, since the girls don’t emerge until 10am or later most mornings. I was able to walk my five laps on the driveway, lift weights for 15 minutes, and do yoga for 1/2 an hour. I feel so much better! More energetic, more clear-headed, more able to face my “relentless farmer’s life”. (Snicker. I’ve got it easy, and I know it.)

JD is here hanging out with the girls; they just finished morning chores and are now scrubbing the front porch/milking room. (Ahhh—the sound of busy girls…)

Yesterday I cleaned berries, and removed them from their stems. Now today I need to boil my honey (mixed with water) and pour it over the berries in a big stainless steel pot, and then cover it securely with cheesecloth. I’ve got to get the books out and refresh my memory on the order in which to perform all the steps, having never made mead before.

Poor Fionn is tied at the barn. He spent all day off with his new lady-love yesterday, and we could hear fighting and snarling and growling all day. DH sternly went and got him and brought him home this morning (“stern” does not come naturally to DH) and tied him, and now Fionn is down there bemoaning his fate, whining and howling and yipping (and occasionally giving off rabid wolf sounds whenever the horses get too close. Unfortunately, they seem to find that hilarious, so they keep poking at him with their noses just to get a reaction). Poor guy. And just when he had finally found true love.

I guess the main thing on the agenda for the girls today is to bring Blossom up, tie her to the porch railing, and practice “cowgirl mounting”— (hmmm—is that going to get me some weird hits from Google?)—running up, springboarding off the porch steps, and landing on Blossom’s broad (read: fat) back, ready for a quick getaway. They’ve been working on this for the past two days, and are getting very good at it.

We haven’t ordered our curriculum for ED yet this year; I guess it can wait until we get back from the beach. Bernard, of course is all set, because we use ED’s old books for her. We always buy our school stuff from Oak Meadow—sort of loosely Waldorf-based—and DH and I like it. I can’t say ED exactly likes it; she doesn’t like anything that has to do with school. That’s been the hardest thing about homeschooling—dealing with her bad attitude. She’s never been to public (or any other) school, so she doesn’t understand how easy she’s got it. We use the Oak Meadow curriculum, but we do a lot of “unschooling”, too: letting her follow her own instincts about what she wants to learn. I like to, if nothing else, get through the math book. But we almost never do any of the science stuff, because our life is very deeply enmeshed with the natural world, providing lots of opportunities for learning. Anyway, the girl’s got it made—maybe one day she’ll realize it and quit fighting me. Maybe?

You are Phlegmatic. You have a peace-loving

nature, and make a good listener and a faithful

friend. You do have a tendency to be selfish

and stubborn in your worst moments, and your

worrying can lean towards paranoia. Phlegmatics

should consider careers as accountants,

diplomats, engineers, and administrators. You

are a somewhat reluctant leader, but your

practicality and steady nerve under pressure

makes you a natural choice for leadership

roles.

Which of the Humours are you?

brought to you by Quizilla

Here’s an excellent article by Garrison Keillor—thanks for sending it my way, CS.

We’re Not in Lake Wobegon Anymore

Ahhh…the sweet sound of no Moe. Tonight I can leave the windows open without fear of the screens being shredded or the bread being scattered across the kitchen floor. No, Moe has gone to live at A*’s house in town. (No, no—she said we could!) It had gotten to the point where he was waking me up every single night, and no cat is worth that! So I told A* yesterday at the market that DH was going to take him up to Wolf Laurel and drop him off in some ritzy subdivision, and A*, who may be too tenderhearted for her own good, said no, bring him to her house. (Oh, A*…) We thought about driving him back to town last night, but you hate to look too eager, so DH took him by on his way to work this morning. Bye bye Moe! Now y’all will have to go to Littlebear Holler to read about his continued adventures.

Today is a baking day. I’m making a wedding cake to feed 106 people for tomorrow at the Inn; I’ve got two 12-inch layers baking in the oven right now, so I thought I’d take a break and get off my feet. It’s kind of a hot day for baking.