Tuesday, July 8, 2008

There's No Place Like Home

The statistics said it probably wouldn't last, and unfortunately it hasn't.

My daughter and her boyfriend have split, this time apparently for good, and she moved back in with us last night. It's really very tragic considering there's the baby to consider. But life marches on and we do the best with what we are given.

Otherwise we had a fairly quiet long weekend.

Wil got his driver's license Thursday. You may remember this post from April. Well, the time finally arrived and after summer school we went to the DMV and he was uneventfully handed his license. Now he drives himself to school and can even do a few errands for me.

Our July 4th was spent indoors. With no friends or family around we decided to save our money and we relaxed in front of the tv. Boring? Maybe. But considering past years we probably saved enough money to put five gallons of gas in one of the cars! Anyway, sometimes I like boring.

The other thing I did was finish the sheep milking stand I started last year. I got the plans from Fias Co Farms here. And yes, I did contribute some money at the time I downloaded the plans, just to be a good sport. Their website really is loaded with great information for anyone interested in milking, making cheese, goat herding, etc.

I'll be weaning the lambs soon so we'll be able to tell if it was worth it. Last year I simply got Jamie in the stall and milked her on the ground. This looks like it might be easier.



And speaking of the lambs, they have all lost their tails now. I even made my first pre-sale. Neighbor Dean's 11 year old daughter, who has her daddy wrapped around her pinkie, talked him into letting her buy the one she named Gracie. She used money she got from recycling and doing odd jobs around the house. (Gracie is on the far left below.)

I got my first mosaic commission and got that started. It's a piece very similar to the one at the end of this post. I may even get it done this weekend and ship it off next week. Yay!

My poor neglected garden is really suffering. Especially the tomatoes. I think they are near the end of their productivity. Some of the other stuff is still doing well, like the basil and the grapes, but the weather is so hot it's really taking a toll.
Here is a nice plum tomato.


My husband and I played a bit of badminton with the new set we got for when all the relatives were here. Of course we didn't put it up then because it was so hot. So now it's up and it's even hotter! (Heat wave this week--it's supposed to be 107 on Wednesday.)

The bad news is I realized, once again, how horribly out of shape I am. At the end of 15 minutes of playing I was dripping sweat and could barely breathe. I think I'll blame it on the weather. Never mind that he was still cool as a cucumber. The good news is that we had a tie.


And now I am going to try and stay cool!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, cool! You have a commission! Be sure to take a picture.
Also cool is the sheep milking stand.
You're so talented.

tina f. said...

Well, Jenn, I may figure out how to add a little side bar for my mosaics some day. I think I'd have to charge depending on the size and style wanted. Right now it's kind of a "one at a time as I go along" sort of thing. I'm not real good at the web design sort of thing but I'll try and start working on something like that.