The weather has been gorgeous still, but getting chilly at night. This is the longest "summer" we've experienced here in the PNW coast for. . . well, since Hubby got stationed here in Aug '03-- wow, 9 years in the same general area! That's the longest I've ever spent in a locale!
Anyway, the grapes are soft and juicy and about ready for harvesting; the apple trees produced abundantly and are about ready for harvesting; the "infectious weed" blackberries have definitely peaked (and I may have missed the best harvesting time because I've been very busy with other tasks and projects); the blueberries are going into dormancy; there's a lot of figs on the fig trees, and I need to see about when they should be harvested (before the frost strikes, I'm sure). The pickling cucumbers that I started as seedlings and that Hubby transplanted into the greenhouse has gone a little cukey (I'll try to post pics before too long), so that's exciting for me.
The past two days I've been busy up working in The Hangout, as Hubby finished the sheetrocking this past week, taping and mudding. It's not a great job, as I haven't had enough practice, but at least it's getting done. We're very excited to be working on The Hangout project again, and we'll be focusing on finished the back room and the partial bathroom finished before the middle of next month so that we can have overnight guests. Then we'll get the main portion of The Hangout finished (texturing, priming, and painting still need done; then flooring and trim) so that we can start having guests and a place to hang out! Our house is far too little (and crowded) for hosting, though this summer has provided ample opportunity for BBQ'ing and hanging out on the deck (a rare treat). The first coat of mud should be dry after tomorrow (which is also when one of my best friends is celebrating her ___th b-day), which will give me a day to rest and party, then get back to work.
It is our hope that Hubby will be over his bout with the flu that has had him in fever and chills since yesterday. He's starting his vacation time (there's a new concept to us-- we've never really had "vacation time"!) and we'll be working on The Hangout and the property and trying to finish getting ready for the winter.
The water management stuff has gotten a bit less stressful (at least temporarily) since we held a meeting last month and made decisions regarding. . . a lot of boring information.
The Boy is having a pretty good time with school, so far. He's making friends and likes his teachers and getting a lot of exercise. He has to walk about a mile to the bus stop in the morning, and (obviously) the same distance back-- on a gravel and uppy-downy road! Sorta "old school" (pun intended), and he comes back hungry (duh) and tired. He did comment that sometimes he wishes he were still in homeschool, but only when he was so tired his eyes were bloodshot and he had 3 pages or so of homework to do. I reminded him that when he was in homeschool, he did far more work than that and I'm mean!
Girl has finally started working a little harder on her assignments. She finds a lot of the work boring (she still has to complete last year's work), which makes sense when one considers how quickly she can "pick things up" and the repetitive nature of school work. She caught several caterpillars in the past week or so (some of which escaped somewhere in the mess of her room), keeping them in a jar. One made a cacoon, and just today it came out. I had her take it outside, though, because it certainly wasn't a butterfly and looked more like it was going to be a moth. I reminded Girl that moths destroy wool, and we can't have that. To my relief, she complied. You see, she had kept capturing caterpillars and putting them in her jar, and some in a shoe box. Imagine how those caterpillars ever escaped from a shoe box fill with dirt! And what was the consequence of her not following my instructions? Her cat peed in the box! Shadow-Cat LOVES peeing in dirt, and prefers it over the 'natural' kitty litter (corn based) that I buy. If there's dirt, Shadow wants to use it. The box got moved outside, finally.
So, as can easily be seen, we're keeping busy with family life and working and life continues to "happen." Time keeps passing, and autumn can be felt in the crisp evening air. At least for a little while, we still have nice weather, and we'll enjoy it as long as it lasts!
~Cedeham~
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