Hen23's Journal~Goodbye

[Henrietta23]

So ... What time is supper?

Good question! Gymnastics after school then straight to Little League, if we don't have thunderstorms rolling through. There's a 30% chance of rain at the time the game is supposed to start. Ugh. As nuts as doing two sports back to back will be I don't want another game we have to reschedule!

Ever have one of those great ideas wake you up in the middle of the night? Last night around 2am I woke up thinking we now have an excuse to cut down the rhododendron bushes that are overgrown and don't bloom anymore. They are not near where the goat pen will be but if the goats got out of the pen they would have access. So, bushes come down!

 

[Henrietta23]

Spent the first part of the day at Scotland Farm Day (Scotland CT that is!) We had fun walking around looking at the animals. There was an enormous Percheron horse named Everest. I am kicking myself because while I remembered my camera, I forgot to put the battery back in after charging it. There were numerous miniature horses and mini donkey that was just the sweetest thing. One of DH's students was there with his mom and their two Nubian wethers. Sweet goats! There were also two mini-Nubian bucklings for sale, just 2 weeks old. I did buy two heirloom tomato plants, organically grown for $4.00 each. I never did get my seeds started. I have a black Russian variety and a Brandywine. I got them and several other things planted in containers on the deck when we got home. I also bought grass fed hamburgers and stew meat from the farm we are CSA members of. The new CSA year hasn't started yet so it was good to be able to get some. I met my Thanksgiving dinner and quite possibly my future bacon/ham. She had some of her animals along, including the cutest two week old Jersey bull calf (forgive my terminology; I'm not a cow person!)
There were spinners and all kinds of crafts people. A fiddle group provided music. It was breezy but in the 70s and just a beautiful day.
This afternoon we worked around the yard and kept a running list of future and near future projects we want/need to get done. Then we went to Lowes and ordered our new dishwasher.
Never did call about visiting the goats in MA today. I'll have to do it tomorrow.

 

[Henrietta23]

Wow, two nice weekend days in a row and no baseball!! "We" got a lot done. DH has been puttering around the yard. He had some fence repairs to do because the golden retriever has figured out how to get over the fence into the yard next door. Not good. He just wants to play with their two dogs but their yard isn't fenced so he could end up anywhere. Also don't need their dogs figuring out they can get into our yard!
DH also cut down some trees and we've got some more sun in the yard. More than I thought we'd get. He took down a very overgrown rhododendron from the back of the house. It was almost blocking one window and was almost as tall as our one story house! It's gone!! And there is so much sun on that end of the deck which is where my container garden is going. And where the bush was, I am wondering if I can put a blueberry bush there??? My container blueberry didn't survive the winter or puppy nibbling. The other option is to extend the deck and put in French doors from our bedroom out on to it OR build a small second bathroom off our room. That one is in the distant future I'm afraid.
Left a message with the goat guy. No reply yet.
I almost went to a goat cheese tasting at a local farm but decided I'd had my farm field trip yesterday so I stayed home and puttered inside. I moved around some things in the kitchen. My pantry closet doesn't have a light in it so I moved the GF baking ingredients to a cabinet out in the kitchen. I put some of the things I'm not using as often in the pantry.
Made a grocery store run to stock up for the week.
This morning I tried making amaranth for DS. I cooked it up in the pressure cooker and then added some of his soy free margarine and some maple syrup. He hated it. Rats. I had a small taste and thought it was pretty good. Oh well. DH can finish what I made today.
I made up a batch of sorghum waffles for DS's breakfast this week. I have to start a new batch of yogurt. My dairy free two weeks are up! Didn't get any better and now that I'm eating dairy again I don't seem to be any worse. I'm looking forward to yogurt and berries for breakfast again!! With a side of bacon of course....
I can't believe we might have the goats in two weeks! I have to get a firmer time frame from the vet. If we do decide on one of the MA Nubians I need to know when the Ob/Saanens are coming home because Ms. Nubian can't come home until they're here. I guess I should call Dr. Steve tomorrow.
DH has to be "dug-out mom" for baseball tomorrow. I'll be at Cub Scouts. I hate Mondays. 4 to go including tomorrow!

 

[dragonlaurel]

I like to Italian dressing with amaranth as a side dish. Maybe he'd like that better. Or make Tabouleh but use it instead of the wheat.

 

[Henrietta23]

I like to Italian dressing with amaranth as a side dish. Maybe he'd like that better. Or make Tabouleh but use it instead of the wheat.

He's not a fan of anything vinegary but he might surprise me with the tabouleh. Thanks for the ideas!
I wonder if it would work to mix some cooked amaranth into meatballs or meatloaf as a binder, instead of breadcrumbs or oats?

 

[Henrietta23]

The garden shed, or junk depository. It will eventually store hay in one half. It obviously needs cleaning out! I hope to do some planting around it once DH moves some of his stuff. We're going to rebuild and relocate the compost, move the firewood pile, and clean that corner in general. Then I can get some shade plants in there. I have some hostas that need dividing.

Some of the current collection of plants that I keep rearranging in the sunniest corner of the deck. With that huge bush gone it's even sunnier.

Pat and Leo

Spotty, Quackers, Maude, Louise and Edna, enjoying some free range time.

So skinny, but he's developing a pretty strong throwing arm! He was invited to join the boys gymnastics competition team next year. I don't see how we can do it if we're paying tuition to the Catholic school, even if our church does help us out. He likes gymnastics but he's not passionate or all that committed to the sport.

 

[Henrietta23]

I probably shouldn't be so happy that his teacher is out today, but I am! It seems that substitutes pay more attention to keep all the kids on track that the teacher does so he usually has a successful day.
I just told 4 student groups that we only have 2 Mondays left after today!!! 21 days after today as well. Yippy!!

 

[dragonlaurel]

Amaranth doesn't get sticky so I'm not sure about using it for a binder. You might have better luck with short grain rice. It's the kind they use in sushi making, cause it gets sticky when cooked.

 

[Henrietta23]

Amaranth doesn't get sticky so I'm not sure about using it for a binder. You might have better luck with short grain rice. It's the kind they use in sushi making, cause it gets sticky when cooked.

Can't, he's allergic to rice. It got kind of sticky in the pressure cooker, sort of porridge like. I thought it might work. I may try a small batch to see. Thankfully he's not allergic to eggs so I can add those. I will have to make some GF, allergen free bread to use for crumbs. I'm not using the $7 a box Breads from Anna mix!!

 

[Henrietta23]

I guess his day was okay with the sub. No emails from the principal or notes home. He did tell me he got in trouble for swinging his sweatshirt over his head at before school. Another kid decided to do the same thing but his sweatshirt had a zipper which hit DS on the face near his eye. They both got a consequence. At recess he got pushed down by another boy and scraped his knee. Instead of chasing the other boy down and pushing him back he just dealt with it. He asked to go to the nurse for a band aid and that was that. He said all his friends rallied around him to see if he was okay and that felt pretty good. I see this as major progress! A month ago he would have melted down, chased the kid down and punched him! Now he's got other kids wanting to play with him and look out for him. My mom said he ate with a kid from his baseball team instead of the other boy he usually eats with (and gets in trouble with). Too bad his teacher wasn't there to hear about it.
21 days to go. 2 regular Mondays and one of finals.