Hen23's Journal~Goodbye

[Henrietta23]

We were fine and well out of the way of the path of the storms. Just got some hail and rain. Even my little seedlings were spared. This morning I have more sprouts out there as if the storm kick started their growth!
The few people we know up that way are all fine, no damage, and my favorite place away from home, Old Sturbridge Village, was spared as well. They estimate that a tornado passed within 900 feet of the village and there were damaging winds within 100 feet. No buildings were damaged and the staff and animals all unharmed.
DH is off to Long Island tomorrow with a hovercraft and a student (and his father) to film a TV pilot (yup, another one!) Should make a good story..... hope he gets down there and back okay. I will hate having him on the road. DS is off to the CT Science Center for his class field trip. I'll be at the elementary school doing paperwork all morning while the kids are having field day. Then I'm off to the high school for a few students. I will see my Thursday HS students once more this year. We're in finals week after next week! 12 days to go!
We're on tomato watch here. I've got some blossoms and some tiny green grape tomatoes!

 

[Henrietta23]

Ugh, late night!! DH got in from Long Island at 12:59am. He, his student and the student's father left school at 10am Friday, drove to Freeport, filmed a TV show, got back on the road and got here at 1am. Today we have to return the vehicle he borrowed to pull the hovercraft to his coworker and get our car back. DS has a baseball game at 1, he was supposed to ride in a show this morning but the his instructor couldn't get enough people besides us to commit to riding in it that she pulled out of it. Now he's supposed to ride later in the month but everything keeps changing and it's making me a little nuts. I've GOT to go grocery shopping, I have plants to get in the garden. So much to do. The lawn MUST be mowed today. DH will have to do that. Too much pollen for me! I think everyone in the neighborhood is out mowing right now. It's warm but not hot, breezy, sunny. Just gorgeous!
DH is on the phone planning the memorial concert for our friend who just died. They've chosen my birthday as the date. At least it will be a big celebration rather than a funeral. It's afternoon gig so we still can go out for dinner as a family after. A friend was telling me last night that there are 5 Saturdays in this upcoming July. Supposedly that only happens once every 800 years or something? And one of them is my birthday this year. Kinda cool. I just checked it. 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays in July only happens once every 823 years. It feels like an extra summer weekend.
The day after that gig we are headed to the beach for 3 nights of camping. We'll bring our bikes and ride to the beach, hike on the nature trails, hang out at camp. Nice, simple, relaxing.
11 days to go. One will be a finals day. Two will be partial finals days. Lots of special events and field trips. I'm not sure we'll have more than one or two "normal" days in the rest of the year. Yesterday should have been but two of my boys decided to take some money that one of them got a hold of and convince a bunch of their friends to head off school grounds. They to a convenience store for slushies, then off for pizza. Not being the brightest bunch and only 9th graders they managed to catch someone's attention and the police were called. By the time I went to pick up my two for their speech session they were sitting in the police station waiting for their parents to pick them up. oops. The one boy who had the money is one of those kids who will be lead along by others who take advantage of his need to be liked. It really makes me sick. I keep telling myself it could have been worse. They could have been out buying drugs or something....
Well, I really have to get moving here. I swear I have 20 places to be in the next half hour!!

 

[Farmfresh]

Hang in there Hen. Friday was officially my first day off of school for the summer. I spent it primarily coughing my head off and trying to run errands. :/ Finally get time off and I have a stupid bronchial infection.

Sorry to hear about the horse show problems. In a way it is probably for the best. Competition is fun, but it is not all that is fun about riding.

 

[Henrietta23]

Feel better soon!!
I had a long talk with a friend at church about the whole riding thing. She knows her stuff, knows my kid and has ridden at this farm. She didn't think it would be a bad idea at all to back right off the shows for the summer and just let him ride. The farm owner takes them on trail rides a lot in summer. She wants to do a couple of days of "camp" where the kids learn a lot about taking care of horses and tack etc. but she hasn't committed to any dates. She wanted us to commit to having our kids do it but I had to say I couldn't do that without knowing dates. So everything is still up in the air. We aren't going to have a spare dime with neither of us working this summer. I'm thinking I'm just going to tell her no shows in July and August. DS is having fun and does enjoy showing. But I have to enjoy it too or none of us is going to have any fun...
Got a few more plants in the garden after church; some more cukes and peppers, sweet chocolate and Scotch bonnets. Also found some Bright Lights Swiss chard at Agway when we went for dog food. I've got some other chard coming up from seed so this will be ready earlier. Everything I've planted is looking good with the possible exception of the sweet chocolate peppers. They're not looking very strong. I spread some of the goats' spilled hay on the paths as mulch. We still have the last two beds to build and fill but it's flat out nuts right now. DH has the pressure off from getting down to Long Island to film this TV show but now he's got to get ready for the races on the CT River that he is organizing. That's this Saturday. After that I think we get our lives back to some what normal. (But check my signature line for my theory on that....)
Tomorrow is my last regular Monday at the HS. I will be able to see some of my kids on the 13th but that's the first day of finals and not all periods are happening.
Sooooo..... my knitting, spinning, sheep owning friend who also has an angora bunny, ran into her bunny's breeder yesterday at spinning guild. The breeder has a rabbit she wants to find a home for. I don't have all the details but apparently she doesn't want t o breed this girl anymore but she's healthy otherwise and has gorgeous fur. So KC knowing that I toy with this idea from time to time brought up my name. Phone numbers have been passed on and I've left a message... DH didn't even argue, just wanted to know where I though I'd be building her enclosure. I don't know for sure that she hasn't already found another home but I put in my call as soon as I could so if it was meant to be, I may be a fiber owner... and I'll have to get out my drop spindle and figure out how to use it for real!
Let's see, we lost a Red Sex link last night. I knew she wasn't doing great so we've been babying her a bit. I found her this morning next to Edna, the broody duck. That was some fun, getting her out of there while Edna tried to kill me! We are down to 13 adult hens and George plus our 4 indoor pullets. They will move outside once we're done with school and I can figure out where they will go until they can be integrated into the flock. I also will need to figure out what to do with the brood of ducks should they hatch. They are NOT staying here, that I can guarantee.
We saw three biggish goslings at Agway in a dog crate. They were doing their best to sell themselves being all friendly and cute. I was talking to them and one of the employees was doing his best to get me to take them. Uh, nope, thanks. I'm TERRIFIED of adult geese and I know these would not stay sweet and cute for long!!
We have baby robins under our deck. I've been aware of the nest and this morning saw the male bringing bugs to it. Then I found a shell half out in the yard. I can peek through the deck boards and can no longer see the blue eggs in the nest and the parents are constantly in and out so they must have hatched this morning. Yesterday I had an unusual bird on the deck rail that would fly down into the garden and catch bugs and eat them. I think I've identified it as a Great Crested Flycatcher. Pretty cool. something I've never seen before.
We're off to a make-up baseball game. This time I have the camera batteries charged. DS pitched for the first time ever and I don't have any pictures. He did not attend the pitching clinic and doesn't spend anytime at home practicing so all in all I think he did fabulously!

 

[Henrietta23]

Oh jeez, I must be nuts.... I just got off the phone with rabbit breeder. She lives on the other side of the state but will be up at a nearby business that prepares fleeces for spinning (the proper name escapes me.....) that is near where I will be at a Cub Scout leaders meeting. She is bringing the rabbit with her. From what I understand there were 3 rabbits in this litter. One got stomped by mama at about 3 weeks and died. Then the male got sick with a respiratory disease. They never determined exactly what it was but the female that I am getting apparently sneezed a few times over a week many months ago and has been healthy ever since. She is in full coat and just got through our recent heat wave with no issues. The breeder just feels she can't breed this rabbit and doesn't give her the attention she needs because she is fearful of even the remotest chance of spreading something contagious in her rabbitry. Now we will have to be cautious with our pet bunny Martha, but even I know you can't keep two female rabbits together. So it's not like they'll be having play dates. I still haven't quite worked out where we'll be keeping her. I have a small cage that will work temporarily and my enabler/friend has a rabbit cage that she can loan me too. Her rabbit is the aunt of my rabbit-to-be. If I didn't have pullets in my computer room I'd be all set. Sigh. I've got to get those babies moved out. But then I've got to get the ducks moved out and that isn't going to happen with the broody setting on eggs in the coop. Shoot. We'll make it work but the timing isn't great. DH is swamped getting ready for his race next week. I've got Cub Scout events twice this week. The house is a mess. And I don't even spin!!!!!
Breath, breath, breath.....

 

[Henrietta23]

Okay, I posted on OFG's site that I was craving a peanut butter and bacon sandwich. Now I'm sitting here craving Cheerios of all things. No I am definitely not having pregnance cravings. 100% positive about that. I haven't had a carb craving like this in a year or more. I wonder if I'm stressing about the rabbit situation? All I now is that a bowl of Cheerios with cold whole milk and a dusting of turbanado sugar would taste really good right now. Good think I now how crappy I would feel after!!! Going to have a handful of almonds and a glass of goat's milk. Hope it goes away. It's very annoying!!

 

[Wifezilla]

Hormones. I get weird cravings worse now than I did when I was pregnant

 

[tortoise]

I have no hesitation with a rabbit that has sneezed but has kicked it on its own AND it did not come back. Also no hesitation with a rabbit that has clear discharge. All of my rabbits were pastuerella carriers. Bringing in an unrelated rabbit was a little interesting. Usually the new rabbit would get it - barely symptomatic - and get better without treatment and that was the end of it.

I just sold/gave away/butchered my angoras. I kept a sweet male for a pet. He was the newest and unrelated. With all the stress of me tearing apart the rabbitry (literally), he started symptoms. Treated with sulfas and he's free and clear. Neutered and rooming in with my son's Jersey Woolie female.

Kinda cool to have a HUGE white wooled rabbits next to a TINY black wooled rabbit!

Good luck with your future rabbit. I wouldn't worry about the respitory thing, BUT do be aware that stress will bring out disease in carriers. Do everything you can to keep the transition smooth.

 

[Henrietta23]

Thanks Tortoise! I'm not going to be keeping her in the same room as our pet rabbit just to be sure. There's no room anyway! I will have a black pet shop dwarf (rescued from the dog pound) and a black German angora. That's going to be interesting too!
The cravings subsided without me caving and ending up in pain with abdominal bloating. TG there isn't any cereal in the house!
Just found a little brochure at our food co-op for a traditional foods group that started up last Friday. I missed the first meeting but i'm going email to see about coming to the next one.
baseball and Scouts. aaaaaaaaaa! I want off this crazy spring time roller coaster....

 

[Henrietta23]

So they are predicting temps of 96 and 98 over the next few days and what am I doing sometime tomorrow? Meeting the rabbit breeder at the fiber mill to pick up my new bun. And yes, she is a German Angora in full coat. Guess we'll be putting the window a/c tomorrow afternoon!
9, that's right, single digits, 9 days to go. If we make through the heat of the next two days we'll be in good shape.