Rush Rush Rush

 

7:30 am

                Not much time to write today. I am going to bike in again, even though it was a huge haul yesterday. It took more like 1 ¼ hours and I did not go to the gym to shower since it was so late. I am going in earlier today so I will go straight to the gym, shower, change. Then there is nothing scheduled today which is good because I have a shitload of things to do: get a “P-Card” which is what I need to be able to order things, get stuff ordered for early on, keep going through the manual writing down what is needed for each lab. Then at 5:30 there is a dept bbq. K will leave work then, so I will start to bike over and he can pick me up so I can show him where to go.

                I have a lot on my mind these days. Besides work, and L leaving, and the usual stuff, there is the work party at the farm this weekend, I am going to bring the pork roast and finally get it cooked (but never having cooked one I am a bit nervous) and I am trying to figure out a new house mate, as our current renter is leaving at the end of September. We may end up having someone stay in the basement for a while, but that will be a real pain if we must do it. Then there is all the usual like getting laundry dealt with and coming up with food to eat and cleaning the kitchen. Last night I just had to make chocolate zucchini bread for the bbq. I actually managed to get in a small bit of spinning, so I made the bread after that. What I really wanted to do was to just sit and do nothing. But I had to feed buns and I had to make the bread and then I had to clean the kitchen. Now, I must get together lunch food, feed buns and head on out to work. Oh and don’t forget bringing Tigger in and getting his fresh diaper on….

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Kids and Work and What-Not

7 am

                L is leaving today for her wilderness trip. How cool is that (that she is going on a wilderness trip, not that she is leaving)? I am very sad, trying to not let the sadness overwhelm my appreciation of spending a bit more time together. She is gathering her last stuff, then at 9:30 she’ll go to Morse Hill to finish up some curriculum stuff there, then she drives off to Maine. I decided to bike in to work today – couldn’t yesterday bc it was raining, and the good part was I had Mom’s car to use. Not anymore, so there are a few more tricky days until the bus starts. So I decided to just go in late today and bike. I won’t go to the gym. Boy but I really do feel sad. I know it is a good thing, it is just that every time it is like having a part of me ripped out. And every time it is so sad. Well, she will be back for one day in October, then back for a week or so in late November, then in January who knows. So I shouldn’t be so sad… of course I am kind of nervous about her being so out there in the woods and on these lakes. She will have the satellite phone for emergencies, but still… well it is her adventure and I am glad about it.

                Yesterday went well enough. I met with S and D which was kind of hurried and made me realize that things are not as nicely organized as I had thought and it will all be a bit of a scramble. I must learn how to use all the software and equipment. The respiration stuff is some of the worst, but at least I have used part of it before. And  - best thing – the 160 class will not be using it, so that will make things easier. I think I will start getting it all out and testing it right away. Then there is all the blood and urinalysis stuff which I have never done and involves lots of bits and pieces. Today I will make up a calendar as best I can and start listing what needs to come out and be set up when. Then I will start finding it all and trying out each part. Well, that is a long-term goal, not all for today! Not sure how I will get home today. I could see when K is coming through, that is probably what I will do, meaning I won’t get home until after 6. It will be hard to get rides from anyone with the bike. Of course, I could always bike home. Yesterday I decided to leave not very late, figuring I could bring the lab manual and read it at home. HA. Instead I rested/meditated, then cut up some rabbit for jerky, then started in on the disaster of a kitchen, mostly L’s mess from all her dehydrating. She said she’d clean it up when she got home from getting G at the farm, but I know how tight she is right now with so much she is getting ready, so I thought it would be nice. Then I got supper together, and after supper L went over her itinerary. I have it all down on the calendar. Then I finished the cleaning up and by then, well I had to do buns and then I was too tired for anything but bed. I still haven’t done buns yet this morning. There are several that need to be “done” as I have too many. But no room in the freezer! Well, jerky certainly helps. Maybe I will do more of that. And this weekend I will offer to cook the pork butt roast so that will help a lot. It would sure be nice to get in some spinning. Maybe this evening. Or maybe I will not go in early again tomorrow since there is a bbq at work so I will just stay for that. Tigger is going to have to get used to not getting his supper at 4. More like at 6 some days.

                All that time I spent obsessing over computers was kind of pointless since L decided to get one at Best Buy. It is a fine one for $300. Just like one that was on Craig’s list for about $230 but she has the warranty and it was easier.  I am glad she got it, now she can keep looking for stuff for January and after.

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Summer's End and Cooking

6:45 am

                Ok. Last day of summer. Well for me anyway. I decided that I won’t go in to mhc today. Save it for tomorrow, soon enough. Today I will try to GET EVERYTHING DONE. Right. I am just so nervous and sad about summer ending and I didn’t get enough done and things are going to be so tight now. But then on the other hand, it might be better once it gets busier and I won’t have time to feel crummy. It’ll just be too busy for that. I ought to come up with a meal plan for the week. You know, it seems like after 35 years of coming up with meals for myself, 26 years (make that more like 27 or 28) of cooking for me and K, I would have it somewhat down. But I don’t. I still stress about it. K does not actually like the things I cook. And now with G around, she does not either. Well. I guess after I write this and meditate

                *Ooo a silly wren just flew right into the sun room and flapped around at the window for a bit. I had to ease it out. Silly wren.

                Anyway, as I was saying, I guess I can come up with some sort of meal plan. And maybe even do a shop later. We cooked a steak from the meat share last night and G came up with a rub of black pepper, herbs, garlic, paprika to put on it. It was good and she liked it much better that way. A tad spicy for me, but I did not have any butt burn from it. And yet I had the wicked burn after eating at Judie’s. So what was that from? The tomatoes? But I had a tomato sandwich yesterday and no problem. Maybe just not having psillium at the right time was the trouble. Or the glass of wine. It is so hard to figure. Or the apple butter that went with the popover.

                I finished 3 skeins of the soft brown/grey stuff (Bathsheba). It is nice, kind of dull. I will wind it off and start on the next 3. I finished the latest hat and I think next I will knit a scarf – big needles, lace pattern – from the dark gray angora. And I need to knit up the small skein of gray to make the knit bunny for D. Funny, I did not buy any wool this year (oh, I lie, I bought roving for my class) and I’ve been spinning all summer and I still have an entire wall of boxes of fleeces. I should do like the B from spin group and only spin from my stash from now on. She figures she just might manage to spin all of what she has before she dies (she’s maybe 70). Same for me at this rate. Well, I’ve mostly been doing angora lately, since I finished the blue. I still have all that lichen stuff that I carded at the farm to spin. Lovely.

                I just feel so nervous. It is change that brings that on. Even though I know the change will be ok. Change itself is not so bad, it is anticipating it.

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Sad Summer's End

7:30 am

                Just walking along feeding the bunnies (and listening to Barnaby I started to get terribly anxious and sad. I am thinking about work starting up and how tight my time will be and …. what the hell have I managed to do over these 4 months? And I sure won’t have time for anything much besides work soon. Oh, it is not that bad, I will have some time for spinning and what not, but not very much. I guess I have gotten a fair bit of spinning done, but is it enough for the fall fairs? I do need more angora. Or anyway, more white and dark gray angora since those are the popular ones. I have gobs of fawn and muddy fawn and I bet those will not sell. Another reason not to keep the agouti or brown or muddy fawn rabbits. I just started spinning the weighed out bags of just Bathsheba – a chocolate rabbit. And I think it is going to turn out a kind of muddy grey. And maybe not that nice. It is kind of earthy looking which is good, but not that striking. I was thinking it might be good to go ahead and gather some walnut (I had thought that I would not bother this year) and dye some of those bags of the muddier colored angora. That would make them a much nicer rich brown.

                Well, sounds like the girls are up, and this morning we have all promised to help K stack wood for 2 hours. After that I will work on more tomato sauce and spin. And obsess. Well, one thing I did do this summer – I made soap!!!!!!

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Computers and Cages and Summer's End

8:30 am

                Yesterday was kind of crappy. I spent a good part of the day messing with the computer. I was having issues with the start up and installing updates, so I went on-line to see if I could find ideas, and one suggestion was to upload the updates individually, so I figured out how to do that and did it which was time consuming. And I kept obsessively looking at computers on Craigslist. But I think L has decided that she should get a new one from Best Buy. I don’t think she has the patience to do things like look for solutions to random problems on line, which I have had to do a few times. What I really need to do is back off and leave her to figure these things out herself. I have too much of a tendency to help her which is nice but probably not the best for her. K made this point last night, she has to figure out how it is to be without a car, without a computer, so she can figure out what of these kinds of things she needs and then how she will get one. What I did accomplish was to get her past the idea that if she wants a computer, she must have an apple. Not true.  

                The other thing I did yesterday was to finally finish the second hutch bottom, which was truly a pain. Of course both now need new roofs so that is the next project. Once they are finished I can put rabbits in them so that I can fix the other 2 cages that need new bottoms. Complicated. And I washed dishes and hung out laundry and dug some compost so the day was not a complete waste. I hope I can spend some spinning time today. I hate it when all my “fiber” time is spent fixing cages and digging compost. Why bother having rabbits if that is all I get to do? Well, it usually isn’t, just yesterday. And I listened to a bunch of Barnaby Rudge which I don’t think is Dickens’ best, but it is fun to listen to. I am quite confused about who all the characters are and how they are connected, but that is normal with Dickens, and it all will come out in the end.

                Work next week. Boo hooo. I should really not cry, it is interesting and stimulating and probably way better than if I did not have it starting back up. And I will just have to make time to spin. Apple Harvest is at the end of September, so I must be sure I have enough angora spun up for that. I think I will be ok. I have been knitting up some nice hats, now I will need to knit a few angora things, some scarves, some mobias scarves, maybe a hat. Just a few things since I actually sold quite a few at the Big Brother Big Sister fair. I need to look into the Garlic Fest which is the same weekend this year. Maybe I should do it next year instead of Apple Harvest.

               

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