October, here we come!

October First, wow! Here's a few updates, hope for time for a more complete post with pictures tomorrow.

• The first four weeks of school have flown by. They were very busy weeks, and my classroom still isn't in the groove I like it to be, but it takes time.
• Kohen still loves school, and loves his teacher even more. On the second day of school she gave them each a small 2x2 inch square of polar fleece "blankie" as a comfort item. Kohen might as well be nicknamed Linus. I had to spend ten minutes searching the house for blankie before he would go to bed tonight. It goes in his pocket to school each day too. Whatever it takes, right?
• In sheep news, I am down to my winter size flock of 17 (15 ewes, one ram, one wether) along with the eight still to be butchered. It feels good to have sold so many ewes to good homes. In fact two moved up the road a few miles and are being spoiled as backyard pets! My plan is to not breed until late November this year. I want to get a tighter worming regime completed first to combat the crazy deer liver flukes that inhabit all the pastures around here this year.
• In goat news, I am still milking Nora twice a day, and still getting a gallon of milk a day! She is such a good, mellow goat. Got to make the breeding plans for the goat girls too.
• Weekend plans include planting trees, putting the garden to bed (have to remove carrots and beets first), planting garlic, cleaning the coop, finishing siding the barn, and general fall cleanup. Is there really only two days in the weekend?
• Tomorrow night the boys and I get to attend a bonfire as our final "Moms and Kids" event of the season.
• Last weekend we attended the Roach Family Pig Roast. I wish there was a way to bottle up this event. It is the coolest, laid back, get-together around. I love Missy and Tom for their great hog roasting abilities and group hosting abilities. It doesn't hurt that Kohen has decided he is "in love" with their daughter! The combination of cool fall night, dozens and dozens of people you wouldn't see all in the same place, a wonderful assortment of food and goodies, bonfires, wine, home brew, I could go on and on. Thank you Tom and Missy!
• I'm trying to come to terms with Is turning three in a month, not sure I'm ready to be done with the two's stage. He idolizes his big brother, scary as it is.
• Koe is back to violin lessons. I am amazed at the memory capacity of his brain. He started back like we had never stopped for three months! We even played a pizzicato duet of "Boil 'em Cabbage Down" the other night at his lesson.

So Long Summer

It feels like you raced by. Like two little boys in a jeep, in 2, with a border collie bringing up the rear.


Even though the majority of your days were cool, and cloudy with rain, making us want to cuddle up with something warm and soft, like Zoolly Bunny.

It's ok summer, we'll forgive you, as we slide into fall.

Tomorrow begins another school year. Here's hoping it's a good one.

Denial

I'm in denial right now. Denial that my summer is rapidly fading. Tomorrow morning will bring the start of leaving my house before 7 am the majority of days, for the next 9 months. Of waking sleeping boys and shoving them into clothes, strapping them in the car with a cup of milk/coffee (Kohen has a caffeine habit, I know...he's 4) and cereal that will ultimately end up on the floor, under the seats, and in those impossible cracks that no vacuum can reach.
So, if I were smart I would be running around, organizing, cleaning, and getting things prepared so I will have a smooth morning tomorrow.
Instead, I've spent the last 40 minutes catching up on blog reading, on facebook, and craigslist. I did take the time to lay out clothes for the boys, put away the majority of their clean laundry, and pack a bag of extras for daycare. However, my room is littered with laundry baskets of clothes- all clean mind you- but certainly wrinkled, and the guest room has no less than 5 loads of laundry waiting in the wings. Add to that the fact that I need to go feed the meatbird chicks, who are beginning to frighten me (they REALLY like their food, and can mistake a hand for it) and lock up the chickens and ducks, and do one last check on the sheepies. Perhaps I should be attacking that list instead of blogging? But, blogging is my aid to a clear mind and helps me process through my thoughts and frustrations.
I know part of the reason I was so angry with Kohen when he decided to cover his body in black mud today was because I'm crabby about having to go back to a routine, and work. I love our summer routine with lots of outside time and always a bit of down time in the afternoon during Isaiah's nap. My boys cannot understand and should not be blamed for adult pressures that make me less carefree and less willing to spend twenty minutes catching grasshoppers, picking raspberries, or building train tracks. The idea of daycare is not terribly exciting to either of them and I expect tears tomorrow morning. But, the bright side is only two days this week and two days next week before we start the five day a week brunt. A planned trip to the State Fair in the middle should help us give one last wave to our carefree summer.

Ah...Gust

Like a sigh at the end of summer. Only what summer this year? Our weather has been very poor. Cool, and rainy. My garden is stunted. I've never seen zucchini grow so slowly.

August is my mixed feelings month. Usually filled with glorious days of outside activities and lots of visits with family and friends who avoid our tundra region the rest of the year. August brings birthdays, and fun. It also signals my shifting back into professional mode, with thoughts of students, goals, and lots of paperwork for the upcoming months. I've done a good job of avoiding school this year. I have not stepped into the building since June 1st. But the thoughts of school planning are starting to lurk. Getting the boys ready to go back to daycare, making the daily 40 minute commute, not things I'm ready for yet. Usually we are in the grips of heat and lazy sun. Instead it is cloudy and 65 degrees. The last three weeks of the Farmers Market has been a weather nightmare. Rain, sun, wind, rain, mist... However, my scones have been selling well, I only wish there was more produce being produced to go with them. Let's hope for a late fall and great September! My goal for August is more posts, wish me well!

Better Times...Valentimes...

I was all set to write an energetic, upbeat post from Rochester, but we are still home. Isaiah has been fighting a virus all week and it decided to turn into broncitis, so we are making the call tomorrow as to if we will travel or not. We returned to the clinic this evening and he still had a fever over 101 and his weight has dropped one pound since we were at the clinic on Tuesday. Not a good thing for this scrawny boy.
In flock news, still no determinant factor on the cause of Bam and Ris's deaths. All we've talked to are leaning toward mineral toxicity. They came from an area with mineral deficiencies, and over time their body couldn't handle the mineral load of our feed/land/mineral mix. Has anyone ever heard of this or experienced it? Fortunately all the girls appear to be doing well and are growing some bellies.
In school news, today was a day filled with valentine's celebrations. I guess it is one of my pet peeves when it is called 'valentimes' day. I can understand a preschooler using this term, but really,a 50 something grandma bringing her grandson to school? It brought out my anal school teacher nature. As did Nate cheating and finishing Kohen's valentiNes last night. We've been working on them for a week! He had six to go! Dad didn't want to encourage him, so he did it himself. We'll see how that treats him in another fourteen years during calculus! Kohen came home with a large bag of valentines and loads of candy. Anyone need some valentine sugar and dye?
Here's hoping everyone has a LOVELY day tomorrow. We'll see where we are in the state and how we decide to celebrate. Last year Nate bought me my car. Since he's still making payments on it he said that he has a pass for buying me a gift this year and for a number to come. He has been known to surprise me in the past though!

Back 2...

School. I'm writing this with mixed feelings. I'm not ready to give up summer yet. I want to wake up to the sun, not the alarm. I want to eat breakfast with my boys, not in the car. I want to comb through recipes to create a great homemade dinner, not think something up as I pass the grocery store on my commute home. I want to spend 40 minutes in the car driving to the lake or berry picking, not to work. I want to stay up until midnight blogging, not fall asleep in a twin bed with a three year old at 8:30! But, I know that I must work and help provide for our family, and my animals. Hear that Lucy, and Daisy, and sheep- I'm working so you can eat! (Though by looking at how fat everyone is they could go a few days without all the good clover and grass.)


Last night was open house. I had some excited students (and parents) stop in to visit. We usually shuffle some of the special education students on our caseloads each year. Since I am the senior special ed. teacher of the three in our building I took the initiative to 'keep' my students with ASD (autism spectrum disorders) on my caseload and then service the 3rd and 4th grades as well. Crystal, one of my coworkers, took the 5 & 6th grades, and Stephanie, the third member of our team took the 1&2nd grades. I think it will be a good working relationship. In the past we all had a mixing of each grade level, and had grouped by disabilities. The method we are using this year makes a lot more sense. Instead of keeping track and modifying for up to 15 classroom teachers, we can focus on 4-6. Of course I have more that I work with when planning for my students on the autism spectrum, but I love working with them.


The weather reports are also reminding me that summer is ending. I had to cover the garden twice in the last week, we had a hard frost/freeze on Sunday night. All the sheets on the garden paid off. It's a good thing my garden isn't any bigger, I would have had to strip beds for more covers!
I spent some time this afternoon in the sheep pasture (read: naptime for human boys, and who wants to clean that kitchen or do that laundry anyway?) Sharing treats and feeling fleeces. I can't believe the different types of fleece in my small flock. Ris has a fleece that is so soft and different from many of my original shetlands. Then you look at the icelandics, and theirs' is so diffent yet. I love the differences. I think I'll get a shove in the relm of spinning fleece a week from Sunday. There is a 'spin-off' north of Cook sponsored by a lady who is buying Maon from us. Yes, we are selling Maon. Bam is our ram. Who is getting bigger everyday. I'm tossing around the idea of hauling Ella along and trying to find her a good spinner's flock home. I'm just excited to get to learn the craft. I need a hobby besides hauling hay, water, and cleaning the chicken coop!
Here are a few more pictures from our Rochester visit. I have a video I took of Kohen picking corn, but it will probably take about 2 days to upload because I can't figure out how to reduce the quality, so stills it is.

Michael. Koe, Jacob.Kohen's first ear of sweet corn 2008.The pose that was struck when he was told we had to leave for home.
Alright, enough of this,I better go tackle that kitchen, and laundry, and chicken coop, and pay bills, and check the garden to see if I have enough fare to share at the farmer's market tomorrow morning...Enjoy the last days of summer.

Followed her to school one day

What were you doing at 5:30 this morning? Curled in slumbering bliss? Thinking about starting the day? Dreaming about that piece of cheesecake? Bathing a twenty pound lamb in the bath tub, with baby wash? Can you visualize it? Aren't you jealous? We had to have a clean lamb in anticipation of her big public debut.

AnnaFleece had the privelege of visiting school today. Two schools to be precise, and over 300 kids! Anna came with me to the elementary school, and then went to Chicagami for Kohen's show-n-tell. She was perfect. I never thought I would be leading a well behaved lamb down the second floor hallway of the school. She was a hit. She had more pets, hugs, and kind words today then most sheep receive in a lifetime. Here is a picture of her with some of my students.

This one needs an explanation. The first grader that wrote this has many reversals and "dyslexic" style of writing as a result of his learning disability and vision problems.

I'll translate for you: I love Annafleece. I love Anna fleece so much I could almost marry her.

At 10:00 am I put her leash back on her and we took the one block walk to Chicagami. Picture a preschool room with over 20 preschools, all sitting in a circle anxiously awaiting AnnaFleece's arrival. She stayed calm, but had to have a little accident on the floor. (Guaranteed to not be the first in the preschool room!) Kohen was puffed up like a cocky rooster when he showed off his lamb. He even showed his friends how he feeds her a bottle.

(Kohen is in the middle front, orange shirt, big smile.)