computer free summer

Since Will has been at Boy Scout camp as a CIT for 6 weeks now, with 2 weeks left, my stress level has been much lower than anytime in the past year. It isn't due to not liking my child, but the fact that I haven't had a teenage boy harassing me every day about being able to get on the computer or not doing anything else because he won't get off. The big kid's school let them take home Mac Books and an evening didn't go by that we weren't fighting with him over time-wasting games such as MineCraft. Mary didn't seem to have as many issues as her brother, but I'm glad that they supposedly won't be able to bring them home this upcoming year. The little boys got sucked in to the world of computer games as well, but after something happened that crashed my hard drive and required replacement, I haven't let them on my laptop. The result has been them attempting to watch more movies downstairs, which led me to then confiscate the DVD player. 

We live on a beautiful farm in Maine, full of fields of flowers, homemade tree houses with rope ladders, woods to explore, chickens to chase, and a garage full of roller blades, bicycles, games, and wood scraps with which to build stuff. Summer is short and before they know it the snow will be falling and the opportunity of warm days to spend outside in shorts and flip-flops will be over for the year. Maybe I'll get the mean mommy award for trying to keep them outside and away from electronic devices, but they will have many more good memories if they do something, rather than stare at a screen.   

a week off from regular life

This past week my dad and his wife came and visited us. I've never really been close to my father since we haven't lived in the same house since I was 5, but I have to say that this was our best visit yet. Tim took a few days off and we went swimming off the boat at Swan Lake as well as Craig Pond. 

Philomena kept me company several times during my 3X day trip down to the fruit trees to knock off Japanese beetles into a bucket before they ate every leaf to nothing. They took each of the big girls out for some shopping and lunch and we spent every evening sitting on the porch admiring the view, chatting, and indulging in adult beverages. One night we went to the lobster pound for an evening of good food, gorgeous views, 

and conversation that mostly consisted of, "Children put that crustacean down!"

It was a good week, but I fell off the wagon in terms of running, partly because of not wanting to disappear for several hours, but also because it has been so blasted hot. Maine is not supposed to be 90F, especially for more than 3 days. The combination of heat and high humidity means that garden has been growing madly and my diligence with the bucket means that the Japanese beetles are almost gone much to the chickens' culinary chagrin. But since I have a 5K on Saturday and a 1/2 marathon in 2 weeks, I better have my feet hit the pavement more often and lay off the booze if I want a decent performance.     

why do I do this to myself?

Summer is supposed to be down-time, a season of being able to relax with a cool drink on the front porch while watching the children play tag and basketball knock-out. Instead, I have signed up the children for activities that require me to be a logistical master and be in the car for at least an hour each day. No, it isn't that bad, but Tuesdays are going to be a little tricky. Charlie finished school for the year yesterday, but Mary has about 30 minutes worth of work in English and Math, while Timmy is still progressing through first grade (1 hour's worth). Then I have to get the four oldest to practice the piano each day. They all have lessons on Tuesday afternoons, but I can't leave all 4 at once because they would not just sit quietly and read during the other's lessons, so I have to take 2 down to the library to wait their turn. Maggie and Julia Ellen have swimming lessons in the next town starting later in the afternoon, so my schedule looks like this: 

get up, dressed, start laundry, tidy house, take care of chickens... starting at 6
get children up, dressed, teeth brushed starting at 8
school with Mary and Timmy at 9
stand over children with a stick to practice starting at 10
get some sewing done, work in garden 
go run when babysitter arrives at 12 
herd everyone to the car at 2:15
drop off 2 children at piano, 2 children at library, go back home for 1 hour
pick up Maggie and drive to swimming lessons at 3:45
finish swimming lessons at 5:30
race home and fix dinner
tidy house, bathe children, and put everyone in bed by 8:30

Tim picked everyone else up at the library after work and was shooting model rockets with Charlie in the front field when I can home with a van full of groceries. (note to self: getting to the commissary 7 minutes before they close does not make for a pleasant shopping experience) The boys have swimming lessons on Thursday afternoons, and I still have to call Lisa about scheduling riding lessons for the big girls and Charlie. Luckily Will leaves for camp on Saturday, leaving me with only 5 children at home for the next month. The rest of the week seems to be filling fast with doctor's appointments, birthday parties, and such, leaving me with little time to sit on the porch with my glass of iced tea. But this is only the first week of summer and I'm sure I can somehow squeeze in trips to the pond and other fun hot weather activities that make Maine such a wonderful place to live.     

hot race results

Last weekend I had my first night away from the children, other than hospital visits to produce for them another sibling, in 9 years. Friday night I ate dinner at a fancy-shmancy restaurant in Ellsworth all by myself. I ordered shrimp jambalaya and had the prettiest plate of chocolate mousse I have ever seen with 3 scoops lined up with whipped cream and a different berry on top of each, raspberry sauce swirling about the edges. I wish I had taken a picture, but I left my camera at home. I further regretted leaving it behind when I drove past town and saw the raw beauty of Hancock and Washington Counties on my way to the motel in Machias.

Route 1 swooped through tiny picturesque towns and continuously skirted postcard-worthy views of water, islands, and conifers. The next morning I woke to a super hot day, for Maine that is, of 85F and I drove on another 45 minutes east to Pembroke, where the Cobscook 10K would take place. Since I was so early, I drove the course and took in the view at the end of a side road, which literally ended on the gravel beach. If I hadn't been driving the Jeep, I would likely still be there trying to extricate my vehicle, but it was the loveliest place I had been in a long time, fog hovering over the water with islands of stiff hemlocks and fir trees rising out of the mist.

Until the director called us to the starting line all the runners were standing on the west side of nearby buildings, knowing that we would be overheated well before we hit the only bit of shade on the course. Of course that was when the hills began and the road changed to gravel, adding to our misery. This was an endurance race rather than one to be enjoyed, my time (49:55) was 5 minutes slower than my last 10K, run only a month before. Afterwards, I staggered to the shade of the tent, where someone kept passing me slices of watermelon and bottles of water until I was able to sit upright. After the big picnic, complete with salmon, hamburgers, and dozens of desserts/salads, I drove on to Eastport, the easternmost city in the US, and to Quoddy Head Lighthouse, the easternmost point in the US, before returning to my motel and hitting the shower and bed by 7pm. 

This weekend's race is not only shorter, a 1 mile downhill sprint, but cooler by 10+ degrees. As Saturday is predicted to rain heavily, I am being flexible as to who I end up taking with me. Also, my goal of breaking 6 minutes might have to be postponed for a year, I would rather not take any chances on slipping and falling just for vanity's sake.
 

I love living in Maine

A few weeks ago I needed some garden product to keep the nasty striped beetles off my pumpkin and cucumber plants. After dropping off big children at some activity I only had Timmy and Julia Ellen in the van. Inevitably the toddler fell asleep just before we pulled into the Hampden Hardware parking lot. I got out and saw one of the young men who works there standing in the entrance to the back barn. "I have a dilemma. The baby is asleep and I don't particularly want to wake her up." After explaining what bug I wanted to keep off my plants, he told me that the product recommended by my gardening book is not legally available in Maine, but that he had some powder to try. While standing next to the van, I examined the product, paid for it, and got change without ever going inside. Obviously this would never happen at a suburban big-box store.


Then yesterday the kids and I finally had enough free time accompanied by beautiful weather to pick blueberries. This year is expected to be a bumper crop and our town's blueberry field certainly was evidence, the berries were so plentiful I could hold the quart basket under a clump, wiggle my fingers and see 20 berries fall in. We filled 5 quart containers and a huge flat bottomed basket in less than 30 minutes. Unfortunately, my sunglasses kept slipping down my nose and I put them in my pocket. Inevitably they fell out and even after wandering around and around we couldn't find them, since all blueberry bushes look alike. After getting home I got dressed to go running and made up a sign to put up at the entrance to the field.     

I finished my 10 mile run and sat on the porch cleaning blueberries and drinking Cocacola for a bit. While I was in the shower, a lady called and left a message saying that she found my sunglasses and left them on the picnic table. After supper I called her back to say thank you and sat on the porch thinking, "There are few finer things than being right here, drinking a tropical adult beverage, watching my kids play among the newly baled hay, and cleaning the last of the blueberries I picked this morning in Maine."

Small town Maine with its friendly people and wonderful scenery truly is "The Way Life Should Be." 

author read aloud

On Tuesday morning sailing was cancelled due to a forecast of thunderstorms that didn't materialize until 4:30pm. However, I had found an interesting activity for us in Stockton Springs at the library to make up for the disappointment. Chris Van Dusen, children's author and illustrator of the Mr. Magee books came to give a fabulous presentation and read aloud of 3 of his books, including one of our favorites, The Circus Ship. 

This story is based on the real 1836 sinking of a circus ship, The Royal Tar, off the coast of Vinalhaven, but with a much happier ending. The children had a wonderful time helping point out the hidden animals, Charlie and Timmy finding the trickiest ones, and have looked at the book again and again in the days since.

People who live in big cities always cite their cultural opportunities, but even in the wilds of Maine we have plays, art galleries, library concerts, and famous authors willing to share.

curling up with a good mystery

I'd like to think that the folks who work in the Bangor Library's children's department think of our family with fondness. After all, we are likely the family with the most consistent attendance as well as sheer volume of books checked out, but more than that, we return our books within the two week checkout window. Wednesday, when we were standing at the counter I was told that one of my selections was actually on hold by someone else, but it was accidentally put on the shelf. He said that I needed to return it within two weeks, but I assured him that I would do so by Friday at the latest. The murder mystery, Death of a Kingfisher, was one by my favorite authors, M.C. Beaton, and sure enough, I had it finished within several hours of returning home that evening. If you like non-gory mysteries with a share of humor then you will like the Hamish MacBeth series that spans over 20 books and goes back at least that many years. Featuring a local copper in rural Scotland, this series is just the thing to curl up with on a rainy afternoon with a cup of tea and a plate of cookies. 

The other new mystery series I enjoy also has a new title out, Aunt Dimity & the Village Witch, by Nancy Atherton. The heroine is an active mother of twin boys living in a village in England, which has an unusually large number of murders and mysteries considering its diminutive size. The author does make a point of promoting the moral equivalency of paganism and homosexuality, but the overall story is well written and just I ignore those bits.

So, these two novels will go back in the book drop bin this morning after dropping off Charlie on his last day of science day camp.He has been having such a grand time building things, making new friends, and taking things apart that he has said, "Thank you Mommy for signing me up for science camp," every afternoon after I have picked him up. Maggie has also been at camp again this week and was even on the TV news a few days ago (look for the pink hat). I wouldn't have known a thing about it, but the librarian mentioned it and pulled it up on her computer so we could watch her dance and sing, practicing for the big show next weekend.

Walter Hunt 3K

Up here in Maine, the 4th of July means parades, picnics, trips to the lake, fireworks in the backyard (now that they are legal, thank you Gov. LePage) or in town, and the annual race between Brewer and Bangor just before the parade. I took Mary, Maggie, and Charlie to compete and with my hip still a little sore (I figured out that it was from changing chairs in front of my sewing machine making my body do some weird contortion to step on the foot pedal, a true quilting injury) I wasn't expecting much performance-wise. I ran the first mile in 5:58, finishing in 12:02, 17 seconds faster than last year, but another middle-age lady passed me in the last 10 seconds, so I didn't win my age bracket. The kids didn't do so hot, Charlie even got sick during the last portion of the race. We did get to see the entire parade while walking back to the car. The rest of the afternoon will be spent resting followed by corn and watermelon for dinner and at dusk fireworks in the front yard. 

Bangor Daily News article about race, my finish is at 2:24 on the video. 

overbooked?

This past week Tim was on vacation up at the farm, doing what he loves best, mowing grass and moving stuff around with his big John Deere tractor. He and Will left yesterday to drop Will off at his Boy Scout ordeal weekend. The yard looks pristine with everything trimmed, the wood stacked just so all ready for winter, and the trampoline set up after a year hiatus. When my husband is here things tend to run with a military precision, but once his truck is out of sight, meals are a little more haphazard, the dishwasher doesn't get run until it is full, and the laundry doesn't get folded right away. After all, I'm running the household ship by myself and it is my summer vacation.

We didn't have many things on our agenda this past week, but that is going to change next week and the following week as our summer activities really crank into gear. Somehow I have signed up all the children for swimming lessons, 4 for piano lessons, 3 for riding lessons, 3 are going away to camp, Maggie is going to theater day camp for 3 weeks, and Charlie is going to day science camp for a week. And I don't even know if sailing is going to happen this year. I guess this is practice for this fall when I will have to get everyone out of bed and drive the big kids to school every day, homeschool the boys, keep the house tidy, organize every one's activities and appointments, and pick them up in the afternoon before making dinner and supervising homework and baths. I sure do hope that the next few months won't be all chauffeuring and life guarding duty, after all, it is my summer vacation too. 

a few stones strewn in my path

Since many of my vegetable seeds are in the ground, the fruit trees thriving, and the onions growing taller, I was at a loss of something to do outside. Apparently keeping the place from looking like we are hosting a yard sale with all the bikes, toys, and other assorted debris that appears each and every day isn't enough. I can't mow the grass because something broke on the riding mower and it is out of commission until our neighbor fixes it. So, with nothing better to do, I tackled my ongoing project to make the farm look like a home and no longer a construction site. Officially it still is since the porch has no classic pale blue ceiling or light fixtures yet, but we are closing in on the completion of the house. Last fall I dumped several truckloads of wood chips on the area in front of the front porch to kill the grass where I eventually wanted a flower bed. Since the porch is fairly low and doesn't have a railing, the plants there must be short so as to not impede the view. 

Last Saturday I hit a local nursery, buying some shade loving perennials, wildflowers such as white bleeding heart, columbine, and bloodroot, and a small Amur maple tree. Since then, between massive rainstorms, I have been digging out bucket after bucket of rocks and hauling them to the treeline. I have felt much in common this week with the early settlers of our town who cleared the woods and hauled so many rocks that they created stone walls at the edge of all our fields. 

Yesterday I finished digging and hopefully today after a trip to get some blue hydrangeas I will get the last plants put in the ground. I already have some future planting ideas, but this will do for now until I find myself again with "nothing to do." 

get me to the church on time

Our family will not be heading to the beach this Memorial Day weekend, but to the Cathedral in Portland, where Charlie will be making his First Holy Communion and Confirmation (he went to first penance last Sunday) and the older girls will receive Confirmation. With no Catholics in either of our families and not knowing anyone in the Latin Mass community well, Will is going to be the sponsor for all three of his siblings. Afterwards I think we will celebrate with a gastronomic trip down memory lane with a late lunch/early dinner at the only Cracker Barrel in the state of Maine. We used to go there after Mass once in a while when we had to travel an hour to Mass in North Carolina and I just love their meatloaf. Yes, there are a lot of nice restaurants in Portland, but I would prefer to go somewhere familiar and family-friendly. 

Today I have to clean the whole house, pack enough for 4 days, remember everyone's church clothes and shoes, make sure my favorite church hat stays into the car (apparently last week it blew out of the van and Julia Ellen found it Monday in the woods and emerged with it smashed onto her head), and drive 2 hours to the other house. Our house down there is already for sale so I'll have to make sure that one is pristine as well. Living in one house will be a breeze after this summer, it seems that all I do is clean bathrooms, mop floors, and mow the grass.

a little botanical time travel

Last summer when we came up to the farm I happened to notice some very distinct leaves at the edge of the woods. The flowers were nothing but tatters, but I was sure that I recognized what it was. So yesterday I took another walk down in that direction and amazingly found not one, but six red flowered trillium specimens, Trillium erectum, all blooming. At supper I told the children about my high school AP Biology wildflower project and how it had a huge impact on my education. Our class had 6 months (spring starts early in VA) to find, identify, and collect (either by photograph or pressing) as many wildflowers as we could. We could work in pairs or by ourselves and our grade was determined by the number of points we amassed. Each flower was given a different point value based on its commonality/rarity. Most flowers were given a value of 1 point, only a few were given more than a value of 10 points. My score, if I can recall (it was over 20 years ago) was around 730 points. 

The only student to get a higher total was Albert Lin, a brilliant student who scored a perfect 1600 on the SATs and ended up on the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions. (it turns out, after a quick google search, to find that he is now a professor of law at UC Davis.) He took every assignment seriously and I think had some in with the faculty at W&M to get some of the most rare specimens. I certainly don't hold his besting of me against him. But it was clear that I was the one student who was immersed in the project, traveling to various locales around the state, always on the hunt for a flower I didn't yet possess a picture of yet. It was a project that helped shape who I am; a lover of order and collections, a person who loves to be around plants, and someone who notices the details of her surroundings. I still have my 2 massive albums, filled with little more than dust and neatly printed labels and in the front is a blown up picture of my 16 year old self in a hysterically childish yellow slicker and hat on a collecting trip at a local park. 

After supper last night Charlie wanted to see this 50 point flower so I showed him a picture in my Peterson Field Guide, but he said, "I want to see the actual flower!" So, the three little kids and I left the dirty dishes on the counter and tromped around the rapidly growing hay fields to see this:     

It might not mean much to anyone else, but just seeing this flower brought back a flood of memories. This is the kind of experience that I want my children to have by homeschooling, the opportunity to find some subject of study that sparks something inside them that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

free time

Now that we are up at the farm with a diminishing schoolwork load and no electronic/media devices, the children must come up with their own entertainment. On Thursday the girls were gone all afternoon, having ridden their bikes 5 miles to the town library (to sit at the computer, but at least they got some exercise before and after) and Julia Ellen was asleep on the couch for several hours.

 Charlie just loves building models and found in our extensive book collection a paper model book of boats. Most of the pieces had already been taken out, but he traced the outline of each piece onto typing paper and constructed rather crude models of a submarine and viking longboats, complete with oars. For upwards of 3 hours Timmy and Charlie quietly constructed their boats out of paper and copious amounts of scotch tape and recreated scenes from Homer's The Odyssey which we watched for movie night a few weeks back.

I was able to spend a long drizzly afternoon sewing quilt blocks in absolute peace. Yes, there was a background noise of shooting and bad guys dying violent deaths, but it was a total respite from bickering, fighting,  tattling, and complaining. I'm thinking that our next movie night selection when we go back to the other house in a few weeks is The Hunt for Red October, Charlie already has his submarines at the ready to play Sean Connery and Alex Baldwin fighting it out.

quilted mug rugs

The local quilt group I belong to made adorable large coasters during our bimonthly meeting and I was so excited about them that I decided to make them for thank you gifts for the children's teachers. This is their last week of gym and art classes at the local public school before we go to the farm for the "summer" (yes, I know it is only April, but the garden beckons). I bought some large mugs at Target and plan on putting some fancy hot cocoa packets inside to finish each gift. 

First you cut four 5" squares of contrasting fabrics (if they are too similar the effect will be lost) surrounded by a 3 1/2" border. Then you cut a 3 1/2" template out of clear plastic with lines drawn in 3/4" from the corners to form a kite shape. You can actually make the square any size you want to vary the pinwheel size. The Twister ruler can be purchased. Line up the template on each intersection (make sure they are all facing the same direction by putting your initials in one corner and always have that corner in the bottom right) and draw a line around before cutting out. The result are 4 pinwheels. Here is another blogger's tutorial to  visually follow.  

 I made 3 mugrugs with the same fabrics, quilting each in a slightly different way.  Then I decided that Mary's male gym teacher needed something a little less floral, hence a black and white color scheme. Both Saturday and Sunday I attended a machine quilting class at the local quilt shop and came home so excited about to practice that I quilted the last coaster a little fancier than the others.

 With this project completed, I am anxious to start quilting a huge king-size red double 9 patch that mimics this blue quilt I sent out several years ago to be finished by a long-arm quilter. My plan is to baste it on my frame and take it up to the farm and work on it at the machine over the summer. I'll back it with red flannel to be my winter bed quilt and save the muslin-backed blue one for summer.

 

have I got a deal for you!

The other night I was tossing and turning at 2am because of the realization that comes to me every year around April; that we have been getting up and hitting the books every morning for 7 months and we aren't even close to finishing school for the year. While some subjects are completed, the workbooks thrown in the trash, others are only 1/2 way completed. 

At this point, no child will finish by the beginning of June, Mary has to catch up in spelling, Maggie just took her 2nd quarter math test, Charlie just finished his book report for 2nd quarter (we had to start the whole Faith and Freedom reader series over again), and Timmy needs to basically cover all the K phonics and math again. 

Instead of agonizing over it and becoming angry that July and August will again consist of sitting inside every morning supervising the little slackers (Maggie was supposed to do 2 pages of math each day), I thought of an incentive for them to pick up the pace: tie their finishing to something they want to do but I don't mind missing. I presented my plan at dinner the other night. "I will call Miss Lisa and schedule each of you to start riding lessons as soon as you finish all your subjects for the year." While there were moans and groans, Maggie then finished her phonics workbook and test in 2 days.

Summer will officially be here before I know it, filled with swimming lessons, sailing camp, sleep-away camp, piano lessons, and trips to the lake. A little push so we can do those things without the extra burden of book reports and spelling tests hopefully will do the trick.   

we didn't get arrested

My father and his wife are visiting for the week and the kids are having a marvelous time. There is always someone willing to put together a jigsaw puzzle, play another round of Clue Mystery or Stone Soup or Parcheesi (with made up rules), read a story, or go for a walk. Unfortunately it has been raining most of the week so they haven't done many of the typical Maine touristy things. They did take Will for the afternoon on Tuesday to the Maine Maritime Museum and today the plan is to go to Acadia National Park, somewhere I have never managed to go. Yesterday we decided to take a shorter excursion up to the top of Mt Waldo, a hike that isn't too strenuous for even Julia Ellen's 2 year old legs.

When we pulled up at the rocky road that led to the base I was surprised to find a new gate across the access point with a huge sign: NO TRESPASSING VIOLATORS ARE SUBJECT TO ARREST AND PROSECUTION. Since we didn't have an alternative outing I decided to risk said arrest and the possibility of an irate farmer pointing a shotgun at us and we started up the road on foot. After a quarter mile a large dog barked at us from behind a fence and we didn't see another soul until we were resting close to the top. We had passed the now empty blueberry field and scrambled up the patches of slick granite stone that are visible from our farm as huge white patches. The children discovered patches of wild blueberries nestled among the rocky outcroppings and filled their hands with sweet berries. "I collected these for you," Timmy and Charlie said over and over to each of the adults before filling their own tummies with fruit. 

As we sat there enjoying our snack and the view I saw a lone figure coming up the road. Assuming it was the farmer wanting to chase us off, we got to our feet and climbed the rest of the mountain so that we could enjoy the panoramic view from the top before we were forced to descend. After a lot of huffing and puffing from the steepness of the ascent and having to drag the children away from the berry bushes, we found the view worth the effort. The Penobscot River leading out to the bay was off to the southeast, Swan Lake was sparkling in the southwest quadrant, Bangor's and Brewer's multi-story buildings (the only city for 50 miles) were visible to the northeast. For the first time all week the weather was clear and we could see mountains 40 miles away, including one large one that I will have to look up in the Maine Gazetteer once I buy another copy to replace my ratty one that had pages missing. Our group descended the mountain with a cup full of fresh blueberries to put on our morning cereal, a very muddy Timmy and Geraldine who fell on a slick patch, and aching legs and backs that were only relieved by a bottle of Rolling Rock and a good night sleep. So, for all my fears of imprisonment and shotguns, we had a very lovely day trip.

Who was the man coming up to "get us"? An elderly hiker with his shirt tucked up so his huge belly was exposed to the sun. Nothing to fear but a little too much flab for public decency.     

death and destruction

Well, the little baby mice didn't make it, but that was expected. Mice need mouse mommy milk, not cow milk and they need the warm nest of mommy mouse fur to stay warm and thrive. The children were sad, but the excitement of Hurricane Irene gave them something else to focus on. The winds were pretty strong and the bands of rain explained how this type of storm moves better than any book could. Of course we pulled out a book about hurricanes as well as of course reading Time of Wonder aloud, since the story features a hurricane hitting Maine.

This morning I went out at dawn to haul downed branches out of the road and fields, but mostly the damage was confined to my garden. The once tall corn stalks are now bent over to a 45 degree angle. I don't know if we will be able to harvest much past the two dinners of wonderful white sweet corn we had this past week. The sunflowers took a beating as well as the squash (no big loss since none of us like it much), and the tomatoes got knocked down. 

The girls and I are heading out this morning for the 2 hour trip down south to clean and organize the other house. Tim starts work Thursday and needs ice cream in the fridge, a coffee pot on the counter, and towels in the bathrooms. My job is to provide all those things, receive the delivery of the washer and dryer from Sears, and clean the place of all the crumbs and slime that the previous owners so rudely left for me to deal with. It amazes me that if you rent a house it has to be pristine at move-out, but when you pony up hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a place, the house looks grungy and gross. Since the western part of the state got hit harder by rain and wind than we did, I'm not sure what we shall encounter on the drive down, but I'm sure we will be able to handle whatever comes our way.

feeding with an eyedropper

On Monday or Tuesday evening Will went out to the barn and accidentally scared a mother mouse who was nesting on the deck of the riding mower. Her two babies were still there the next morning so Tim and Will carried them into the house and set to work feeding and attempting to rescue the little guys. So, for several days they have been fed around the clock tiny drops of milk and have miraculously stayed alive. 

They don't have any hair, their eyes are still shut, and they don't even squeak. It seems very strange to be expending so much effort trying to keep field mice alive while trying to decide between poison and traps to keep the barn rodent-free. My job in the next week or so is to find if there are humane traps to set up in the barn so we aren't inadvertently killing the babies' mother or father.   

only 9 days of summer break?

I don't know exactly how it happened, even after very few field trips this year, not many days of Christmas or Easter break, and no sick days, but Will, our 7th grader and oldest child, is finally finished with school for the year. Actually, he has 1 last section of the CAT left to take today before he is officially finished. All the other children did school on the same days, Charlie didn't even get his 1st grade books until January, but they all completed their assignments by early summer and could enjoy their days in Maine without anything hanging over their heads. Of course Will wasn't exactly tethered to his seat all day watching everyone else play outside, he got to go to summer camp, spend 2 weeks at sailing camps, go to various lakes and ponds, take swimming lessons, and become proficient enough to be designated our family's grill master. 

This week I will order the upcoming school year's curriculum, with an official start date of September 1. We will jump right into our lessons and get a running start before the majority of extra curricular activities begin so when we move down to southern Maine for the winter we will actually be ahead of schedule. I seriously doubt this will happen, but it is always better to have a positive attitude (at least the appearance of one in front of the children).

all together again

Last week Tim wore his uniform for the last time so yesterday we picked him up from the airport. The years of being separated for months at a time are over. Technically he is on leave and we must all drive down to Virginia in 2 weeks to supervise the packing and moving of all our household goods one last time. I'm not looking forward to the 14 hour drive, having to camp out in a hotel with 6 kids, feeding movers for 3 days, driving back to Maine, and having to organize our boxes and furniture into 3 destinations: farm house, house in southern Maine, and farm apartment, organize yet another move for our stuff going to the new house, and begin stocking our home with all the pets (2 mice for Mary and 2 kitty cats for the little boys) the children have been promised for several years now.

However,  once this logistical nightmare is completed then I can sit back and take a long sip of lemonade on the porch and enjoy the rest of my summer. Until then my life is going to be a little frantic so I need to keep my mind focused on the end result: our family all in Maine, the beautiful and now much cooler Vacationland.