Friday, 05 June 2009

• Odds & Ends

  Greetings!  We have had an absolutely gorgeous week here.  It has been in the low to mid 70's.  Sunny.  Mildly breezy.  The nights are staying cool, dropping down to the mid-40's.  My kids are throbbing to go swimming but it's just downright chilly.  This hasn't totally stopped us from going in, though.  We have two favorite swimming areas, both a river & a lake.  We have been in both already, but I'll tell you what:  It's refreshing!  We need a few hot nights and then we'll start talking about going in more.  This past Sunday, we went out in the Lake.  We took the raft out (The lake has a marrow bottom.  It's clean, but the best swimming is out deep, in the middle.) There were the 6 of us, plus two more.  We swam long enough to play "king of the raft", tag, Brian & Steven swam along the dropoff with their snorkle gear.  It was cold but fun.  It took grit & determination (or a quick shove) to get in with the sun shining down and a minimum breeze.  Soon . . .

  Megan & I planted the beginnings of our garden this afternoon.  We have cuke, tomatoes, squash, broccoli, cabbage & cauliflower growing.  We also have herbs growing up around the house.  There is mint, oregano, sage, basil, garlic, chives, rosemary, fennel, parsley and something new, stevia (this is the expensive natural sweetener available in the grocery.  Supposed to dry the leaves and use in tea to replace sugar.  We'll see.)  I like to grow herbs.  Seasoning food with fresh herbs is good stuff.

  We've been mowing today also.  We help out at Steve & Nancy's place, we did our own yard and Matt helped next door at Grams.  They are also making hay around us.  Gorgeous, rich looking hay this time.  First cutting alfalfa, it smells good.  It hasn't laid long, it's not been rained on.  Has to be almost perfect stuff with a large yield.

  Heidi is starting the summer classes at Ivy Tech now.  She is finding it challenging as she is digging deeper into math, but not overwhelming -- yet.  We had to go to the college the other day, there was a discrepancy over the billing, which was quickly straightened out.  In the process, I signed Steven up for his first class at Ivy Tech in the fall.  He was almost freaking out.  But, it's an automotive class (something he is very interested in), it's allowing him to check it out without taking on too much.  The class has no pre-req's, which means no assessment test (it almost annoyed Heidi).  This will come later.  First things first.  He got to see the auto lab and other areas of engineering and mechanics.  Matt & Meg were along for the tour.  Matt's ears perked right up when the welding classes were mentioned.  He has been working with my Dad on welding techniques lately and has learned quite a lot.  Brian has a wire welder, Dad a stick.  Matt has to learn different things for each of them.  It's fun to show them what options await.

  Okay, gotta go.  Heidi & I have been trying to walk consistantly around the block each evening.  I clocked it at 2 miles, which is just about right for the energy level.  We try to walk to music, which helps.  She has just arrived and says it's time to go walk.  See ya!

  Friends  ~  Terri       

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