Bountiful garden, though late in the summer

Fourteen quarts of salsa today..I will post a picture soon, but I made 3 batches all at once...good to go on the salsa front. We also counted our yellow beans and we ended up canning 16 quarts of them here and there, so I feel a good number for us and add that to the green beans and we will have a ton for over winter.

I will have to post pictures soon of our ENORMOUS pumpkins and our gazillion egg gourds...a bountiful year for some vegetables and not so much for others.

We have had enough cucumbers on a every other day pick that we have given many picks away so that has been good as well...

Update

Haven't run since Monday, for some reason became very flu like sick everyday and then Wednesday we went all night with Mim's orientation and Ve & Tuki's Back to school night and then Thursday night Mim had her intrasquad run..she didn't do so well even though she ran all summer..I think after some discussion with her, she misunderstood something with her running technique and obviously it didn't pay off for her. Today after another morning at school (not scheduled) and and afternoon 3+ mile walk with the girls and dogs, we are going to our friend Pam's farm and pick some fallen apples for the chickens, eat supper and relax...my head is always spinning the first week of school with all the things I need to have ready for the students plus with this new class I am teaching and all the planning with it. I feel over whelmed before I have even got started....in a week or two things tend to settle down and it isn't so overwhelming.

I plan to run tomorrow so I don't get out of the newly formed habit....it is hard to keep exercising when just starting to recreate the habit..I forget this once my body craves it but now...not so much.

23

minutes of running and 2 miles of walking with the dogs after my first day back to school. I was tired and I didn't want to run but I made myself do it and I am glad for it...on a really hot and muggy summer day too.....summer has finally arrived weather wise and I am not off to enjoy it....oh well!! Life sure moves forward in a warp speed fashion.

End of summer update

I am on my last weekend off and then the craziness begins. I haven't really taken much time off this summer anyway since I am teaching a new class this fall in which I developed the curriculum and activities that will meet the learning objectives. It required a lot of running around to surrounding community members this summer, but if the class turns out like I envision it, it should really be fun and yet a thought provoking class, and real world application thus hopefully the learning will be more meaningful.

We are still finishing the final stages of the chicken coop, a few loose ends from the garage and still a lot of garden harvest and more bread making. We also have 1/2 a cow and 1/2 a pig coming for the freezer.

In addition our fall will include:
Mim's CC season until November
Ve and Tuki's skating season until next April
Ve and Tuki starting Basketball in November
My weekly admin class that will meet every Wednesday night until the end of December
Hopefully some more kayaking weekends as well

I am going to try and keep building up my running time and also attempt to keep our nightly family walks with the dogs as often as possible.

I decided to keep Tuki in before school care located at the school, but this year I am allowing Ve to walk to school (3 blocks away) about 1 hour after me and Mim leave for school. She is going into 4th grade and she wants to do this on her own and I think she can handle it and it will teach her to watch the time more closely and hopefully give a better sense of time since she seems to struggle with this concept. Both will walk home together.

Mim will be biking to high school until the weather doesn't allow for it anymore. This will make it easier for me in not having to pick her up after practice and it gives her some independence. She has been biking to her high school all summer for summer school so it shouldn't be a big deal for her.

Tomorrow in church we will be ushering and Mim will help lead the worship in the 11:00am service. She is both VERY excited and VERY nervous. I'm proud as to how focused and serious she is taking this. I can tell she really, and I mean really enjoys this...I have never seen her this excited about anything else except boys.

That is all the update for now...

21

minutes today of running and I feel pretty good too!! Slowly but surely.....and certainly turtle pace.

16

minutes of continuous running..and it felt good too, so I plan to run again tomorrow as well. I decided since I have tried many different types of workouts for very long lengths with little to no results, my workouts will now only consist of increasing my running time, abs and arms. This way my running feels good and I haven't worn myself completely out for the next day's workout.....Running has been the only real effective workout for me to trim my lower part of my body in a decent amount of time. Walking works too, but it requires a good two hours of walking to get the same effect that 1 hour or less of running can do....so my altered workout..we'll see how it goes.

Poop

Too much information...I think not!!
I just learned or maybe just focused in on it today at the dentist. Bacteria from your surroundings is attracted to the food that is left on your teeth (this part I knew), so, as the bacteria eats the food or any food left over even after a mediocre brushing they defecate....i.e. plaque, this acidic plaque (poop) hardens and because of the high acid content of the poop in your normally neutral body, the acid starts eating away on your teeth, thus creating a cavity. It is especially important to brush and floss well at night because your saliva, neutral, is a natural buffer against this acid, and your body creates less saliva at night. You can bet I broke this down real nice and simple for my daughters and will probably discuss it in my science class this year when we talk about acids and bases...and anyone who really knows me well, knows that naturally when I tell my girls to brush their teeth, I now say go brush the bacteria poop off....easy compliance...why a fancy word like plaque when a simple word would do!!!!

Camping in Waupaca

We attended a camp about 45 minutes away this time. We kenneled the dogs and fed and watered the chickens plenty to last them 2 days. I ended up dropping Mim off at my friend's farm since she was acting up again and I had decided that she was not going to be allowed to ruin another trip..something she did every time we went on vacation this summer. She told me yesterday that she thought I was bluffing about not letting her go, so it was a good thing I followed through and it was a good thing my friends were there for me so I could do that. She has been much better since we have returned and for the time being she appreciates being here instead of always acting like her life here is so terrible....

I have started speaking with my Pastor's wife, who is a counselor at church. I plan to meet a few times with her so Mim is more willing to see her since she sees me doing it. She has already agreed to go and has admitted she needs help which is a HUGE step since she had been refusing to go for 2+ years.  Hopefully we can get past her lack of trust in me as a parent, so she can take guidance from me without always fighting me every step of the way and her lack of trust in general so she can discover that life has a lot of happiness in it.

She has officially started CC practice today and also Worship Band Camp this week, so she is a busy girl again..Plus we checked out the school she will be attending in a few short weeks and boy or boy is she nervous, especially knowing that I won't be working in the same school...so we'll see how it goes.

Garden harvesting is picking up...just in time for school to start...a little late so my fall will be busy!!!

Peaches

We ordered about 5 different types of fruit again this year. So far we had the blueberries and apricots arrive. Two days ago the peaches came, and today amidst the continual chicken coop remodeling, I made 16 loaves of very yummy Peach-Peanut (double p) bread...it really does taste great, plus I am setting another gallon of peach wine and canning about 5 pints of peach jam....and we still have an entire box left over so we will continue to eat the fresh peaches over the next few weeks. We are getting ready for out camping weekend, our last hurrah before our life becomes super crazy again....BTW - because we have been working so focused and intensively on the chicken coop, I haven't been able to sneak in a work out this week...so I better get some in next week.

It doesn't appear that I will meet my weight goal...I knew there was a reason I needed to be conservative...I am much more toned (yeah I know hard to tell from the previous posted pictures of myself), but believe me I am more toned than maybe 3 month ago...it was that bad, so I am trying to stay positive and keep taking baby steps forward to overall health and fitness.

Dog Days Photos

with DaVinci, Rembrandt and Zamboni

 the crew ready to compete

 Ve with Zamboni carrying a spoon and potato

 Tuki dressing up Zamboni

 Mim all smiles for Uncle W

 Mim competing with DaVinci

 The 3 in back in the command competition

Playing musical hoola hoops

Around the "Farm" in the city

 Insulating the coop walls with the old feed bags..finally we have found a use after many years of looking..I just couldn't in good faith throw the old ones away to eventually end up in a landfill..never to decompose.

 another view from the inside looking out the door

 from the outside--eventually we will cover this will polycarbonate sheets that shade the feed bags from view.

 Matilda, our chocolate Muscovy hen has adopted an orphan wild mallard ducking that was brought to us by a local wildlife agent this past Sunday.

 Louise, one of our original 10 hens that are now 4 years old..pretty old for a chicken.

 Second stage, the bagged walls are now covered with a heavy insulating tarp that I had for years.....also our newly built perches from recycled materials. The hens aren't sure of them yet..taking their time in using them.

 here they are hanging outside because they don't like the "new" look to their coops.

 Hanging out in the middle coop because we hadn't built the new perches in this coop by yesterday evening...and this is the one this group of birds usually sleep in.

 Omar....in the back out Muscovy drake...he is quite the character

Copper.our Campine..just because I think she is beautiful

Remaking the Chicken Coop

When we were cleaning the garage, we sorted through all the wood we had stored as well a deconstructed an indoor garage dog pen I had built 20 years ago for the farm dogs that moved to the city with me. We have a lot of wood and we also have a lot old old chicken, dog and cat feed bags...my environmental side of my personality can't just throw them away to the landfill so I find things to do with them. Anyway I digress, we are using the feed bags to insulate the chicken walls, then we are nailing up old heavy tarp from our local lumber company (can't remember the exact name of it, but it is very heavy and insulating on the inside walls. The outside walls we are nailing corrugated polycarbonate..all this to provide more insulation in the winter than we have previously had..we are slowly converting raptor cages over into the chicken coops.. I plan to take picture tomorrow to show the steps we are taking. We (Mim & I are the we in this post) are also rebuilding the perches to accommodate the chickens and then building more "chicken like" nest boxes. The chickens are been making due with the cages that were designed for raptors and not chickens, but now after 4 years we are accommodating the chickens.

Mim and Zamboni

Zamboni and Mim graduating from obedience class. He won a few dog toys that night because he obeyed the quickest in the class when given a command. He made the paper and Mim was quoted in the same article.

Yesterday we attended a "Dog Days of Summer" day hosted by a local feed company that also operates a pet store.  The day is all about dogs...mainly anyway. Each of the girls brought one of our dogs. They competed in many different dog trick events. No matter whether they won or lost each participant received a participation prize that consisted of doggy treats...we ended up walking away with 20 bags of doggy treats, plus several different dog toys. So we made a haul....and the funny part was the most non compliant of DaVinci, Rembrandt and Zamboni is Rembrandt, mainly because he is the only dog of ours that DID NOT attend an obedience class and he was adopted at 7 months old, anyway he, along with Mim were the only ones who won a grand prize out of our crew.

We almost didn't make it to the Doggy Days either. The girls put all 3 dogs in the car, along with my keys.  Zamboni proceeded in stepping on my remote, thus locking them in and us out. I don't have a spare key since it was a used van (something I will rectify soon). As I was about to call the Police station for assistance, Zam stepped on the remote again and activated the horn. The Police department informed me that I need to call a locksmith. I did, one was busy and the other wouldn't arrive for another 2 hours.....so luckily for us, Zamboni once again stepped on the remote, stopped the horn...and about 10 minutes later, he stepped on it again and unlocked the doors, so we were able to go to doggy days even though our doggies almost prevented us from attending....what a scary half hour or so trying to figure how we were going to get out of the mess we were in.

Fourteen

minutes of running today, but it was a difficult 14 minutes because I was feeling tired. My knees felt great and my feet are holding up well too, so it may have just felt yucky, but was good overall. I find that as I am increasing my minutes of running, I am more tired thus once again proving to me that running is the most effective exercise for me. Sixty minutes of the elliptical or 11 miles of biking don't leave me nearly as tired as running or can I achieve the level of fitness I want, and it is for a lot less time or distance.....amazing.

My administration internship

I loved it, yet at times I was restless because there were moments of little to do. Summer school is very different than regular school so I had the luxury of experiencing life as a principal, yet it is more laid back than the regular school year.  I will say I felt less stress as a principal than I sometimes do as a classroom teacher, not completely sure why this was. This summer at our school there were over 450 students grades 4k to 4th grade, an all time high. We also had a high population of students with cognitive disabilities and emotional disabilities. These students made for some very interesting situations. Elementary school is very different than junior high school, some ways better, students are much more loving and huggable (I got hugs everyday), someways not better, the students have less ability and strategies to self regulate. I wasn't use to this in such high numbers.

 I handled situations in which I wasn't sure what I would do if presented with it, so I gained confidence Sometimes I felt I did a smashing good job, other times I knew I needed to improve, lucky for me I am a quick study if I mess up, which I do often enough to know that I am a quick study...

 I took this elementary internship because I wasn't sure at what level I wanted to be an administrator....and I still completely don't know. I loved working with the teachers and the students. So what I can honestly say is that I wouldn't rule out this age level if I was offered a job in an elementary school.

Today I canned 2 1/2 quarts of yellow beans and 5 quarts of dill pickles and ended up with 11 loaves of apricot bread and 4 pints of apricot jam.

Twelve

minutes of smooth, feel good running with a distance of a little over 1 1/2 miles. I decreased the pace for every minute I ran. I ran before I did 30 minutes on the elliptical, and then lifted my arms and abs. My knees were a lot less sore by switching up my routine. Feet still going strong.....

Then the girls and I checked bluebird nest boxes out at Standing Rocks. We checked them to get a photos for where the boxes were located so I can bring my class out there in the spring. We walked a little over 3 miles but it was very pleasant and in the end, the girls said they enjoyed it as well.

This morning it was the girl's first day of VBS and tonight Zamboni graduated from his obedience class.

Now I am sitting downstairs while the girls are sleeping because I am waiting for the apricot bread to finish baking. I think in the end we will have about 12 apricot loaves of bread, 4 pints of apricot jam, 1 gallon of apricot wine and about 2 lbs of dehydrated apricots..all made today between all the other business...and then on to the peaches predicted in arrive in about another week.

I also have some cucumbers that need pickling and I plan to do that tomorrow.

Fair, Surprise Party and more

 My wine making vat

 Zamboni with a very patient DaVinci

 Ve at the fair...she loves babies animals!!

 Ve on the slide ride

 Tuki at the bottom of the slide ride

 Mim on the bumper cars

 at my surprise party today with the family...the girls did a good job keeping it a secret!!

 my 50 year old roses and my wine glass

 Me and step mom/grandma Jill

 Tuki with the duck chuck she invented with two others at Camp Invention

 Tuki and cousin going down the slide

 the three amigos

Me and the girls from today.

The photos are out of order, but you get the feel for our last few days!!

50th birthday today

It is significant for me. I am not sad about it either.

I feel liberated because I feel I have dodged the ghost that I have been running from my entire life.

The ghost of cancer past. As I have stated on this blog before, since my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at 35 and then eventually dieing from the cancer that took over her body 15 years later at age 50, I have been making very conscience choices to prevent cancer. I ate or didn't eat certain foods that helped prevent or caused cancer. I never smoked, drank limited alcohol and I have been a exercise nut nearly my entire life.

Needless to say, at 48 when I was diagnosed, also with breast cancer, I was hit hard emotionally. Logically I knew God gave me a gift in allowing the docs to find the cancer in a noninvasive form, rather than years down the line after it had become invasive. Emotionally it was a gut punch. Yet it was a gift of time to allow me to decide what I planned to do with the information. What I did is now history, it was hard, but oh so much easier than it would have been if I had to have gone through radiation and chemotherapy and with the nagging fear that it was going to return. What I chose has given me peace, a real down, ghost busting peace. The demon has been removed. I can now enjoy my life, and I mean really enjoy my life in a way I have not done since I was five. Enjoy my new found freedom in my renewed health, and the knowledge that I have a very strong chance of watching my girls grow up into adults and maybe even see grand kids someday. I know far reaching, but it is a real possibility and it feels oh so good.

I have two more milestones to clear, the age of 55, the age of my brother's death and 58, the age of my father's death. Both passed from deteriorated heart conditions. Fortunately I have been told after the EKG and stress tests that I have a very strong heart and according to my lyme and breast docs, all my years of healthy living has allowed me to bounce back from my last four years of bad health relatively quickly.

So as I sit here drinking a glass of my homemade cloudy but very tasty blueberry wine (I moved it to the secondary today so I could start the apricot wine batch) I say Happy Birthday to me and as Wallace yelled at the end of Braveheart..

F  R  E  E  D  O  M !!!!!


BTW the girls gave me a pair of earrings and two beautiful blouses and I happen to know that they have a surprise party planned for sometime this weekend....I know about it, just not privvy to all the details..I will fill you in once it happens!!!

so I say good job old lady, you made it to hump year and good luck in the next half of my life.....

Garage Cleaning

Started cleaning the garage today, and I mean major overhaul, needed to make room for our kayaks, so now we have about a circle 10' in diameter in which we placed all the outgrown kid toys, like kitchen set, strollers, etc. The plan is to place them on Craig's List in hopes they will sell.

My nephew's girlfriend is in labor so I just may be sharing a birthday with my nephew's daughter whom they plan to name Taelyn...very close to Mim's name.....just might get confusing.

Tomorrow is Tuki's last day at Camp Invention, Ve didn't want to do it this year since it requires so much thinking and working inventing stuff. Tuki comes home exhausted everyday.

Tomorrow is also the girl's last day of the month long swim lessons.