Sons and sisters (with photos now!)

Hard to believe it was just a week ago that Brian was still scrambling to get as much of his put-off schoolwork done as possible before the day's end-of-year (end of HIGH SCHOOL) deadline and fighting with me about whether to do that or go help decorate for graduation (he wanted to do the latter and I wasn't taking him if he still had outstanding schoolwork). He did, indeed, graduate, and even got a 95% on his Physics senior project(!) – although that didn't bring his grade up above a D. 😒 The weekend was a rollercoaster, with a sullen student seated between us for the Senior Tribute on Zoom Saturday night followed by a glowing tribute he had written to us read at graduation the next day. He was also awarded a generous scholarship to the university at which he is accepted for his combined grades/ACT score (a little bigger than we expected), the weather held until after the ceremony and drive-through reception, and a lot of wonderful friends came to the reception, surprising Brian with their support. That included our friends who have Poppy's sister Penny; they parked so the girls could play together for awhile which was such fun to watch. They clearly recognized each other and act SO much alike – two "P's" in a pod!

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My 'tribute rose' with matching spinning project

The diploma hand-off!

The week since has been a bit of a blur. I had to work Monday, so Tuesday was a recuperation day – in other words, I didn't get much done! On Wednesday, our 36th wedding anniversary, Rick had to take his mother to Portland for a doctor's appointment and I had to take Brian to Salem for an eye appointment. (Rick's mother hasn't driven beyond her local community in a couple years because of her failing eyesight and finally sold her car this week – hallelujah! – and Brian isn't driving because of his grades and attitude.) By the time we got home from our various responsibilities, there wasn't much time or energy for celebrating, so we companionably watched a couple episodes of Doc Martin and called it a night. Rick did bring me a dozen roses and a new blooming orchid, though, both in "sunshine yellow," a surprising but beautiful choice.

Yesterday I worked at the office again, while Brian worked for Rick's client for the first time since March. He worked for her again today, so he has a good start on his share of the next installment of our automobile insurance. He is using his graduation money gifts to get the computer he'll need for his engineering program at college – and a .22 rifle he's had his eye on for over a year. Our gift to him was a big Craftsman tool set (and a pair of his favorite jeans), which he is thrilled with.

Graduation doesn't seem like it's changed anything as we head into another summer of parenting and trying to encourage our offspring to work hard, be responsible, and look to his future. Brian has a standing offer to drive combine for the same custom farming outfit he drove for last summer, but that doesn't start for at least 3-4 weeks so we've encouraged him to look for other work. But just like graduation already seems like a distant memory, so, too, will this last summer feel in just three months when he heads off to college. Days crawl, and years fly.

Crawling and flying at . . .

A momentous month

Four fleeces, one box. Abracadabra....

Full to bursting, but sealed and ready to ship!

Fleece harvest is done for another year. I sheared Bittersweet on Sunday; he's so thin that I couldn't bear to take a picture of him. I picked up some supplemental feed for him today, and will worm him (and the other boys) as well; hopefully that will help him regain condition. (I guess I should take a photo so I have a baseline visual.) Yesterday I rooed Sarai, which was as long an ordeal as shearing. Her fleece did not have a good 'break' to easily roo her but enough of a break over most of her body that if I had sheared her, her fiber would have had a tender spot, making it practically worthless. So I persevered, apologizing repeatedly for the uncomfortable tugging, and then used scissors over her shoulders and neck where the fleece wasn't at all loose. She had quite a bit of new growth; next year it would be best to catch her before the rise and just scissor-shear her. Someone remind me!

The neighbors' new house is going up fast, a dominant feature to our north. They are such nice people but I still wish Rick had agreed to let me plant trees along our view line years ago when I asked . . . or even now.

The morning of May 27

This morning, June 4

Tuesday evening Poppy got to go over to play with Toby and I got a tour of the house-in-progress. Neighbors from the other end of our lane walked by with their dog, a beautiful young black tri-color Springer spaniel, and Toby's owner invited them in to let their dog play with the terriers. I think Milo was initially a bit 'terrier-ized,' but soon all three of them were romping happily.

I do worry about Poppy's leg. Rick is surprised that she is still having trouble with it. When she first gets up in the morning, or starts moving after a nap, she limps a lot. After playing hard with another dog(s), she limps more than at the start. Rick hasn't sealed the stock tank yet so I can't make her swim, and I don't want to give her potentially harmful drugs. Today I did order some turmeric supplements to see if that helps her. That bum leg doesn't really slow her down, though. She and my new mare both have more energy than I can cope with sometimes....

"Catch me if you can!"

Brian graduates on Sunday. It is a drive-in, invitation-only affair, followed by a drive-through, open-to-all 'reception.' He has one more final tomorrow, plus his open-book Pre-Calculus final to finish. On top of that he's pulling an all-nighter trying to finish his senior project for Physics, which he chose at the beginning of the year and started constructing less than 24 hours before it's due. At this point it's not even a given that he'll pass all his classes. Such has been his entire high school journey, in spite of us giving 'carrots,' 'sticks,' and everything in between that we could think of. It's kinda hard to celebrate (and I'm sure contributes to my lack of coping with other lively young creatures). College (especially taking engineering!) is likely to be a rude awakening....

Last bearded iris standing (with a yellow bud in the background)

Outside it looks like summer. We got a call from our hay guy; he has 500 bales of good horse hay put up. We don't need that much with what we have left, but we'll probably be hauling ten tons in the next week or two (maybe even on our 36th anniversary!). I've got to pick strawberries tomorrow morning; I may not have time to get much else done with various graduation 'stuff' going on.

Poppy's first strawberry

That's it for today from . . .

The elephant in my room

In the midst of life going on pretty much as usual here, Thursday night I called to tell my mom what has been decided about Brian's high school graduation. (Outside, students and limited staff appropriately distanced, limited family confined to their vehicles.) She mentioned being worried about Daddy, which is not an uncommon comment. She also mentioned that Texas is now offering free COVID-19 testing; okay, interesting. Then she said that Daddy has been feeling punky for a couple weeks now, aching all over 😟; oh, he had a couple days of fever 😳; oh, and this week he lost his sense of taste and smell 😱. Yeah; at that point flashing red lights and sirens started going off in my head, and my heart dropped to the basement. She got him in to be tested Friday morning (and no, they wouldn't test her, even though she lives with him and is an 80-year-old asthmatic, because she had no symptoms; I guess they don't believe in asymptomic carriers in TX) and now we wait three to five days. I've recovered from my initial panic and had a nice, long chat with my dad Friday. There has also been a flurry of texts between my sister and me. Her family is taking this very seriously; we (with the exception of the teen) are taking this very seriously. It is beyond frustrating to know and love people who believe certain 'talking heads' and DON'T take this (as) seriously. Praying that the lesson isn't learned in the most heartbreaking manner.

Happy first day of spring!

And it really felt like it here, with sun and temps in the 60s. Good thing, too, as smoke woke me up in the wee morning hours. I got up and opened the damper, and by this morning the fire had burned out (and the house smelled better). We'll give the wood-burner a good cleaning (again) so we can utilize it next week when it is supposed to be cooler and wet.

Today I went to work and then to the grocery store. I was pleasantly surprised to see a 'normal' number of people acting in 'normal' ways, and filled my cart with nicely priced oranges, apples, cabbage, onions, asparagus, garbanzo beans, and a few other things. I would have gotten a bag of russet potatoes if there had been any, but they were gone, along with brown rice, rolled oats, and whole wheat flour. No worries here, though; I have enough of the latter two to get by and can work around being out of the first two.

A 'service day' (technically a half-day) was on today's schedule for Brian's high school, so students had to give their parents two hours of work at home. I directed Brian to weed the garden – his least favorite chore (so LOTS of balking, arguing, and otherwise trying to get out of it), but more necessary now than ever. He didn't get very far, but did clear around the volunteer parsley and up to the kale. I need to do better at utilizing those and the beet greens (from the beets I never got harvested last fall 🙄); yay for free food!

Here is Poppy with her new splint, courtesy of her vet visit yesterday:

She also got puppy shot #2, which had her feeling puny – for about six hours. Then she was up and tearing around when we were all ready to wind down – ha! I think we should have named her The Unsinkable Molly Brown – it would have fit her, but for the color. Anyway, the x-ray showed Poppy's leg is healing, but definitely still needs the splint. One of the three broken bones is demineralizing instead of mending, usually a temporary set-back. As long as the other two bones are looking good in four more weeks, she'll get switched to a support bandage instead of a splint, as using the leg more will actually help the third bone heal. We'll have to monitor her activity level because of the laxity in her carpus and general atrophy, but the vet said not being willing to use the leg is more common at first than over-using it. (Maybe that's a common problem among other breeds, but I suspect over-use would be the danger for a Decker puppy!) She weighed 14.7 pounds, up six pounds from four and a half weeks ago; growing like a weed she is.

Hand out the cigars; Blake is a papa again! This morning the Babydoll Southdown owner who leased him for breeding last fall called this morning. She found a ewe with a water bag protruding at 4:00 a.m., and at 8:00 she still wasn't pushing or showing any sign of progress. Rick told her she'd better scrub up and go in; something was wrong. While at work she texted me: "FYI; I wasn't able to find lambs in her womb but was able to load her into our trailer and take her to a vet in Dallas for emergency help. I was sure we would find a dead lamb or two. Turns out he pulled out two ram lambs. They both sure looked dead initially but both survived! The vet was really surprised and so am I!"

That's it for today from . . .

What a difference a day minute makes

Yesterday Brian called me from school. Their handbell concert coming up on Sabbath had been cancelled – as had University Days at Walla Walla (where he thinks he wants to matriculate) the first weekend in April. I asked about the Costa Rica trip and music tour; he said those were both still on the schedule. Within five minutes he called again; the Costa Rica trip had been cancelled. Then last night on the news came the announcement that Oregon's governor was closing ALL K-12 schools in the state for the rest of this month, starting Monday.

Brian's high school has utilized "e-days" in the past, so his education will continue. And he is blessed to be 'food-secure' and 'housing-secure,' unlike millions of children in the U.S. for whom school is the safest place and their main source of nutrition and healthcare. My heart – and prayers – go out to those far more affected than us by this pandemic. and we will look for ways to be helpers.

And you know what 'they say' about weather: If you don't like it, wait a minute. Yesterday was sunny and springlike:

more morning 'sunbathing'

Today Poppy is experiencing her first snowflakes! (Our first this winter – on March 13!)

"What IS that???"

It's not sticking, but it's a good day for staying in:

I let sleeping dog lie when I can, because when she's awake, she's goin' 90!


That's it for today from . . .

From sweetness and light to heavier subjects

lilac bud!

Daylight Savings Time is affecting us all more than I initially thought. Even Poppy is slower to get going in the morning; yesterday she spent a lot of time "sunbathing."

At the school meeting Monday evening, the Costa Rica trip organizer made it clear that if it is legal to travel, he's going, as he has materials and supplies to deliver. (He also grew up as a missionary kid in Africa, and feels he's lived through far more dangerous circumstances.) So far, all the seniors but one are still planning to go, and I hope they do. The burden of shearing (and trimming the feet of) 11 woolly Shetlands is starting to weigh heavily on me, and Brian being gone for two weeks would clear my slate a little. If I stay on task (and torture my puppy with extra crate time), I should be able to get them all done in that time . . . if my back holds out. My lower back has been extremely cranky for unknown reasons since yesterday, and NSAIDs aren't helping much. Getting a start on hoof trimming was on my list today, but so far I've been hesitant to try it.

Yesterday afternoon, the "neighbor boy" (the neighbors' dog) came over to play with Poppy. Toby is a bit bigger and older than Poppy, and they played hard. Before long, the neighbor commented that Poppy's limp seemed worse. I wasn't too worried about my 'tough terrier,' but later in the house I noticed that the splinted leg didn't look as straight as it had been. I picked Poppy up and investigated further; there seemed to be some definite 'play' in the formerly-rigid splint. Wondering if it might have broken, I taped a tongue depressor to it to help stabilize it until Rick got home. Sure enough:

Apparently the splint isn't 'terrier tough"! That spot on the foam side is from a pressure sore. 😔 So Rick disinfected it and we wrapped the leg back up with a new splint Rick fashioned from a PVC pipe and an insole from one of Brian's old running shoes. Hopefully this will hold her until her appointment with the small animal vet a week from today. I wish it could be sooner, but the vet is out of town until then; I'm going to do my best to curtail Poppy's activity while we wait. I wonder if any of her other patients have broken a splint? 🧐

Today, after Toby discovered –3X! – that he could get to our place all by himself

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We are a divided household. My husband and I don't see eye to eye on everything, but we agree on a lot of things. Our son seems bent on disagreeing with us on most things. Politically, he is an outspoken Trump supporter – and a Democratic basher. When he brought home a free Trump t-shirt from the State Fair last summer, it 'disappeared.' When he bought himself a "Trump 2020" hat (not one of those red things, but still), I had to control the urge to make that disappear, too. I also have to bite my tongue a lot....

Last Sabbath Brian had that hat tucked in his belt (he was decked out in full "redneck" attire) as we were leaving for church. I told him to leave it at home; church is not the place for campaigning. He said he wasn't going to wear it at church; he was taking it for the memorial service we went to later that afternoon. I asked him to put it in the trunk because I would be transporting an elderly Dutch couple (ages 90 and 95) to and from church, and they would not want to see it. He asked why, and I reminded him that they lived through WWII. They witnessed the rise of fascism, the results of racism and state-sponsored discrimination, dictators drunk on dreams of world domination – and they recognize all those things in our current administration. His reply? "If they want to be Left-Wing Liberals, that's their problem." 😳😱😖 I love my son, but sometimes it's awfully hard to like him....

John Pavlovitz' Instagram post this morning said it well. (I don't see eye to eye with Pastor John on everything, either, but enthusiastically cheer him on as the rare evangelical Christian leader who follows God, not a demagogue.) You can double-click on it to biggify.

That's it from the mostly 'Humane Middle' at . . .