Another week, another potpourri post

Once again, there is a lot to report and I don't want to let the calendar page turn to a new month before I do it. If I try to 'wordsmith' this too much I'll run out of time, so I'll just toss things out in no particular order.

The woodshed part of the new shop, an attachment on the west side, finally got its concrete floor poured. Now to fill it with firewood before fall arrives. As with hay, the heavy lifting has to be done when the weather is hot; ugh. But wood heat (and cooler weather!) is something to look forward to.

The shop still needs big doors to secure what's inside, but Rick and Brian have moved some of the stuff from the garage into it (I can now park in the garage!) and have utilized the bays. While looking for a new full-time job, Brian has done some automotive work for friends to earn a little cash. Fortunately, he starts a new job on Monday. Rick gave up on fixing his old truck that was parked in one bay and finally bought (or rather, the business bought) a new truck last Sunday. Last night with all hands (and a borrowed tractor) on deck, we finally got his vet box moved over to it.

Meanwhile, my new-old car threw a 'check engine' indicator at me last week, and is going to the dealer tomorrow to get checked out. Crossing fingers it is not something major; I haven't noticed any symptoms other than the warning symbol.

Mom is still not living in her apartment, but the sale of her house to the neighbors closed today to the great relief of all involved. And my sister and BIL helped her open a bank account in Lincoln earlier this week (finally) so there was a place for the funds from the house sale to be deposited. Slowly, slowly, progress is being made. Mind you, I'm not scheduling a visit until she actually moves INTO her own apartment....

Bryan, my Little Boy Brown, got fitted with a sheep suit recently. I hope someone buys him as a flock sire, but I might as well keep that beautiful chocolate-colored fleece as clean as possible!

July is Tour de France/Tour de Fleece month, which is always a great motivator to spin daily. I mostly kept working on the 500g of black fiber my friend gave me, but did spin up some other 'snacks' on my newest spindles – the one I got at BSG, the one a thoughtful Raveler offered to sell me, and a third I traded for one I had. If I could live in two different dimensions, I'd spin for hours every day; I really do enjoy making yarn with my beautiful Jenkins spindles!

That's it for the last of July from . . .

The Eagle has landed!

Mom 'landed' in Lincoln a week ago today thanks to my saintly BIL, and has been staying at my sister's house. She had lost the keys to the padlocks on the U-Boxes before she left Texas, but the neighbors found them a couple days later and overnighted them to Lincoln, saving my sister drastic measures. The U-Boxes were moved into place yesterday, and a hired crew unloaded them into Mom's apartment this morning.

So now Mom has 'landed' in her new home, although she has to do some unpacking before she can stay there. When the dust has settled, it will be interesting to see what made it and what didn't; Mom realized she forgot to pack any cookware so was cramming that into her car at the last minute. Her old neighbors (the ones who found the padlock keys) bought/are buying Mom's house, and believe me, they got a huge discount for a reason. You would not believe how much stuff Mom left in every room; the neighbors are sorting through and getting rid of it. (Why my mom is okay with leaving a houseful of stuff for the neighbors to deal with but refused to let her daughters help her sort/pack is beyond me.) They found tons of family photos that Mom didn't take, and will send them to her so that Kristine and I can have them even if she doesn't want them. They texted me a sample: Mom as a child, her parents . . . and my mom, me (probably late teens), and my sister in kitschy old West get-up from a fair photo booth.

Shocked my son with this one, I did!

She did take this photo with her, a precious candid of Daddy that neither my sister nor I had seen before:

So 'him;' oh, how we all miss him!

Anyway, back the the 'farm.' Little man Bryan was getting too independent to reliably follow his dam and 'aunties' out to pasture in the morning (although he stays in the pasture once there, a nice change from past years' lambs!), so it was time for haltering. He accepted it surprisingly well, and once he had experienced neck scritches and brisket rubs, I couldn't get far enough away from him to get decent conformation shots! He's a tail-wagger, too. 😁

Garden production is picking up. In addition to burpless cucumbers (found an apple-cucumber salad recipe that's simple and refreshing), I've started getting snow peas, eggplant, and picked a couple bell peppers that got sunburned(?) before turning color. Along with an onion and potato, the harvest below turned into a delicious frittata last week:

I took a mess of snowpeas and a tub of hummus to a picnic yesterday, and will be cooking with the first zucchini (and maybe green beans) this week:

Summertime, and the eatin' is easy! 😋

Still car-crippled but crossing fingers that improves tonight.

That's it for now from . . .