Ahhh, Patchouli

Just got finished with my first batch of patchouli soap in over a year. The crop failed in India and when the price shot up to over $200 for a 16 ounce bottle (the size I need for my recipe) I said forget it. Now it's back down half way and I decided to do it. What a unique, musty and seductive aroma. Missed the debates but the milk room kitties were delighted I was keeping them company so late at night. My students were back working on moving a mountain of hay to the other end of the barn. NY State codes require a fire wall between us and the barn. I will have to buy a fortune in wallboard for that. That's just a start. I thought NJ was a fascist state - New York is worse. The bureaucracy here is strangling. What fun to hear the kids laughing and joking as they were working, such happy sounds. I decided to try to hire them more often. Worth every penny. They helped me catch a sheep and a goat I needed to doctor and were so eager to do anything I asked. I said somebody please pinch me. Got chores done by 8 then Matt came home, still pretty sick. He had been looking for shelving units for a couple of hours after work. I just don't get it. I asked for a few boards put together somehow and I would have been thrilled. Long meeting after school with our director. Bad news on enrollment - it's way down and some changes have to be made. Too many staff for so few kids. No lay-offs - yet. Thank you, Rutgers, for my special-ed certification. I hope it saves me. So many hungry sheep to feed...Eric called to say his new Boy Scout director job is very demanding but he loves it. He rented a house for Annie and the kids and decided not to buy the tiny hut for half a million dollars in San Jose. He kept the Las Vegas house and is satisfied to rent for a while. This way Annie can quit her Bechtel job in LV and join Eric and the kids in Ca. Luke loves the new school and Hannah is coming along slowly. Thank goodness for the after-school program where they have kids to play with and do homework with. Wish I could be there to help out...