Mid Week Musings

Holden's Hauler's emptied my dumpster. Life is good. I make a LOT of garbage. Don't ask me how, but I do. I buy a lot of pet food, I cook almost every night, and I make soap. I haven't reached the point where I buy soapmaking supplies in barrels so I have a lot of containers to throw away. I am a recycling nightmare. I remember not using paper towels or tin foil for at least ten years. I bought milk in glass bottles. I used cloth napkins, the whole deal. What happened?
I tested my student in the morning and the rest of the day was basically my own. I kept waiting to be called to grade tests but the call never came. While playing with the computer I found that I had almost 4,000 emails in my in-box on Yahoo. Whoah! I went to the back of the list, 2003, and found out what I had been up to way back then. AJ was deployed in Cuba and I had my sheep pastured in Oldwick, 25 miles from where I lived. My goats were in Bucks County, Pa., about 25 miles in the other direction. I visited both every night after work. Long woefull story - it was insane. No wonder I chucked my tenure and fled to the wilds of Central New York. I come home from work and there they are. At night they are just outside the door of my barn apartment. Perfect. I took the doggies up to the pond as the weather is cool and cloudy. When it gets hot, forget about it! I don't regret the heat, as I remember how bitterly cold we are over the winter here, and the heat makes the green grass grow to feed the flock now and for hay over the winter. Even if I could buy hay making equipment, I don't see Matt taking a week from work to cut and bale hay. I don't see Jan buying hay making equipment either. She says she is out of money and neither of them work. Her husband spent it all on a custom kitchen with granite countertops and Pergo floors and a home theatre and a custom bathroom with fancy tiles and a mile long meandering driveway. I don't see him baling hay, either. Matt is very excited about presenting two topics to the Dept. of Energy conference in Indianapolis in July. He's really found his niche. I'm happy for him - but there isn't too much left over for the farm. That's okay - the farm was always my thing. He has three trainers to supervise in his agency. I told him I bet he is driving them crazy. They call him the "Hurricane." He wants them to work as hard as he does. Next week Matt is opening his baby - a big new training center where people will come from all corners of the country to be trained in green building and weatherization stuff. He's had two job offers, one in Illinois (no way) and one in Pa. near the Univ. of Pa. After moving three times in 8 years, I'm staying put...unless it's Maine or Vermont. He says don't worry, he likes where he is right now and has no plans to move. I'm going to wrap some soap, wash dishes, and cut up the new batch of Lemongrass. There's a Special Ed. secretary who LOVES it and I want to have some ready to give to her when school is out next week. Ta-ta for now.