Lying About

Heat wave hits the northeast.  This feels much more normal for this time of year.  No rain for the last two days.  Hannah and Luke don't mind lying low one bit.  We hit the movie theatre yesterday for Despicable 2, during which I had myself a lovely little nap, between munchings on Hannah and Luke's extra melted cheese theatre nachos.  We motored over to Barnes and Noble where a good number of people had camped to soak in the AC.  I treated myself to a chai tea and tiramiso.  Soooo delicious.  The kids spent an hour or so on the carpet perusing a variety of books before we hopped over to Staples to get some more felting bubble wrap.  When it's so hot going from parking lot to parking lot saps your energy and we decided to head home.  I regretted not buying some cold dinner out when I ended up cooking dinner in a house that was already 80F with multiple fans going.  No cooking tonight!!  Cold chicken sandwiches!   I got out early this morning and filled up all the water stations around the barnyard.  The sheep and goats have several places to get water, the closest being the cistern behind the barn.  It was built for cows many years ago, and always has water in it, but in the worst heat of the day they prefer to stay close, in the darkness of the barn, parked on the cool manure/hay pack.  It's duck heaven back there with all the springs coming down the hillside converging behind the barn and continuing toward the road and Beaver Creek beyond.  I have several groups of baby chicks who are too little to drink from the dog or sheep waterers so I keep a garbage can lid filled in the driveway on the south side for them.  The north side chicks have their own little bowl of water.  To deny them water in this heat would be certain death.  The duck mommy is parading around with four ducklings - a cross between my Swedish Blues and the big white Pekins.  The mommy has three girlfriends, a mommy posse, that roam around with her and the babies, bodyguards against any dogs.  The two inside ducklings who were not able to keep up with the pack are now the adored pet of the two sons of the caretaker of the Wm. Hinds Boy Scout Camp in Portland, Maine.  Annie took them home with her and dropped them off.  The caretaker is threatening to eat them if they are males, but if, and we can only live and hope, they are girls they will provide the family with wonderfully large and wholesome eggs.  We gave up on hatching our own eggs when a nasty fluid started oozing from them.  I am so enamored of my ducklings as I've seen three different duck nests abandoned and scattered in the three years I've had ducks.  Oh, they are so cute, and they are born to live in water, smacking their tiny gills in it and wading around.  On deck for today - the kids are reading and relaxing.  The only time I really crack the whip is at evening chore time.  Hannah and Luke both live such busy lives at home in Maine.  Summers are a cherished, unstructured kiddie time.  Speaking of structure, they are both being retrieved by their mother on Friday to start Boy Scout camp. Hannah will begin three weeks of Counselor In Training camp and Luke will be with his scout troop.  There will be no holding down the sofa, or shutting oneself up in the trailer with a good book.  I think I will cut out some bags from this treasure trove of fabric I have all around me.  I made a match to the bag the Maori warrior purchased for his lady last weekend.  I have bags and bags of wool to wash and dye.  Waiting for the bug to bite me and I'll be a rabid picker again.  You would think a box of new Dharma Dyes would do it, but this heat is conspiring against it.  I'm taking two cool baths a day in my big claw foot tub.  A bit of the suburban princess still left in me?  Ah, to be 11 years old and not care of I ever took a bath again....