Some Progress: New Laundry Room Floor

Some progress has been made in response to the water debacle. The leaking washer has been replaced with a high efficiency, front loading machine, which--of course--had to be accompanied by a matching dryer. I have discovered that the general population does not yet have high efficiency, front loading washers, as evidenced by the lack of HE laundry detergent at Winco Foods. The only place I've found the stuff is Costco; luckily the free and clear variety is available in the Kirkland brand. If I had to use Tide, I couldn't afford to wash more than two loads a week.

Best of all, the new floor has been installed in the laundry room. I love the vinyl. The same vinyl will go in Grandma's bathroom, once that room is dry (which, I'm thinking, may be never). Grandma didn't want to go along to look at vinyl, but as I was leaving, she said, "Think pink." I have not shopped for vinyl in 15 years and was surprised by what we found. Nowadays, most of the vinyl is designed to look like wood or stone or tile, and I don't like fake wood, stone, or tile. Cork was nice, but too high maintenance for a bathroom (although at least one college I know of thought it appropriate for a high traffic dining area). I found this pattern, loved the sample and hoped I would love it in a bigger space. I do. Some of the leaves are a very subtle pink, some are gray-blue, and the vines are a light, warm tan. It is also very textured. I'm most excited about the floor, Craig is most excited about the washer and dryer.

Another Kind of First

After months of playing Scrabulous (daily!) with Sarah, I have finally won a game. One game. Admittedly, the score was very close, but I won!

First Day of School, Second Child

Today was Ben's first day of school and he thought it was pretty stinking cool that he started a day after Peter. The boys are so different and up to now Ben has not experienced any bias as the result of having a high maintenance brother who precedes him. Up to now. When Ben told me one of his teachers had singled him out to find fault with everything he did, I knew exactly which teacher had done so. There has only been one teacher who never discovered Peter's finer qualities and, consequently, Peter continued to torment said teacher throughout the year. We discussed the situation, Peter reflected on some of his less endearing moments in the class, and Ben understands the challenges he will have in altering perceptions.

Like his brother, Ben was unwilling to have his picture taken and cited the same "not cool" excuse. This evening, in response to my query regarding his day, he offered that "they should find a less painful and antagonizing way to educate people." I think Ben's ready for college.


Eight years ago, Ben started kindergarten and, at the same time, I left my job of 15 years and started a new job in a different city. Consequently, I really don't have any warm, fuzzy memories of Ben's first day of school. I only remember ... chaos.

First Day of School

Today was Peter's first day of school. It seems like just yesterday he was boarding that big yellow school bus bound for kindergarten. The 'cool bus, he would call it. Long before he started school, he would wait at the window in the morning, just to catch a glimpse of the bus. Tim gave him his first set of Matchbox cars, which included a yellow school bus and he carried that bus around forever. Not long ago, I finally cleaned out the toy drawers and took bins of Matchbox cars to the Goodwill, but I tucked that yellow school bus into my nightstand drawer.

Today, there were no school buses for Peter. Today, he drove himself to school and on the way I gave him the 'be thoughtful, be kind, be respectful' advice that I always give him on the first day of school. "Yep," was the response, but I also got a good-natured grin.

And today, there were no pictures. Because that would not be cool.

And today, there are braces on those teeth.

And today, ten years later, he's still a pretty sweet boy.

Goats in the Backyard

The goats arrived on Friday. This view is from the deck and yes, that's my favorite tree. There are about 400 goats and they have already decimated the blackberry vines. Their day is spent eating blackberry leaves, walking up the hill to get a drink of water, and walking back for more blackberry leaves. One of the crab apple trees was close enough to the fence for the goats to munch and they really liked that.

The pathway to the grazing area is fenced with electric wire. Only the baby goats go near the fence and jump when they brush against the wire.

Some of the goats wear bells and the occasional gentle clanking--mixed with the bahs and bleets--is actually quite pleasant and relaxing. Maybe even a bit romantic, in a Thomas Hardy sort of way.

The fenced area leads the goats down to a flat clearing filled with blackberry and other various brambles.

As with any large group in close quarters, squabbles break out. The black and white goat had an issue with the old gray goat and jumped in the air, butting heads with the gray goat as she landed.

For the most part, though, the goats are pretty mellow and just chew ... and chew ... and chew.

What fun!

Happy Birthday, Dad

Today would have been my dad's 88th birthday.

Water Woes, or Does This Look Wet To You?

We currently have an excess of water. Not unusual for this house lately. The broken water pipe under Grandma's bathtub has forced us to deal with the other water issues in that room. We had hoped that the redesign of the venting system for the dryer would solve the problem, but that does not appear to be the case. After ripping up the sub-flooring, it is clear that water is leaking somewhere, and has been for some time. Not fun.