The county fair started last Wednesday and ended yesterday. For the fifth year in a row, our church staffed a booth at the fair. I always look forward to the fair starting, praying that we won't have the VeggieTales nearby. By Sunday, I'm glad it is almost over! So, that's where I've been the past week. As in the past few years, Grandma came to stay with kids while The Man and I were busy with the fair.
Yesterday morning after breakfast it was discovered the kitchen sink was clogged. Despite using drain opener, many tools, and a plumber's snake, it is still clogged. This morning The Man crawled under the house and discovered the clean-out pipe. He said he should be able to clean that out tonight.
While The Man was under the house I was in the bathroom with some improvised dishpans in the bathtub washing up all the dishes from yesterday. Those were put away right after breakfast and another load was washed (yes, we're using paper plates, but we still generate lots of dishes!). Then I tackled the stove top, kitchen counters, and sink. When those were clean (no easy feat without running water in the kitchen), I boxed up all the stuff from under the sink that was scattered on the floor and put that on the counter. Then, I mopped the floor in front of the sink so the kitchen looks a lot less scary and actually resembles a kitchen!
A sign is on the bathroom door reminding the children to use one of the other toilets in the house since I have a slight issue with them using a toilet with dishes drying a few feet away. Hopefully the kitchen will be put back together within the next day or so. I AM thankful that this happened on the last day of the fair instead of the first!
For school, M is finishing up a few things from last year. What needs to be ordered for this next school year has been decided and the orders will actually be placed in the next week or so. I'm tentatively planning on starting after Labor Day weekend.
J almost has the entryway back in order, Sacagawea is cleaning out the toy box in the living room, and I'm ready to go rescue some laundry from the dryer. The schoolroom was in the midst of a major overhaul when the fair started and it really needs to be finished this week. I have some green beans and peaches begging to be frozen, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow in hopes of having running water in the kitchen. Ahhh...don't be shocked if you don't see another update soon!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Poison of a serpent...Psalm 58:4
Although I did complete July with 31 blog posts, I certainly didn't continue the momentum through August! There has been way too much going on to actually sit down and blog, but here are some pics that M took of our adventures over the past week.
Warning: Pictures of a dead snake below. If you don't care to see pictures of the snake OR the dissection, just click away now. :)
Last Tuesday M announced that there was a rattlesnake outside his bedroom. He had been looking out the window and saw it slithering in the dirt near the retaining wall just behind our house. Too close! This is the second one (that we know of!) we've had near the house.
J ran to the garden to get the hoes and The Man got the gun. 
I was impressed that The Man only fired three shots and the snake had four holes in it. The Man was dismayed that he didn't kill it with the first shot. 
We think the first shot (while the snake was moving) just shot off the rattles. We (not including me!) had to look around a bit to find them. There were at least nine rattles on this snake! 
The third shot was in the head, and other than the residual movements...it was dead. After removing what little was left of the head/fangs, The Man found a large glass jar in which to put the body. He put that into a cooler with some jugs of ice until he could get around to skinning it.
That time finally came on Sunday morning. We (again, not me!) started the process in the front yard.
Pretty snake! Too bad it had to get so close to the house and my babies! 
Even G helped out with the process. 
The children finally had enough of the flies and other creatures that wished to watch and bother, so they came inside and let The Man carry on with his project. 
After The Man separated the skin from the rest of the innards, he came inside also...with the skin. He did ask where he should finish cleaning the skin. I told him wherever he could easily clean and disinfect the mess! 
He chose the bathroom counter. Ick. 
Ick, ick, ick. 
When he was done, he said he finally figured out a good reason for the "his and her" sinks in the master bathroom. I didn't complain when he rinsed the skin in "his" sink. Other than my house smelling like my high school zoology class (minus the formaldehyde) for most of the day, it wasn't that bad of a process. The skin is now hanging on the back porch.
The Man has his glycerin solution ready to tan it. I'm not sure what his plans for it beyond that are, but at least that snake won't be biting my kids or dog!
I will try to check in and blog more regularly, there just hasn't been a lot of extra time. No time? Hmmm...killing a snake, storing a snake, skinning a snake, and tanning the skin were not in our plans for the past week, but it is hard to predict those teaching/learning moments and work them into the schedule ahead of time.
Warning: Pictures of a dead snake below. If you don't care to see pictures of the snake OR the dissection, just click away now. :)
Last Tuesday M announced that there was a rattlesnake outside his bedroom. He had been looking out the window and saw it slithering in the dirt near the retaining wall just behind our house. Too close! This is the second one (that we know of!) we've had near the house.
J ran to the garden to get the hoes and The Man got the gun. 
I was impressed that The Man only fired three shots and the snake had four holes in it. The Man was dismayed that he didn't kill it with the first shot. 
We think the first shot (while the snake was moving) just shot off the rattles. We (not including me!) had to look around a bit to find them. There were at least nine rattles on this snake! 
The third shot was in the head, and other than the residual movements...it was dead. After removing what little was left of the head/fangs, The Man found a large glass jar in which to put the body. He put that into a cooler with some jugs of ice until he could get around to skinning it.That time finally came on Sunday morning. We (again, not me!) started the process in the front yard.
Pretty snake! Too bad it had to get so close to the house and my babies! 
Even G helped out with the process. 
The children finally had enough of the flies and other creatures that wished to watch and bother, so they came inside and let The Man carry on with his project. 
After The Man separated the skin from the rest of the innards, he came inside also...with the skin. He did ask where he should finish cleaning the skin. I told him wherever he could easily clean and disinfect the mess! 
He chose the bathroom counter. Ick. 
Ick, ick, ick. 
When he was done, he said he finally figured out a good reason for the "his and her" sinks in the master bathroom. I didn't complain when he rinsed the skin in "his" sink. Other than my house smelling like my high school zoology class (minus the formaldehyde) for most of the day, it wasn't that bad of a process. The skin is now hanging on the back porch.
The Man has his glycerin solution ready to tan it. I'm not sure what his plans for it beyond that are, but at least that snake won't be biting my kids or dog!
I will try to check in and blog more regularly, there just hasn't been a lot of extra time. No time? Hmmm...killing a snake, storing a snake, skinning a snake, and tanning the skin were not in our plans for the past week, but it is hard to predict those teaching/learning moments and work them into the schedule ahead of time.
Friday, August 06, 2010
What is it? Exodus 16:15
It's a...
baby. That's about all I could tell from the photos. My doctor and The Man pointed out a few things to me. I could tell the heart was beating. I have no idea what the picture above shows.
This picture is of the baby's face and hand. I think it will be a lot cuter in person.
I'm told the next 2 pics show the gender with a 99% probability. The legs stayed firmly together so we couldn't see for sure if there was something extra. (Just to clarify, we think that is it, but there may be a 1% chance there is something we can't see).
Sacagawea says she would rather wait to find out the gender than to be told one thing now and find out the doctor was wrong. So, we haven't officially told the boys anything, although M knows. J thinks it looks like a girl and S thinks it looks like a boy. We'll probably tell them soon. So, you may post your comments regarding gender here, but try not to say anything to Sacagawea in person!
baby. That's about all I could tell from the photos. My doctor and The Man pointed out a few things to me. I could tell the heart was beating. I have no idea what the picture above shows.
This picture is of the baby's face and hand. I think it will be a lot cuter in person.
I'm told the next 2 pics show the gender with a 99% probability. The legs stayed firmly together so we couldn't see for sure if there was something extra. (Just to clarify, we think that is it, but there may be a 1% chance there is something we can't see).
Sacagawea says she would rather wait to find out the gender than to be told one thing now and find out the doctor was wrong. So, we haven't officially told the boys anything, although M knows. J thinks it looks like a girl and S thinks it looks like a boy. We'll probably tell them soon. So, you may post your comments regarding gender here, but try not to say anything to Sacagawea in person!
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