Friday the Thirteenth

Image by www.jonco48.com


Yesterday was Friday the thirteenth. I did not realize this until today, the fourteenth. I will put forth the activities from my day yesterday, and let you decide if there is any credence to the superstition about Friday the Thirteenth.

1. I got on my tractor and headed to the highest point on the property. The road on the downhill side has been caving in practically since the day we bought this place. Do you think there is any connection??

Anyway, I had the bush-hog connected to the back of the tractor in order to mow the overgrowth down, so I could see where the terra firma ended in the ditch. I mowed, and then started scooping up dirt and dumping it in the ditch-that-reaches-to-China.

I had scooped and dumped about 12 loads (a drop in the ocean) when the bush-hog tilted dangerously. Upon inspection, I realized that one of the spring-loaded, can't-ever-come-off, not even when I want it to, pins was missing and the mower was not connected to one of the arms required to lift it up.

Image by www.ukrainetzauction.com

I searched and searched, but no pin. I had to improvise with a piece of flimsy chain and a clip, just to drive the tractor back to the shop building. It was a very slooooooooow drive.

2. I parked the tractor, returned to the house and jumped in the shower with the water set at the coldest setting. It wasn't actually cold. When I got out and toweled off, I notice that a mosquito had gained access to my bra while I was searching for the missing mower pin. And it BIT ME!! Twice. Once on each side. Umm... very close to a sensitive milk-producing gland.

I am trying not to embarrass myself and those I am with, if the urge to scratch strikes me while out in public.

3. Also as I emerged from the not-cold-enough shower, Stud Muffin arrived to tell me that not moments after I drove the tractor up our road and onto the blacktop drive, a giant tree came crashing down across the road I was just on. Driving very slooowly.



It's a big tree. It would have squashed me like the bug I am.



Of course, now I (well, Stud Muffin and I) need to cut the tree up before we can use the road again. Probably tomorrow, hopefully before the temperature exceeds 100 degrees.

Now, let's consider whether this indicates that Friday the Thirteenth portends bad luck.

If I hadn't taken the tractor up the hill, I wouldn't have cleared the brush and noticed that the cave-in is now deep enough to see all the way through to the other side of the planet. It was like taking an exotic mini-vacation without the airplane ride.

The mosquito wouldn't have mysteriously gained access to the girls as I hunted for the missing pin, and I imagine he/she/it had a raging good time in there! I'm not sure I feel the same.

If the mower hadn't gone cattywumpus on me, I would have stayed up the hill working until after the tree fell, and I couldn't have gotten the tractor back to the shop building where I could replace the pin. Or I could have been crushed by the tree.

So, you decide. Good luck or bad luck?? All I know is that Nick doesn't care one way or the other. But don't you just love the way he sleeps on the sofa?? He's going out for the US Diving team next season.




Edit: Got the tree cut up this morning. I manned the chainsaw, while Stud Muffin positioned the blocks and hauled the cut chunks over to the house to be split at a later time. We only cut the portion that was blocking the road, because I didn't feel like battling the blackberry thorns for the rest of it!



Big sucker, huh?



No! Not my hand...the tree!!

Whew!

Image by mama2point0.files.wordpress.com

Well, I survived the dreaded summer school. That last week of exams was about enough to kill a girl, but I made it. And I kept my "A" in the class! Whoo hoo!

And so I have 3 whole weeks off before school starts again on Sept 1. Well, not exactly, but close enough. I do still have to finish learning about IV drip rates and review all my dosage calculation stuff in order to be ready for the exam on the first day of class. We have 3 chances to pass the exam with a 90% accuracy, and all three chances come in the first week and a half of school. I suspect that some of my fellow classmates will be out of the class practically before it begins if they don't pass this test.

As a delayed celebration of our anniversary (postponed because of exams) Stud Muffin took me to our recently rebuilt Longhorn Steak House for lunch on Saturday. The restaurant caught fire and burnt to the ground not too long ago and they quickly put up another building. The lunch was very good, with some new menu items to try.

Before we hit lunch, we stopped by the farmer market where all I scored was a big box of homegrown peaches. They were so fragrant, but not the least bit over-ripe. I decided that it was way too hot to even think about making jam, so I chopped them into bits to freeze, to be used in smoothies throughout the year.

But first you have to peel the peaches, 'cuz bits of peel in your smoothie is just nasty! Boil for a few seconds,



Dunk in ice water to cool,



and the peels slip right off and make a mess all over the counter.




Chop, bag and they are ready for the freezer. Then you get to clean up the kitchen and dispose of the peels in the compost pile!



While we were "uptown" we stopped in and got the dogs some stuffed toys. We don't buy them every year even, because Sassy feels it is her duty to eviscerate the toys as fast as humanly possible. Nick can make a stuffed toy last for quite a while, most content to carry it around and honk it's little squeaker.

I love me some good duck!

So far, I have rebuilt Sassy's hedgehog 3 times and each time she excitedly rips it apart and leaves fur and stuffing all around the house. Yesterday, she finally ripped it's face off for good and left it in small fuzzy pieces on the bedroom floor!

First I bite the leetle feeties off.

Sassy seems to be respecting Nick's duck a bit more, but takes every opportunity to steal it from him and chew it's feet and caboose off! He tries to defend it, but she runs to the window, barks like there's something outside, then sneaks around the table and snatches the duck when he goes to the window to look!

I guard duck from thieving Border Collies!

Okay, I chew on hedgehog some more then.

Do you see what school has done to me?!? I was once a reasonably sane woman. Now, I imagine my dogs talking like foreigners to each other! Sheesh! Better get out there and work in the yard some and let the brain cells rest!

Two more weeks

That's how much summer school I have left. Two weeks. One more week of lectures, then a week of exams. Then I get 3 weeks off before the fall grind semester begins. It won't be enough time off. Can you tell I am soooooo over summer school??

The weather is still hot and humid. Nick still runs through (and under, over, and beyond) the creek almost everyday. He has so many bug bites driving him crazy that I can't really blame him for doing it. Except that I have to wash him. So I do. Blame him, that is.

I managed to tidy up my harvested garlic. The weather was so muggy, that they just weren't curing like they should have.



I was worried that they would simply mold on the back porch. So I brought them in, dusted them off, and made little net bags for them to hang in the garage pantry.



This ought to last me over two years! Or until the next vampire convention comes to town.

Otherwise, the vegetable garden has been a bit of a bust this year. I have gotten more tomatoes than I can eat at a time, but not enough to can. I did bring in 7 spaghetti squashes that will go live with the garlic in the garage until I can eat them. But the cabbages were disappointing, the carrots never did sprout, and the celery was way too strongly flavored to be much good.

I don't have any pictures, but yesterday, Stud Muffin saw a squirrel fly up into an apple tree and make off with an apple! I've been wondering where they all went! I have one tree that required supports to prop up laden branches. Relieved of the weight of the apples, the branches have sprung up and the supports are lying lamely on the ground. Oh well, most of the fruit had sunburn, and black splotches. Maybe the squirrel will get diarrhea!! (I'm vindictive that way!!)

Now here is a photo that should never have been taken! Studly snapped this very unflattering shot of me standing up at the table studying.



My poor butt just can't take all of this sitting down reading!! Have I told you I am over summer school yet?? No? Well, believe you me, I am!

So there you are. Just think of me sitting on a cushion, moving it from dining chair to recliner as I study, muttering "... two more weeks, two more weeks..." over and over. Cuz that's what I'm doing right now!!

The non-update update

Before I get lynched for not posting anything here, I will leave a pathetic little update.

1. We been having a heat wave. Unrelenting, hot, muggy weather that puts the kabosh on any kind of outdoor chores or activities. Our nighttime lows have been higher than the highs in most places. Except perhaps Hell. Well, maybe even Hell. It's too close to tell.

So, all we (and by this I mean Stud Muffin) have done is run out and start the sprinklers watering. Then we run back out and move the sprinklers for some more watering. My job it to get out there before the sun rises and water the vegetable garden. Oh. And tell them how sorry I am that they are being roasted even before they are harvested.

2. Now we have been having torrential rain. For the last two nights, I have been blown out of bed by incredible house-shaking thunder and lightning. When that happens, Sassy barks like a lunatic and beats up on all of her toys, while Nick forces open the curtains and stands in the window to check out what's making all the infernal noise. I have been making do with short naps throughout the night.

Image by www.uwec.edu


3. Three days wasn't nearly enough time to rejuvenate before starting another crash course for nursing. This class is much better than the last, but I was already worn out when it began. Things have not improved with limited sleep. See item number 2.

4. As a result of numbers 2 and 3, I am sitting here like a leftover party-girl, but without the fun of the party. So, I am just going to sit here and look like this:

Image by cinemafique.files.wordpress.com

Phew!

Okay... test over. Passed. Course over. Passed. Actually, I got my best grade on this final. Unfortunately, many of my fellow students didn't pass the class, and some missed it by less than 1 point! I'm not going to go into why this course was so horrible, but I will say that the failure rate is not a reflection on the students themselves. Nuff said!

Between studying and sleeping napping, I have done a couple of things in the garden. I got the garlic harvested and hung up to dry on the back porch.



I know I'm not supposed to cut the tops off, but I just had to!

I have harvested more veggies and herbs too. Celery, zucchini, lemon cucumber, and basil.



I spy, with my little eye, the first ripening tomatoes.



And I came home from my test today to find Stud Muffin had power-washed the porch on the studio building and was working on the teak furniture that lives there. It hasn't been cleaned in -well- too long.



Which side has been washed??



Better??



The chickens napped in the sun. Okay, they are wooden chickens, but they still need their rest!



I helped a bit and we got one of the chairs cleaned as well. Tomorrow we will finish the washing and after it all dries, I will start the much-slower process of oiling it all down.



And finally, when I went to make a deposit into the compost heap this afternoon, I noticed that "somebody" has been snacking on the squash garden. This zucchini plant used to have the largest elephant-ear leaves! I put some bird netting over it all, so hopefully, "somebody" will go elsewhere for food.



I now have 3 days off from school, but before you think I can just goof off, I do have about 259 pages of reading to do for the next class!

Don't talk to me...

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I'm not listening. Tomorrow is the final exam for my Pharmacology class. Four weeks and 189 drugs of pure hell (yes, I'm so lame I counted.)

I know nothing about drugs. If you peer in one ear, you would see daylight coming in from the other ear.

A few things I did learn. Like a whole bunch of ways to kill a person, by accident or on purpose.

And that the Marquis de Sade teaches pharmacology at my school. And that on the last exam, 2/3 of the students didn't pass. Out of a class of 80.

And that if you drive toward school with your doors unlocked, you might get carjacked and wind up driving a gun-toting maniac to Arizona (long story, fellow student is safe and on the way home.)

But as far as anything useful that will help me on this 100 question final exam... Nada.

So until my eyes have massaged all the words on 100s of pages of notes, and this horrid class is over and done with, I'm not listening to anyone. Well, except Studly. And Nick and Sassy. And you.

What do you do...

What do you do when it's been 1000 degrees and horribly humid for days and days?



You run down to the creek, bark at a few turtles and beavers, and come home dripping in mud.

Then you make a puddle on the porch, shake mud onto mommy (that's me) and show her your muddy wiener 'cuz you know you are in trouble.



Then she gets to stand outside in the sun, heat, and humidity to hose off mystery swamp stuff!

The End.