Yep, it’s been a long time. So much going on, where to start?
Our middle son is now a high school graduate! He’s earned his machinist certificate while in trade high school and was ready to enter the work place. He had a job with a major employer in a field he strives to become part of and they wouldn’t allow him to start until his birthday in July but they hired him anyways, knowing they’d have to wait two months for him. Well, without telling him or notifying him, they rescinded the offer because they couldn’t wait for him! He was trying to complete his background check paperwork and it wouldn’t go through so he called them and they informed him of their decision. WHAT????? He was basically unemployed for a month and didn’t know it. So, he began looking for a new job. BUT at the same time, he’s taken up long boarding which resulted in him hitting a curb and breaking his wrist. Sigh… mama is thanking God it wasn’t his head but there are now weekly appointments with the hand surgeon to radiograph the wrist because the head of the radius is in multiple floating pieces. If any one piece floats out of place, it’s surgery.
I’m working more hours in dental hygiene. Well actually, I’m now the infection control and OSHA coordinator for my office along with my dental hygiene responsibilities. This means I’m working some hours at home, organizing and preparing the plans and doing paperwork along with more hours at work for this and more hours as a dental hygienist. Some frugal activities have taken a back seat, like line drying the laundry. I’m happy to get it to the dryer, never mind line drying it.
The garden isn’t flourishing this year. I actually ended up in the hospital in May with a respiratory virus that exacerbated my asthma to the point of needing IV steroids. I guess this virus affected a lot of people and once I was through the virus, my asthma once again stabilized. Not a week after the virus and being out of the hospital, I once again injured my left foot and ankle. I was taking a CPR refresher class and there was an unmarked step down. Yep, rolled it off the step. So I’m once again rehabbing the foot and ankle. Both of these things really affected my spring gardening time. Then there was the abundance of voles who literally sucked the veggies down into the ground! No joke! My youngest and I watched a carrot wiggle then disappear down a vole hole! I’ve managed to snap trap two of them and the damage seems to be dwindling but not without serious losses. Then there was the deer attack. Hunting season approaches!
Our little NH cabin continues to be our refuge from the regular craziness of life. Slowly but surely, we’re improving it. We just dug two new concrete piers and had the carpenter put in proper support under the bedroom side of the cabin this past weekend. There are still more concrete piers to be done but again, slowly but surely, we’re working on those. We’re reclaiming the pasture from the weeds and we’re blessed with neighbors who readily exchange labor for labor and other barters. The owner of the Kabota that got ride of the pasture rocks (boulders!) asked for another diesel container to store more diesel for the rig. We got him two and filled them as the $50 for that was nothing compared to the value of the work he did getting out those rocks! The boys and I helped them get lime put on their hay field and when their field was done and there was lime to spare, they spread the last hopper on our pasture to help it green up. 
Neighbor helping neighbor is the way it should be and the way it was. We’re blessed up there on the hill in NH.
We’ve been hard at work harvesting fruit from local orchards for our winter smoothie obsession. It’s not just smoothies but much of what I put up last year went into those this past winter. We’ve put up about 100 lbs of strawberries. I’m at 30 lbs of blueberries so far. I won’t have peaches to put up this year as the entire state and much of the region lost their peach blossoms to a severe freeze. The spring was crazy and temperatures fluctuated wildly with the peach crop being just one of the victims. My black raspberry crop was another victim. Mother Nature can be as much a thoughtful, sweet coworker as she can be wicked and fickle; it’s part of living off the land.
Realized I haven’t taken enough photos of our work to show you anything. I’ll have to take a few and share them with you soon.
