Coming up for air

I've been so incredibly busy since coming home, I can only liken it to rampaging. Catching up with friends, running errands, taking care of the critters and coordinating the projects around here. Friday I was literally bouncing back and forth between Tiger's house and mine, where I had two crews working on the yards.

But for now, its quiet. The Bassets are napping on the sofa. Gracie is piled up on the pillows across from me. I'm willing myself to ignore the state of the house, which is horrid - there's still messes from madcap packing, the house is a dusty mess. I haven't even dealt with the brooder, which has been sitting in the meditation room filled with shavings and poop. And I have to fix the vacuum. Ugh.

Generally speaking, I'd be getting around for work on a Sunday but the boss has finally called it quits. I'm going to go in and help her set up her Amazon account to sell the store inventory online. I'm hoping to buy some bookcases and possibly, a few chairs. If I can get the chairs, that horrid 3-seater sofa is going away.

After many talks with my mother, I've the thought to sell off and give away as much of our furniture as possible before the move. Get to Florida (or a point on the East coast) and start over. Nothing we have is really appropriate for a Southeastern house. The dining room set is fine, possibly a few other pieces, but frankly so little is worth taking. Our house is a crazy amalgam of Freecycle, inexpensively purchased stuff and the cast off the odds and ends that a military community seems to attract.

Kevin is heading to New Orleans to visit family for he and his brother's birthdays. We have shopped ourselves silly putting together a light weight wardrobe, including a pair of shoes, for the trip. He's thinking a dump run should be done before he heads out, so I'm in waiting mode to hear back as to whether he needs the big pickup. If he does, I'll likely go with him to return the favor. If not, we have plans to watch a Netflix DVD.

My Mother asked about my "inner life" this visit, something she's never done before. Frankly, I haven't time for much of one I admitted to her. She admitted she's in much the same situation. We both laughed with exasperation at ourselves. Here we are two educated, brilliant Feminist women and we're too tired to develop ourselves at present. I need to get back up on my stride around here, Mom has visitors coming up to the Dorset house every weekend this Summer and likely through the Fall. This weekend, its Aunt Betty from Colorado. Whom we will all see at her son's wedding in August.

Which reminds me, I'll be in the Littleton/Denver area for a week in August. Generally family events are too chaotic and booked for meeting up with friends but synapsepi is there and I do plan to make time in any way to hang out with her.

Catching up

Spent the day cleaning, which was immediately made futile when the Craftsman vac started shooting dust out the back end. *seethe* I'd tried to make due with the incorrect filter that the NEX insisted would work, which basically filled the house and my lungs with dust. Not good. All that hard work dusting was wasted. *shakes fist of death*

I'd invited Kevin over to watch Unstoppable on Netflix DVD, so I ordered pizza online to be delivered this afternoon. Love that ability - order pizza, set the time and forget about it until the doorbell rings! Movie was actually pretty good, lots of energy and fun. And of course, since he was over and helpless, I managed to corner Kevin in helping me with some chores - outdoor critters, helping me pull bedskirts into place, remaking the beds, etc. I gave him a break and let him go before I cleaned out the dirty brooder.

I'm not sure what happened, but we found one of the Splash Marans dead in the backyard. Under the treeline and untouched, which makes me think it was a health issue vs a predator. Raptors leave feathers and pieces (hope you haven't just eaten) and four-legged predators leave their own hallmarks. This evening, when I tucked the other standard-sized chickens in the shed coop, I gave them some extra attention. The sister to the dead hen is grieving, I hadn't bonded with either but we'll give her a little extra attention and see if we can bring this around. We'll miss those gorgeous dark brown eggs, as will our customers.

Our Silver Swede ducklings are ready to go to their new homes. Noah has a line on folks who are looking for two, so I'm waiting to hear back. Babs, our Black Swede, is brooding her little heart out which hopefully will pay off in healthy ducklings. We'll need to figure out where she and the ducklings are going soon. Which necessitates another conversation with Noah. I'm assuming that other ducks are brooding, as I've not seen most of the gals lately. At least one duck, as per above, was likely nabbed by a Bald Eagle or similar.

I do promise pics this week, I will try for tomorrow.