Maybe they got their fighting out of their systems yesterday. Probably not. But at least the boys are starting the day off by playing. It gives me time to do chores.
Category: Family
Sunday morning bike ride (and other nonsense)
While the weekend may be almost over for Susanna, the boys and I have one more day off. The boys even had a half day of school on Friday, so it is an even longer weekend. Although, Will and Ben spent most of Friday afternoon fighting, so it wasn’t really much of a gain in that department. I, at least, got to enjoy an extra afternoon off of work spending quality time with both of them. Mediating the fights. Maybe they are just trying to emulate our elected officials in Washington. Okay, the fights weren’t that bad.
The boys had soccer Saturday morning. They lost. Again. But only 3 to 1. They had friends over in the afternoon, and only spend about half of it fighting with each other (hey, still doing better than Congress). I even took all four of them (Will, Ben plus two friends) on a short bicycle ride around the corner to a local cemetery. I was very thankful that none of them crashed (or was hit by a car). So, overall, it was a successful bike ride (i.e. no one killed, and not all of my hair is gray – yet).
By this morning, I think they had tired of fighting with each other (mostly). After breakfast, Susanna, the boys and I all bicycled up to Norwich. The boys got a snack (second breakfast) from Dunkin Donuts in downtown Norwich, and we returned home by late morning. Again, a successful bike ride (for the same reasons mentioned above).
In the afternoon we headed to the Connecticut Renaissance Faire (again in Norwich – but this time we drove). We enjoyed the shows and the boys did a little shopping in time for Halloween. I was surprised that the boys sat through three of the shows. I was even more surprised that Susanna made it through the “Cirque du Sewer” show – a rat carnival. Of course Susanna and I sat near enough to the back that she didn’t have to get a good look at the rats.
We rounded out the day with a game of “Settlers of Catan,”, which I finally won. Hopefully the boys will sleep in tomorrow morning. But who am I kidding. They are up at 6am on the weekends, but need someone to kick them out of bed in time to catch an 8am school bus during the week. I’m sure it is some sort of karma for my own childhood.
Glasses
I had to pick Will and Ben at school a few minutes early today so we could make Ben’s annual physical exam. In order to pick up the boys, I had to check in with the main office and sign them out there. As I was waiting for them both to come down, a teacher I hadn’t’ met before was in the office. She introduced herself as Will’s teacher.
While talking, she mentioned that she wanted to meet Ben. She said that she had heard that Ben looked a lot like Will, but wore glasses. I said, “Oh, Will wears glasses as well.” Will promptly walked into the office without glasses on. He had left them at home this morning. Of course, a few minutes later, Ben arrived wearing his glasses.
That was today’s hint that Will isn’t wearing his glasses at school as often as he should be. Or just chalk it up as another one of those ADHD moments (though this one was Will’s moment).
ADHD
I love going back and reading my old posts. I almost never have two posts in a row on the same topic. I would like to think of this blog as a great canvas, where I can paint a wonderful picture with my thoughtful words and insightful ideas. However, it is more like an out of focus picture. But at least there are nice colors in it. And it is my picture. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
William likes to say that all dogs have ADHD. So, maybe this is more like a blog that a dog would write. Though not a beagle, I’m pretty sure (not enough smells, and too many colors). However, if you read Will and Ben’s blogs, you will see that their posts wander more than mine. But they are 9 and 10, so they have an excuse.
It really is kind of fun to go back and look at what I wrote. At least it is for me – I can’t say that it would be fun for anyone else. Heck, Susanna has read them all once when they were written. I’m sure reading them all once is plenty. Well, I assume it is. Someday I’ll have to read them all myself. Granted, I wrote them all, but clearly there are posts I never read before posting. Hopefully my writing would have been better if I had actually proofread them.
As I approach 300 posts and 3 years writing in this blog, I hope I will find the focus to write 300 more posts over the next three years. Maybe one of these days I’ll actually find something interesting to write about. Once I do that, I’ll then have to try to find words that make me sound like I know what I’m talking about. What are the chances of that happening?
Round two (or three) with the workshop.
I am rearranging the workshop. Again (or rather, still – if you read my post from last week). I am making slow progress on the project, but am getting to the point where the workshop is getting back to almost usable.
I have enough of the floor installed to have most of the heavy tools back where they belong. The next project is to go through the pile of way too much stuff that I moved from the back of the workshop to the front. Hopefully I can find homes for everything, and maybe even find a way to get rid of some of the stuff.
I am only insulating the bottom half of the walls. In public, I would say that I am only insulating the bottom to preserve the look of the old walls. But, just between you and me, I am pretty lazy. It would be a lot more work to do the upper half of the walls (all the electrical wiring is run on the upper half of the walls). Maybe next year if I am inspired to insulate the rest of the space. I’ll see how bad it is to heat this winter.
The new layout certainly opens up space in the back of the workshop. I used to have the workbench out from the wall, which made it a little cramped between the workbench and the outfeed table of the table saw. I also had all the hand tools on the side wall, which meant always walking away from the bench to get tools I needed. The tools are all hanging (or will be hanging) on the back wall, over the workbench.
Maybe I’ll build a new outfeed table, and some nice shelves for all the woodworking books I have (that are sitting in a pile in the front of the workshop). I’ll see what I feel like attacking once the shop is cleaned up. Maybe I’ll just reorganize the shop again. It would be so easy to just turn into one of those people whose only connection to woodworking is reading magazines, rearranging the workshop, and periodically building shop furniture.
Ignore the pictures. The workshop is still a disaster. But an improving disaster. To keep the rest of the family busy, I arranged playdates for everyone. Will had Shane over. Ben had Slater over. Susanna got to babysit Michael. Targa and Tucker, well, life is just one big playdate for a dog. My playdate was with a bunch of air-dried pine 1×10’s and a hand saw (not to forget the cordless drill).
A crowded Sunday
Ben has his friend Slater over. Will’s friend, Shane, will be over shortly. Susanna is in heaven, watching Michael. I’ll get some peace to work in the shop. It is turning out to be a nice day. Here is Will helping feed Michael:
Chickens, Chickens, everywhere
Today wasn’t as productive of a day as I had hoped. But it seemed busy enough. I did get some work done on the chicken coop, including adding a new watering system. Susanna and I also cleaned the house and did other house chores. Not much fun, but needed projects. In the afternoon we went out to look at cars and visit a vineyard for a wine tasting.
Too bad that most car dealers are closed on Sundays. At least we could look in the windows, even if we couldn’t open the doors. We then headed to Priam Vineyards in Colchester, skipped the wine tasting and just got a bottle of wine, crackers and cheese. It was too nice of a day to sit inside and do a tasting. We decided to enjoy our food and drink on the patio.
This evening I let the chickens out to range. I think for now we will have to keep the dogs and chickens apart. However, the chickens do seem to enjoy exploring the yard, and Tucker does enjoy spending the time after the chickens are back in their coop searching out where they have wandered. I’ll bring Tucker back in sometime before bedtime.
Summer is over…
The summer is over. The boys had a full week of school, Susanna started her job full-time, furlough is over for me, and the mornings are cool enough to need a light jacket.
I haven’t been posting much on this blog. I haven’t had much time to sit down and reflect on things this week. Nor have I had much time to do anything interesting in the workshop, or around the house. But hopefully things will settle down. We will get used to the schedule with school and with Susanna working.
The boys have started soccer. They are both on a U-11 recreation league in Griswold. Thankfully they are on the same team, which means 1/2 the time spent at soccer this year as opposed to last year. They had their first game of the season yesterday (they lost, but had fun).
We even let the chickens free range yesterday afternoon. Tucker was a bit too interested in the chickens, so I have to work on getting him to ignore the chickens when they are out before we let them spend more than an hour or two free ranging – it is too much work to leash Tucker for a whole afternoon.
I still have a few projects around the house that need to be finished this fall:
- Run power to the new outlets in Will’s room.
- Finish replacing door hinges in the kitchen.
- Add an outlet to the study.
- Finish the trim on the chicken coop and paint the coop.
- Clean the workshop (okay, that is an ongoing project).
- Fill all the holes in the yard that Tucker and Targa have made looking for moles. Maybe I should stop feeding the cats for a few days so they will have incentive to catch the moles.
I am sure there are more, but that list should keep me going for a little bit.
Today the boys go back to their mother’s house as we shift schedules to move into a week-on/week-off schedule with the boys. I plan on working on the chicken coop this morning, and maybe one of the doors in the kitchen. This afternoon we are going to head out and look at cars and maybe a wine tasting.
Where there is trouble…
… usually one can find Tucker. Today he found his way on to the roof of the chicken coop. I’m not quite sure how he go there, it is a bit of a jump from the driveway wall. Maybe he jumped on the nesting boxes to get up.
And, yesterday, he pushed his way into the coop while I was building the run for the chickens. He sat in the corner not quite sure what to do – until Susanna and I got him out of the pen.
First day of school
Fifth and fourth grades
