"A suburban mother's role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after." - Peter De Vries

Children who have to be first grow up to be drivers.

My brain woke up at 1:30 and insisted my body join it in restlessness. By 3:30 I was hungry and mistakenly thought a banana would delay breakfast to a reasonable hour, but by 4:30 I'd given up on that plan. Thus, I was ready for lunch at 9 a.m.

One of today's tasks was hoof trimming. I made a stand out of lumber and PVC because I'm too cheap to buy one ($$$$) and don't have welding skills. It worked OK, but Itzhak could move his head too much; I need to find a way to make the leather strap (wide belt from Goodwill) tighter on his head & neck.
I got his hooves trimmed but we were both pretty traumatized afterward. I'd planned to do the other two goats but I'll do them tomorrow. Eventually this will become no big deal, but carving on a goat's hoof with blood just below the surface is a bit nerve wracking.

The leaf spring install is NOT going well. Today's one hour task that would complete the process has turned into a nightmare. I'll spare you the details, but the U-bolts they sent aren't close enough together at their ends, the locator pin doesn't seem to locate in its hole, and I don't know if the car's rear end will fall off if I drive it like this.
AAAAARHG.

Pam gets home tomorrow. I pick her up in Portland at 4:00 or so, depending on arrival time and luggage delivery. Then the 2+ hour drive home.
Not soon enough.

The ring came in yesterday's mail. I think I said it was latex but I'm told it's silicone. Either way it feels weird now, but I'll get used to it, eh? And I won't worry about ripping my finger off.
(I have old man hands, but they're honest hands that work on cars and muck out goat barns.)

Now I'm wondering if I should have ordered blue, or green, or... Black seems so ordinary.
I guess at $20 I can get another for when I'm feeling stylish.

We don't have cell coverage at home so we leave our phones on "airport mode" so we get notification of email and can use FB messenger function. When we leave home we take it off airplane as soon as we're at the bottom of the hill. Sometimes we discover we have voice mail messages, as I did this afternoon when I drove into town to get the bad U-bolts bent at a spring shop.
It was a message from a colleague thanking me for an article I wrote a few months ago about the power of prayer. His son-in-law has been diagnosed with leukemia and the prognosis isn't good. He's at the U of W now undergoing experimental treatments.
Getting that message was the best part of my day. Somebody with a very full plate and dealing with plenty of stress took the time to call me to say thank you. That was gracious of him. And it reminded me how easy it is to say thank you or pay a compliment that can be the bright spot in someone's day (or week).
As a pastor I was guilty of talking about what believers shouldn't say and not talking enough about what we should say. Focusing on the negative instead of the positive. I'm pretty sure I did that as a parent, too.
I try now to pay more compliments, say thank you consistently, and say things that make people feel good. Not gratuitously or  falsely; people can tell when it's fake and that's worse than not saying anything at all.
"Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt" (Col. 4:6) has a positive side, a prescription, as well as a negative, a prohibition.

I called him back and got the church answering machine. Thanked him for his voice mail and said that if it was OK I'd pray for his SIL.
I'm pretty sure he won't object.

As I eat I'm watching the ASU Sun Devils play North Carolina in softball. ASU is putting a beat-down on the Tar Heels and those women are positively giddy, obviously having a great time. The opponents, not so much.
It's easier to be happy when things are going well.