"I have noticed that nothing I never said ever did me any harm." - Calvin Coolidge

Something fishy in this office

After last night's post I went out to close up the barn for the night with the goats safely inside. When I put Sundae in her stall I notice what was either a very large mouse or a small rat floating in her water bucket. The tail looked more like a rat's.
Besides the gross factor (high) it means Sundae is without water because a goat won't drink water they consider fouled. And a dead rodent qualifies as fouled. I've found them in the bottom of the bucket several times over the last few weeks, but this one must have passed on shortly before I found him.

We're getting down to the mid-30's at night now, which means it's in the high 50's in MoHo in the morning. The wood stove is back in service! I'm burning wood from the trees that came down last year and it's down to about 5% moisture content, which means it lights easily and burns well. This morning I lit a fire at 4 a.m. and had MoHo from 59 degrees up to 70 in about an hour. If I work it right I can add a piece of wood every hour or so and keep it cozy in here until the sun has warmed things up. Late afternoon reaches 70-72 degrees.

Note: when the family arrives this weekend we'll use the furnace to keep it in the upper 60's overnight and then light a fire in the morning. Grammy will insist on it. Me? "Ah, toughen up the little buggers. When I was a kid..."
(not!)

Pam is ALL excited at the return of Poldark on PBS. She's now read every book in the series (I read the first 2 or 3 and then bailed on the series, but it's very good) and eager to see season 3 (it might be 4) which follows the next book. They're very well done, stick close to the books, and have beautiful cinematography.
I'm more pleased at the return of Midsomer Murders, a BBC detective show.

Steve & Michelle and their two arrive sometime Saturday afternoon after the drive down from the Portland airport.
YES!!!
We'll spend the weekend together, have an outing planned for Monday, and then Tuesday they'll drive up to Seattle where they've reserved an AirBNB. We'll drive up Wednesday and be with them there until next Saturday. We'll leave early and drive home and they'll leave a bit later and go to Portland for their flight home.
While in Seattle we'll spend time with my folks who feel very attached to Steve & Michelle and have never seen their great grandchildren. THAT will be fun!

So we'll have six of us in MoHo for almost four days, including two preschoolers. The weather will be cool but sunny (yay!) and though the kids are a bit timid around animals I'm hoping I can get them to help feed goats and chickens. And Grammy has several activities planned including a treasure hunt.

At our small group Tuesday night there was much commiserating among those young parents about the struggles they're having with their toddlers and elementary school kids. I get it; it can be a struggle. So I told them it WILL get better. An if God is gracious and they are faithful they, too, will consider their kids their best friends.

Seeing our kids come down our driveway will be the highlight of our summer...and autumn.