New Life Old Farmers

I do know something about parades.

I spent many high school hours practicing with my marching band for parades…band reviews…marching, playing and looking good.  I grew up entrenched with the ‘Granddaddy of them all’, the Rose Parade, leading of this parade twice in the band.  If you’ve never seen the Rose parade in person, you should add it to your bucket list!  I stood in the cold on Thanksgiving day in New York City and watched the Macy’s Day parade with their great balloons float by.  I have even waited outside St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and watched a parade or procession of the entire Royal Family as they celebrated the now deceased Queen Mother’s 80th birthday.  I have waved and watched Team Offspring in parades of their own.

I have never seen a parade like the Veteran’s Day parade here in my small town.

The short parade route was lined with people of all ages.  There was a color guard.  Cub scouts……and girl scouts…The high school band played…

The ROTC marched in straight lines…

There were military vehicles….…and even a few horses.

The parade watchers clapped and cheered…and hollered words I had never heard at a parade before…

“Thank you for your service!”
As the Veterans streamed by……there were fathers marching with sons…I know something about Veterans.  Most of my childhood friends had father’s that had served in World War II.  We knew something about my father’s time in that war.  Every Uncle I had served during that War…

I do not remembering honoring them.  This parade might have been the best I have seen.

This parade was a show of respect…

from us to them…

and we are blessed.

My Sweet School is crowded.  There are 3 schools in town and the over enrollment at all 3 schools would almost fill a fourth school.  We do not have that fourth school…and therein lies the problem.  Every year for the last 3 years, classrooms have been added and this year it just feels different…tighter…like wearing your thin jeans when you’ve gained 10 pounds, everything’s covered, but it is not comfortable.

The Good, Bad and Ugly…

The Good

The Good is very good, in fact you might even say it is great!.

In order to get everyone ‘in’ and give all the teacher’s their planning time, we (the library) have all upper grade kids, 3, 4, 5th grade kids one class everyday, so sometimes we have them twice in one week, while we have K, 1, 2 grades every 8 days, except they come to the library every week, but not always to be taught by us.  If you think this is confusing, well, you are right and more than one teacher has turned up in the right place on the wrong day or the right place on the right day for the wrong thing.  Ok, do you understand our schedule now?

Having the older kids more often has given us (My Librarian and I) the opportunity to create a Makerspace opportunity in the library.

A makerspace is a collaborative work space inside a school, library

or public/private facility for making, learning, exploring and sharing.

We run a library program for 3 days and then we run Explore.  Explore is our makerspace time.  We offer engineering play & challenges, creative endeavors, and teach strategic and fun games.   We also believe in the power of age-old play…blocks, coloring and puzzles.  We have more ideas than we have time.  If you enter the library on an Explore day, you might see paper airplanes soaring across the room, Lego cities being built, Zentangle drawings to name a few.  This week the kids were learning to play cards.

Many of our kids had never played cards before.  We taught Crazy Eights, taught them to deal, shuffle and how to play.  What to do when you loose.  You’re allowed to say, “Good game”.  There is no ‘cry, whine, fuss, fuss’ and if you are my sibling, you know who coined that phrase.  If you win, you are allowed to say, “Winner, winner chicken dinner!”

Our library is not a very quiet place.  When the noise is that of kids learning, playing and laughing…well, it is a very good thing.  Hearing a Special Ed kiddo happily announce “Winner, winner chicken dinner” and seeing he’d beaten one of the brightest kids in his class, Explore seems to make a level playing field and we love what we get to do.

The Bad

In every creative way possible, every available teaching space and room has found a use.  Our school is built like a 4 legged spider.  Each leg a ‘pod’ with classrooms built around it.  Two of the four pods serve as lunch rooms, so those pods are only available for a fraction of the day.  Supporting teachers and students by pulling students out of the classroom is a vital role I play for 1/3 or my day.  Except…finding a quiet place to work with kids is a challenge.  We’ve run out of rooms and quiet space.  We sneak into spaces already being used by others and teach kids to read in whispers.

I had a Grandmother Reading lunch all set up for this fall.  One lunch each week for 3, 4 & 5th graders, to eat their lunch and be read a favorite chapter book.  A delight for some kids who are not read to and for others who always crave another story.  It is amazing which 12-15 kids show up each week, anxious to hear the rest of the story and know that this adult came just for them.  Except, now we have no room.  The library is being used to often to squeeze the weekly lunch in.  Darn (or something like it).

The Ugly

To meet the needs of all the children, we are sharing our library space.  Even though we are not ‘on child duty’ while we are sharing the space, it still impacts us.  My Librarian and I lack the ability to spread out, create and collaborate.  We often joke that we share one brain and some days now, our brain seems to be missing altogether.  My desk/realm is smack dab in the center of the library.  Sharing our space is a bit like trying to pay one’s bills while sitting at your kitchen table all while your kitchen is full of guests trying to cook on your stove.

I love my school.  I love the kids.  I am not an extrovert.  I recharge by quiet or time with close friends or my family.  There is nowhere in my day for me to ‘get away’…no classroom to escape to while the kids are at recess.  I can sneak in about 10 minutes at lunch before the library gets utilized again.  Because of this most of all, I come home exhausted.

The Final Good

I’d say all the adults at the school have a good attitude toward our situation.  Everyone is trying.  Everyday I try to be an encourager and a positive person to those around me, even when sometimes I just want to say a Bad British Word.

The pumpkins have been harvested, and I needed to make a very special delivery to THE Grandson in Spokane.With My Girl riding Shotgun, we set out early to see our favorite 2-year-old.  As soon as we arrived, THE Grandson, grabbed a few tools and set about measuring the pumpkin.The tricky part was getting the Giant out of the truck without splattering it all over the Spokane sidewalk.  We’d brought what we hoped were strong boards to carefully roll the 200+ pound vegetable down out of the truck.  I didn’t fancy cleaning up a huge pumpkin splat, but more importantly, I didn’t want to fail so close to our goal.  Luckily we prevailed and Number One Son rolled the pumpkin across their lawn to set it at the foot of their porch stairs.  THE Grandson told me that his (unborn) sister needed a pumpkin too.  So I brought two more pumpkins, one for his Mamma and Daddy and one more for baby sister.Spending the day with THE Grandson is pure joy.  Reading to him, walking to the park, listening to him laugh…splashing in puddles.   Even watching him be a little naughty to his Daddy is sort of entertaining…well, to one of us.Spending time with all three of my kids and THE Grandson was just bliss.  Watching the Uncle and the Auntie delight in the little man was a special and delightful treat to me.

Number One Son and Number One Wife are trying to finish painting their house, before the weather catches up to them.  We were trying our best to be helpful, Number Two Son, My Girl, THE Grandson and I cooked dinner.  Building home-made pizzas with a 2-year-old, no one was overly concerned that THE Grandson licked his fingers after patting the dough, spooned some of the pizza sauce into his mouth, ate half of the pepperoni and spat out the mushrooms during production.  Watching Auntie and Uncle cooking with the darling boy…oh, be still my heart.

THE Grandson is potty trained.  I know!  He is amazing!  He just can’t actually pull his little underpants down, so that was my job.

‘Grammy?’

“Yes, sweetie.”

‘Do you have a penis?’

“No, I don’t.”

‘Daddy has a penis.’

“Yes, he does”.

 ‘Mamma doesn’t have a penis.’

‘That’s right’.

‘Uncle Riley…do you have a penis?’

…and I left the bathroom laughing.

It was a great day…and yes,

I am blessed.

I’d love to think, that after 4.5 years, we would have been well finished with our restoration of this old home.  We are not, not at all.  Years ago, Dear John explained that we had taken on a ‘massive restoration’.  He was right, very right.  We may not be done for quite some time, but one thing never changes… I love where we live.  I experience gratitude daily, that I get to live right here, where I want to be.

From the sunrise this Sunday…...to sharing this little farm with others.

One of my school kids came to see me this summer.  We carved his name as best we could on a green pumpkin…with a high-tech pumpkin carving tool (a small screw driver).He came back this weekend to pick up his pumpkin…and I gave him one more, because giving kids pumpkins that we have to cut from the vine is just plane fun.The last time he came, he really wanted to hold a chicken.  Don’t ask me why.  It is a great way to live, to make kids happy with simple things.  My Loving Spouse was on-hand to catch our slowest chicken and let him hold her.  From the look on his face, I think he learned that not everything you want to try is worth it!Life is good.  I get to live here….

and I am blessed.

I sent My Loving Spouse a text.  I needed to give him a shopping list. Except, I did not type the text, I told the phone what the shopping list was and the phone typed the text.

SOCKS

‘SUCKS’

So I was really careful and enunciated clearly, so the phone would understand…

SOCKS, SOCKS, SOCKS

‘SUCKS, SUCKS, SUCKS’

Oh, bloody hell, I muttered.

Like this pumpkin, life feels ‘tight’.

Who knew 4 1/2 years ago when we started this restoration, that we would not yet be done!  Luckily, not I.

All we have left is to finish the bathroom, expand the master bath, relocate the laundry room, build a mud room, rebuild the part of the house that is still falling off, repair fences, restore the workshop and replace a few more windows.

Believe it or not, but we have been making progress on some of this…it is just that after 4 1/2 years, it is hard to imagine that anyone is interested in hearing that:

1. Number Two Son got new windows2. The attic bathroom storage room got drywalled…and I had to do it, as I was the ‘small limber’ one.  Anytime I am the small one, you darn well know that there are  not very many people to pick from.3.  I grew some pumpkins…amazing pumpkins!  “Wow!”  Is what most people say when they see them.  Lots of pumpkins, but 2 huge 200 pound whoppers…one for THE Grandson, and one for Mr. T and Z.  What can I say?  I have an orange thumb.

I have been in a quiet stage.

School is busy.

My Loving Spouse is busy.

He is gone a lot.  When he is not gone, we are not sure, when he will be gone.  We only know his schedule a few days at a time and this fact has made me…weary.  ‘Weary’, sheesh, that is sort of a ‘sock’ word (you fill in the blank).  My Loving Spouse is my partner, my best friend, my help mate…animal feeder, drywall sander, tractor engine repairer and cook.  Not knowing when he’ll be home or for how long is difficult, as life’s problems go…this situation is a good one and so I am weary, but I know that still…

I am blessed.

We are having a Granddaughter.  We are quite excited!  This little baby girl, like her big brother, THE Grandson, will not have any shortage of special blankets and quilts made for them with great love by their Mamma, their Grandma and their Grammy.  I’ve seen THE Grandson go to sleep with 3 blankets, one made by us each.  His Mamma tells this 2-year-old, who made each blanket, a reminder of our love for him.  I am grateful for this.I thought I was going to tell you, that this is my first ever ‘Log Cabin’ Quilt design and how much fun it was, and that it was easy, and that making a quilt for someone you love is the best part of quilting…even if you haven’t actually met that some one yet.I found myself thinking, how grateful I am for who Number One Son married.  When they were still teenagers on our family vacation, the option came up to go and see my newest nephew, in hot Sacramento or go to the beach for the night.  She said, “I want to go and see the baby!”  Which was what we all wanted and so we did!  Number One Wife was part of My and My Loving Spouse’s wedding.  Number One Wife was the one who thought to bring games and snacks for Team Offspring, during my cancer surgery.  Number One Wife was with us the first day we stepped foot on Glory Farm.I am ever, so ever grateful that with plenty of blanket making creative people in My Grandchildren’s lives, we each have a ‘place’ and are valued… …and I know that My Daughter In Law/Number One Wife will say to her little girl someday…

This is the one that Grammy made……and I am blessed.

School is back in session, so My Loving Spouse and I did what we’ve been wanting to do for a long time.  We hit the trail.  The September evening was gorgeous and perfect for a trail ride.  Out the back gate, along the John Wayne Trail with a loop back along the canal.  This also brings us up close to Our Friend the Farmer’s Parked Up Project Lot.  Don’t judge, remember our bathtub came from this treasure trove.  Every time we ride by, My Loving Spouse comments on a particular truck, “he’d love to get his hands on”…I’ll be honest, I spent most of the time riding along the canal keeping my eye at the bottom of the water.  I was working on getting the ‘Mother of the Year’ award, by locating a certain Son’s car key he lost early in the summer, while floating the canal.  School is back in session.  I love my job.  This week was the first week for kindergartener.  We have all day kindergarten….thought up by some bright spark, who has never actually taught all day kindergarten.  The last hour of all day kindergarten is a bit like herding 20 cats and then someone throws water on them, cold water…yep, it is like that.

We had 20 in the library, sitting on the rug, which looked a bit more like wiggling live bait.  Ten minutes into our library time:

• One boy looked up burst into tears, crying with gusto…  “I miss my Mommy!”
• A lost 5 year old wandered in from another class, noticed we had books and thought he’d stay
• A teacher in an adjoining room asked if I could watch her class, while she went to look for a girl who had not returned from using the bathroom

After giving up or giving in or getting smart, we broke out lots of legos and let the poor little ones play until it was time to go out to recess.  Upon, being told it was time for recess, one little boy exclaimed,

“Outside!!  I was just out there!  Nope, I am not going!”

…and so, when I get the opportunity to take a trail ride…I will take it!

Rodeo weekend is a celebration.  We still carry the aftermath of what a Los Angeles Crowd looks, feels and sometimes smells like, so a ‘crowded’ Rodeo night just makes us giggle.  The numbers are mild, but the attitude is festive!  Everyone is there to enjoy the western sport. This year, we added to our education by joining in the after party, behind the chutes.  ‘Chutes’ being where the bulls and broncs are released.No alcohol is sold in the arena.  If you want a beer after the event, you join in the party.  Straw bales are not set out for ‘effect’, but set out to sit or stand on, because it just makes sense.The band was playing.  The people were dancing.  The beer was flowing.  It felt a bit like being in the moving Sweet Home Alabama, (except this being Washington, they never played that song, which is too bad for me, since it is a song that I actually know and I had worn my going to ‘town boots’ and they are almost always ready to dance.)I loved it.  This wasn’t ‘a’ Western party, this was ‘the’ Western party.

I am so grateful that I get to live here!

There are certain times in one’s life, where quitting is just not an option.  When the garden hose attached with the sewer unplugger is stuck in the waste pipe one is trying to unstick…yes, that would be just one of those times.  My Loving Spouse crawls under the house.  My instructions are to jam the hose up and down so he can hear where it is stuck.  Basic plumbing at its finest.Oh, yes, we are a formidable team.  He learns a lot while he is down ‘there’, mostly that he’ll never be the one replacing the main sewer line and we add that to the list called, “When our ship comes in”.

Luckily for us, we who do not quit, we do get the hose out.  Bad news is that the line is still plugged.  We develop a new plan of attack, called ‘go at it from the other end’.  This means digging up the Clean Out lid.  One would think this would be easy, because

1. We’ve done it before.

2.  We have a map.

We measure and dig a bit and learn a valuable life lesson…maps work best when completely unfolded…We do find THE lid.  We open it up.  We decide to completely go British at this time…have a cup of tea or (jam, biscuits and coffee.)The only ones sort of excited that we had to dig up the septic clean out hole seems to be the chickens.We reorganize and rent some serious plumbing equipment.  This takes multiple available ‘hands’ or  feet as it were as Number Two’s job seems to be to step on the control that runs the line.  My Loving Spouse handles the line that digs in the pipe.  I mostly stand back and say stuff like, ‘Well done!’  Grateful to not be hanging on to anything that has been inside our pipes.At this time someone drives into our yard to ask if we are selling hay.  Now, nothing says, ‘We’ve got hay for sale’ like having one’s back-end sticking out of your septic clean out trap.  There were a lot of items this person could have asked if we did, but selling hay was not actually on the list.

The hay buyer is redirected.

The rental sewer unsticker is returned after having done the job.

We’re back in love with our wonderful old house.  The pipes are running freely.  We’ve all showered and smell good, instead of all just smell.

Life is good and we are blessed.