Summertime....

Gotta love it......

*new modem is here and set up and re-connecting us to the rest of the world via internet. woo hoo

*found new camera battery charger for only $13 on amazon (best buy was charging $59.99!). Older photos are finally on the computer and newer photos are in the works!

* fathers day bbqs! David rocked the Mr BBQ t-shirt and the butter-yellow leisure suit I picked up for him at a free clothes extravaganza. Other fathers day treats included breakfast in bed, men only waterfall hike, little presents, and a neighborhood gathering at our place.
* Noah loved his week-long skateboarding camp
* Nim's art camp starts next week
* the little tiny back porch and bistro set are seeing some serious relaxing - action!

* and the garden is booming!
Gotta love it!

Technology Challenged

I few things have been keeping me quiet in the emailing/blogging/facebook world for the last little while.

1) our modem got fried by lightening and the phone company is taking their time sending us a new one. So my internet time time is limited to while I am at work (which has been limited due to reason #2) or neighbors (also limited because of #2)

2) my wise old wisdom teeth which have been moving around for many years, have started to move down and out of the skin (I have been teething along with all the babies in my life since 2002) and one decided to get all nasty and infected. Totally painful to open my jaw at all! yikes! So I started feeling some ickiness in my lymph nodes and realized that the infection was likely moving down my neck, so I bit the bullet and went to the oral surgeon who gave me a bunch of antibiotics and said, of course, that he wanted to rip them out. No suprise. So I feel poopy, have only been able to work about 1/2 of my hours this week, and I need to come up with a couple thousand dollars and 4 more days off work to get the puppies yanked out. bummer! Luckily, the infection seems to be calming down...

3) I think I left my cameras battery charger in Chicago (oops) and I don't have internet to go online and order a new one. So I have tons of great photos stuck on my camera. I ordered the new charger today so hopefully it won't be too much longer before I can start taking photos again and pull the ones I have already taken off of my camera.

We have had some pretty incredible electrical storms in the last week, including one that sent a shock through my propane oven, into my stainless steel pan, and then through my body (crazy!), and another that produced some massive hail. I was at work during the hail storm and managed to capture a few shots on our work camera.

Graduation

I did not imagine when we pulled together 6 families from our rural communities to form a homeschool co-operative with hired teachers and a rental space that we would have the stamina and passion to see it through years of change. But last week, Noah became the first child to "graduate" from the Forest Children. We have been part of the program for 6 years ~ it's hard to imagine it not being part of our lives. David and I have held many different roles as teachers, members of the board, fundraisers, administrators. And now Noah, one of only 2 of the original children enrolled, is all done. sigh.

Teeny Tiny Chicks

The big news of the week around our house is the addition of day old baby chicks to the homestead. 100 (yes, 100) Cornish Cross chickens (meat birds) were delivered to the Black Mountain post office and then to our brand new chicken brooder that we made the day before the chicks got here (nothing like waiting till the last minute). None of us really has any idea what we are doing when it comes to brooding chicks. We have all done some reading and some of us have attended a class or two. But in spite of our chick ignorance, they all seem to be doing quite well, and except for that one poor baby who died the first night, we have a flock of healthy, alive, chicks. And hopefully they will stay that way and continue to grow until the fateful day that the little cuddly-bugs become food for our families.

And the kids are so excited!
Here is a note I found on the brooder door when I went to feed the chicks this morning:

if you are having a hard time reading this, it says:
"we love this so much
from Nim and River"
on a bright blue post it note
stuck to the brooder
now which is cuter? the chicks or this?