We had a great weekend. We went to our nearest 'big city' and got J his new glasses and some perscription swimming goggles. Of course we had to go try them out!! So we grabbed kids and headed to our favorite pool. Everybody had a great time. J could finally see in the pool and had a blast. He stared around a lot just looking at things and got a real kick out of the guy that was jumping off the diving boards.J also learned how to hold his breath and stick his head underwater then look around. A huge milestone for him. Little miss E and I had a blast in the kid pool. She would stand on my hands and then I would lift her way up in the air then DROP her suddenly into the water. Catching her just at the last minute. She loved it. (I tried this with J and L but J is scared of heights and would really rather NOT but L managed to get about 1/2 way up, giggling away.) She also loves 'jumping' off the side. Except she can't jump. So she walks off. J, L, and E got to go down the waterslide with Papa which is also a treat. Baby R has this round floaty thing that she sits in and she floated around contently the entire time. L really likes the hottub. And that makes me wonder if he is often too cold in the other part of the pool as he is very much his fathers son when it comes to being cold all the time. I got out of there without having to nurse Baby R in the pool area. That's a first for her. I normally nurse her once sitting in a quiet spot, if I can find one, or by the hottub.
Papa has a few days off again this week. Pretty normal around here for fall. Comes in very handy with all the fall chores and cleanup that always needs doing. We started the 'wall of firewood' yesterday which is great and hopefully we'll get more of it done today. The wall is stacked wood between the poles of our addition all the way down the 70 feet of trailer. One area between poles lasts us about a month. There are about 6 months worth of wood when we are done, as we have to leave some open areas for walking and getting the cow thru. We got 2 pretty much full yesterday. One of nice burning stuff (Dry pine and black spruce) and one of poorer burning stuff, poplar. The poplar is mostly from our clearing project this spring. So its cut into the right size and the side split down the middle with the chain saw to let the moisture out. This works well to season them and we have already burnt some and it actually isn't too bad. Good for warmer days. We have a LOT of this poplar, enough for several more years. All stacked up between trees in the back. So we are just moving it in. The pine and blackspruce are standing dead from the front 2 acres and Papa is cutting them down as we go. We have a little International pickup bed trailer that we pull behind our family rig, a 1972 International Travelall. We take this around and stack the trailer full before driving back to the house to unload. It took Papa and I about an hour yesterday to load, Papa mostly cut while I loaded, and unload (stack) the trailer full.
We had a big wind storm Saturday and now most of the leaves are down on the ground. We have often used leaves as bedding in the chicken barn for the winter. If we can get the lawn mower working we want to do it again this year. Our poor lawn mower has not been used all year. Between the cow, calves and chickens every blade is consumed. Hopefully Papa will have some time to fiddle with it. But then again it's suppose to snow... tomorrow or the next day. Need to get those hoses and toys put up. The snow normally does not stay until after the last day of October. Hopefully it will wait a while to stick so we can be ready. The year E was born, 2 years ago, we got 2 feet on the 27th. And it never did go away. The power went out for 3 days but we were toasty and warm with our wood stove and propane range. It pays to be prepared. Anyway the Baby needs nursing and I'd better get going on my day. Have a great one!!
