July, July, July, July, July New Thread!!!!

[okasanbear]

I cant believe it is July already!!! Hope it is a wonderful month for all of us!

Hugs
Joni

[okasanbear]

Well I figured I had better write something to start off July...let see if this works

[MommyRose]

That's awesome Joni! Happy July to you too! I think July is going to be a very interesting month for us...oh dear oh dear!

We just picked up our goat meat today. While they were not big animals the meat looks fabulous! We had a fun time picking it up as we got to spend some time in the river on our way to the butcher shop. Beautiful day! My dh (whole company) is being furloughed next week (there is so much about this that is off). It will be so odd and wonderful to have him all week and then the week after for our scheduled vacation! He's been working so much that there is a lot to catch up on around here. That...and he's going to be looking for jobs to apply too. Silly owner of the company is out of the country and said people will be taking time off for the holiday so since funds were thinning thought he'd save by shutting down for a week. Nice...not a good show of faith to anyone. Plus, the nimrod is giving his men time to look for new employment. Brilliant move! (Texas went well btw! )

[WendyD]

Joni - cute phone reference! Love it. How are you feeling? How are the kids doing? Is your DH still gone? What happened to the wasps? Is your roof fixed? Ok, enough questions! Just thinking of you.

Rose - I'm happy you get your hubby for some quality time...but the owner out of the country??? Chicken! lol Actually, he may really be giving people time to get jobs....hmm. I don't know whether to send my congrats or condolences on Texas...:-) Austin is a neat area. We've been there before and had fun. You do have to watch out for scorpions if you live out there. Just throwing that out there....:-) You can just add that to the wasps/snakes and such that live in the outdoors.

We asked the kids if they'd like to live somewhere where it snows...they said yes. BUT, they probably don't think we are actually being serious when asking.

[okasanbear]

Well call me lazy, but I am just going to copy some of posts from yesterday and the day before...

Today I went to take some things to the temp housing, and then went with one of the ladies to her big garden that she and her dh are renting, and she shared with me kale (from the seeds I gave her) , daikon, komatuna, radishes and some other leafy veg. Her garden is doing much better then mine, and it was fun. I went and asked a farmer friend of mine if it would be ok to pick some of the berries on the tree near the garden (gooseberries I think) I came home and made kale chips and took them back to her.

Just got home and got a call from school that dd (7) had a fever, and could I come and get her. I have no car (dh has been using my car for the last 2 1/2 years) and so I said I would walk to school with our BOB double stroller that is huge and then I could have her sit in it and push her home. Her teacher asked if I was ok to do that, and I said I would be fine. Teacher commented that my broken bone was not healed all the way and it was probably not good for me, but she agreed to have dd wait for me in the nurses office. Got a call 5 minutes later from her, and she said she told the principal and he would not agree to it and he would bring her back in his car. ( I gave him some kale chips and a drink when he came)

Went back to the temp housing to deliver something to another gal, who was home, as I cannot catch her home often and saw she was there when I went earlier. Made supper with lots of the green leafy things from the garden, went and picked strawberries, and now I am tired. I need to make pickles but am finding it hard to find the energy right now..I also need to hull the strawberies. I love it getting fresh things from the garden.

In winter we cannot find many leafy veggies available and I feel so healthy eating all these fresh foods from our garden and from others' gardens. Our resident poisonous snake (yamakagashi...no anti venom if you are bitten) has taken a fancy to our particular garden, he was in the strawberry patch this morning, just to keep things hopping!


Yesterday off to the hospital again, when I told dh of dd coming home early, he got worried and insisted. I took her, and told the Dr what happened and she is a really nice Dr and knows us well, and I also shared that Dh was worried it was something more serious, but that I thought it was just a viral cold. She looked at dd and said I was right, and it would just take it's course, but she did a prick blood test to ease Dh's mind and so that I would have something to show him to help him not worry! Don't know that dd really liked doing it, but she did fine. I love our hospital when the Drs who know us are there!!!! It is so nice not to have the whole...gaijin (foreigner) shock thing to deal with. They know us all by name and the Dr even asked after the other children and worry about me when I am caring for sick children! I gave her some kale chips I made, (which is against the rules for Dr.s cannot accept gifts from patients) but I can get away with it...plus they are not the normal gifts that Japanese people would buy (sake, gift sets etc) She was thrilled and actually knew what kale was..though had never eaten it!

Today I just got done making 10 trips carrying 2 buckets of water each trip to water my garden over by the river. It is 10 am and I am tired already...but wanted to give the young plants a drink before it got hot again.

I need to go find a recipe for turnip pickles and must get that done today.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++

Well still no pickles...I dont like them so I think that is part of it, I am making them for the others that do like them, but if there were...choc chip cookies or something like that I would be right on it!! :-)
Kids are doing their weekend homework, and not being very diligent at it...I hate that they have to do it too, but just has to be done! They would rather be playing outside and me too.

It suddenly felt like a switch was turned on here, and the last 3 days have been hot! Well for the afternoon, I even put on a t-shirt, instead of a long sleeved shirt! I guess I need to go find my summer clothes now..but sounds like more work than I have energy at the moment.

I am still feeling fatigued and it is tom so that doesnt help either. Foot hurt after all those water trips.

Our roof the leaked and it rained INSIDE when it was raining outside, the guy came and replaced the tile on top, I asked about cleaning the mold, and the carpenter said he didnt have instructions to fix that! (I just talked to the guy from the city hall the day before when I showed him around) Talked to the guy again when he came around looking for the black wasps (they are not dangerous to humans, but they burrow into the wood of the houses, and so they were concerned about the houses...but I have more dangerous wasp nests, dangerous to us, but they werent looking for those...(where is the rolling eyes smiley face?)

well it sounds as if the kids are not on task, so must go...
hugs to you all
Joni

[BlessedMama]

Boy, Joni! You should take over my "never a dull moment" title! LOL!

Loved your phone references above!

It's been crazy here--we had bad storms yesterday, 4 of my dds were at the fairgrounds getting projects judged and had to go into the bathrooms. They call what happened a derecho, which from what I read is like hurricane landfall! 91 mph winds! Ft Wayne, which is a huge city about an hour from me, had about 80,000 people with no power and possibly not until Wed!!! We were blessed to have no downed trees, and our power came on after about 12 hours. No internet until this afternoon, though.

18 yodd had her quartet chosen to play before the symphony at an outdoor concert tonight! So exciting! We got 4 free tickets so the 3 other older dds came, too. Unfortunately the fire marshal said no fireworks as that area didn't get as much rain. There might be a few around us later this week--we'll see! This was in another big town an hour north of us (we're an hour from everywhere--LOL!)

We had one family in church who had trees and limbs come down on both their vehicles! Others are still without power. Even though we are in the boonies, we seem to get our power back more quickly, for which I'm grateful! We have a generator, but it can't pull the a/c units--too much electricity. So we are grateful to have full power back!

Well, I really should get to bed!!!

Thanks for starting the thread, Joni!

[okasanbear]

I am glad you only were without power for 12 hrs...but praying for those that lost it and are still without it.
Never heard of a derecho before...uggg glad your girls were ok!

Wow what a privileg. to have been asked to play...tell your dd Congrats. I hope it all goes well, I am sure it will.

hugs
JONI

[WendyD]

Whew Joni!!! You have been busy. I'm so glad you didn't have to walk that far with your foot not healed yet. That was very nice of the principle.

Trisch - Such bizarre weather. I saw what happened on the weather channel. Glad you all are ok. Yeah for your DD!!! I bet she was thrilled to be picked. I know you are so proud of her.

[lorig]

Rose, I will check out the Moluskum thread, thank you! That would be wild if you moved to Austin when Wendy moves so far away...but we're also 3 1/2 hours from Austin! Plus, I have a sister in law and her family who live there.
Btw, a friend gave us some fresh goat milk yesterday...it was delicious! Couldn't tell the difference from cow milk.

Trisch, I'm glad you're all okay, I've never heard of a derecho.

Joni, thanks for starting new thread and for the emergency numbers...good stuff!
Poisonous snake in your garden? Yikes! Hooray for all the healthy greens! That was kind of your principal and thoughtful of the teacher.

Wendy, praying for you and DH about Tuesday and his job...

We're looking forward to going to friends house and swimming, etc on Wed. I hear fireworks outside as I type. It's wild because where we live is not technically in any city limits. It's called "unincorporated county property." so, Fireworks can be shot off all around us day or night! There's a huge fireworks stand, 1/2 mile from us by the lake. People come there to shoot fireworks. Last night, we heard them until midnight.

[okasanbear]

wow, Lori, about the fireworks...I am glad that your area isn't as dry as the ones that have all the wildfires burning right now! Not sure I would like that nightly until midnight. Here in Japan they are legal too, and during the summer months many people in this area do them. I cannot get even my friends to take precautions with their children and it is just an accident waiting to happen. The parents like them, so seem to think that even little kids will be ok...even with the rockets! grr

DD went to Dr on Thurs, determined it was just a viral cold causing the fever and she would be fine...just needed to rest, stayed home Friday. Took it easy over the weekend, went to school today and it happened again, teacher called but said that she was looking and acting fine just that she had a fever and a headache and would keep her until the bus came. It was later this time, so I couldnt have made it before meeting the bus for youngest dd.

I have been having tummy troubles for the past few days...uggg I so dislike that ..it is also that TOM so that is just making me feel ugggg all around.

My little fish man gave me some cantolopes today, for they were ripe, and they are too expensive and he wasnt selling any...he is such a sweetheart! I need to cut those for when the children come home...yeah a treat for us! I love it when that happens. I know it is the Lord who is blessing us through this little man!

hugs to all
Joni