Fall -sort of, Sasha, Mama’s party, more travel

Today is officially the first day of Fall. It will not feel like it for us. The hot temperatures we are experiencing right now are seriously stressing out my plants. Even though I have continued my normal three-times-per-week watering schedule, all the plants look like they are about to whither up by the next evening. The only plant that seems to be thriving is the blackberry plant I put in the bed with the blueberries – and it is doing so well I will have to cut it back to keep it from taking over the entire bed. When I transplanted the puny little branch and the attached root several weeks ago I had no idea it would flourish the way it did. Now I know what to do for the other blackberry and black raspberry bushes I have struggled to keep alive.

The leaves on our little forest of oaks are starting to change and fall but I am not sure if they are just exhausted from the summer heat or if they are on a timetable enforced by something other than the temperature. The days are now about an hour and one half shorter than they were at the peak of the summer, so, maybe that is a driver for the seasonal change. Everyone, plants, animals and humans are ready for cooler weather. It is coming. I predict that by the time it has settled upon us we will be lamenting the cold, wet days and longing for warmth. We are fickle creatures.

Mama took Sasha to the vet yesterday evening. She has a lesion on her skin that looks very angry. It has gotten worse over the course of the past week so the vet visit was inevitable. I was not thrilled about the process because now is not a good time to be spending money on vet visits, but Mama cannot help herself. The vet kept Sasha overnight so they could operate this morning on what he deemed to be a cancerous lesion. The bill will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $200. Not necessarily horrid, but very poorly timed. We should have her home this afternoon. Mama and I discussed last night as we were returning from dropping off the goat innards to Alex and his family, that I do not want to replace either Sam or Sasha if something should happen to them. At least, until we know where we will be in four or five years. Adopting a dog into the home or onto the farm is a fifteen year proposition and we may not have fifteen years of farm life to give. She reluctantly agreed, but I am sure the topic will come up when either of the two Great Pyrenees is no longer with us.

Mama has a party scheduled next Friday. She is getting very anxious about it because of the condition of the house. She and Victoria mostly keep up with the sweeping and cleaning of the bathrooms but everything else is very hit-or-miss: mostly miss. She is conscripting Cori into cleaning windows, dusting furniture, cleaning ceiling fans, etc. in anticipation of having visitors at the house. Nate will be replacing lightbulbs and rearranging furniture. The timing would have been better had she moved it out one week further but that would have put it on the day after we are scheduled to get back from Port Huron. The new windows are scheduled to be installed during the time we are away. Having those in the house would have eliminated the need to clean all the windows we now have that are nearly impossible to get clean. The party is a LuLaRoe clothing something or other sales event in which Mama hopes she, Cori and Victoria can garner some new clothing for free or at a greatly reduced price. I hope it works out for her. On my part, I get a cleaned house. Not a bad deal for jut enduring a hen party.

We have a full weekend ahead of us and a very busy week next week. We are starting a Prophesy conference at church on Sunday. It will go through Wednesday night. I will miss the final night because I will be in Las Cruces, NM to present a class to a group there. I should be back Friday afternoon for a short stay at home before Mama and I head to Michigan for classes I will be doing there.

I am looking forward to the time in Michigan with Mama.