A Very Full Thursday

It was a busy Thursday at Wibbly Wobbly Acres! Michael had to get up and out of the house for his weekly chiropractic appointment...these are vital in postponing his back surgery. The VA docs would like to wait until he is 70 for surgery. I'm wondering if that is possible. In any event...he was up and out of the house for that appointment, and a few errands he likes to run while he is in Wasillla. 

Stacia is teaching a couple of fellow students Japanese this summer. They had thought to meet at the public library but discovered our study was better suited to lessons. 

Allie had her first day of training at her new job. I'm not trying to be secretive, one of my blogging boundaries is to be sure I don't overshare from others' lives. 

GG and I stayed home. He read and worked on puzzles. I cleaned, gardened and played! 

Arielle and the boys took us up on the promise from the above banner. They came to play when Cory came to work. This was a welcome break to gardening and sitting in the house for me. 

I remembered we had bubbles! Larissa bought us a little "bubble machine" a few summers ago. It's a lot of fun for the younger crew. 

I brought tea and a snack out. I'd been trying for hours to sit down. The boys spared me the calories by quickly eating my snack. They're thoughtful that way. 

Auntie Stacia joined us.

Stacia & Lyra (or Ellie)

Bachan & Ellie

Cory's task today was to deal with the stinging nettles and such in the part of the garden plot we are NOT using this year. He used the weed eater to get the grass down and then burned the nettles and such.  We discovered it goes much quicker if you have a full tank of propane and if you run it full bore - we learned from watching Michael. ::snort:: 

We're making progress. If you look closely, you can see the t posts and electric wire that mark the garden's boundaries. BTW there is old carpet where the grass is lush and green - it obviously did nothing for long term weed suppression but has now grown into the garden.  From past work in this spot, we know it takes a truck to pull the carpet loose. Beware of the internet advice. LOL We are putting the manure and shavings from the chicken coop here. It will be a year before we plant. We'll till it all in.  I'm not sure I have the stamina to keep up the whole garden plot but it needs to be tamed and at some point, I may truly have a community garden. 

I woke this morning knowing it was JENNI DAY. We maintain we've not seen Jenni for WEEKS, though she maintains she only missed one Thursday. This is true but as this is Thursday it HAS been two weeks since she was over. She had a great time with past roommates, and we don't begrudge her that experience, but we are happy to have her over tonight.  She arrived before Allie and Michael were home. I suggested we run over to the pool and catch a bit of swimming lessons. I've been trying to do this for weeks and keep forgetting. Tonight was the LAST night of this session of swim lessons. We grabbed GG and Stacia and headed out. 

Annie, Gideon, Benny, Bella 📷byBre

Benny & Annie were in the same class 

Gideon jumped off the diving board 📷byBre

I think Trudy was surprised to see us. 

Arielle, Jenni, Stacia

Bre & Josiah (Jojo)

BreZaak's home doesn't have a bathtub. The kids havaen't had a lot of experience with being in water, which is why Bre is so good about swim lessons. They went to Seward a month or so ago and stayed at a hotel with a pool. Jojo jumped right in but wasn't prepared for the sinking, water in the eyes, nose scenario. He's not wanted to go into the pool since then. Tonight, he got TWO feet into the pool. I told him how proud I was of him and he told me he has cookies at home. I didn't see the connection until Bre told me he was told if he got wet he could have a cookie. ::snort:: 

We zipped back home and grilled salmon. I had done this a lot in Japan and forgot I did it when Michael was deployed. I couldn't figure out why he didn't' remember how to grill it. Everyone deemed it yummy - maybe our favorite way now to prep salmon. We also had asparagus and greens from the garden. 

Jenni and Stacia played cribbage. I tried to figure it out. Allie got home from her first full day of training. We watched an episode of All Creatures - I fell asleep. Hmm. 

This post is long enough so I'll skip the garden photos. I continue to sit with a cuppa daily...and I work a couple of hours a day out there. I've put the whole thing on a rotation. If I weed 2 beds and 1 row of potatoes a day, I can hit the entire garden in 5 days - once a week.