Where to begin?

Hi all. Again, it feels like forever. It's been a busy weekend! Friday we enjoyed spending time w/the Apples. Shiphrah actually got in and enjoyed the pool! Solomon wouldn't get in, but splashed at the edge. I think that's progress!

I got new glasses! Solomon broke my glasses--and my backup glasses--and I was back to contacts for a while. I've grown so accustomed to not wearing them, and I think my eyes are getting dryer in my old age :) so I'm quite happy to back among the four-eyed again. Or should I say six eyed? I got a pair of perscription sunglasses, too! Yippee!

Saturday, we had swim lessons. I found Shiphrah's goggles after buying her another pair, so now she has a second set--or as Samuel put it, we'll have them in case we have another baby girl. :) The really big news, though, is that Samuel is a swimmer!!! He swam all by himself! He's very excited and will be continuing his lessons through the summer. Shiphrah and Solomon will take a break until next year, though. In case I forgot to mention earlier, Samuel is also riding a bike without training wheels. He's getting to be such a big boy!

I got a hay feeder built for our bucklings and there's just a little on the barn to do before their arrival. I hope to get time to work on it soon! We'll be getting hay tonight, dog vaccines tomorrow, and the farm work continues. It is fun. My mom's roosters are hanging out in the goat pen so as to keep them from running back up the hill to annoy the hens. The dogs keep them out of the barn, but tolerate them well in the pen. It isn't uncommon to find them all lounging around together in the woods. Our animals seem to have a "The More The Merrier" attitude, and Pluto can even be found trying to join the group! This morning, the dogs, a goat, and a rooster were on top of the roosters' camper shell (their housing) with the other goat and roosters hanging around closeby. I wish I had a camera in hand!

Today we saw the opthomologist. Turns out Samuel & Shiphrah have great vision and don't need glasses. It is supposed to be normal for kids their age to not have 20/20 vision. I also learned that I could be paying a lot less for eye exams ($10 copay at the opthomologist as opposed to $90 for an optometrist) and that my eyes might be a lot better if I hadn't been seeing optometrists all these years. I'm sick about it and will never go to an optometrist again.

The state lab that performed Jack's necropsy said that because we froze Jack, they couldn't get a bacterial culture--that killed them. The microplasma culture is not back yet. Unless that turns out to be it, the cause of death looks like viral interstitial pneumonia--but the viral part is a guess.

Well, time to go grain the girls, feed the dogs, play in the woods, and sacrifically feed the resident mosquitos and no-see-ums before we make our hay run! Ta ta!