Daydreaming while waiting impatiently!

[tortoise]

They are acrobat ants. Pretty much same MO as carpenter ants.

Baymax is settling. I made up a tone of training treat packs today to start training. Really hard to cue her and maintain her opposition reflex. We will figure it out somehow. The challenges are what make training fun for me.

DS11 is still pushing limits. Just finally finished yesterday's chore at 3 p.m. today. And got 0's for all the schoolwork he didn't do today. Fun fun! I am working on changing his attitude that late work doesn't matter. He gets graded on whatever is done (or not) within the class period. He can repeat the assignment on his own time, but it doesn't replace his previous grade, just adds an additional grade into his average. Because late work and making up assignments became a major boundary/respect issue last year in public school, and because he needs to figure out consequences ASAP. I want to get him in college ASAP so I don't have to school him. His ability is there, but his character is not.

DS3 is loving schooling and his attention span is increasing a little bit.

 

[sumi]

I hope DS11 will settle into the routine and start working with you better soon. It's so sweet of DS3 wanting to start schooling already!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Ditto---my son was that way. He would get 0 after 0 in his daily work but he'd ace every test even without ever cracking a book. So, he graduated, but with terrible final grades and he's got a crazy high IQ... just not the right motivation I guess. He hated math and refused to do it. As an electrician he uses math every day and nobody taught him...he just started using it and figured it out. Long winded way to say that the road can be long and bumpy - but they eventually get there!

 

[baymule]

Everybody is not school material. I believe some would actually do better as self educated, but the state would never allow that to be-for good reason. A lot of self educated dummies would fight over the few jobs that idiots can do. LOL

 

[tortoise]

DH and I are talking about reducing animal numbers here. We're due to send sheep to auction anyway, but I think we'll cut back on hens too.

He bought a hot rod. Kinda silly, but it's nice to see him happy and spending some time not-working.

Baymax seems to be settled, I haven't noticed any more doggie nightmares. I have been slacking off on training still.

I saw a stray kitten hanging around for a couple days. Seems to be about 6 months old, and it's friendly. I saw he wasn't neutered so I grabbed him to at least do TNR (trap-neuter-release). I called a neighbor who has tame barn cats - they're not missing any. He might stay here. The day before I caught him, a rodent chewed a feed bag in the milkhouse. Our barn cat prefers to eat ground squirrels and voles. So this kitten is living in the milkhouse pending vaccines and neuter. He might stay around. He tolerates DS3 dragging him around, which is pretty much my requirement for a cat staying here.

It's knitting season for me. When nights start getting cool, I always pick up knitting again. I made 2 newborn hats for my cousin who is due near Christmas. Red mittens for DS3. Then he asked for a red hat. I made that too. Then he asked for a sweater. Um.... LOL, he's small enough that a sweater is less work than an adult scarf. But I need to go get some good merino wool yarn so it can be a family heirloom item. Not going to put that much work into something and use crap yarn! I found some turquoise 100% merino wool yarn and am knitting mittens for myself. One done today and I wrote down my pattern so I can make a match! I'm also continuing knitting newborn hats to donate to the local hospital system for their Period of PURPLE crying anti-shaken-baby awareness campaign. I have many projects in queue too!

Apples are coming now, I'm not sure I'll be up to canning them. Standing up to crank them through the food mill is a bit NOPE right now. We may dehydrate some instead. I'm not freezing any for pie because that doesn't fit into my low-carb/keto plans.

DS11 is making progress. Slow and not linear. Just keep peeling his onion. I think his major issues are known now: extreme dominance / control issues, anxiety, and complete lack of perseverance / grit. Uff dah, that's a lot. Working on it every day. cognitive behavioral therapy, meditations 30 - 90 minutes per day, growth mindset book, journaling... lots of journaling. Up to 6 hours a day, if he needs that much. Goes into the homeschool log in [mental] Health class. It's my #1 priority and reason for homeschooling. If he can get past those 3 issues, he will be a happy kid again. He has a new local homeschool friend! YAY! and I signed him up for 4H. I choose wildflower and house plant projects for him since he is doing botany for science this year. That gives him a couple things to enter in the fair, but it won't add more obligation beyond school time. His botany textbook is college level, super dry, and I'm using it as an exercise in learning how to take notes and develop study skills. Because he sure won't learn study skills when the material is easy enough he doesn't need them. So a plant related project to break up the heavy stuff will be nice.


I went out to my garden. Picked some Monachelle di Trevio beans. ewwww, I don't even like them. I suppose I'll save seed and sell the seed. I paid $4 for 10 beans when I bought them and it took 2 years to get enough beans to find out that I don't like them. Whoops! My Job's Tears were a good experiment! I'm going to save seed and grow again, but I'll put them in a spot I hope to be a perennial flower garden if I can reclaim it from the weeds. The Job's Tears in my garden did a good job of suppressing weeds under the plants. I think they will re-seed readily too. Tomatoes are pretty much done, rotted on the vine. Green bean variety are nasty, not worth picking. Peppers are doing beautifully, but I didn't pick any. A month ago my garden was fairly neat and reasonably weed-free. After a month of neglect the lambs quarters have taken over and are nearly as tall as I am in some places. Weed seed is not helping with my no-till aspirations. I need to decide how to clean up m garden for overwinter. I don't want to till next year! (other than paths, that's okay) I don't intend to rotate garden beds either. I will need to deal with weed seed, potato bugs, and controlling volunteers. Repair electric fence and hope the cat continues to keep the ground squirrel population down.

 

[baymule]

I have out of control lambs quarters too. I don't mind them though. The bees are working them over and this time of year, I am for anything that feeds the bees. I take pruning loppers and cut them down and toss to the sheep. They love them!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

It is a good time of year to cut back on animals for sure. Hope he enjoys tinkering with the hot rod! Is he going to do auto shows with it or is it a race car or is it just for fun?

 

[framing fowl]

Sounds like she's doing awesome! She's lovely!

 

[sumi]

Sounds like things are going well by you, for the most part. Cutting back some on the animals is a good idea, especially this time of the year, save you hassle over winter.

 

[tortoise]

We are starting winter preps here. Had work done on our well/plumbing today. They dug up a lot outside and I need to replant everything. I never liked that section of landscaping anyway, so I'm only complaining about the labor, not the opportunity to change it.

Stray kitten has adopted us. I named him Gravy. He's incredibly sweet. Vaccine done and pending neuter. Our other barn cat, Gracie, is not impressed. She lost some weight, but started hunting more. Just not in the barn. When she comes to the house I find a treat for her. I don't want her to leave. She's a sweet cat too.

I finished mittens for myself, a wool hat for myself. Currently working on wool fingerless mits for myself. I learn how to cable knit for them! In queue are mittens for nieces and nephews for xmas.

I've been working on xmas gifts. I'm so "over" commercialized Christmas B.S., but I love to give gifts! My plan is only handmade gifts this year. (haha, except for my own kids. ) I made wool dryer balls, I bought local handmade soap. Handknit mittens for some of the kids. An infinity scarf for the "Chinese" gift exchange game. There's a local chocolatier who makes divine fudge, so I'll pick up some of that if I don't get enough gifts made. I'm about over wrapping paper too, and I have some red fabric for sewing gift wrap bags.