January 11, 2024
I woke up at 4:30 a.m. I wrote my blog and jumped 100 rebounder jumps. Angel woke up and we made our beds and went into the house. I greeted Christopher, made tea and a 64 oz. 10 banans/homemade almond milk/fresh pineapple juice smoothie. Angel ate breakfast and got ready to go to riding lessons.
I drove the back roads to riding lessons. We listened to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe on the drive. At one point we lost service on the back roads and the book stopped. Angel asked me to tell her a story instead. I thought that would be fun and started telling one. “Once there was a girl named Angel, who had a dog named LacyJane. Angel had a dream of building a boat. She taught herself to read and every week she visited her local library and checked out all the books she could find on how to build boats. After a few months of reading and studying the different types of boats, she decided which one she wanted to build. She used her saw to cut down trees that recently died and slowly started building her boat. Everyday for a year she worked on building her boat. Then another year passed and she was getting older and stronger. Finally after 3 years of hard work and dedication her boat was finished. She was ready to try it out. Her mom loaded the boat in the back of her pickup and they drove to the Brazos River. Angel was excited to see how well her boat worked. She had made sure it was well made and watertight. Angel and her mom carefully put it in the water and…
Angel’s audiobook suddenly came back on. I paused it and asked if Angel wanted me to finish my story or if she wanted to listen to the audiobook. She said she wanted to listen to the audiobook. I personally wanted to know how my story ended but left the audiobook going.
At riding lessons, I worked on trotting. This week I was riding a horse named Bandit and he wanted to do his own thing instead of what I wanted him to do. My dog training skills took over and amazingly they work on horses too. It took a few minutes of letting Bandit know who was in charge to get him behaving perfectly. He is a great horse to practice trotting on because he has different trotting speeds and it’s easy to get him into a nice gentle slow trot. I didn’t pay attention to what Angel was working on but she said she had fun.
After lessons we picked up Finn and then picked up Ms. M and we went to homeschool co-op. The co-op was meeting at the Train Depot for a field trip. There was a great turn out that came. First we had a tour of the depot. They had an old doctor’s pharmacy cabinet. I started reading the labels on the drawers of the cabinet and was pleasantly surprised to see herbs listed. The medicine prescribed back then was herbs, we have that same medicine in our own herb cabinets nowadays and we don’t even have to go to the doctor. I guarantee doctors don’t prescribe herbs anymore, at least they didn’t the last time I went.
Next we toured the old caboose and dining car. The caboose had a pot belly stove in it and the kitchen was fun to look through. When we got off the train, we watched a blacksmith make metal leaves. He made one per family. It was fascinating watching him work and he explained how to make the fire hotter using airflow. There was a lot of old blacksmith tools there and he showed us how they worked. Lastly, we went in the model train room and watched the trains go around their tracks. I noticed how peaceful I felt watching the trains go around and I saw it had the same effect on a lot of the kids.
After the tour, all the kids ate in the dining car and ran around outside. Ms. M really enjoyed the tour and the kids. When it was time to go, I loaded up Finn, Angel and Ms. M and took Ms. M to a hair appointment. After getting Ms. M settled in. I sat in the truck with the kids and listened to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Ms. M’s hair looked great when she got done. I walked her back to the truck and took her home. On the way I stopped at Tractor Supply to buy a 40lb. propane tank and get it filled to get ready for an upcoming freeze. I bought the tank but they were out of propane. I took Ms. M home and got her settled in. Then I went to the General Store and got the propane tank filled. I made a quick stop at the grocery store, filled up on gas and headed home.
At home, I greeted Christopher and gave the ducks fresh water in their pools. Christopher sat outside and talked with me while I stood soaking up the sun and enjoying our last warm day for a while. I told him about my plans to put a little wood stove in the banana hut and add a little kitchen. For years I’ve had a dream to build a tiny house with someone and the other day I realized that I can do it myself with the banana hut. The idea thrilled me and got my creative juices flowing in full speed. It’s so much fun and fulfilling to create.
Around 4:30 p.m. I got ready to go to a master naturalist meeting. I was supposed to bring something for a potluck but I didn’t feel like making anything. I grabbed a bunch of cuties and put them in my favorite pottery dish that my sister made me. I drove the back highway to Cameron. It was a lovely drive with no other cars on the road. The presentation at the master naturalists meeting was fantastic. It was about the finger lake region in New York State and now I was to go there and see it. Heading home I almost went on the main highway but turned onto the back highway at the last minute. I just don’t want to drive past where I witnessed that tragic fatal accident, especially not in the dark.
When I arrived home, Finn, Angel and Christopher were in bed. I went in the banana hut and did 100 rebounder jumps. I did a meditation and went to sleep around 10 p.m.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I dearly appreciate you.
Love,
Victoria