Just another work day. . .

 

I overslept this morning, but water is heating now to brew my nettle/oatstraw tea infusion.  Coffee is brewing to wake up my sleepy overworked body.

Another batch of cheese is draining this morning too - Fromage Blanc made with goat's milk.  We are enjoying it while we have it.
 
We continue to get more rain, thunderstorms, and wind here.  In between, we get spurts of sunshine too.


At the end of a long, hot, sweaty day,  I look forward to a cold shower.  It's very relaxing to spend some time recuperating on the front porch, letting the wind dry my hair. No need for a hair dryer out here.  No need to add extra heat to the house either.  But yesterday, things were different.


Yesterday was a long busy day, but did not involve the big garden.  I had errands to run, then laundry, shampoo carpets (cannot wait until the day I rip them out for good), cleaned the chicken coop (three trips to the compost), dead-headed flowers, waters flower pots, weeded the mailbox flower bed and filled it with mulch, walked two miles, and never did get my oregano cut to dry.

This is the mailbox garden.  The hanging petunia pot is on a rooster hanger on the back of the mailbox pole.  The flags were put in there Memorial Day weekend by our Youngest Daughter, so I just left them in.  There are two knock-out roses in there, that are slowly making new growth (we had to dig them, trim them and move them, so the address number could be seen).

The evening air cooled down and was wonderful compared to that rotten humid heat.

It was my turn, however, to be eaten alive by flies.  They were biting hard, and every time I'd scream at them (as if they were going to listen). Hubby was not getting eaten.  Imagine that.  So, I went inside, rubbed my homemade herbal bug repellant all over my legs (they were only biting my legs for some reason).  When I came back out, I did not get bitten one time.  I'll try the oil again just to make sure it was not a fluke, but it stopped the little monsters from biting me.

I picked a nice basket full of kale from the garden, so I may make a sausage/kale millet skillet with it.  Since I overslept, it won't be this morning's breakfast.  Maybe lunch or dinner now.

It was about 6:30pm when I finally came inside.  Daughter reminded me to make more cheese.  I poured 4 quarts of milk, and got that heated and setting (which is what you see dripping in a pot up in the second photo).

I then looked out the kitchen window, and realized I forgot to lock up the chickens for the night, and ran out and took care of that.  However, I forgot my bucket of water.  

Later, I walked through the house and saw the clothesline still dangling clothes.  It was an eye-rolling moment.  Hubby had to leave to go pick up one daughter who went swimming, and then had to go in another direction to pick up the other at church youth group.  It ended up taking him two hours to get it all done.

Needless to say, I took my time getting the clothes down, and finally showered off the dirt, grime and sweat about 8:00pm.

Thankfully, I have a stack of sticky notes and pens on my nightstand (for all those things I forget to do).  I forgot to mix up some foaming hand soap for one of the bathrooms.  Note to self - teach kids on how to make that soap. 

Today's work all depends on the weather.  Our 18 year-old started her first job last night and worked until 11:30pm.  She has not gotten up for her morning milking yet, so it will interesting how fast she'll want to sell her goats now (that she has a job and lots of hours).  I'm pretty sure she is ready to move on to the next chapter in her life.