the EPIC week...

So, last Monday the urchins got on a school bus, waved good-bye to me, and began their first week of school. On Tuesday, they experienced an Emergency Evacuation of their school after an earthquake rocked their classroom (Big C reports that two kids in his class went to the ambulance after getting hit in the head with books that fell from a bookcase in his class, while the girls indicated that the falling ceiling tiles - and crying classmates - were the extent of the damage over in their classroom). They literally disembarked from the bus that afternoon with nothing but the clothes on their backs - no backpacks, no lunch boxes, no coats, nothing. Seems that, once the Evacuation of the school took place, they weren't allow to re-enter the building.

Which brings us to Wednesday.
Wednesday school was canceled so that all school buildings could be inspected and deemed safe after the earthquake.
So we went to a local orchard and picked apples. And peaches. And Asian pears.

On Thursday, the children were told by a fellow classmate about the impending hurricane. On Friday, they watched as millions of stressed out adults prepared for the upcoming hurricane by rushing about like brainless twits, purchasing bottles of over-priced water and shiny generators...(in my defense, I did neither. Although I DID buy extra wine for the pantry and a new chain for the chainsaw).

It was rather an Epic First Week of School.

And as a completely anticlimactic denouement to this fine drama, the much-ballyhooed hurricane was a non-event in our part of the world. We've had worse storms - with ZERO media coverage - in the past, that took down more trees and did more damage than Hurricane Irene. Our loss last night was one large tree down by the creek, and a bunch of branches from some of the older black walnut trees. Our power line, which runs snakily through the woods for half a mile before reaching the relative safety of our side road, remained unscathed. So you might say that we dodged at least one bullet...

Alternatively, you might say that I shall never watch the alarmist show known as "The Weather Channel" ever again. Either way.....

yo, chicken little, it ain't the sky....

The earthquake was quite epic. I was in my car, and pulled over because I was certain that the engine was falling out and I was about to irately and self-righteously piss-dial my mechanic and give him a "piece of my mind"...how else to explain the sudden shaking sensation of the vehicle???? Then a dude pulled up beside me in a pickup truck and informed me that the earth had moved....(for all of us, actually) and, well, the whole thing was a little embarrassing. I sped home - while futilely trying to call and text on my now completely USELESS cell phone (all the cell towers immediately jammed in the area). Grace, the au pair, was standing in the doorway of the house looking more than a little freaked out....I had assured her, over a year ago, BEFORE SHE CAME TO VIRGINIA, that we NEVER EVER had silly things like tornadoes or earthquakes in THIS part of the world....I am now batting two for two....let's see, there was that tornado a few months ago that swept past the house and now....THIS.

She was in the farmhouse and when the whole place started shaking, she wisely exited the building and stood outside while listening to the sound of things smashing in the house. Good call on her part. My au pair proves yet again that she keeps her wits about her when the rest of us are busy, erm, inspecting their undercarriage...

Damage to the house was mostly annoying and cosmetic, I think. Our well water is coming up funky brown, which is a little disturbing.....all of the bookshelves in the rooms upstairs were emptied of their contents, as was the medicine cabinet shelf in my bathroom, and some of the shelves in the pantry. When the glass containers hit the ground they made a nice mess of shattered glass and sticky/liquidy contents, so there was plenty of clean up to do. We have some Very Impressive Cracks in the plaster walls and ceilings in the old part of the house. All the pictures on the walls look like they were hung by a bunch of one-armed drunks....and things in the cabinets crept perilously close to the edge, so we're sort of wandering around adjusting stuff as we go....note to self : post earthquake, open all cabinet doors SLOWLY AND CAUTIOUSLY!!!

The urchins were at school and were completely traumatized. They had an emergency evacuation and were sent home on the buses with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Today, in lieu of a "snow day" we have a "post earthquake day", while all schools are inspected and deemed safe for - hopefully - return tomorrow. Shall write more about THAT, later!!

Just when I think life cannot possibly get any nuttier, well, it does. I clearly need to STOP having thoughts like "can this get any *&^%$# Nuttier?" because it displays a massive lack of imagination on my part. The simple answer is, yes, yes it CAN get nuttier, sweetheart. Just WAIT AND SEE.

Kindergarten, and first grade. Started today. First time for ANYBODY to take a school bus. First time for ANYBODY to spend an entire FREAKING day at school. First time for Muma to say "bye bye" to a school bus with some strange old dude driving away with her three precious sweet babies on it. GAHHHHHHHHHHH.


Still calm and composed...waiting...waiting at the end of the lane way....
Look! The bus! Here it is!

I am about to put the Three Most Important Human Beings in The Entire World on some giant yellow tin-can on wheels with no car-seats, no seat-belts, and driven by a man I have never met. Suddenly, this allllll seems like a Very Bad Idea. (Reminds me of this one time at a Dead show....but I digress....)

And then, they hopped on, waved merrily good-bye, and it seemed terribly terribly quiet on the homestead.



The good news is, they returned safe and sound and exhausted at the end of the day...and they tell me they want to do it again, tomorrow!

But I keep reminding them...My babies will always be my babies, no matter how many buses they ride...

your happy place.....

The best part about going to your Happy Place? Finding out somebody built a Happy Pavilion. How awesome is that? Now to find the Happy Bar.....

A long while...

Apologies for the long time since a post. Summer was a blur of activity, with camps and friends and waaaaay too much heat and lots of craziness. But now that fall is closing in, and now - more importantly - that the urchins are headed to school, I'm hoping to get back a little more time to do things that need doing. Attending to this blog, for starters...and working on the farm and looking for paid work, too...(anybody know anybody in the Park Service in Virginia? Please hire me.)

So, that said, there are many many pictures to post!
Let's get started, shall we?

One of the more crazybatshit ideas that the au pair and I came up with this summer was running our own camp at the farm for a week. It was a ridiculous amount of prep work (given that we were unpaid, unskilled and pretty much looking to just provide a bunch of kids with something to do to make their minds NOT TURN TO PUDDING), but I am absolutely certain that my urchins enjoyed it beyond belief...and the other kiddos who joined us seemed to have a pretty wonderful time, too. Each day had a theme, and each theme had lots of activities and arts and crafts and outdoor time. The coolest part? We all learned! And while I often suspect that the urchins are tuning me out entirely, I am shocked to report that they actually absorbed a lot about forest ecosystems and trees and how plants work.
I know, astounding, right?
And the only reason I know they learned ANYTHING is because - a few weeks later - we attended a camp out in the Shenandoahs for a week. A camp that included a hike with a park ranger from the George Washington National Forest...and the urchins actually ANSWERED the park ranger's questions. And my heart burst with equal parts pride and astonishment.

Frightening, really.

The urchins are listening....

Farm camp photos:




Lunch on the trail in the Shenandoahs:

Thanks to Uncle R.

Grene and Grandstan and Uncle Richard and Auntie Lynn came to visit a little while ago. It was beyond wonderful to see them all, and it was beyond wonderful to walk around my farm with my Dad and show him what I've done with the place since he last saw it (ummm, when there still weren't even walls inside, and outside was utter chaos - I don't think the windows were even in yet).

We also played tourist and visited our local Jail Museum, where Uncle Richard snapped this shot of the kiddos with Grace. Just had to share it with you all.....

Yeah, baby.
And it tastes spectacular.