Madness and Maypops

Wow! It has been an incredibly insane past few weeks…hence the ‘madness’ part. The eldest screamer is now doing pretty well in school; there was a slight adjustment period for everyone naturally. The main one being his teacher (this is only her second year teaching and poor thing got my stubborn, independent do-it-yourselfer who is already bored because they are “learning” things he’s known since he was two) but things are sailing along pretty smooth for the moment.

Eldest screamer is growing up entirely too fast though. Lost his first tooth yesterday and a second is nice and loose. Mrs. Tooth Fairy paid a visit last night…apparently inflation has hit that particular sector too….thank you Mr. Tooth Fairy for that. Anyway, the screamer was squealing happy this a.m. at the money she left him whilst he snored away.

Fun times all around…sigh. We’ve taken to going for a walk every night after dinner. Gives a bit of family time that doesn’t involve the boob tube and let’s me point out some goodies that grow around here. Goodies like Maypops (or passion flowers, depending on where you are and who you are). The hill along the lake is LOADED. Now if I can get too them first this fall when they are ready for picking, I’ll be doing a little playing with jelly and juice! I have some stiff competition in the deer and birds though. I’m curious as to how it will work up, I’m positive I’ll get enough for a couple of jars of jelly. Toss those in with the massive amount of fruit hanging around on the persimmon trees and I may (MAY) just have a busy fall with some wild fruits (no, not my family…though that isn’t far off).

With all the crazy weather (cool, hot, cool, warm, cool), I have the feeling we’re in for one heck of a ride this fall/winter. Don’t think that there will be tons of snow (there might be though) but I’m pretty doggone sure that we’ll be plenty cold for a good long while. Especially since the high around these parts is only supposed to be 70 today. 70, on the last day of August…70. Should be interesting, no?

We still await word on exactly where and when we are headed away from the Ozarks. But I’ve learned to just go with the flow…in the meantime, I continue to slowly pick through the possessions and decide what is worth keeping and what isn’t. I battle the massive packrat gene on a daily basis. Someday, I’ll win.