All Gone

What was here:



Is now there:



I guess that means that Fall has fallen and winter is wandering in. By the calendar Winter begins in late December but it tends to arrive sooner here in NH. Time to get ready.

Outdoor cages and such to clean up and bring indoors (never know if they might be NEEDED for some animal, a rescue, an orphan, a new pet...over the winter and they'd be no good buried in snow. Another kitty litter box needs to be set up too since the cats spend much more time indoors in the winter.


The pool is draining.

A few stray apples look out of place on the leafless tree.

Snowflake the cats fur is thickening.

Fire wood is being stacked and covered.

Flower is thinking who knows what but I imagine it to be...... winter is not to my liking... or maybe...... why did you put a mini pumpkin in front of me.

So fall has fallen and we get ready for winter.

Not many photos from the past week. It was a quiet week with only Thursday being a day out. Colin and Tristan had their first visit to a Boy Scout meeting that day. They are cubs and will move up in February. I took photos (of course!) but they have too many other peoples kids in them to publish. The big boy scouts looked so old! The group of 10-11 year old cub scouts looked so little in comparison, most of those boy scouts looked like they can shave or will soon! I must admit don't know how I feel about them moving into a large boy scout troop. It will be the first regularly meeting activity my kids have had which is NOT all or mostly homeschooled children.
From what I could tell the boy scout troop is a diverse mix of all sorts of boys some seemed nice, some maybe not so much. I did hear a few bad words spoken from a boy or two which I found odd with all the cub scouts parents hanging around. It's a new phase and I'm not sure, just not sure. I think there would be benefit in my boys being in the boy scouts but are they ready? Am I? They will be further out of our safe cocoon of home education, carefully chosen activities and like minded friends than they have ever been before. Sure we see a mix of kids at the beach and in the community but for the most part they don't turn out to be a big part of our lives. It's a subject which I need to spend some time thinking about. Are they ready to stay strong to their own convictions and relatively good behavior?????? Yes this requires some thought.

Our home ed. has been going well. We're...8-10 weeks into our year now? Going on week 10 I believe. We are doing well, starting to get a little antsy. The kids have done by far the most formal schoolwork these past weeks than in years past. It's a good thing but I can see a break might be beneficial soon. It's getting a little monotonous. Both for the kids and me. I see them feeling a little bored since nothing is "new" by this point in the year. I find myself less perky about planning "next week". In fact "last week" is not completely wrapped up and filed away in the binders and next week starts in mere hours.

My job search is mixed. I had a job offer from one ski place but despite the fact that I'd said I could work any day of the week until 2:00 pm, the job I was offered was Saturday-Sunday and Monday 8am-5pm. I had to turn it down since hubby needs to head to work-with our one vehicle-at 2:45. Not to mention the fact that I don't drive well, especially in the winter but really not well pretty much anytime. I also don't like the thought of the kids being alone for too long just yet. Sure they're old enough but there is still good reason to have a parent around most of the time. Too much bad in the world that children can come across accidentally. I may get another offer from the ski mountain this coming week but at the moment I have my sites and hopes set on another ski mountain which could in fact be a better fit. I will interview there on Saturday. I just want this whole thing to be decided. I don't like not knowing and don't like waiting.

On the home front, I think Tristan is coming down with a cold or flu. I dread to think it might be flu but it's come on suddenly for him and at the moment I sense that something might be about to come on suddenly for me. Hoping it turns out to be minor for us or that the others in the family don't get it at all.

On the pet front, The Degus are in a bigger cage now. They are heavy chewers so can't have any plastic. We had them in a small aquarium tank while waiting for a lid to arrive for the 36" long aquarium tank. The lid arrived Friday and Hayley got the Degus settled in. They need more toys and things to climb on there is plenty of space in the bigger tank. The photo below only shows around half of their new home. These are great pets. We had some inconclusiveness about whether we are allowed to have them where we live but it turns out we can being rural and this being for educational reasons.

The other pets are fine. Dogs lazily sleeping by the wood stove. cats spending more time indoors. Guinea pigs indoors for the winter and squeaking constantly for treats. The ferrets also seem to enjoy lazing about when the wood stove is on. Fish doing well now that Colin has their tanks set up correctly. Everything else turtles, frogs, gerbils and hamsters, puttering along as usual. Hayley is campaigning even harder for a tarantula these days. maybe, but I'm not feeding it! I'm not scared of them but hate to see something eat another living things and she would have to feed it crickets. I don't know if I can bear it but if she keeps it in her room I guess.

I will leave with this thought...I really hope my next post isn't that we have the flu or had it and were out of commission for days! Mainly because we have Animal Academy again this Thursday and that is THE highlight of the year for the kids.