Heat, Humidity, Harvest, and Back-to-School

I mentioned recently that I needed to pick and can the tomatoes. As you can see, one part of that task is complete, but somehow triple-digit temperatures and humidity--can you believe it?--dissuade me from attempting the canning. I'm sticking the tomatoes in the fridge and hoping that it will be a bit more comfortable on Monday. I really don't have reason to complain, though--the current humidity level is hardly stifling, but it is downright tropical compared to our normal, "but it's a dry heat!" climate.

Instead of canning, I'm going to take youngest daughter out to lunch somewhere with a good air conditioner, and we're going to discuss our homeschooling schedule for the fall. Although the public schools started here a few weeks ago, we're easing into our fall routine. She missed the first week of early-morning seminary due to BYU Education Week. This week she did start seminary, but that's about it. Now that the college kids have left for their apartments, it's time to start in on the academics. Youngest daughter is signed up for a few online classes this year, but they don't start until September. I'm hoping to use today's lunchtime to communicate expectations, plan for fun learning experiences, and generally encourage enthusiasm for the opportunity to learn new things. I might even schedule these lunch meetings periodically, to allow us a chance to review the past months and set new goals for the upcoming ones. (I love the optimism that a new school year affords!)

Comments

Ten Things of Thankful: Live from Oregon, part 2

stock photo of old computer monitor When I was 10 or 11, I remember sitting next to my dad in our living room and reading computer code to him as he entered it into an Apple computer. We would finish the exercise and he would hit enter (or was it "run"?) and wait expectantly for the green type to appear on the screen. If we were lucky, the whole conversation would occur. Most often, there would be an error either in my dictation of the code, or in the typing of the code. We would then go painstakingly back through the lines, character by character, to find and correct the error. After what seemed like hours (and might have been), we would succeed and the computer would finally run the entire program. It was magical! My dad designed and built an earth-sheltered, passive solar home decades before solar panels were commonplace. He also was on a 9-month waiting list for a Prius, when hybrids were not seen on every street. While my dad is definitely on the cutting edge of technol...

Monday Mentions: Equate Crutches

Have you ever needed crutches? I hadn't, until a week ago. I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle while running a half-marathon. (That sounds kind of cool, doesn't it? I'm not actually that cool; the last time I strained a muscle it was from carrying too many shopping bags at once.) In any case, I found myself in need of some crutches. I sent my husband to the store to get some. Photo: A pair of crutches leans against a wall Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried. John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this...

What a Wonderful World! (An #AtoZChallenge Post): Z is for Zion National Park

Visitor Center sign in Zion National Park My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: Zion National Park in Utah. Zion is a bit of a shibboleth. People from outside of Utah (or those who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) tend to pronounce Zion as "ZIE-on." Locals (or tourists who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) use more of a schwa sound, pronouncing Zion to rhyme with lion. However you choose to pronounce it, it is an amazing, beautiful national park and has some amazing hikes. The last time my husband and I visited Zion National Park, we entered from the east, and traveled through the mile-long Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel. It is an engineering marvel, completed in the 1920s. Before we passed through the tunnel, though, we spotted a group of bighorn sheep, including some babies...

Thankful Me

Search This Blog