survive « Robin Writes

Chapter Two

The kids ran around the meadow, chasing each other. Paul and Millie and Rosie and Zoe had plenty of friends now, but they still stuck together like glue. They were sitting quietly, whispering, when I snuck up behind them and started tickling Millie.

Little pistol. She whipped around grabbed my legs and sent me crashing to the ground. Damn, I felt that all over. The three amigos jumped up and took off and I just gave up, rolling onto my back and staring at the clouds.

Jules joined me.

“Emmy, can we talk?”

I sat up, brushing grass out of my hair. She sure sounded serious . . .

“You know David and I are heading out next week. Out west. He’s got this itch to take off again and wants me to come. Millie and Rosie are going to stay with Alison and Brad, and well . . . EJ wants to go with us.” Jules stared down at her lap for a moment, then dodged my eyes again, looking out across the meadow.

Huh. This was going to be interesting. And by interesting, I meant that Abby would throw a fit. She wanted that daughter of hers to be safe, and this was so not safe. Well, on the other hand, it might be . . . we’d really had no intelligence from that area in years. It could mean that no one was out there, or that things had settled down like they did here, or it could be a hot mess.

I thought about this for a minute, wondering exactly what to say. Jules beat me to it.

“She’s talking to Abby right now.”

Crap. Yeah, I could see something was going on. All the way over at the kitchen shelter. This was not the way I would have handled things, but EJ sure had a mind of her own. Once she got an idea, she put it into motion.

Kinda like her mother.

So my husband got his pond cutter thingy and started cutting all the water lilies and dragging them to shore. And he spent a fair amount of time cutting up the giant tree and hauling logs to the pile behind the house that we’ll use this winter in our wood furnace.

And then he hurt his back.

Oh, not too seriously, but he was out for the count last Friday and Saturday, and I suspect he overdid it a bit early this week when he went back to the pond for a while before the temps zoomed into the 90s.

But he’s fine. Just ask him.

The garden is winding down; I’m still getting a few tomatoes and the pepper plants are alive, but I don’t think those melons are ever going to do anything besides show us some pretty yellow flowers. My stepmom suggested we carve them for Halloween. Ha. Probably take that long.

Of course, the asparagus and strawberries are permanent beds, and the garlic still has a few months to go. The second round of garlic will go into the ground in late fall.

But the rest is kaput. Let the cleanup commence!

So I’m planning for next year already . . .

We’ve ordered a small, inexpensive greenhouse to see how well it works this winter. We’ll decide next spring if it’s worth it and whether or not to expand that. The fence, however, will be expanded to include the greenhouse and about half again as much space as we have now.

We’re still debating on whether or not to call the plow guy or just rent one for a day. Probably no point in buying still more tractor implements.

More building projects are on paper: the picnic area, dock, and kitchen shelter (still!). And of course, the rest of the fencing, pasture and perimeter. We still won’t know about purchasing the extra ten acres until sometime next month.

Right now, though, I’m sweating buckets just from giving some minor assistance with the rest of the patio furniture. That ol’ Weather Channel was showing temps in the 70s coming up, until it changed its mind and gave us more 90s.

Bad Weather Channel, bad!