Hello there ladies and gents! We’ve been suspiciously absent for a while we know The night that we were near wireless internet after Departure from Tatros’ was spent sleeping in the Big Sky Lodge.

Here is a quick rundown of our activities after leaving the Tatro home.

We spent two days ( Friday, Saturday, Sunday morning) at Knouse’s house and I got to meet Alexis’s friends and her horse. The horse liked me a little and tried to scratch her face on my shoulder. But I’m a genius and I was wearing a cammi and strappy dress in the 98degree heat and Angel was wearing a fly mask. Screen burn on the shoulder ensued.

Alexis tried to convince me and Beorn to go ‘dam sling’ sliding down an algae covered dam into the water below, which seemed like a fantastic activity. However, upon arrival at the dam Beorn and I looked into the River and couldn’t. The waster was so disgusting that Orion, who was wearing white sneakers with bright orange laces, couldn’t see his feet when they were only a foot into the water. My view on swimming is “if you wouldn’t wash your hair in it…. It’s not good enough for swimming” . We didn’t go dam sliding. It looked super fun however, and  part of me really wished I had just given in. although the smell of the water just wouldn’t let me.

As we were leaving Knouses and Wisconsin we stopped at a lovely park and had a last lunch with them and did some park exploring!







We drove from the Knouse’s company to a campsite in the Palisades just barely inside South Dakota. We spent the next day driving to the Badlands. Where we set up camp and went for a hike.

I fell in love with the Badlands. The landscape was beautiful and awe inspiring, and it made my imagination go 100 miles a minute. We would be walking through a little canyon and I would think “R2D2 and C3P0 must be just around the next corner!” we heard a noise that sounded just like a speeder and I said out loud “Look out! Here comes Anakin!” There were other times where I could just see an outlaw in a little cave, with his horse wandering below in the sparse grass looking for something edible. I even saw Serenity fly by in the sky a few times. Then I looked around and thought, “wow this place is really  beautiful. Look at that big rock! Let’s climb that big rock and see the view from there, I just want to go to the top of that big rock!” 













We left the Badlands the next afternoon and I was sad. Beorn I could have stayed there for a year and still wanted to explore more of the nooks of that beautiful place.

What was I thinking?

Here's a slice of reality for anyone following this blog who thinks everything is all rosy and well - or who thinks I've got my little Mormon colored glasses cranked up way past reasonably happy.

Things are difficult around the Beorningstead lately.  The last few weeks have been crazy busy what with Bry planning and then running YM's Camp, work week at Mom and Dad Burnett's and trying to get the Ft. Jackson house cleaned out so as to be ready for drop-of-the-hat walk throughs.  I say we have been crazy busy, but aside from getting the Ft. Jackson house cleaned out (thank you mom, Lue, Molly & Chrissy!) we have made absolutely no headway on the Beorningstead AT ALL.

 We've got 3 weeks left of summer to get the back roof done.  Bry is planning a dormer and thinks he's got the plans pretty well hammered out.  He bought lumber today and the long term forecast predicts about 4 clearish days between now and Saturday.  Perfect.  Except he doesn't have any help lined up and several of the men who could and would help are either out of town or leaving town this week.  Part of me wants to just say - forget it.  We'll do the roof next summer BUT

We have thousands of dollars tied up in the bathroom project that cannot be reimbursed from escrow until the bathroom is finished.  The bathroom is under the roof that needs to be replaced.  Without getting that bathroom done, we can't afford the cupboards for the kitchen or our new appliances - washing machine, drier & dishwasher (oh, please, give me a dishwasher!).  In the meantime, I am functioning in a kitchen with seriously inadequate cupboard & counter top space.  This wouldn't be such a big problem except that the kitchen keeps getting filled up with more and more boxes of stuff that magically appear from the Ft. Jackson house as soon as there is room for them.   Some of it is stuff I don't want to keep but haven't had time to sort, some of it is stuff I want to keep but don't have a place for yet and some of it is stuff I need to use right now but can't get unpacked because there's too much else in the way.

There is also a serious mouse problem in the pantry area so all the dried goods and chewable packaging has to be stored in a bin.  I think I could have bought that coveted dishwasher with the money I have spent on bins during this project.  (That bag of dog food right there?  They love it.  Molly stuck her had in to get Ziggy a scoop of food last week and a little mousey ran around on her hand and arm.  Squeeal!  The dog food has been transferred to a bin.)


We're also using the Ft. Jackson house as our own private laundromat.  This is slightly inconvenient.  Especially when the pump or well or something decided to take a break in the middle of a big load today.  This means that on top of everything else, we have to figure out what that problem is and fix it fast before someone actually decides they want to buy the place. 

My studio is a wreck , though I am trying to get that sorted out this week.  (That top photo?  That's my dying table.  It looks worse than that today and it will stay that messy for at least a couple more months.  It just doesn't make sense to move all of the tools out to the tool shed -which is full of bins- or the barn - which is full of scrap metal waiting for a good hauling day- until we've got more finished up inside.)  The kitchen, studio, shower and small bath still need to be painted even though they are now filled up with boxes and other stuff and/or are being used frequently.  The living room still needs its wall board and electrical outlets, switches and light fixtures installed.  The windows all lack sills.

We still have not received a letter of reasonable assurance about Bry's job next year.  In June, he was told he'd be working full time again but with Albany playing games and school districts not having any trusty budget to work with, lots of teachers have been sweating it.  The household account is running low and I'm counting on a big infusion on September 15th but what if that doesn't come?

It is all very overwhelming.  I wigged out today.  Yelled at my husband, even though none of this is specifically his fault.  He grumbled back.  Maxx threw the kitten on the ground and was sent to time out and got a spanking when he wigged out about time out.

Nerves are frayed.  Tempers tight.  I'm trying hard to resist my stress eating/spending behaviors.  I can feel my will power crumbling fast.  We all really just need a few hours to relax on the porch.  And a case of Ghiradelli - one of the dark chocolate varieties.  That might help.

We didn't make any progress on the Beorningstead last week but we sure had fun.



Monday night's canoe adventure was just the beginning.  We celebrated Bry's birthday at the new house on Tuesday evening.  I made the ugliest birthday cake ever.  (It tasted great, though.) 


The kids ran around a lot.
















Ken made a new friend (I think it's time for Burlington to get Kim's dad stable so she can come home, eh?) 








Gifts were bestowed  (yes, Derek, Linc & Molly - those are climbing holds.  There are plans.)











Babies were bounced. 
















A nest of robins was discovered.
















Wednesday Molly had a concert and Friday was a day of rock climbing and general running wild in the woods. 
















Blogger doesn't like to let me put up ALL of my photos so I'll put some up on Facebook later on this week.  We're loving that new camera!





















........

We spent the day today working over at the Beorningstead.  Boy do my arms ache.  I uncovered a huge nest of ladybugs in the lawn.

Bry put in the pump and I did some raking &  garbage collecting outside and some cleanup inside.  I so want to be over there right now.  I'm trying not to be discouraged about the roof and am trying to convince myself that there is still some way to make the move before garden season. 

I took lots of photos for documentation purposes but I'm not up to posting them and explaining all about them tonight.  But here are some fun shots that I took and altered with TiltShiftMaker.  I've been wanting to play with this tool for a long time.  It's pretty keen.

There's one of the brook from the bridge






One of Maxx in front of the bridge


 One of the front porch





 And one of the whole Beorningstead from Jonathan's house.






Spring.  The trees are budding.  Pretty soon, it will be hard to get a good photo of the place from that vantage point.