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The Aardsma Weekly
May 12, 2009
Writer: Rachel Aardsma
Never A Dull Moment....
Here's a sample of the many interesting--and sometimes hilarious--things that happen around here as we are hard at work on chores and other tasks from day to day.
It was shortly after lunch, and, as usual, I was doing the dishes. As often happens lately, Beka had to work on her horse stall so I was doing both of our normal jobs. Caleb had already completed his and gone out to help her. Timmy was the only one left, and, with much fooling around and silliness, was finishing up his jobs too.
As I was removing the breakfast dishes from the sink (it had been a busy morning!), I noticed something odd--the sink wasn't draining like it should. In fact, it wasn't draining at all! After some small investigation, I realized that something was definitely wrong! I called Timmy over, and we collaborated on what to do. Timmy got down under the sink and checked out the pipes--until I pointed out there was very little he could find out about our problems by staring at pipes! So out he came and got down to business. Using pitchers and cups, we bailed the water from the plugged sink into one of the other sinks. Of course, we couldn't get it all, so we soaked up the extra with several towels. Then we raided somebody's tool-box, decided on a screwdriver as our highly technical sink-deplugging tool, and headed back to the kitchen.
It didn't take much more than a look into the bottom of the sink to see where the problem was---we could see the spaghetti and rice and other remains from the last few meals heaped in the drain. Tim declared that all we needed was our screwdriver. He jabbed it into the drain numerous times, and then we ran steaming hot water into the sink. Eureka!! It drained! We shook hands solemnly over the happily gurgling sink.
Timothy planting the lilacs we got Mom for Mother's Day. Photo by Mom.
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Once again it was Tim and me hard at work. This time we were attacking the rhubarb patch, whose greatest ambition in life seems to be to become a permanent part of our lawn. Armed with knives to aid in the weeding process, we dug in (no pun intended). It was hard going. The grass was thick and the dandelions plentiful. Tim rapidly got bored and asked me to tell a story, as we sometimes do to pass the time in tedious jobs. However, my mind was elsewhere so I declined. When I turned my attention to Timothy several minutes later, I saw him slashing fiercely at the weeds with his knife, and this is what I heard:
"And the Silver Blade, sharp and cunning, chops through the dirt, turning it into little pieces of rubble [sound effects]. He slashes through the grass! [Sound effects.] He kills it! Then the Silver Blade turns his attention to a helpless morning glory. The morning glory puts up a strong fight!!! [Sound effects.] The Silver Blade struggles! There is a tremendous fight! [Sound effects.] But the Silver Blade, although getting dull, is not to be stopped! He turns the morning glory into oblivion. [Sound effects, and then silence for reflection.] Not that I even know what an oblivion is....and I'm not about to find out!!!!!"
Leave it to Tim (and his sense of drama) to make weeding as interesting as possible...
Beka joined us later that day and we worked together to begin digging the holes neccesary to put up some posts for Beka's horse stall. The ground was fairly muddy, so it wasn't very easy, but we got along okay until Beka, who was digging at the time, announced sadly that she thought she was hitting a tree root. We investigated.
"Yeah, that's definitely a tree root," Tim said. "What do we do now?"
After lengthy deliberation, we decided to simply cut through it with a knife. It didn't look very thick. Timothy inserted his arm and a knife into the hole and began hacking away. Several seconds later, he moaned,
"I think somebody buried a board in here!"
Beka and I laughed. I offered to take a turn hacking at the root. He gladly agreed. I put my hand into the muddy hole and examined the root. I ran my hand along the bottom of it, trying to figure out how wide it was. I was mildly shocked when I couldn't find where it stopped expanding, and also that this tree root had distinct edges! I turned to Beka.
"You know, this is a board!"
"No way!" Beka replied. "That is not a board!"
"Yes! Yes it is too! You can feel. Just stick your finger down under it and you can feel it."
Beka glanced at my hand coated in black slime and shook her head emphatically. But she did take a closer look. With a sigh, she found a shovel and began turning our neat hole into a crater. Several minutes later, we all sat back and laughed and laughed over our 'tree root'--which was really a buried 2x4!
What a busy crew!! Here we all are helping out on Beka's horse stall. Photo by Mom.
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Thinking of this next incident still makes me laugh, even though it happened quite a while ago!
Mom had made out a list of jobs for Beka and me while she was out running errands--jobs like washing floors, cleaning the bathroom, etc. By the list was a package containing a small lightbulb. The accompanying instructions on the list were: ‘put lightbulb in freezer’. Even though I thought that was a little strange, I remembered something about putting batteries in the fridge to keep them new, so I figured maybe the same went for lightbulbs.
I slid the lightbulb package onto a tray in the freezer, and was walking away when I heard Beka laughing behind me.
"Why did you just put that lightbulb in the freezer?” she asked.
“Because Mom said to on the list,” I explained. Beka laughed even harder.
"Rachel, she meant that you were supposed to replace the old bulb in there, not just stick the package on the rack!”
I have to admit to feeling pretty dumb, but now it gives me a chuckle every time I remember it! And I guess we all have our blonde moments.
As everybody knows, all work and no play is definitely no fun. We all enjoy a few breaks throughout the day, especially Timothy and Caleb. Recently, I was attempting to tidy up the living room while they were taking one of those breaks. Timmy had fashioned two wooden swords, and they were going at it fiercely. This, of course, hampered my tidying-up operation, but I didn't mind too much, as I enjoyed listening to the conversation that was sprinkled throughout the fight. At one point, Tim limped off the field, defeated, and Caleb, brandishing both swords, crowed in triumph,
"I de-sworded him!"
Dad and Caleb working on an automatic watering system for the garden. Photo by Mom.
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Sometimes, as we are working together on a task, we get spread out over a large distance, and have to call back and forth as we talk. The misunderstandings resulting from that distance can sometimes be hilarious--as happened the other day.
I don't remember what we were doing, but Beka and I were working on something, and Timmy and Caleb were several yards behind us doing another part of the job. Caleb starting shouting for our attention and gesturing wildly at something in the distance. We looked around for what had peaked his interest, asking several times, "What--that?" Finally, I spotted a large bird flying overhead.
"That bird?" I shouted back to Caleb. He looked at me like I was losing my mind, and replied,
"Of course that's a bird!"
The Weekly Bible Verse
Numbers 23:11-12: Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!" He answered, "Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?"
Day In My Week
April 23, 2009: I'm a little late getting up this morning, and have to speed up my normal activities. But it doesn't take long to get everything done and fix breakfast--consisting mostly of leftover poor man's pecan pie--for myself. I eat it in my room, enjoying a very interesting spy mystery at the same time! Then, at eight o'clock, I head out into the kitchen and start cleaning things up. Due to a busy few days, everything is pretty dirty, so I get out the dust rag and the window cleaner and, by the time Mom and Dad get up, everything is looking pretty good! I work on the house and a few other things until ten o'clock, when Beka needs my help outside.
The major job this morning is to get the ground surrounding Beka's new horse stall fairly level, to aid in keeping that whole area dry. It is a big job--there were several animal pens right where we are working, the dirt/manure we have to remove is either muddy or packed solid! Using spades, shovels, pitchforks, and wheelbarrows, it takes us the rest of the morning to get it nearly finished up. We aren't quite done, but I have to make lunch, so Beka and the boys head into the barn to do a few odd jobs.
After lunch, we head back out to the horse stall. It only takes an hour or so to finish up, and then Timothy and I take our small wagon down to some drainage areas around our place to collect some large rocks. We bring them back and put them around Mom's flowerbeds, making a nice border. Then there are a few flowerbeds to weed, and also some railroad ties to move around. By that time it is three o'clock and Mom wants to go on a walk, so Tim and I head out with her, Beka, and Caleb.
By four o'clock we're home again, and I head straight to me room and my spy mystery! However I remember I need to write some e-mails first so take an hour to do that, and then turn to my mystery! I spend the rest of my evening with that, taking only a brief break for supper! I stay up way too late to finish it---but how are you supposed to go to bed still not knowing who the mastermind behind the whole thing is??? At ten o'clock I hastily climb into bed. I take a few minutes to think over the mystery and put all the pieces together, as the real criminal had NOT been who I was expecting! It doesn't take long, though, to fall asleep.
Bits and Pieces
Well! A lot has happened since I last wrote a Weekly!
It is now May, a month I personally have been waiting for for a while as it brings me very close to June, which is when some friends of ours are sending three of their sons down here from California to help us pick berries. They are coming right at the very beginning of June, so May is the countdown month!
Our garden is doing excellent! Currently we are marketing eggs, rhubarb, green onions, radishes, and asparagus. We get quite a few customers daily and move all the asparagus every day! (That stuff is amazingly popular...) For more info on what we've been doing around the farm lately, and also for good recipes and photos, check out a journal Mom just started on our Mulberry Lane Farm website: click here.
Meet Anne! Photo by me.
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Beka recently acquired a horse. We made a trip up into Amish country to purchase her. She is a 12-year-old mare, and her name is Anne Arbor. We call her Anne or Annie though! The trip up to Amish country was quite enjoyable. Sort of like traveling back in time a hundred years or so! Anne is quite gentle and pleasant and the family is looking forward to many hours of pleasure from her.
Mother's Day was just a few days ago. We had a fun and pleasant day. The five of us kids at home went together and managed to thoroughly surprise both our mother and father with three beautiful lilac plants! I enjoyed organizing all of that and also enjoyed seeing how pleased Mom was! She has always wanted lilacs...and now she has three bushes planted in her front yard!
As usual we went to a local greenhouse for Mother's Day this year. Here we all are with Mom. Photo by Dad.
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Matthew's high school graduation party is this Sunday. I am helping Mom plan and organize that and I am looking forward to it! It will be especially nice to meet all of the people Matthew has been talking about for years, and to finally have faces to put to well-known names.
A Word About The Weather
The weather has turned spring. We enjoy warm, balmy days, mixed with some chilly, windy days. It is the perfect weather to go for a long walk, throw a ball around, or sit in the sun and cuddle a purring cat. When it isn't raining, that is!
A Word Of Wisdom
Jeans bought new for $30.00 will rip, tear, or stain beyond all hope within a month. Jeans gotten for nothing in a bag of hand-me-downs are indestructable.
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