Esquire Coffinberry's Great-Grand-Niece

We have another Eagle in the Nest. Last night, Son Two underwent his Board of Review for the Eagle Rank advancement. He had lots of support, and wonderful letters of recommendation; and now he is an Eagle Scout. Here is a picture from the second phase of his service project last spring.

The odd thing was, as it was happening very late Sunday night, we were on the front porch enjoying the storm, marveling at the amazing quantity of water coursing down the street into the storm drain, and smugly feeling grateful for our cozy, dry home on its little man-made hill. After our guests left and the rain stopped, we made our way to bed. All was quiet, then we heard Son Two whisper at our door: "Mom, Dad? Code Red." Well, that's not a normal "I have a question" or a teenage "I need to talk" or even "I need a drink of water" (that hasn't happened in years, or at least since anyone was tall enough to reach the sink--and Son Two is 6'2"). So we quickly grabbed robes and went to investigate. Oops. Uh-oh. Apparently a window-well on the west wall of the basement had a casement with a crack in its caulking. The rain came down so fast that it filled up that window well and rose up to the window and in through that crack. Son Two...

This interesting little link was recently brought to my attention. Here's what it said about me: Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 90% Likelihood of you being MALE is 10% What does it say about you?

In my dream last night, we had two overnight houseguests. They visited a week or two apart, and stayed in the spare room. Both were pleasant company, providing fascinating dinner conversation. They were unfailingly polite, and uncomplaining about the ongoing experiment conducted by daughter in toilet-training the cats. The first had soup and bread with us for dinner, the second was treated to Sunday supper (lest you think one ate better than the other, this means pancakes with syrup or plum jam, with bacon on the side). Both joined in family scripture and prayer before bed. I was impressed with both men, though my dreaming mind wondered if the second had known he was sleeping in the same bed the first had slept in before (I did change the sheets, of course). Both men were Senators, so I sincerely doubt this dream would ever come to pass--certainly not as calmly as it did in my dream (oh the housecleaning I would have to do... in the dream, there were scraps of wrapping paper left over ...

We set the raspberries we'd been collecting for the past three weeks out of the freezer to warm up a bit, and placed the clean jars and bands into a boiling water bath, then Daughter and I walked over to Ace Hardware to pick up some new lids (that's the one thing you cannot re-use with home canning). I had noticed we had enough berries to try making jelly (which is nice, because it is 'relatively' seed free), so I also got some cheesecloth. The low-sugar pectin had been purchased on the last grocery trip. On our return, we rested a little bit from the heat, and then started squeezing the berries in the cheesecloth bag. With a little work and effort, we managed to squeeze out the necessary 4 1/2 cups of raspberry juice, and tossed the seedy pulp in the composter. To the juice we added 3 cups of sugar and a package of pectin. It was an excellent opportunity to show daughter what a rolling boil looks like. The stove had a bit of a tantrum about all the boiling pots on it ...

Well, the bar exam did what the bar exam does... haze, trouble, and stump. It was both as awful, and at the same time, not as awful, as I had been told it would be. Everyone was polite, diligent, silent. We had no earthquakes (but my friend Sara did), we had no crazy people regurgitating or running for the doors. It is over but for the waiting. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the seasons roll on, and it is time for another son to become an adult, and for picking raspberries and making jam. Thes e are pictures from my garden.