Bits

This week went by really fast, so just a few bits to keep up to date:

The retreat was mellow and probably as good as it gets. I guess I was hoping for a setting that had grounds and trails like on the farm. I did get to lean up against a huge sequoia tree that one of the sisters had planted in 1895. And I walked through the orchards and cemetery. The setting was OK and the lack of woods and wildlife the only glitch. So now my new idea is to buy a piece of wooded property and build a retreat center that will provide the aesthetics of my ideal retreat setting. I think you should see deer when your on a retreat.

SIE had his last gymnastics class for the year and first official performance. It was wonderful. If I can figure out how, I'll post some photos from this. But even the best photos wouldn't do it justice - there was background music and the whole atmosphere was like a mini Cirque de Soleil and SIE was fantastic!

This week I got a new washer and dryer. The ones that came with the house weren't working very well to begin with. The washer wouldn't spin dry well. That meant I had to wring out everything before putting it in the dryer. Then it would take a minimum of 70 minutes in the dryer no matter what or how much I put in. This summer I put up a really nifty clothes line in the back yard. But as winter has crept in, it's gotten harder to do the laundry. I accidentally stumbled on a W/D sale while buying trellis wood at Home Depot. This week I did my entire laundry in washed and dried in less than an hour! Yay!

Slug update: Contrary to popular opinion, I've become quite fond of him. I still haven't figured out exactly where he lives. I was worried about him when the old washer/dryer got moved out, afraid he might be inside one of them or squished on the way out. But I saw him again one night and this time I got to watch him make his journey from the basement door to the cat food. It took two hours one way. I am presuming he takes the same route there and back each time. He crawls 21 and 1/2 ft one way! How far he travels before he gets to this side of the basement door, I'm not sure. And now that the weather has gotten so cold, I hope he has more sense than to venture out. Even Waylon is preferring to eat in the kitchen instead of the mud room.