Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

Ridgetop

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DS!'s college friend and his wife came for a visit this week. We were gong to let them sleep in the trailer for privacy but them I realized that if they tried to leave the trailer during the night for any reason, Bubba would object. In the interest of safety, they slept on the sofa bed in the living room. If was also probably more comfortable than being in the trailer since the trailer had been shut up for a year. We had lamb which they really enjoyed and Laine, whose life revolves around hunting, brought us an antelope roast. Can't wait to try it. Laine plans to buy 1,000 acres in Montana with a friend, set up some cabins and a lodge, and use it as a hunting preserve. He also announced his intention to steal DS1 as his manager. What?! :thI don't know what I will do without him but since Laine is not planning to actually need DS1 until 2024, maybe I will be ready to retire from sheep by then. ;)

DD2 and I went shopping for dresses for her and DGD2. Found a lovely print chiffon dress for DD2 at Macy's which she loved - all their formal dresses were on sale - probably because no one is going anywhere due to Covid. Then went to Burlington and she found "ankle breaker" shoes. 1" platform soles with 4"heels. Very pretty gold sandals with crystals but Oh Boy! I remember when I used to wear those to work EVERY DAY!!! Now I can barely balance on little 2" heels! Also found DGD2 an adorable dress with pale lilac lace bodice and layered chiffon skirt. I have matching lilac ribbon at home so will made a lace and lilac ribbon clip for her hair. By then DD2 was played out (so was I) so we went home and I took the dress hem up an inch. Yes even with her wearing those excessively high heels, it was still too long. Both my DDs and DILs are tiny - about 5"1' to 5'2" tall. I have to take up all their dresses. I feel like a giant around them.

So then I finished making the flower girl basket - no scattering of rose petals since they might carry Covid germs. I painted the basket white and wound the handle with ribbons matching the wedding colors and then made a nosegay of flowers i the same colors to fill it She will have to just carry the basket down the aisle. If she wants to she can pretend to fling out petals and even twirl for all that. Next, FDIL took the special couple veil to her parents house to have her mom decide about cutting it down. After FDIL and 5 of her siblings fit under it, it was decided to take off almost 3'. I removed the pearls and satin cording, cut the veil down, and then restitched the cording and pearls back on. Smaller and lovely,

Then FDIL told me that her mom had gone to David's Bridal with 2 of her daughters and couldn't find anything. I made arrangements to take her mom to Macy's to the sale. Marlene told me that her daughters had chosen dresses that were too young or too old for her. We agreed that our children could be a trial. Went to Macy's at 10 am and found that they don't open till 11 am! Covid hours. So hopped into the car and went over to Burlington where Marlene bought shoes and an evening bag. Like me she bought 2" heels saying that way she could be on her feet all evening at the wedding! LOL Back to Macy's where she found a lovely pale green fitted lace dress with an off shoulder lace ruffle. (FDIL said it was reminiscent of the traditional Filipino gowns.) Since the dressing rooms are all closed, she had to slip the dress on over her clothes so could not really see more than that it fit her. She got $25 off the sale price. Then off to Nordstrom Rack to look again. We found another great dress this one in a lovely shade of deep rose, with 3/4 sleeves, boat neck and side wrap with a ruffle down the front. Very stylish and sophisticated. Marlene had a lovely figure - still a size 8! - after having had 8 children! We got that dress too since I told her she would have to try on the dresses for her children and have them decide which they liked. Both were lovely and very flattering on her. Besides she has 4 more daughters to marry off so will have plenty of opportunity to wear it.

Back home where Marlene and I had to wait for FDIL to finish her zoom meetings to see her mom try on the dress, I pinned up the hem for her and FDIL agreed that both dresses were keepers. Then we checked out the new size of the veil and it was approved by Marlene as being large but OK.

I typed out the invitation address labels in calligraphy. With the Covid delay, I ran out of time to do them by hand like I did for DD1's wedding. Then I had to also make new RSVP cards since we needed the guests to RSVP ASAP to their wedding website. I put the labels and return labels on all the invitations, then FDIL and I pulled out the original menu choice RSVP cards and envelopes and added the new RSVP cards I had made. FDIL finally got them in the mail yesterday am. Only 3 weeks to the wedding from today! She called, texted and emailed a lot of the guests for a definite answer, and many had already said they couldn't come due to the Covid quarantine. We will be within the 50-60 count so that is ok, although disappointing to all of us since she is the first bride among her siblings. She is not the oldest either. Today I typed up the place cards ready for her to look over for a final head count. Then I will print them out, cut them with the paper cutter, and score them ready to be folded in half. Today FDIL is at her folk's with her siblings getting the favors made up.

After this wedding is over, I get to start on DD2's wedding since they have decided they want to be married before the baby comes. The courts are closed so I will call the local church where I taught preschool and see if they are doing weddings. It will be a small wedding with the reception immediately afterwards at our house. She will have to have a flower girl and ring bearer though to satisfy her small niece and nephews.

My ewes have not produced any lambs yet. 8111 and 0439 just keep getting larger and larger. Their udders are filing in slightly but are not fully distended, however that doesn't mean anything since they often don't show much udder until after lambing. The next ones to go will be at least another month or so judging by the shape of them, although a couple do look fairly rotund. At any rate I have been so busy that I don't even go check on them every day! I check on them through the window with my binoculars since their large pen is only about 15' from the bathroom window! I am so glad that I decided to put them in that pen instead of in the barn, The barn gets too many flies with the ewes in it for very long, The heat is starting to dissipate and the smoke is starting to clear away too. Hopefully it will cool down for the ewes to lamb. I don't like lambing in extreme heat. It's hard on the lambs and ewes both. One of the ewes will probably lamb on the day of the wedding and need to have lambs pulled! It would be just like them! In fact I think one IS due on the wedding day!!! Well it can't be helped and hopefully she will do just fine - second timer. I just need an extra item to worry about.

Another crazy day! This morning DH talked to my sister on the phone. Then he came and told me that she was insane! I already knew that, but it has taken him a long time to realize. LOL I no longer talk to her because she is indeed insane. Here is what he told me . . . .

Apparently, she and her husband were in bankruptcy before he passed away several months ago. Her income is $1500 per month and her mortgage payment is $2000 monthly. However, she announced to DH that she will buy our Yelm property if she loses her house! :ep :lol:

I don't recall offering to sell it to her and I don't know how she knows we are even considering selling it since it is not listed! She told DH said her property is worth about $800,000. Even though she is in bankruptcy and it is about to be repossessed, she told DH she planned to buy our property???? DH said she should immediately arrange with the bank to hold her payments up while she sells the property so she can clear her debts and buy another place if possible. A sensible suggestion, right? Noooo, she got angry and informed him that she had emotional ties to the home since she lived there 28 years and her mother-in-law, father, mother, and husband had all died in the house. (Actually they died in the hospital after being taken by ambulance from the house but whatever.) According to her, we (DH and myself) are only interested in money, but she has an emotional attachment to her home. She is obviously very superior to us since we are "money grubbers". She doesn't want to move from the area since it is close to town. She then said that we should immediately send DS1 up to Washington with our truck to help her clear out her house and get it ready so she can get a reverse mortgage! She and her husband tried to do that before, but the lender said they would not consider a reverse mortgage since they had knob and tube wiring. At the time DH and I offered to give her the money to have the old knob and tube replaced. Her husband refused to replace it since he had been told by the real estate agent that did the sale that the knob and tube was "better than the new stuff". DS1 said he would not go up before the wedding if he goes at all. I don't want him to take the truck since we might need it. She was not pleased. She has decided that she will fix up her house and rent it out, then fix up the basement apartment to rent out, and live in her garage. We had offered several years ago to reno her basement apartment so she and her husband would have an income off it but they informed us that they didn't want our help. They were angry at us for coming up to fix up our aunt's house, and demanding that they return the items they had taken away from her for "safe-keeping".

Sorry about all that but she is truly off her nut in many ways. I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that she has been a rabid liberal since her early college days. She thinks we are racists and apparently not "woke". She also is an artist. She is very talented but when I suggested years ago that she could work as an illustrator, she said that I was a drone because I worked for a living, while she was an artistic soul who was above all that. ??????? I am sooooo glad that she lives in Seattle, far, far away. Our 2 brothers live in Seattle and won't talk to her anymore.

:barnie :he :smack
 

Ridgetop

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Oh well, we can't choose our families, just our friends. I shouldn't have mentioned her.

The Bobcat Fire that was causing all the smoke here has moved north into the Antelope Valley, where people are having to evacuate now. It is 63% controlled DH says. Still a huge fire, but the very high winds (Santa Anas) that came in stopped quickly after just a couple days. Those winds and high temps were driving the fire so when the temps and winds dropped the firefighters were able to start to get it under control. The problem was that the mountains here in
So Cal are very steep preventing firefighters to have access. The only control in those areas are water and chemical drops from the air. The fire climbed the San Gabriel mountains and burned through to the next valley where it is now. Hopefully, the firefighters can get it under control now. However, after fighting all these fires, they are exhausted.

DGD2 got an up close and personal view of firefighters last week when the fire knocked out power to their apartment building, trapping someone in the elevator. the firefighters had to come and get them out. Power did not come back on till morning. DGD2 was able to watch the firemen rescue the neighbor, The next day she and her daddy made cookies to take to the station to thank them. We talked to her about if she was stuck inside the elevator how the firemen would rescue her. Always good to imprint that help will arrive in a scary situation to a 3 year old.

When shopping with Marlene (FDIL's mom) I picked up some new puzzles for DGD2. I still have several boxes of toddler toys that i saved for grandchildren, but had donated all my good wooden Playskool puzzles to the preschool where I worked when my children outgrew them. Also picked up a set of stitching cards for her - they had Mickey and Minnie Mouse which is her favorite cartoon character right now. Good for small muscle coordination. And a set of flash cards - numbers, letters, early words, etc. for DD2 to use with DGD2. FDIL is a preschool teacher and has all her own stuff like that. Preschool was cancelled so DGD2 will not be able to go until they reopen DD2 had enrolled her in the school near our house where I taught and where DS2, DS3, DGS1, DGS2, DGS3, DGS4, and DGD1 all went. Soon another group of Ridgetop kids will be attending! LOL

I thought we had finished with children's toys around the house, but another generation is coming through. DH was just lamenting that we will need to be adding more baby carseats to the cars. Actually he is all noise. He can't wait to have more tiny babies to hold. They love sleeping on his soft round tummy a he lays back in his recliner. He calls it his "baby belly". The babies instantly go to sleep!

We have made the decision to officially and legally adopt our youngest "daughter". We were her guardians. We legally changed her name to ours at her request. Now she is an adult and we asked her if she wanted us to adopt her. She was so happy and said she had been hoping for it. She had not mentioned it since she felt it should be what we wanted first. it is an adult adoption so there will be no home visits or any of that sort of stuff. We will have to change our Wills and Family Trust as well since the addition of a child or spouse invalidates any current Will. We are redoing our Trust and Wills to include her anyway, so this will work out. The nice thing is that with the Court Notice of Adoption an amended Birth Certificate is also recorded showing us as her parents. In future if anything happens to us she will be able to be present in the hospital as a child. Our children are all in favor of it. FDIL wants nothing in his name since DGD2's mother will try to claim something from our estate. We will arrange DD2's share to be held in trust with DS1 as Trustee until DGD2 attains her 18th birthday. DD2's portion will transfer to her children if she dies first, again with DS1 as Trustee. Setting up those appointments on Monday. We have been discussing this for several years, but did not think that DD2 wanted it.

Speaking of DD2, she called the other day to apologize. For what? Now that she is raising a small child, she realizes how obnoxious she was as a child and wanted me to know that she now sees how difficult she was nd "IS VERY SORRY, MOM". Apparently DGD2 had given them a bad day. LOL DD1 also called to apologize for her childhood behavior when her first child was a toddler. LOL

DD1 and I had a nice chat the other day. She reminded me how she had also apologized for being a normal child and driving me crazy when she was younger. I apologized to her as well for those times she would call complaining about something and I thought she wanted me to tell her how to fix it She didn't, she was just calling for sympathy so was more upset when I told her what to do to fix her problems. She also wanted to know why I am not angry that FDIL and DD2 are pregnant before getting married. I told her that when I was younger, I would have been appalled and angry. Now I am old and I accept certain things because to repudiate my children for them would only hurt DH, me, and our family. I never did approve of families that turned out children for pregnancies or being gay. While it may not be what I would choose, I love my children too much not too accept their life choices or partners. Anything can be worked out when the family works together.

Altogether a productive week. I also got all the laundry done, and lots of stuff sorted and out away. Then the dishwasher stopped working. Full load and another load ready to go in! I fooled with it for a while then went under the sink to pull the plug and reconnect. These new appliances all have internal computers and disconnecting them and reconnecting them often reboots the computer. No plug just a conduit so possibly direct wired. DH got DS1. We really should have him on a retainer salary. He fixes everything for us. LOL He shut off the power at the panel for a few minutes then flipped the breakers back on. When I told him I was going to do that but the DW is direct wired, he said "No, it isn't - the conduit goes to the outlet on the inside of the DW cabinet." That was a stupid place to put it - we should have put it under the sink cabinet where we could reach it! We put the plug under the sink cabinet in all our other kitchen renos so must have realized it later. I told DS1 that next time we replace the DW we will move the plug to the inside of the sink cabinet. I hope we remember! It is working now so that is a relief since calling the repair service even with a warranty takes a week to get them out here.

FDIL is getting her makeup and hair styling done today to try different looks for the wedding. Less than 3 weeks now till the BIG DAY! That reminds me, my dress has arrived and I have to go get it hemmed up. I can't do it myself since I can't bend over to pin it up. That is why I pinned up Marlene's when she was here. She kept saying she would do it herself but her children don't sew and I reminded her that someone needed to pin it up before she could re-hem it. She can do the other slight alteration to the neckline herself. DD1 has to pick up her dress too but if it needs re-hemming I can do it. Just hoping that DD2 can get FSIL to Burlington to get his suit.

Only 1 more rat in the trap in the past few days so DS1 is going to shift locations into the workshop and milk shed. There are still a lot out there. Go Ratinator!

Waiting on ewes to lamb. I hope they don't burst! They are huge.
IMG_6026.jpg Here is 0439. She doesn't have much udder yet but look at the size of her! And she isn't wearing wool! She singled a large ram lamb January 13.
IMG_6025.jpg 8111 again huge! Twin ewes October 20. Not much udder here yet either although she is filling out also.
Another second timer is also due in a couple weeks, but is not as large as these 2 and minimal udder development so far. At least the smoke has dissipated so the air will be easier for the lambs to breathe. They can lamb easily in their pen and I will transfer them to the jugs afterwards. Visibility is not as good in this pen as in the large fold due to the squeeze and chute blocking part of the view, but it is doable with my binocs.

Off to more chores.
 

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farmerjan

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Congrats on the "better days" with the DD's..... and with the adoption coming up as well as the nearly here wedding. I don't know if I could have stood all the shopping!!!!! Good for you. I hope that you have a wonderful day, and that the "kids" enjoy it .... It sure will be in the record books....

And yes; you can choose your family.... just not the blood kin!!!!! Sorry for the sister troubles.... but do not let it interfere with the celebrations of the wedding and the upcoming adoption.
 

Senile_Texas_Aggie

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Miss Ridgetop,

Your stories about your soon-to-be-adopted daughter, and of your acceptance of your daughters and daughter-in-law so warmed my heart. Your statement below is so wonderful:

I never did approve of families that turned out children for pregnancies or being gay. While it may not be what I would choose, I love my children too much not too accept their life choices or partners. Anything can be worked out when the family works together.

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." I Corinthians 13:1. If only more of us could put that into practice.

Senile Texas Aggie
 

Ridgetop

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Thanks all.
Finished table assignments. So hard when some people "aren't speaking" to others! LOL However, it makes dividing up family members with friends and family easier since I can put different family members at different tables as "hosts" of the table so friends don't feel they are not important enough to be with family. All grandchildren are at one table and I have surrounded that table which is in a rear corner with their parents' tables. LOL

Luckily, Kathleen will do her own family and friends table assignments.

Cleared space in spare bedroom/Kathleen's office for wedding gifts which are arriving and cluttering up floor space in bedroom. Luckily, Carl is still in San Diego area working or there would be no room to walk in that room. I am not sure what they will do after the wedding. I think they plan to remain here for a while until they can figure out where to live. As long as Carl is an apprentice they can send him anywhere in California. They might buy a 5th wheel trailer to live in eventually or? Kathleen says that her school will open up sometime between October 31 and January 1.

17 MORE DAYS TO GO!!!
 

Ridgetop

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Yup! No vacations for a while.

No money for vacations, cruises, or sheep either, till renter pays up! :mad:

Oh well. DS1 says he told my sister that he might come up AFTER the wedding for ONE WEEK ONLY! He will bring back my grandmother's bedroom set and painting. Not sure if that will happen, but like he said we can't all go since lambing season is coming and someone has to be here that knows what is going on with the ewes. He hopes to spend a day or two on the road with his buddy in Reno so that will be nice for him. Before he leaves we will harness Lewis and turn him out to clean up after any ewes not yet bred.

DS1 said if he doesn't go and something happens to his aunt he will feel guilty. Why did I raise such responsible children?!

They are very good children even though I say so myself. And even though I get angry with them sometimes.

DD2 and FSIL had their meeting at the preschool today. Apparently our family is "known" there. :hu All of a sudden I realized that we are going to have to attend another round of preschool Halloween Parades, Open Houses, Christmas Concerts, Preschool Graduations, etc., not to mention the annual "Trike-a-Thon" fund raisers! Oy Vey! Then the children will all be going on to the same grade school so more Christmas Concerts . . . . Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water it begins again!
 

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