Little Tasks Accomplished

Phil had a day of accomplishing little things. He needed to move the mill, as we have an electric locate scheduled. That required some mowing, as the weeds around the mill had grown up a good bit. He talked to a man at the electric company, as we want to move the electric panel from full exposure to elements along the driveway; we have a barn now, and that is a better place. So maybe Wednesday or Thursday that man will be here.

The grader arrived at the end of the day. What a relief to have that delivery made, and no longer wait and wonder if it would arrive.

Phil worked on the French doors, too. He was pleased that eventually, with shimming and other magic, he was able to get one side to swing perfectly, and the other to stick just a bit at the furthest point of closure. Maybe he'll plane off just a fraction, but I think it's probably fine as it is. What a relief to have that stinker done!

He also spent a few hours down in the crawlspace, and had some friends come down to hang out in the evening. So he had another good day.

***

We had an unexpected guest show up yesterday: what appears to be a snow white homing pigeon.

It has almost no fear of man, and I held it this evening. It has a green plastic tag around one foot (no ID on it, sadly), and a broken bit of twine around the other. I had tossed a bunch of weevil-ridden rye on the ground last week, and I wonder if, flying over, it was distracted by that feast and decided to hang out. It sleeps in the barn. The boys named him Gregory.


***

Phil and I have been debating how to help Joe transition to his own bed. Joe laughs about his amazing ability to be a pusher-over-er: if he sleeps on the edge, and I'm in the middle at the beginning of the night, Joe ends up in my spot by morning. One night last week I grew so tired of being kicked in the belly (ouch!), I put my head down to the base of the bed and awoke to find Joe, fast asleep, straddling my legs like a jockey, pressed up against Phil.

So our bed has been crowded, and it gets more crowded every day as my belly grows.

I mentioned to Joe some weeks ago that some day he would have a normal sized bed, and maybe sheets. And maybe he would also change into pajamas at night.

This apparently rocked his world. "No. I just want a sleeping mat and sleeping bad. And no pajamas!" Poor guy. The idea of transitioning to not being the baby of the family and having to put on pajamas at night might have pushed him over the edge, so I gave up for the moment.

And the last time we tried to put Joe up on the upper bunk, he loved the idea until the sun went down. "I thought I would just rest up here," he said, as he climbed back down.

But last night I decided we should try to transition him to his own space again. Maybe we could shuffle the other boys, so he could be on the bottom bunk, at least early in the night.

I got the upper bunk, that has been holding boxes of "treasures" for each boy, ready. And after Jadon showed that he absolutely could not sleep there, being about eight inches too long, and Isaiah showed that he was about three inches too long, Joe eagerly climbed up.

"I love this bed! I am SO happy!"

Will he stay in that bed all night? Fall off or climb down because he misses Phil? We shall see.