Our Little Earthquake

While Phil was mowing the garden this afternoon, I was washing up some dishes while the boys played right outside. It suddenly felt like someone was shaking the motor home, just a bit, and the noise of the tractor was amplified, as if there was a train passing or a helicopter flying overhead.

I went out barefoot, and the boys and I felt the earth shaking, just a bit, beneath our feet.

When Phil was done mowing, I mentioned that we'd had an earthquake, and he said that he could hear it: despite mowing with the tractor, and ear muffs to protect his ears, sermon going to keep his mind stimulated. That's what a 5.9 earthquake, epicenter about 60 miles away, does in the deep country. Just about nothing.

And as I typed that, a car drove by, and our trailer shook, just a bit. An aftershock. (The car was totally unrelated, but enough synchronized to make me question what I was feeling.)

Two nights ago, Isaiah asked me about cacao nibs. In our schooling, we had read a bit about how chocolate is made, and I mentioned that I had some random cacao nibs. The box had a shortbread recipe, and I thought, "Why not?" So the boys and I made shortbread with cacao nibs, and they were absolutely unbelievable.

But I was shocked to realize that the boys did not remember any baking. I know they participated as boys in Boulder. They would pull up a step stool and roll up their sleeves. Two years and more later, though, they didn't remember what it meant to "cream butter and sugar," or the basic rule to mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately, then combine.

So many things to make sure to teach in a boys' life! Tonight we made peanut butter bars. Jadon wonders what dessert we will make tomorrow. Hmm. We'll see.