keep calm and ride on...

my life has been a little over-the-top lately.  it seems all of my spare time is getting sucked into so many different directions.  life is go go go.  will and i are busy on things from the moment we get up until we crash in the wee hours of the morning.  literally.  i rented young victoria and it took me three nights to watch it.  not because it wasn't really good, but because i couldn't keep myself awake for longer than 30 minutes or so each night.  (it was really good.)  preston's party went great.  it was so much work- but it turned out very much like i had pictured it.  (so that's good, i think.) 

my focus over the past few weeks has been hiking and riding.  i've gotten myself in way over my head with this bike ride on the 8th.  it should be simple- but for a girl who hasn't spent much time on a bike in (seriously) 20 years- it is kicking. my. butt.  today was the first time i made it up the massive hill on the first stretch of the ride.  it's 2 1/2 miles of uphill, then a very steep and narrow highway that climbs for what feels like forever.  then the rest of the 14 miles isn't that big of a deal.  a few areas of rough, but mostly no big deal.  it's the first 3 miles that make me want to die.  (it reminds me of childbirth- when i'm riding, i honestly feel like i'm just not going to make it.)  sad.  but true.  this whole beach cruiser ride was a ridiculously bad idea. 

and as far as the hiking goes, i can deal with it.  i am slow, but i will make it just fine.  my biggest issue there is the blisters.  i can't seem to hike downhill without them.  no matter which shoes i wear.  all i know is will owes me big time for this one!  (a whole week vacation without the kids and 10 hours of driving for some crap food, hot days, OUT-HOUSES and uncomfortable nights in the bottom of the grand canyon????  who does that?) 

we've been working on expanding our coup for the new chickens.  we put in our duck pond (which they love) but unfortunately the next day we had lost one of our new chickens because she couldn't get herself out of the water and drown.  spencer and i were devastated.  everyone else took it okay.  we're sanding down our garden boxes and re-staining the wood.  we spent all day saturday mucking out and painting the barns where our goats live.  last week we drove all over tarnation finding day-old, inexpensive bread for our pigs.  i think we ended up with roughly 300 loaves.  (the work and love that goes into raising animals.)  will is getting ready to start building his green house.  it's bigger than i want it to be- but will is stubborn about these things.  so i'll just have to deal with it.  i'm not so excited about the aquaponics, or the worms.  but the green house does sound like it's going to be a good thing to have.  we'll see.

i'll post photos of everything next time.  i'm totally beat.