Headed into Fall

Bounty of Pear Goodies

It's officially fall here, I think. The cool, crisp mornings tell me so, regardless of when the fall equinox occurs. Been busy here keeping all the plates spinning.

Transcripts

First off, the big news is I have finished transcribing, editing, formatting, and printing the transcripts!  In all there are thirty, though three of them were with two parents, so the total number of individuals interviewed is Thirty-Three.  I had in my head that it was thirty-five for the longest time, but I was wrong.  Now the fun work of coding and organizing this mass of data begins.  Creating the coherent story these parents can tell is a pretty enjoyable task.   I am headed up to Boise next week to meet with professors and check in with my fellow doc students, while making time to visit my Idaho friends, too.  I am looking forward to it.  I've made a CD of the interview tapes, and will be listening to them again on the way up and back. 

Pear Marmalade--Emily's "summer in a jar"

As for my distractions... Pears are such a lovely distraction.   My pear tree at my home had a modest crop this year. The new tenants  were busy moving, so I harvested the pears and am in the process of making pear butter (two recipes), pear marmalade, and pear coffee cake. You can see all the goodies in the first picture on this blog page.   My favorite to make is the pear butter because it fills the house with the scent of pears and apples and cinnamon.  The pear butter itself I can just eat out of a jar, like applesauce!  The Pear Marmalade I love because marmalade is one of my favorite covering for bread, but the pear version is milder, more spreadable, and the interaction of the orange and pear is, to my tastebuds, divine!

Giovanna, just turned 6 in August!

Berhwood.  His coat looks like a seal's, I think.

The horses have settled into their winter coats.  This weekend I thought, "Gee, I need to worm the horses."  Then I went out and discovered that Giovanna had bot eggs all over her legs.  Berhwood had zero.  Go figure.  So I cleaned her off and wormed them.   The next day, she had about six eggs on each front leg, and Ber had four.   Yesterday, one or two eggs on each horse.  So I'm betting it was one bot fly, and it is now gone.  In other horse news, I am looking forward to the delivery of their horse shelter in October. It is coming from an Oregon manufacturer who makes them, delivers them, and sets them up.   This will make the coming rains of winter much more doable.  Two shelters, plus a 12'x12' breezeway that I can keep feed and things in.  Yes! Ber and Gio have somewhere to get out of the rain if/when they want, and I will not be soaked walking from the big barn to my horses' pasture two times a day!

Winterized Ber!

Winterized Gio!

Now that I'm in my 40's, I finally accepted that I needed progressive lenses on my glasses.   Picked them up yesterday, and they make a world of difference. Still getting used to the endless focusing changes, but I see way better and reading/computer work is much easier.   My eyes had been getting so tired with the transcript work, but this will really help.  My hands also are very worn out from all the typing. A little too late, I purchased a wireless keyboard and mouse for my laptop.  They will be quite helpful when I sit down to the writing of this dissertation, I think!  I hope!

View of Trinidad Head from the pasture.

Zoom in on Trinidad Head.

I leave you with a picture of my pasture cat. He showed up one day and insisted on being my cat. So I started feeding him. He has the potential to be a great cat, but I haven't named him yet. Once he has a name, I'm committed!  lol. 

Pasture Cat.