It's still summer vacation.
Oh, the little ones have gone back to kindergarten. Leah is two now, so soon she'll be staying all day (until 4:00) instead of coming home at noon. Jacob is going-on-five, so now he's a "vorschulkind" -- the kindergarten class just before first grade. He's the youngest in this group, but he's big for his age. He's starting to read a little -- we use the Headsprout lessons, which have worked very well. But the two older boys are still home, and still enjoying it.
It's been a very cool and rainy August. We had a fire in the wood stove a couple of times. Retired the plastic swimming pool a couple of weeks ago, haven't refilled it. Rain almost every day. It's been a great year for slugs, mind. (Something I just discovered: baby slugs, right after hatching? Are white.)
The boys and I are still plowing through The Lord of the Rings, though we've reached that kinda slow part early in _The Two Towers_. Claudia has a bad cold. I had a fairly horrible toothache last week -- dentist on vacation all month! -- but got some painkillers, and it's mostly gone away, at least for now. (Have I mentioned the Crappy Teeth Gene? My father, two sisters, me, various cousins, and now it appears the boys as well. Overall I can't complain about my own genetic legacy, but I could wish I hadn't passed the Crappy Teeth Gene on to my poor kids.)
Work: I'm currently waiting to hear on long-term bids in two countries; both are FY 2010 money, which means we should hear by late September. (Because that money is supposed to be obligated by midnight on September 30.) These things are rarely done very far ahead of the deadlines. So it's unlikely that we'd hear anything before Labor Day. (For non-Americans, that's September 6.)
Short-term work, I've got another trip to the DR Congo coming up -- mid-September through early October.
It's still quiet.
I'm kind of interested in how you're redacting your reading of Two Towers for the little ones. Because I remember being a middle schooler trying to read it and parts of it bored me to effing tears.
Also, good luck on getting one of those long-term gigs!
Posted by: Andrew R. | September 03, 2010 at 03:05 AM