Theseus and the baby left this morning for MA so Theseus can begin the process to become a fire fighter.* Tomorrow is the physical portion (obstacle course, etc) and next weekend is the written exam. My poor car is seeing a lot of miles this month.

I only have a few weeks of school left, can you believe it? Soon I'll be done with this punishing schedule and will be able to have a bit of a life again. So much we want to accomplish this summer - the garden, rebuilding the porch, painting the spare bedroom and bathroom, painting our bedroom and bathroom - and none of it would be possible with the class-load we currently have. I'm going to scream until I puke when this semester is finally done.

So I have the house to myself until tomorrow night (or possibly Tuesday, depending on how it goes with Theseus tomorrow). I have to drive out to my school at some point before 3:00 so I can take a biotechnology exam, then I really should work on physics as I have a test on Wednesday and really need to do good if I want to get an A for the class. Some of the stress this semester has caused me to freeze up a few times, so I haven't been putting in the effort that I should have been. It'll be alright, though. It's almost over.

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*If you remember, Theseus has already taken the civil service exam/completed the obstacle course in NJ, but the process takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r, and since our goal is to be back in MA within two years, it only makes sense for him to do this now. And we're prepared to have him move back to MA ahead of me which I finish up at Drexel, if that's what it takes. 

Another great day in the yard. We waited until Sir Grumpy Pants finally went down for a nap and then vaulted into the back yard, peat pots and soil in hand. Theseus repotted the tomatoes (4 varieties - 3 beefsteak and 1 cherry), giant pumpkins, watermelon, peppers (2 varieties - 2 to go), the remaining two acorn squash, a lone white pickling cuke and a lone soybean. He also repotted the clipping I took from a ropey plant he bought me for my birthday - the one I almost promptly killed. As it took its last gasps, I clipped three pieces from the least-dead part; two clippings died, and one has lived long enough to be repotted. You can see it here, when it was still living in a rocks glass in my bathroom. Its new pot is the one next to it in the photo. (I have no idea what kind of plant this is). There are also five clippings from the other birthday plant, which hung on a little longer but eventually also succumbed to my black thumb. So far all five clippings are doing fine in their rocks glass and will be repotted in a few more weeks, once their roots are longer.

While Theseus busied himself with the seedlings, I fed the compost and reclaimed some soil from peat pots whose seedlings died earlier in the spring. Then we set all the plants out in the sun for a bit and took to the lawnmowers. As usual, I steered the trusty rider - Ol' Bess - through the large parts of the yard and Theseus took the push mower to the narrow, oddly shaped areas where the rider won't fit. Now all the weeds are the same height, at least. Right?

Oh, actually: before we mowed the lawn, we rescued another turtle from the woods. The lot across the street from us is marshy, and there are often turtles traveling back and forth from the marsh to the lake. This turtle had kept close to our fence and had crawled under part of the massive brush pile we've created, which was blocking his (her?) path to the lake. I climbed over the fence, but I couldn't get to where it had crawled. We waited a little while for the turtle to turn around and crawl out from under the brush pile, and then Theseus reached over the fence and pulled it out. I carried the turtle down to the lake, the same way we did last time, and we left it alone to make its way to the water in peace. I know the turtle would probably find its own way to the water eventually, but I always feel bad when we find them rustling through the leaves. Turtles out of place. So, we help.

After the baby woke up, we ate and did some chores inside. The laundry never ends. We gave the baby a bath before bed and I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the bathroom - a slight sunburn on my face. Or maybe it's just dirt. Either way: awesome. :)

Also, this: