The Remains of Summer

The dogwoods are turning color early this year, and like a true mountain man, that is Jason's cue to start preparing the wood pile for winter. Normally, we do this project together, and it is one of my favorite and most satisfying chores. With the pregnancy, I feel a little uncomfortable lifting heavy rounds and swinging an axe over my head, so Jason came up with a communal plan of sorts with a couple of our neighbors. Using Jason's truck and trailer, they are loading, hauling, and splitting wood for each household together. It's country folk lending each other a hand, just like in the old days...if only we had a team of horses instead of a Toyota!

We typically burn about four cords of wood each winter, but with the baby due in early February, we'll be home a lot more this year. We figure we'll need six or seven cords to be comfortable, and we have about three stacked so far. Luckily, wood is cheap for park employees...only $20 per cord!

Although we don't generally follow traditional gender roles, it just so happens I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately. I've made three large batches of salsa thanks to a healthy crop of tomatoes, peppers, and cilantro from the garden. Also, since I've been feeling guilty for not doing any of the hard labor around the house, Jason has been getting a fair amount of homemade brownies as compensation. (although I have to admit I've sampled a few...)

I've also been saving seeds from the garden. So far I've collected columbines, lupines, canterbury bells, sunflowers, rudbeckias, and echinaceas. Other than that, we've just been trying to enjoy these last few warm days of summer. Our friends Josh and Kim were here the weekend before Labor Day, and we had a great time being lazy at Lake Alpine!

Why do they make floaties such hideous colors?

That's me reminding Jason that there is a law 'round these parts against photographing pregnant women in bathing suits...


Bump report: The little one is growing really fast the past couple of weeks. Maternity pants and skirts have become a necessity, although I still don't quite fill out maternity tops. At almost 19 weeks, the baby is roughly the size of a mango, according to the experts. I've been feeling the slightest fluttering movements in my belly the past week or so, and I guess they'll be getting stronger soon. We have our next appointment with the OBGYN tomorrow. If anything new or exciting happens, we'll be sure to post it. I'll get some belly pictures up soon...