So busy...

September and October are the busiest times for me at work, and lately, my weekends have been pretty full too. I'm sorry I haven't had much time to blog lately! I will get back to it more when things slow down for me.

Random stuff I've been doing:

Yesterday I took Danny to a Habitat for Humanity worksite and we worked there for about for about 4 hours. It was cool. I've always wanted to do that.

This group had built 6 houses so far on that block, and were working towards completing 10 altogether. The houses were really pretty nice.

I didn't know if I should bring Danny or not, since he's 8 and gets bored easily. I worried that he would start whining that it was "too hard" or that he was "too hot" etc. At home, he often comes up with excuses why he can't work in the garden with me or clean his room. But in fact, that kid worked harder than I did!

He was right in there with the rest of the college kids, shovelling dirt and clearing debris from the worksite and chucking it in the dumpster. I could tell he was proud of himself. I saw how hard he was working and I kept asking him if he wanted to take a break and eat something or have some water, but he didn't want to. At one point, he was digging up a big rock and he asked me for help with it. The rock was massive, and personally, I thought it was beyond my abilities. I told him it was too big and he should pick something else to do, to which he replied:

Mom, what if Thomas Jefferson had said that about writing the Declaration of Independence 'Oh forget it, this is too hard.' No way!

Then he kept gamely digging. I really don't know where this kid comes up with this stuff, but it's pretty funny.

Meanwhile, some of the college kids were milling around, pretending to work but obviously wishing they were somewhere else.

There was a whole range of human behavior going on. Most of them worked very hard and really gave their best effort. Some of them screamed when they uncovered a mouse or a bunch of bugs, or refused to touch anything that looked dirty. Others were macho, showing off, lifting the heaviest things they could find, or breaking up rocks with a sledgehammer so as to look as strong as possible. There was a lot of flirting, bantering and laughing going on. I also met a novice nun who used to be a newspaper reporter. It was pretty interesting.

I like manual labor, personally. I'm not really that physically fit, and I do tend to be a bit of a slacker, but, as work goes, I enjoy manual labor more than most types of work. I notice that there is a free, playful energy of cameraderie around most physical work. Not the backbiting or gossip of an office.

It also feels good to do some kind of work that you know will help others in a real, tangible way.

Today I'm going to visit my grandson again.

Danny and I are really interested in owls ever since our visit to the Adirondack Visitor's Center. I brought home a cool project, an owl pellet full of mouse bones. We dissected it at the kitchen table (spread with newspapers) with my buddy Joanna. We sorted all the bones and tried to identify them.

Last night I heard a great horned owl outside. I've never heard one around here before. It was very exciting. We have a screech owl around here frequently, and a place nearby where we camp sometimes we always hear tons of barred owls, but this is my first time ever hearing a great horned owl. It was a special thrill.