SUMMER PROJECT ON THE FARM

It is high summer here on the farm and all things seem to be growing in leaps and bounds, including the weeds and mosquitoes. Today I collected six tomatoes and a couple of cucumbers from the garden. Last week I picked the green beans for the second time and it appears I will have it to do it again this week. I hate to pick beans, it pulls the thigh muscles and breaks the back, but if you plant it you must pick it.

We are in the process of building a new house on the back of our small acreage and trying to sell the present house all at the same time. It makes me crazy to think of people I have never seen nor spoke to going thru my house. What is worse, I always think of some place I forgot to dust or my husband’s dirty underwear in the basket in plain sight.

We are so lucky to be able to do this, as our parents never dreamed of living in a new house. When we were kids, our main heat source was a coal stove that my father opened and stirred up each morning and added coal my brothers carried in the night before. Then later we graduated to oil heating stoves and indoor bathrooms. My dream home would have a central furnace and indoor hot and cold running water. I vowed to never be cold again and to heat all sides of me at the same time . Now here we are, putting in geo-thermal heat and pretty windows and doors just because we want to and can do it.

Now all is not bliss in this building process. I have several times considered doing away with my spouse right on the spot. He is a great procrastinator and a person who believes that if someone says they will do something for $50 you should pay them $75 or $100. You can imagine what this does to a bank account set up with a total amount that you have estimated to be just enough. He also thinks he is a master bookkeeper in regards to the checkbook, but after having a notice from the bank on our personal account being overdrawn on Wednesday and then our construction account being overdrawn on Thursday, I was on my last nerve.

With help from my daughter, we soon found out that the bank had failed to transfer money in a timely manner into the construction account, so that was ok. But now I am taking care of the check books

Now, where was I? The people hanging our drywall are two little Mexican fellows. Neither one of which is over 5 ft tall. It makes you tired just to watch them, they are never still for a minute. I do not know how such small men can handle so much weight and put this stuff up so fast and so well. They did the whole house and half of the garage in one day. They arrive early, turn on their spanish radio station (full volume) and get the job done. I doubt if they are citizens as few of them can speak english, but their boss told us they save their money and take it home in the winter. One of them sends all of his to his Mother. I hear all kinds of criticism about these people, but they do the jobs no one else wants to do and do it well. They take care of themselves and I do not have to clean up the site when they leave, it is already done.  There is one thing-------I have to accompany "Millie" our rottie as she terrifies them just walking in the room. And too, she stole part of their pizza one day at lunch.

Well, now you see how I am spending my summer. If you get bored, come on by, I have all the trim for the entire house to stain and varnish. No volunteer turned down.

Then too, you will have the opportunity to stand and listen to the corn grow. Oh well.

Lizzie

The 'hangy downy thingie'!!
 

In one of the health classes I taught, one of the students brought up this question. "What is the hangy downy thingie good for?" Others commented, "I can touch mine with my tongue!" Before you go on a wild thought tangent, we were covering anatomy of the oral cavity or mouth in class.

I reviewed with them that the roof of the mouth is called the palate. It consists of two portions: the hard (bony) palate and the soft, muscular palate. The palate separates the nasal cavity from the oral cavity.

The hard palate is the anterior or front portion of the entire palate and lies directly behind a horseshoe-shaped bony arch which supports the teeth. The teeth protrude from a ridge known as the alveolar ridge. The hard palate is immobile and is surrounded by the alveolar ridge. The flesh that covers the hard palate is used in cleft palate repair to close a hard palate defect.

The soft palate lies behind the hard palate. It ends with a little flap that hangs down from the soft palate called the uvula or 'hangy downy thingie'. The soft palate is composed of several muscles and fibrous tissue. The soft palate is movable and plays an important role in speech. Reconstruction of the soft palate muscle is an important part of cleft palate surgery.

The soft palate performs many functions. One of its roles is to close off the back of the nose during swallowing. This keeps food and fluids from being forced through the nose when a person eats and drinks.

The uvula is a small, fleshy protrusion from the back of the roof of the mouth, at the soft palate. The uvula often hangs down as far as the back surface of the tongue and works with the rest of the soft palate to seal off the nasal cavity from regurgitated food and liquid.

Now more of us know what that 'hangy downy thingie' is called - the uvula, a strange word in any vocabulary!

Tallie

LIFE IN TORONTO

 Well folks, somehow, Toronto pulled off one of the largest rock concerts in history on July 30^th at Downsview Park.  You all know we’ve been hit with very bad press regarding SARS, so this concert was a way to try and help generate some tourist dollars, and raise some money to help the hospitality workers who’ve been laid off as a result of SARS.  It was a huge success!  450,000 people attended to see Dan Ackroyd and Jim Belushi, Sass Jordan, The Guess Who, Justin Timberlake, RUSH, AC/DC and The Rolling Stones, just to name a few of the bands that were there.  The concert lasted just over 11 hours.  The Rolling Stones were the one’s who said yes we’d love to play Toronto, interrupting their European Tour to do so.  They also bought a continental breakfast for the 50,000 fans who waited overnight before the gates opened.  Class act.

 My six weeks on the night bus officially ended on the morning of Saturday, Aug 2^nd.   I couldn’t get the same crew again.  We sign in seniority order, and someone way ahead of me took it.  The only night bus left didn’t appeal to me, so it’s back to days for this bus driver!!  The plus for that, I’ll be in the forum more often in the evenings.  This board period is only four weeks, since it’s what we call “summer boards” with service reductions when school is out and folks are on vacation.  I’ve got Sunday/Monday off and work from 9-8 basically, except Saturdays, I work until 8:30.  Now, I just have to convince my body clock that it has to sleep at night again!!  This is a long weekend in Toronto, so I’ve got an extra day, but I know it’s going to take me at least a week to get turned around.

 I found a huge difference in the clientele at night.  They are way nicer than the “day” folks, who think for $2.25 they own me!!  Our “Blue Night” network of buses and streetcars run on major routes where there is a need for service.  Some routes the buses run every 30 minutes, others it’s every 15 minutes.  The other nice thing about nights…you don’t deal with traffic jams or construction during the day on the roads!! 

 Summer in Toronto has been fantastic so far.  Normally we experience very hot, humid weather for weeks on end.  This year, we’ve suffered through one week of it, and that was in June.  Temps during the day have been in the high 70’s or low 80’s.  I attribute this to the fact that I bought two window air conditioning units for the house!!  One is in my bedroom, the other in the living room.  They did the job just fine when needed!!  Fortunately, they have “fans” on them to bring in the outside air, so that’s all they’ve done this summer!!  Between my fans, 2 ceiling fans, and the a/c fans, it’s quite comfortable in the house.

 I celebrated my birthday in July.  First, at a friend’s place, then at my parents place.  Friends of mine have a beautiful home about 15 minutes west of my parents place, with a swimming pool.

 My parents live on a beautiful piece of property located about 1 hour north of Toronto, in a small town called Stouffville.  I can’t believe they’ve lived up there for 20 years now.  Their house is so big for just two people, but you won’t get my mother to move into something smaller.  The nice thing is, they live in a subdivision, but the lot sizes are ¾ of an acre, so your next door neighbour isn’t breathing on you.  Their backyard backs onto a farmer’s field, so there is no development at the moment, although I’m sure that will change within the next few years. 

 Our annual family summer party was held on July 26^th.  My Aunt and Uncle have a cottage that is a 2 hour drive north-east of Toronto.  Each year, they have the family summer party there.  It’s great for the kids.  There is a water slide off the dock and the kids love to swim in the lake.  This year, my 3 cousins, who live in Maryland came up for the party as well.  It’s not often we get to see them anymore.  My first cousin’s range in age from 49 to 11!!  I have second cousins that are older than first cousins!!  My Mom comes from a family of 8 kids, so there were over 35 at the party.   I think my grandparents would be proud that the family has such strong ties.  It’s a shame they aren’t here to see us all grown, and to see their great-grandchildren, although I’m sure they’re watching over us. 

 Well since I started writing this last weekend, I’ve now almost finished my first full week back on days!!  It hasn’t gone too badly, and fortunately, my body clock turned around on the 2^nd day!!  I still hate getting up with an alarm, but what can I do?

 I think I spoke too soon about the humid weather.  Seems we’re in a bit of a heat wave, although we’ve had higher humidity than this.  My air conditioners are being put to good use!!  Summer flies by far too quickly.  I notice that the days are getting shorter and before we know it, the winter clothes will be unpacked again.

 That’s all from me this month.  Hope you are all having a great summer!!

 Tracey