Sumer is icumen in, Lhude sing cuccu!

Summer has come in,
Loudly sing, cuckoo!
The seed grows and the meadow blooms
And the wood springs anew,
Sing, cuckoo!

Modern English translation of a 13th century song

Of course, summer technically isn’t here yet for a few more days, as far as the calendar is concerned. But it is meteorological summer.

We’ve gotten roughly 2 inches of rain this past week. It was desperately needed, but it also kept me from getting outside to do yardwork. That’s OK, though. I’m grateful for the rain. It was sad to see our creek bed dried up and cracked. And our pond was getting low. I’m always concerned about the frogs and fish that call our pond home. We don’t usually get this dry until late July and August.

I celebrated my 48th birthday on Sunday, June 11. We went camping at Buck Creek State Park that weekend, close to my parents’ house in Springfield, OH. Unfortunately, my mom was under the weather, so we had to change our plans a bit. On that Saturday, we dropped Blitz off at my parents’ house and went to the Yellow Springs Street Fair to look around. We stopped at the store to pick up a few supplies. And Mom did bake a birthday cake, so we sat with my parents on their back porch for a bit and had cake and ice cream. When I was a kid, I asked for a Jello poke cake every year, so she made one for me. Instant nostalgia.

We checked out of the campground around 9:30 or so on Sunday morning. It’s only an hour from our house. So we got the camper tucked back into its parking space at the storage facility and got home before the rain started.

I took a nap that afternoon (I didn’t sleep well the entire weekend), and we went out to El Cañon Mexican Restaurant for dinner. I had a delicious seafood quesadilla and a really delicious frozen peach margarita. And we shared a fried ice cream with chocolate sauce.

I’ve booked more travel arrangements in the past several days — a resort on Kona (Hawai’i) and rental car for my older brother and sister-in-law. A friend sent me several hotel reservations she already made so I could attempt takeover bookings on them (this is when the travel advisor contacts the hotel and asks to be added as the agent of record in order to get commission). I successfully took over two of her hotel reservations.

I’ve also been busy with freelance work, not just with the actual work but all the administrative stuff that comes along with it. And, of course, searching for more gigs.

Our neighbor got a second donkey, and I love him. It’s so cute watching the two donkeys pal around together. They make me laugh.

I’m trying to find a goat rental service that serves our county. There are at least two in Central Ohio that I know of, but our county is not on their list of service areas. I contacted the Ohio State Extension in our county to ask, but I have yet to receive a response. We want to try goatscaping. It took a long time to convince my husband, but he finally said he’s willing to give it a shot, and now I can’t find a goat rental service that will come to us.

Here are some recent photos from around the farm.

I started a summer reading challenge on June 1 through The Ohio State University Alumni Association. I’m on my 5th book now. We have a Bingo card and stickers, and we choose books that fulfill up to two categories on the board. My reads so far:

• The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston (Categories: book set in a country I’ve never visited, book set in a warm climate)
• Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Categories: award-winning book, book with a two-word title)
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Categories: main character’s first initial is the same as mine, book adapted into TV series or movie)
• Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (Categories: book with disabled or neurodiverse main character, book recommended by a Buckeye) — And yes, I am aware of the concerns that this book is ableist, but Lord help me, I cried.
• The Giver by Lois Lowry (Categories: science fiction, young adult) — Just started this one this morning.

I’ve been reading more since starting this challenge, and I already read a lot. I’m also reading books in genres I don’t normally read — in fact, I probably would never have read most of these books otherwise. But that’s the point of this reading challenge.

I have to work during our upcoming camping trip, so I ordered a portable monitor. TOTAL GAME CHANGER. This was less than $100 and suits my needs perfectly. And now I really can work from anywhere. Having that extra monitor makes me far more efficient. I really can’t stand working without one.