So, vet lady’s name is Frankie (or Francis) Nguyen. Elliot has been working for her at the clinic, and I think they are seeing each other. She has a clinic in Emmett, but she lived in California for a while. The fact that there are three vet clinics and only one hospital for humans here does not escape me. Anyway, I like her a lot. Even though she’s very matter of fact, she has a great smile and a lot of patience, both with the animals and their owners. Elliot and I brought out the hay to get all the goats nearby, and we closed off the nearest gate. Frankie walked through them, looked at the babies, and gave a couple of shots to one of the mothers who had not fully rebounded from birthing. She said to make sure they were on a regular deworming schedule, to give them some other shots, and buy another block of selenium salt. Apparently, the soil around here has so little they can get a deficiency and die of it. I can buy it all at the farm supply store. She agreed to come back and help us band the male kids when they were ready in a few days. I can’t begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to that (not). They weren’t here very long, and they started to pull out of the driveway, when Frankie stopped the car, and Elliot strode back over to me.
“You needed to tell me somethin’?”
“Oh, yeah, well …” I shaded the sun from my eyes. “I’ve decided not to sell. For better or worse, you’re stuck with me.”
“Oh, cool, man!” Elliot had a broad smile across his face. “Good, now we can really get to work.”
“What the hell have we been doing, goofing off?”
“No, but you just wait, you’ll see. In a few weeks, we’ll be weeding and gardening and raising more chickens and weeding.”
“You said weeding twice.”
“Yep, I did.” He turned and looked back at Frankie’s SUV. “Hey, I gotta go now, but I’ll be back tomorrow morning.”
“Okay.” I squinted up at him. “I guess I’ll see you then.”
He gave me a side-hug and headed back to Frankie with a jaunty stride. At the door, he called out, “Hey, we could do with a pot o’ stew put on early, ya think? It might be a long day.”
“You bet!” I watched them drive away and wondered how serious they were getting.
I spent the rest of the day playing with the dogs and cleaning out the mud room, before getting a shower and meeting Jodie for a quick burger. We kept catching each other smiling. I know it’s stupid, but I feel like I’m twelve.
March 26 - 28, 2013
Elliot showed me how to deal with egg customers on Tuesday. Basically, they call him and he meets them at the gate in the morning with however many eggs they want (if we have them) and takes cash only. It was great hanging out with him all day and getting a lot of work done. He isn’t offering up anything about him and Frankie, and it is not my place to ask.
Liv and Nate Brought my stuff over on Wednesday, and Jodie stopped by after a game night she ran for the library. It went well. We all sat around and talked for a while. Liv and Jodie connected a lot on their BSU experiences. Jodie even had a few tips on places to study and get coffee that Liv didn’t know about. Pretty cool seeing my best friend and Jodie getting along. After the ‘happy couple’ left, Jodie told me she really liked Liv, and then she had to go, too.
On Thursday, I called Bill and set up a meeting for next week.
I saw Jodie every day this week either at the farm, at the library, or both. I am becoming obsessed with her, this farm, and my dad’s journals. I still make time for my IT stuff, but I find that I have to basically force myself to do it. I hate being a grown up.
March 29, 2013
As much as I dreaded it, I FaceTimed my boss, Alma, today and let her know that I wasn’t moving back to Seattle. She wasn’t exactly ecstatic, but she understood. I told her I would be okay if she needed to replace me right away, but she said things were good for now, and she and my team leader, would talk it over and see if they could make long distance work with the new funding changes. I am not counting on anything beyond June.
This job and the other IT jobs in Boise are keeping me busy. I’ve been at the library from one until close every day for the last two weeks, and I am seriously going to have to look into getting internet at the house. Also, I need to take a break and send off some invoices. The internship paycheck covers my car, insurance, and gas, but there have been a lot of little things popping up, and I gots-a-no moneys. Mom still covers my phone bill and sends me cash here and there, but with their adoption of Hailey pending, I would feel uncomfortable asking for anything and guilty taking it. The saving grace is that the farm supply store has this running credit that we
