Ups and Downs

UP:
It's been even more officially confirmed. We've got a baby on the way. Only one this time.

DOWN:
Amelia. Down the steps that is. She has dislodged the baby gate at the top of our basement steps and tumbled down to the bottom. Very scary. After consulting with the two nurses who live next door, I took her to the emergency room last night. (The far-flung urgent care centers were closed.) She's fine, for the most part, though she looks like a prize fighter. Her right eye is puffy, bruised, scraped, and lovely shades of red and purple. Then today, she did it again. More bruises. And a brand new gate that anchors into the wall on both sides. Good thing she's made out of rubber.

DOWN:
Our electric bill for July was less than half of what we used last July. Partly because we had a cooler July than usual. But on a running total for the year, we've still shaved off one fifth of our electricity... and dropping.

UP:
The garden harvest is kicking into high gear. And for once I've remembered to start planting some fall crops.

DOWN:
Our propane usage. I wasn't able to find the actual gallons yet, but our propane use is down about 20 percent through the non-winter months over last year.

UP:
Egg production. We're suddenly getting seven or eight eggs a day. And climbing. Time to start recruiting customers.


DOWN:
The stock market. Glad I'm not in it.

UP:
We're transitioning Amelia back to cloth diapers. So far, so cool...

DOWN:
Our goat herd size. Hopefully anyway. We're going to shrink it a bit to cut down on winter feed costs and stuff. We're just not in a position to grow all the food they need, and hay and grain prices have basically doubled since last year. Besides, we'll be busy with a kid of another kind soon enough. So we're scaling back in the pasture. Need any goats?

UP:
The temperature. We've been stuck in the high 90's for almost all of August. But this Saturday is supposed to have a high of 76F. Now we're talking...

UP:
My seed stash. Last weekend I bought a big box of leftover spring seed packets from the local hardware store. Hundreds and hundreds of seed packets, mostly heirloom even, of about 40 different varieties of garden crops. All for ten bucks. Anybody want some seeds? (Seriously. I will never use 80 packets of radishes...)

UP:
My mood. Too many things were hitting at once, as evidenced by the dream I described the other day. There are still some serious concerns floating around (not to mention the aforementioned trip to the ER), but I'm coping with them better than I was before. As always, action is the antidote. And thanks to all for the good wishes, congratulatory comments, and off-blog encouragement.