False Labor Day

Happy Labor Day!!! OK, it's not actually Labor Day (hence, today's blog title) but since I'm not going to be working on Monday, I figured I'd get it out of the way now.

Can I just ask why the HELL Michael Jackson was just 'buried' last night? What in heaven's name took them so long? They managed to get Ted Kennedy buried in a normal amount of time, yet Michael Jackson couldn't be? I had no idea...I didn't give it a second thought, and then I turned on the news last night and they were - showing us live shots from his funeral. I was very confused at first...and let's not even begin discussing his $30,000 casket.

Puh-leeze.

Jim and I went to go visit my college friend Iain and his family last night. They live SO close to us, yet we've never been down to visit. Granted, they've only been living in their house for a year and before that, the 4 of them were living with Iain's mom, so it wasn't an ideal situation for visiting.

Anyway, they live on THIRTY + acres and own/run/manage 9 cranberry bogs. I was completely amazed at their set-up. I've never felt more like a 'city boy' in my life. They have a pond (20 acres of water) that is theirs and the rest is all divided up between the bogs and a their farm/house. They have 6 sheep, 12 hens, 3 kittens and a dog....oh - and two boys ages 4 and 3. They raise the sheep for wool (Christine actually spins her own yarn - I was fascinated.) and the hens for eggs. None of their animals are raised for slaughter.

They have a beautiful home that they just finished building a year ago and also have a teepee that they have set-up in their yard....like, I'm talking a real teepee that Iain actually lived in for a time when he was in Montana. We sat in it, had a fire and a few drinks. I was amazed at how incredibly warm it got in there and how smoke-free it was. Talk about a brilliant design.

I asked about 5 million questions about everything and was just amazed at everything they do. Not to mention the fact that they were possibly the most laid-back couple I've ever met. I can't even imagine being responsible for that much property and not being a stress case about it.

We got to walk through the bogs, saw the cranberries growing, the bee hives they own to pollinate the bogs, and got the full scoop on how they're grown, harvested, etc. etc....I was fascinated. They provide cranberries for Ocean Spray and are due to harvest them all over Columbus Day weekend. Jim and I may take a ride down to see them in action.

I'm SO angry that I don't have pictures to share, but the camera's battery died while we were there and we got home too late to deal with it last night. I will definitely post pictures though, assuming they came out OK.

It's so weird, because I still think of Iain as an 18 year old kid, which is how old he was when I first met him (I was a senior when he was a freshman) but he's all growed up and certainly has done quite well for himself.

That was our exciting night. I know I probably sound like Encino Man the way I'm talking about this stuff, but spending so much of my life living in cities....I'm obviously easily impressed. :-)

Tonight we're going to dinner with a couple of friends, then tomorrow we're going to a cookout with a gang of softball players. THAT should be fun.

Have a great, LONG weekend!!!

This isn't their teepee, but this is exactly what it looked like....crazy.