Still alive!

With the really terrible internet connection and speed, it seems I have nearly stopped blogging. Here it is February, and this is what? my second post of 2017?
Benjamin and Paula came to visit this past weekend, and we had a great time. Jasher is very much his daddy all over again. Little Althea tried hard to keep up with Jasher, but came away with a number of  bumps and bruises.
The boys (so hard to think of all my sons as men!) helped Tom take out several trees shading the proposed garden area. The trees also leaned far over the neighbors fence, with long reaching branches. One branch broke off a few weeks back and took out a section of fence. As the trees came down, we could see it was only a matter of time before they came down on their own, being hollowed and ant filled in their hearts. Tom built me a bin for compost.
The guys (and Paula) played Frisbee- and as usual with this bunch- it became a very physical sport. All the guys were sore from tree felling, fence repairs, and Frisbee. While the trees were coming down, the fence was taken down and moved out of their gravity path. The boys took turns demonstrating mad dance moves- or as they called it - "Ninja skills"- to the neighbor's curious herd of cows. The cows stood back far enough to avoid contact with these strangely gyrating humans. Jasher and Althea got out the preschool ride-on toys that the former owners left here. Jasher had a great time being pulled way too fast around the yard by his Daddy and Uncles. When Jasher had had enough fun and tumbles, Daniel and Sam took turns pulling one another around in the little car. The next day, Jasher decided the driveway and yard were too rough to ride on. He pulled the smaller car to the top of the storm cellar, which has a sloped concrete roof and a smooth metal door. He pushed the car around for a bit- testing how it landed when pushed off the cellar roof- a drop of 10 or so inches. Then he invited Bill Joe Althea to go for the first test ride. Althea obliged. She extracted herself from the wreckage before any adults could intervene... and helped Jasher get the car set up for another run. It reminded me so much of Bill Joe's grand ideas on how something fun really OUGHT to work. Floaties on his feet to try and walk on water. A tarp duct taped to his wrists and ankles so he could glide off the roof off the barn like a flying squirrel. (Thankfully, his glide belly flop from the roof of the barn was cushioned by a manure heap.)
Today, I got the last of the bedding washed and folded. The small hand and face prints are (sadly) cleaned from the door glass. The toys are back in the cardboard box, to be carried out to storage until the next visit. The house is terribly quiet.
In other 'news'... I am working on Friday mornings as the daytime dishwasher at The Wooden Spoon. I was concerned about my ability to DO the job, but so far, I have managed. I think both my times to do it have been "slow" days. I stayed on top of the incoming dishes, and fell behind a few times on putting away, when others would help out as their tasks slowed down. I do come home completely wiped out! It is the kind of job where the day passes quickly, because you don't stop. I still have applications out in other places, but haven't heard back from any of these.
That's about all from here.