There's more than one type of rain!

Wet, Humid, Damp, Moist, Soaking, Rain. How many adjectives can you think up? I'll bet a lot would come to mind if you were here with us today and the non-stop rain! And, the day doesn't get a whole lot cheerier with our One-Upper on board. But, I'm trying to use her as a learning tool for myself. I ask myself - "Am I, or have I been in the past, a One-Upper?" Because I'm finding it's more than a little annoying! Every single thing that ANY body talks about, she chimes in: "Oh. I make an amazing ______" (you fill in the blank). Or "Oh, I've been doing _____ for years! I can show you EVERYTHING about it!" And, that probably wouldn't dig at me so much if it wasn't for the additional comments about how wonderful everything was here last year, & how great all the staff was & what an awesome time they all had together & how different it is w/ most of them gone... yadayadayada. So, I guess my petty & insecure self is showing here - so I'm trying to see past the bravado to what might be driving it. The first thought is that SHE is insecure w/ everything changed this year. Accordingly, I guess I'll need to try to be more supportive & understanding of that fear. But, what if it's just her normal personality & it never gets better? Ugh. Don't even THINK it! After all, if I was able to befriend Grumpy, this should be a piece of cake, right?

Poor Jeff is working his tail off. Not only with normal stuff (irrigation, feeding, etc) but the hydro has issues almost daily that require him to hike the mile up to the dam & adjust water flow. AND... the fencing is like a recurring nightmare. Every time he gets one hole fixed, the horses find another and go missing again. AND... all the little things that keep breaking down or needing fixed - like when the propane ran out in the crew cabin so all the heaters & hot water tanks went out. He changed propane & went to light all the pilot lights & discovered that the hot water tank (in Ben's room, but is for the whole building) has been leaking propane this whole time. So, now he's fixing that. AND.. the new prep cooked dropped her earring down her sink drain & needs it taken apart to find the earring. I haven't told him about that yet - I'm hoping it can wait until tomorrow. OH.. AND BOTH our washer AND dryer are dying - and they're the only ones we have right now. The housekeeper is driving us all bonkers with her ranting about it, but I guess it would be quite frustrating to have a lot of laundry & not be able to depend on the machines that you have to use. The 4-wheeler is having starting issues so isn't very dependable. And now the rain makes working on everything a real pleasure. He's pretty well exhausted at night these nights. But, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon as we might have a guy hired by the end of the week - hopefully he can start right away!

We had a great visit over lunch with our new prep cook (Donna). She is a Christian also and it is a pleasure to work w/ someone who is open & honest about it & such a hard worker. I think we're really going to enjoy having her here. She is enthusiastic about everything & very patient & complimentary to all. And, Sue has also been so willing to help wherever. She helped Jeff feed today & unloaded firewood for Bendigo & does dishes - just whatever needs done. If we had a whole crew like that, things would be almost easy! And, Bendigo was worn out this evening also. He's taken over moving all our lawn sprinklers every day (and we have a LOT) and he hauled firewood & did school & various other little errands.

So, I'm off to the cabin. I finished cutting up the jeans for my quilt today, and discovered I'm just one pair short of being able to cut my last 3 squares & start piecing - grrr. I only need 3 more 10.5 x 10.5" squares. When I told Jeff that, he said "No, you can't have any of my jeans". Bummer. So, I won't be working on that until I scare up a few more jeans.