August on the hill

We've had a wild week here. Husband was in the mountains taking landscape photographs and the gravel road beneath the Honda Element collapsed. He rolled 40 feet off the edge and was amazingly saved by the tree saplings which slowed the vehicle and a tree that stopped it, although upside down.

The seat belt held him safely, several windows were broken out, and he was able to climb out and get back to the road where a kind passerby took him to the nearest town for help.

The Element had close to 250k miles and it has been an amazing car. It's gone now and we're looking for the next vehicle. 

The morning after all of the above happened, I woke up to my entire herd on high alert in the front pastures. I went out to check on them and didn't see or hear anything. About 15 minutes later a neighbor's entire herd (four horses, a pony, and two goats) came galloping up our driveway. For about twenty minutes it was total chaos here. My five and those seven were all running and snorting and squealing and the neighbors who own them were not answering their phone. 

Fortunately another neighbor and her husband helped and the herd got home with no mishap.

Today, my brilliant teens are discussing quantum mechanics and calculus and piano and college. Husband, thankfully safe and sound, just brought home a new round bale of hay, photos of newborn piglets. It is mercifully cool outside, overcast and still cloudy, and the needed rain has come to an end. 

Summer's nearing its end. I'm getting ready to plant the fall garden and have four elderberry bushes to plant along the front fence.

And oh! I have forgotten to mention that we've joined in a county-wide solar purchase group and are waiting for our solar assessment for the house and barn. I'm really excited about the possibility of getting the barn entirely off the grid.