End of summer sads

I've been working all day every day on getting the last of my courses prepped and loaded for our remote-learning format this semester. I think I'm done, though every time I say that, I remember some small thing in the middle of the night that I need to do. It's going to be an interesting semester. We start Wednesday. I'm much more prepared this semester for the remote learning aspect and had the luxury of being able to work on getting my materials and activities created specifically for remote learning this summer. I worked full time on it over the summer (unpaid), and I think the materials and plans are pretty solid and equivalent to the face-to-face learning experience. The big weak point is that it's hard to replicate the interactions and bonding that occurs in the classroom in an online environment. I will really miss the casual conversations and interactions that happen before and after class and randomly on campus. On the other hand, being home with the animals is a huge benefit, especially now that we have Silas who needs a lot of help and supervision (and diaper changes). 

We've had a rough couple of days with Silas, who has a monstrous case of diarrhea. It's the second day of massive diaper blowouts and having to clean the house, scrub floors, ourselves, our clothing, and he's had lots of baths. I switched him over to white rice only tonight, and we'll stick with that until it starts to clear up. He's acting fine and normal, still has an appetite, lots of energy, etc. We're not sure what triggered this nightmare, but I hope it clears up soon. 

He tipped the only uncovered trash bin (in the laundry room) in our house over  and came marching into the family room with his spoils--the empty bag of cat food that I use for the outdoor cats and raccoons.  He really enjoys shredding paper and cardboard and went to work on it.  He had a blast and was so proud of himself for turning the bag into confetti.  He's pretty cute.  He's also the best ball player in the house.  He "runs" so fast to catch any ball that I thrown and unlike the other dogs, he brings it back and lets go of it, so I can throw it again.

My mom turned 70, so we've gotten together two weekends in a row (outside at a distance). Her actual birthday was last weekend, so she and my dad came over and had chocolate peanut butter smoothies. It was pretty hot! This weekend the weather was perfect for an outdoor gathering, so I made brownie cookies, peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, and snickerdoodle balls (all Vegan Richa recipes; I love all of her recipes!), and made ice cream sandwiches with the cookies. The ice cream melted too fast, but they were tasty. I'll definitely make the brownie cookies again--so good. 

 We've been enjoying garden goodies recently. I've roasted three huge batches of tomatoes from the garden. Most are now in the freezer, but I used one batch for a super delicious sauce in
tonight's dinner--a pasta dish that also included lots of eggplant and some red peppers from our garden. Our cantaloupes are not ready yet at all, but my friend, Orinda, had a ton, so Mark and I went out to her garden and got some last Monday. We've been eating delicious melon every night with dinner since then. She has always grown the biggest, juciest, sweetest cantaloupe but can't remember the variety. Last year I saved the seeds from her melons (and am doing so again this year), and planted them in our garden, so I hope we'll have our own delicious cantaloupe every year. 

I've fallen behind on weeding with my push to get everything ready for school in the last few weeks. I got a little done today before the rain hit. The zinnias are gorgeous enough to distract attention away from the weeds. They're such an easy, stunning flower. I'm so grateful for them. While everything else looks sad and past peak, the zinnias just keep bringing the beautiful color and shapes. The sunflowers and some roses are nice too, but there's certainly not as much variety as the glorious zinnias.