What a week it has been!  Our one and only is off to college!  Mom and I are officially empty nesters.  The transition has been a little muddy and so has the farm!  We had a week of some pretty serious monsoons.  The week prior to Aaron’s departure to engineering school, JAZ Farm was hit with two deluges.  We got close to 4 inches of rain in two days.  Well….. at least we found out where the low spots on the property are.  One is in the front (right on the drive) and the other is out back….. which is now a shallow lake about the size of a baseball diamond.  Because of the rare occurrence of having standing water, we have had a chorus of toads and a nursery for breeding mosquitos.  Because of the frequency of West Nile virus out here we have been limiting our outdoor activities.

I was at the farm during the rains.  Wanting to get back to spend time with the kid prior to going off to school I went against my own best judgement and attempted to 4 wheel drive it through the swamp in the front yard.  I got into the water and high centered the truck front and back.  I hoped and waited for the ground to dry, but it never did.  As I write this a week later, it is still out there.  Evidently, the front differential is broken. The front wheels won’t engage and the rear wheels spin freely not even touching the ground.  Oh well.  The truck is 14 years old and has been through an unimaginable number of adventures since Aaron was five.  We are planning on having someone come out and winch it out and then donate it to charity.  A fitting end to what has been one tough beast.

Fortunately, we were already leery that the truck would eventually leave me stranded by the side of the road (especially since it didn’t like to shift out of first gear without a secret incantation).  So to take Aaron to school we rented a mini-van.  We got him there without any trouble, classes started today and I have received emails and text messages that all is well.

I am usually pretty grumpy about technology.  It seems that anytime you need something to work it is the perfect time for it to crash or have to load updates.  It is intensely impersonal and I would be just as happy in a world without it.  However! I am now a big fan of texting, emailing, and Skype-ing.  Unlike my days at Michigan State {not like my dad would want to hear from me anyway –  more for mom of course : )  }  Aaron has been texting and Skype-ing us.  It is great because it is just enough to let you know he is ok. Both the parents and the student can connect.

I am fortunate that most of the hauling needed to be done for projects at the farm are pretty much caught up.  As we just refi’d our house in the city we have to wait a month before we can go truck shopping.  In the meantime, the half-acre organic garden fence needs to be staked out and the post holes dug.  We are hoping for some astronomy observing time in September as well as getting into the fall routine…. yet again waiting for the markets to collapse.

So to all who have been following this project of ours I hope the rest of your summer goes well and that you have found some time to recharge.  Two pictures below:  Basil the college therapy dog, and one that looks like we just slowed down, threw Aaron’s stuff on the curb and wished him the best of luck! (haha!)  We are very proud parents.  We look forward to some of our own new found freedom, hearing stories from the college front, and getting to be friends with a very cool budding young adult.

Sincerely, We JAZ Farm nuts!