Friday, September 29, 2006
 I am 34 weeks today. If you are keeping count, which I'm not, I have exactly 26 days until my c-section. I feel great most of the time. Bedtime is the hardest because every muscle in my back tenses up as soon as I lay down and I toss and turn most of the night. On the rare occassion that I find a good sleeping position that doesn't hurt my back, the top of my belly starts to burn (just like rug burn) which is more unbearable than the ache in my back. My ankles have started swelling and resemble large tree trunks by the end of the day. And my feet look like balloons with little piggies sticking out at the end. It's so attractive. I currently weigh 50 pounds less than Mark which is really quite shocking considering he's eight inches taller than me and I never dreamed I'd break 200 pounds. Okay, well I thought I might when I found out I was pregnant with twins but secretly hoped I wouldn't. I don't know how much the twins weigh right now because I don't have another ultrasound for a few more weeks, but my guess would be somewhere around four and a half pounds each. That's equivalent to a nine pounder plus a lot of extra baggage. They are very active and according to all of the doctors' assessments, doing very well. According to Dr. S I'm measuring like I'm 41 weeks pregnant and I can definitely feel it. I'm starting to get sleepy and have a hard time making it past eight o'clock without some sort of nap. But, with four boys around, naptime sort of looks like this:
So, I make do with what little naps I catch here and there and am fully planning on firing up my Netflix account this next week. My goal was always to make it through September and then consider October my month to put my feet up and relax. Chris got me a Netflix account which I've been saving just for this especially and anyone that's interested in watching movies and eating popcorn and snugging lots of attention deprived boys, you are more than welcome to come over and join us. I guarantee you, that's all we'll be doing. Mom hired me a little bit of help for the next few weeks and I'm really very grateful because bending over is next to impossible at this point and it's nice not to have to worry so much about the housework. Matthew and Anita (who is pregnant herself and due in just 24 days) sent us pizza this week so I wouldn't have to cook and it was once again, so nice to not have to worry about cooking dinner and cleaning up the mess that always results. And Nathan brought dinner over last week with a gift certificate to a spa--something I've never done before but can't wait to try out. Prenatal massage, here I come! The school nurse has offered her services whenever I might need them and the Lollipop lady sends her daughters over on a regular basis to play with the kids or sit with them while I run and pick up Hunter and Noah from school. And Johnette Lopiano is coming every Tuesday to sit with the kids while I have my NST done. Everyone has been so quick to offer us help and support--I've never felt so spoiled and loved. Thanks so much for making these last few weeks not so awful afterall.
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Thursday, September 28, 2006
 Yesterday, Noah went on his first field trip with the kindergarten to Bishop's Orchard. It's Johnny Appleseed week, so of course they had to visit an orchard and pick their own apples. Noah was especially thrilled with the bus ride and the "wagon ride" through the orchard. He ate about half of his apple upon his return home and then asked me to cut the rest so he could see the star inside. Then he insisted on picking the seeds out and planting them in our garden, with high hopes of growing his own apple tree. Doesn't he look like he loves that apple almost as much as he loves his dandelions?
I've been wanting to take Denver apple-picking for weeks now. With Noah's field trip this week and Hunter's apple projects going on at school--there couldn't be a more perfect time to go. Unfortunately, I have roughly three doctor's appointments a week nowadays, so between those and picking kids up from school at noon and three o'clock, our time has been very limited. It's hard to find a block of time long enough to travel to and from the farm as well as make it up to the orchard and all the other fun stuff there is to do there. Luckily, this morning when I glanced at the calendar and saw that it was completely open I knew it was now or never. So I abandoned the dishes and my shower and loaded Denver and Caleb into the car and ran for the apple orchard before anything could stop us, like the rain they're predicting for tomorrow.
Anyway, we had a wonderful time and it felt so good to get out of the house for something besides church and doctor's appointments. It was also nice to spend a few hours with Denver and Caleb doing something other than watching TV. Denver picked an entire bag of apples by himself. Today they were picking Autumn Galas which are super-delicious. Denver enjoyed the hayride to the top of the orchard and described it as a "roller coaster ride." Caleb didn't help pick very many apples but he did enjoy digging in the dirt and munching on apples. After we returned from the orchard we hit the shop for some apple cider, pumpkin pie and a few more apples for next week's no-television-involved activities: homemade applesauce and apple pie. Then we wandered over to the petting zoo. Denver was upset this morning when I told him we were going to feed the slobbery animals some food and insisted he would do no such thing. It took about thirty-seconds for him to change his mind. He spent about an hour dancing from slobbery animal to slobbery animal feeding them handfuls of food. Caleb liked the dirt and rocks mostly, but got pretty excited when he saw the chickens. He sprinkled a little cracked corn here and there for the animals but didn't seem too thrilled with their slobbery licking action. Denver heard a donkey bray for the first time ever in real life and just about had a heart attack at first and then practically collapsed in a fit of laughter. It was quite hysterical. I was a little sad to leave the farm and orchard--the fresh air was so sweet and the change of scene so pleasant, but it was time to collect Noah and get back to the dishes and housework. But at least I have the promise of pumpkin pie for dessert tonight and something fun to do with Denver next week when the hum-drum sets in and I need a break from the blah of every day life. Happy Apple Week to all of you!
  
  
 
 
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Thursday, September 21, 2006
I got the tummy bug. I knew I was in trouble last night when I woke up with a belly ache that just wouldn't give. I tossed and turned from 1:00am till about 4:00am when Noah came in for his usual, "I had a nightmare and I wet the bed" routine. He needed help with his clean pajama shirt and that did me in. I sent him back to bed, told him to hit play on the c.d. player and ran for the bathroom--just in time. Probably the nastiest barf I've done in years. My body aches. My belly aches. My joints ache. I'm exhausted. It was all I could do to get the big boys to school. Caleb is finally napping and poor Denver is planted firmly in front of the TV, again. And all I really wanted to do this week was take Denver on a hayride to pick apples and make homemade apple pie with him. He's been so neglected lately.
Anyway, I knew this would happen especially with Mark out of town and me being almost in my ninth month. I always get stomach flu during the last few weeks of my pregnancy. I never barf during the first trimester, always during the last trimester or very shortly thereafter. Not fun, especially this time around--I'm already completely miserable. Barf is the last thing I need. Anyway, I'm hoping this is the last of my troubles for awhile and that things will start looking up from here on out. Otherwise I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Still want to trade, Kak?
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Tuesday, September 19, 2006
I like to think of myself as a strong person. And I think I deal with crises very well--it's always been one of my strong points. Throw me into any tragedy and I can handle it much better than any mundane, ordinary day. I've always been that way, for as long as I can remember. I'm not superwoman, but I definitely have a knack for coping with the unexpected crisis, the unusually bad day, the worse case scenario. And I suppose I've always assumed it's because I'm being punished for some terrible thing I did in my past and that it's just my lot in life, my payback, my own fault. So I don't usually get upset or bothered--I just plow forward, ever onward.
Obviously, we've been hit with our share of trials lately. Even Mark, who is usually very optimistic and faithful, has admitted to feeling seriously "tried" lately. We've both been holding onto whatever faith we have left that God has a plan for us and that ultimately, this is all going to make sense and turn out for our good. But today, as great as I am in crisis mode, I'm feeling a little more than defeated. Pooped. Wiped out. Ready to throw in the towel. Exhausted. Depressed. Picked on. Unfairly treated. Beat up. Trampled on. Frustrated. And downright angry.
Denver was up all night starting at 1:00am, throwing up. And it wasn't just once or twice--it was every half an hour until 5:30am. He managed to sleep for an hour and a half and then came running into our room at 7:00am where he announced in a terrible panick, that his tummy still hurt and proceeded to barf. Caleb was up at least twice, which Mark managed to take care of on his own. And Noah was up at his usual time (3:00am) to wake us up and tell us he had another bad dream. Of course, today I was supposed to have a Non-Stress Test for the twins and Melanie was going to babysit. So first thing I had to do was cancel the NST and tell Melanie not to come. It is also Noah's Back-to-School Night tonight and I had arranged for a babysitter, but had to cancel her as well and see if Chris would be willing to come sit in my germ infested home for an hour so Noah wouldn't be thrown into a worse case of "middle child syndrome" and start complaining that I love everyone more than him. By the time I had all of that taken care of, we had 20 minutes to get Hunter and Noah off to school--which we were late for, of course. Mark just left for Mexico and Hunter just came home from school with a belly ache. I'm hoping our plumbing problem is fixed cause I have a mountain of dishes and all sorts of barfy laundry to do and I really don't want to deal with stomach flu without flushable toilets and working bathtubs and washing machines.
And the truth of the matter is, I'm tired and humongous pregnant and I don't want to cope with all of this stuff anymore. I don't think I can possibly smile through one more lie that "everything is just peachy" when really everything is just plain poopy. I just want to go to bed and sleep for a really long time and I don't want my back to hurt so bad when I do or the kids to wake me up every five minutes. I'm ready for one of those mundane, ordinary days and a lot of them for that matter.
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Sunday, September 17, 2006
At four in the morning we woke up to the sounds of Noah barfing over the edge of the top bunk. As I ventured into the boys' room, Hunter was on his way out of the room headed for the bathroom and informed me that he told Noah to barf over the edge instead of in his bed. So, sure enough, when I entered their room, Noah was still leaning over the edge staring down at the dark brown spot of barf on the white carpet. I sat myself down in the rocking chair and just stared at the stinky puddle of puke and tried to figure out in my half-asleep state, how I was going to clean up the mess. And I stared at Denver who was still sound asleep on the very edge of his bed and thanked heaven that he wasn't covered in the yucky brown mess. Then Noah scooted himself back and said, "It was kind of like in Goonies when Chunk barfs over the edge of the balcony at the movie theatre." Yeah. . . except there's no handy theatre employee to mop up the mess, huh Noah? Anyway, as I sat there soaking it all in (or rather doing nothing) Mark came in and took charge of the situation. He went all the way downstairs to get the wet vac while I poured a glass of water on the puke and handed Noah a barf bucket with the instructions that he barf in the bucket and that next time, if he didn't have a bucket that he should not barf over the edge but rather on his sheets. Then, I took Caleb out of the room so he wouldn't be terrified of the noise while Mark vacuumed the heck out of our carpet. Amazingly, Mark removed just about all the barf, all by himself. I kept waiting for him to stop so I could help and as soon as I heard the vacuum shut off I headed for the door. Of course, Mark beat me and as he opened the door, Caleb (who slept through everything else) woke up. We got Caleb and ourselves settled when all of the sudden--more barf! We run in the room and find that Noah barfed not in the bucket but all over his bed. Apparently he had only heard the last half of my barfing instructions. I don't know what he thought I gave him the bucket for--maybe he thought I was just being silly. Anyway, we rip his sheets off the bed, get Noah settled on the downstairs couch, and decide there's no point in sleeping anymore. Caleb is up, Mark has to get his Dad and brother from the airport and the plumber is supposed to arrive by seven. So I threw the sheets in the wash and head back upstairs to clean the bathroom and have a shower quick. That's when the boys started shouting that our downstairs toilet was bubbling. And I know instantly what that means. The washing machine is draining into our basement and our plumbing problem is far from being fixed.
So, Mark runs downstairs and sure enough, we're having the same problem only worse because now it was threatening to back up into our toilets. Now, Tuesday when they came they put a "check valve" on the offending pipe which is supposed to keep water from coming out of the pipe and they said that everything was free and clear and that it must just be our shower water colliding with our laundry water. I understood why you might want a check valve on certain pipes but I knew I didn't want one on this particular pipe. If water can't come out into our unfinished basement where would it come out? The toilets, the bathtubs, the shower, the sinks. . .no thanks. Anyway, so after SolvIt's visit Tuesday I was even more uneasy about our particular sewer problem (I also didn't believe that our shower running at the same time as our washing machine would cause such a problem.) Thursday, the check valve proved incapable of keeping the water in the pipes and we called SolvIt once again. They said someone would be out Friday between 11:00am and 1:00pm to take a look. That someone was the infamous Eddy we've been dealing with since day one. He looked over everything and said he needed a camera. So, he went to Lunch and promised he'd return as soon as the camera was close--apparently they only have two or three of these cameras and it takes awhile to get them. The thing I don't get is why he didn't just bring the darn camera with him in the first place--after Tuesday he must have known he would need it. So, we wait and wait and wait and wait and no one ever comes back. So, SolvIt says they'll send someone out Saturday morning at 7:00am to camera the line.
So that brings us back to our spouting washing machine and our vomiting five year old. Mark leaves for the airport leaving me with the four kids, no plumbing and nowhere to dump the buckets of barf Noah is producing. My only hope is that SolvIt will arrive soon and fix everything--okay. . . feed us a bunch of bull and walk away from the problem pretending they've fixed everything. 7:00, 8:00, 9:00--no SolvIt. Finally they call and say something about their plumber having "some issues" but that he's on his way. Right. Mark returns with his Dad and brother and only then does the plumber arrive. Thank goodness this time it's not Eddy. He investigates our situation and finally declares our situation an emergency. He calls up Eddy and Ted and the excavator and instructs them to dig up the line again and fix it. So, the work crew shows up and digs up our front yard all the way to our sidewalk which is as far as they can go without a new permit. And once again our front yard looks like this:
I had to leave to take Denver to a birthday party so out of desperation I plugged the upstairs bathtub and took probably the fastest shower I've ever had. I don't know all the details of what went on while I was gone but shortly after my return, they pulled this nasty slug (see the black thing next to that short section of pipe) out of the line that they had declared "free and clear" last week--you know the one they said we didn't need to worry about replacing.
Anyway, to make this long story short, we still have a pit out in our front yard. They didn't have sand to fill beneath the pipe to keep it from collapsing under the weight of the soil and rocks when they refilled the pit. So Mark insisted they leave it as is until they could return and do things properly. Also, there's seven more feet of pipe to the main line and that seven feet of pipe has a root in it that I'm insisting they remove. So, they have to pull a sidewalk permit and dig up our front yard even more to fix that section of pipe. And of course, they want another three grand for that seven wee feet of pipe. And Mark was out arguing with the work crew until 10:00pm again. And of course, our insurance company only wants to pay for half of what we already paid. And of course, we have no idea when they are going to finish the job or how long it will take which means another day of unusable toilets and unwashed laundry. And I'm just wondering when this is all going to go away and wishing we had never called this company, ever!
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Friday, September 15, 2006
School is in full-swing now and everyone seems to be adjusting very well. Hunter especially loves his teacher and at least for now, doesn't complain too much about going to school. At Back-to-School night I got a chance to dig through his desk and found some very adorable writings that I just had to copy down. So, while other parents were signing up to be volunteers and getting the best time slots for Parent-Teacher Conference, I was sitting at Hunter's desk copying all of his work on my sticky-note pad. But here's what I got.
First of all, a list of things Hunter loves:
Vacation: Kansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, and Washington D.C.
The Beach
Sleepovers (must be the "sleepovers" he has with his brothers since he hasn't had any others.)
Cousins
Friends
Harry Potter
School
My arm (He wrote a story about breaking his arm so I assume that's why he loves his arm.)
Chickens: Lucky, Daisy (who Noah now lovingly calls Princess Zelda), Fanny, Becky and Ruby
Family: Mom, Dad, Noah, Denver, Caleb and the twins (we'll see how he feels about that in another month or so)
Home
My self
"Reunyn" (Reunion): Stout and Henrichsen
Dreams
Then, he wrote in a book called "All About Second Grade" the following:
"Mrs. O is really, really, really nice and is my favorite out of all of the ones I've met. I love her. Not love, love--I like her. She makes my day."
I don't know if his teacher took a look, but I hope she did, cause how nice for her. We've already had trouble with Hunter's behavior at school (ie pulling chairs out from under other students) but the fact that he loves Mrs. O so much, even after being reprimanded, says a lot about her. I like her too. She seems to be on top of things and has some really great philosophies about her students and her teaching. Of course, she also makes me really nervous because I have a feeling when it comes to Parent Teacher Conference, she's not going to smooth things over and make them look all rose-colored. We're going to get the whole truth about Hunter, which as much as I love him, is sometimes hard to take. I always worry about how his behavior reflects on me and as a result, what the teacher really thinks about me.
Hunter's homework this week was to work on this week's "Word Wall" words. He had to write each word five times, unscramble the words, put them in alphabetical order and then use each one in a sentence. The words of the week were: they, said, was, have and because. Last night he used each one in a senctence and here's what we got:
1--I said, "I don't want to go to the Dentist."
2--Because it's my game day I don't want to go outside.
3--They are playing computer.
4--I have a computer.
5--I was playing computer.
Not bad for doing them all on his own. Of course, I just worry about what the teacher thinks about my son and his infatuation with computers. It's not like that's all he does around here. He's just addicted like so many of his relatives. How can I blame him? I can't. I just love him--and all his adorable school work and his little quirks and the bits and pieces that make him mine. And ultimately, who cares what the teachers think? He's a good kid and I know he's going to make it far in this world of ours, despite what others might say or think.
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Tuesday, September 12, 2006
And this time we're all clueless as to why. Lucky, it's all under warranty and they have to keep coming back until it's fixed. And as frustrating as it is to keep putting laundry and dishes on hold and keep reminding the kids not to flush--at least we have some peace of mind that it won't cost us more money. And today, while Eddy was working, Hunter flushed the toilet and as sorry as I felt for Eddy maybe it will help him be more determined to fix the darn problem for good. Either that or the kids may be flushing more than a little pee next time they're working down there.
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Monday, September 11, 2006
In place of my normal ramblings I give you this: Click Here
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Saturday, September 09, 2006
Our chickens are moving up in the world. A few days ago one of our chickens laid the egg in the middle. Big deal, you might say, but notice its size in comparison to the white "store bought" egg on the right and the puny green egg on its left. That, my friends, is a Jumbo blue egg and it came right fresh out of our chicken's rear-end. If they keep laying 'em that big we won't be buying eggs at the grocery store anymore!
And these beautiful gems were hand-picked fresh today by none other than the Henrichsen Clan. The boys really wanted to stay home and play computer all day (since Saturday is their only full day of computer play) but we insisted they join us for some fresh air, sunshine and family togetherness. As you can see, they gave in and pitched in with the picking. Caleb was especially thrilled with the raspberry bushes and would have shoved an entire bush in his mouth if Mark hadn't been there to stop him. Even still, he probably ate a sixth pint of raspberries all on his own--lucky for us they didn't weigh him pre-raspberry picking. Now it's time for making raspberry jam. Last year our raspberry season was ruined by the weather and we didn't get to pick any berries. Ever since, I've been craving homemade raspberry jam like nothing else and can't wait to get my hands (or rather, my mouth) on some. Guess we might have to make up a batch of Monte Cristos to go with it--darn!
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Friday, September 08, 2006
At least I like to think we're good people. After this past week I'm thinking maybe we're not as good as we think. Either way, our plumbing is up and running and minus the fact that half of our entire front yard is a big pile of soil and sewage things are back to normal--including the mountain of laundry I get to conquer, once again.
It all started out fun enough. You can imagine the level of excitement in our house full of boys when we announced that an excavator would be arriving in our front yard around 2:00pm. And although it wasn't quite 2:00pm (try 5:00pm instead) Mark's wish earlier this week that we could "have an excavator in our front yard" came true. Denver couldn't wait to get outside with his own excavator and it wasn't long before most of our neighbors had gathered around to watch what was going on.
The fun ended when two feet in they discovered the cesspool--stinky! A few minutes later our pipe was revealed and sure enough, it had collapsed in four different places. They tell us because of all the rain we've had, the weight of the rocks and soil became too much for our clay pipe and eventually, it caved in. They snaked the other leg of pipe and after several attempts they finally declared that pipe free and clear--no holes, no more roots, still usable.
Of course, because they didn't start until 5:30pm that meant they had to work late into the night. And while most of our neighbors seemed to be very understanding (several offered their bathrooms and sinks to us) there were a few that were a little upset about the late night lights and beeping (I'd love to see them go for a week without plumbing and then tell their plumber to quit working at 5:00pm so the neighbors could get a good night's sleep.)
Despite being about 5 hours behind schedule constantly, we had a great work crew. The plumbers were hard workers and knew exactly what they were doing. Mark had fun watching them, asking questions, joking around with them and pitching in here and there. They had fun with the boys and didn't freak out when they wanted to look into the giant hole they'd made or stand a little closer to the excavator. I will definitely keep their number for the next time (which I'm really hoping never happens.)
Here's our new pipe. I'm not sure why they didn't just go ahead and replace the other leg of pipe while they were in there, but I think they were trying to be quick and fix the immediate problem without costing us extra money. We're definitely going to look into AAA's Sewer Protection Line for next time. This time we're hoping our Homeowner's Insurance will cover some or all of the repair without increasing our premium too much (yeah, right.)
Now all we have left to do is fix this. Oh, and cut down that tree. We're hoping we can get the city to come chop the tree down for us. And as for the lawn--Fall is a great time for reseeding lawns. Somehow we just have to figure out what to do with all those roots sticking up out of the ground.
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Thursday, September 07, 2006
I just had an ultrasound of the twins this morning. Unfortunately, I didn't get any great pictures to share probably because things are getting a little cramped in there. But they are both doing really well and growing at a good rate. Baby A weighs 3.5 pounds and Baby B weighs 3.9 pounds. Combined they almost weigh more than Hunter when he was born at 9 months, but of course I have twice the fluid and twice the placenta. The doctor asked how big my babies have been and when I said 7 and 8 pounds, he said the twins should be a good weight when they're born. I was thinking maybe 5 pounds each. He thinks more. That just about made me want to cry considering my back hurts so bad even walking is painful nowadays. Can't imagine what 7 more weeks is going to do to me.
Besides my ever-aching back, I feel great. Can't complain too much. I'm running low on clothes that will actually cover my hugeness, but who needs clothes, right? My belly (44 inches around) is definitely larger than Mark's now and I feel roughly the size of a baby Hippo. That is until I found out how much a baby hippo weighs. In reality, I'm about three times as big as a baby hippo. Slightly disturbing. Personally, I think I even look like a hippo. But everyone I know (and don't know for that matter) tells me I'm tiny for twins, especially for only being 7 weeks from delivery. I think they're just being nice. The one thing that tastes really good right now is ice--late at night I sit on the couch and pop it in my mouth like popcorn. Chocolate, ice cream, cake, cookies--nothing hits the spot quite like a cup full of half melted ice cubes. Of course the other thing I'm popping in my mouth on a regular basis are Tums. Can't live without them. I'm not sleeping much at night, but that's normal with any pregnancy. I consider it preparation for the lack of sleep newborn babies tend to cause.
The Doctor tells me I have to start my Non-Stress Tests once a week at the hospital. That will last for two weeks and then I have to go twice a week until they're born. And the normal Doctor visits. And the routine ultrasound visits. Maybe I should move into the hospital. It would save me about a million trips back and forth and I know for a fact they have working plumbing.
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Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Right now I can't--brush my teeth, flush the toilet, wipe the dinner table, wash the dinner dishes, wash my ever growing mountain of laundry (which, by the way, I just got caught up on), take a shower, run the dishwasher, get a drink of water, wash my hands, or make a bottle. Neither can Mark or any of the kids. That means we've made several poop runs to McDonalds where we can wipe and flush, the dishes are piling up, as is the laundry, and our body odor--well, let's not even think about it. Who knows how long the "pee tree" will hold up with so many little boys and so many potty breaks. Mr. SolveIt man is still here (it's 10:15pm) and try as he may to snake our sewer line, he just can't get through, which means he can't get a camera in there to find out where exactly we have a sewer line breakage. And that means at least another two days to a solution and that brings us to the weekend and I'm not sure Mr. SolveIt man works weekends. Our Homeowner's Insurance man isn't sure if this type of problem is covered and I'm not sure we can afford such a repair. Remember. . . we just bought a new car in order to transport our ever-growing family and the car payment is about as big as the car we purchased. Plus, it's still summertime and we're still paying $400/month to run our A/C and yet, with Fall just around the bend, our fuel tank is begging to be filled which I can only guess is gonna cost us another arm and a leg. And all of this pain for what? Tree roots--that's what. Not grease. Not hair. Just tree roots. And this isn't the first time it's happened. Nope. It's happened twice before and the people kept the tree. Why? Why would anyone keep a tree that causes so much damage? I mean, they're shady and the leaves are pretty in Fall, but are they really worth $5000-$10,000 every ten years? And whoever said raking leaves was all that fun anyway? And it's not like this is a tree the kids can climb in. And it doesn't bear any tasty fruit we can turn into pie or pack in our lunches. Nope. It's just a stupid tree and it will die. I don't know what's wrong with our sewer line, but I do know, next fall I will be roasting marshmallows on this tree as it burns in our backyard fire pit. And this is the last year I will rake up it's messy leaves. And it will never, ever break my sewer line again and make it so I have to stick my hand in a toilet bowl full of pee to retrieve my toilet paper that I accidentally forgot can't go down the pipes. No--the tree is a goner and I hope this sewer problem will be soon. I need new plumbing and I need it now!
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Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Last night around 3:00am, Mark and I were startled out of our sleep by one or all of our chickens screaming. I didn't know if Mark was awake or not, so I sluggled him on the shoulder and said, "Something's trying to get our chickens." That means, "You race out of bed, throw your clothes on, grab a flashlight, and get outside this instant to see what the matter is." Now, Mark and I are both pretty big chickens ourselves and I know Mark hates it when I send him out in the dead of night to fight off whatever might be out there (a skunk perhaps, maybe a rabid racoon) and make sure our chickens are still alive (and what if they're not--what if he stumbles across a half eaten, still breathing chicken clinging to what little life it has left--who wants to deal with that at three in the morning?) Anyway, Mark obediently stumbled out of bed, somehow managed to find his clothes in the darkness and trudged outside to investigate. While I sat in bed, waiting for him to find a flashlight and make his way outside, I looked out the window only to discover our neighbor (who loves our chickens)in her pajamas, running across our yard to check on the chickens herself. When she heard Mark coming she started running back towards her home, only to turn around when she and Mark ran into each other on the driveway. Together they investigated the situation and then returned inside. Mark said our neighbor found Daisy (our Buff Orpington) in the middle of the intersection in front of our house, looking absolutely terrified. Our neighbor had gathered up the frightened hen and returned her to her coop. Upon investigation, Mark came to the conclusion that there was no way she had been pulled out of the coop by an animal and that she looked okay--no blood, no damage done. So that left us completely puzzled. If she didn't get pulled out by some wild animal, how did she get out? Did someone let her out? Who? Why? And, why was she screaming bloody murder?
Neither Mark nor I slept well after that. Both of us tossed and turned from then until 5:00am when we both fell asleep hard. I dreamt about shooting squirrels with be-be guns and half dead turkeys swarming our backyard and finding Daisy dead in the coop. At 5:00am, Caleb decided to wake up and toss and turn until 6:00am or so in Mark's arms. I got up at 7:00am to get the kids ready for school and tried to let Mark sleep a little more, but to no avail--work is pressing and pressing hard. On my way back from dropping the boys off at school, I investigated the chickens and their coop myself. Mark was right. I don't think anything could have gotten in or come out of the coop. No holes had been dug, no wire had been cut, everything was perfectly normal. But on my way back in I discovered several bunches of Daisy's feathers scattered here and there. So, obviously she had been attacked. But how did she get attacked if she didn't get pulled out from under the coop?
Later this morning our neighbor came over and wanted to make sure we didn't think she was trying to steal our chicken. Of course she wasn't. She then explained that her husband and son had seen Daisy out and about during dinnertime yesterday. Another piece of the puzzle solved. Someone had let her out. Could have been me or Mark when we checked the coop for eggs. But somehow I think we would have noticed a chicken flying out of the coop right past our heads. Could have been someone else. Either way, Daisy hadn't been in the coop all night--she'd been left outside alone to defend herself against whatever came her way. I'm thinking it was a cat since she shows no signs of being attacked and I've heard racoons are ruthless that way.
Neither of us are sure what exactly happened. All we do know is--we've still got five chickens, locks are required on the coop to prevent strangers from freeing our chickens, a nightly count of the chickens is a must, and a wire bottom on the cage so we can sleep at night might be a good idea. Now about that plumbing problem--looks like we've got a major problem on our hands and an excavator and digging up our front yard is going to be involved. Dandy--just dandy. Hard to believe we paid half a million dollars for 1400 square feet of house and a bunch of disastrous plumbing.
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Monday, September 04, 2006
 The Naughty Squirrel
Our sunflowers have "gone to seed." Their heads are drooping and heavy with row after row of sunflower seeds. One flower in particular has drooped towards our back porch making it accessible to the squirrels. Up until now we haven't had too many squirrels hanging around. Mostly just birds. But today, Mr. Squirrel found our drooping sunflower and had himself a most delicious snack. This is probably the same naughty squirrel that ate a giant hole in our pumpkins a few years back. Of course, with the heavy winds that we had this weekend, our twelve-foot sunflowers are no longer twelve foot but rather down-todden and defeated. Looks like sunflower season is over for us and Mr. Squirrel will be having himself quite a feast over the next few days.
 A Playdate for Denver
In an attempt to soften the blow of his big brothers being in school all day and leaving Denver with nobody to play with, I've been trying to work in a playdate here and there. So last week Denver's little friend, Maxim, came to play and they seemed to have a great time together. Of course, Denver insists that it wasn't a "playdate" because it was at our house and he wanted to go to their house. Hmmmpphh! So anxious to get away from me so soon--am I really so boring?
A Laborious Labor Day
So I wanted to pick raspberries this weekend. But Friday and Saturday were rainy days and Saturday we had a high wind advisory for the entire day. The remains of a hurricane, I guess. So, the sun didn't shine until Sunday but we don't pick raspberries on Sunday and by Monday the field was picked clean. I was a little bummed, but Mr. Farmer Man reassured me that if I came on Wednesday or Thursday there'd be plenty of raspberries for me to pick then. So. . . we spent Labor Day morning cleaning up branches out of the backyard, mowing the lawn and running Hunter to birthday parties and such. At that point we discovered that our plumbing had backed up once again and our basement was full of water. So, Mark spent a good 45 minutes sucking water up with the ShopVac while I made deviled eggs and cookies for the Labor Day picnic, changed Caleb's diaper extravaganza, and reclaimed Hunter from the birthday party. We managed to escape for a few delightful hours at the Brown's house, where we ate ourselves sick and the boys (including Mark and Caleb) jumped and jumped and jumped on the trampoline. Then we returned home, threw the kids in the shower and tucked them in bed, only to find that there was more water in the basement that needed vacuuming, probably from the boys' shower. Which means the clog is worse than we thought and is going to require a plumber and who knows what else. So my laundry is on hold once again (we ran out of propane last week)and the mystery of the clogged pipe continues once more. But ultimately I know the situation could be worse (our neighbor's entire basement was flooded last week) and I have a firm belief that everything happens for a reason. So, I'm going to "go with the flow" for now, hoping that someone up "there" knows what they're doing and has some great plan worked out for us and our stubborn and very old plumbing and our already stretched too thin finances.
 Just Follow the Fruit Loop Path
Tonight as I did my "clean sweep" through the house I discovered this little treasure in the piano room. You may think it's just a bunch of fruit loops on the floor and that I should really try to keep my house a little cleaner. But if you are thinking that you are mistaken. These fruit loops have been very carefully placed by two very sweet boys who were trying very hard to lure their baby brother into a well-thought trap. And when I saw that perfect little fruit loop path I couldn't help but take a picture.
Sick Again
I have no idea where it came from and why I'm the only one that got it, but I've caught a cold. Not a bad cold, but a cold nonetheless. Maybe it's the fact that it's been pretty chilly around here lately. Perhaps it's the stress of knowing the twins are due in less than two months. It could be that someone is trying to tell me to slow down and take it easy. But whatever it is, I sure wish it would go away. I'm busy. Leave me alone.
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Saturday, September 02, 2006
In the hopes of getting our little Kindergartners ready for the "big day" several mom's organized a playdate at our local Little Gym. It was right up Noah's alley and he had a blast. Hunter was a little ticked off that he wasn't allowed to go and play, but I insisted on keeping it a special day just for Noah. So while Hunter sat in the corner for half of the hour pouting and the other half an hour chasing girls from his first grade class, Noah had the time of his life.
**Noah is in the back row, second in from the left, right under the "y."
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