It's been a busy couple of weeks!
First, my tomatoes that I've been babying are now up to the gutters (!) on my house (they are draping over my 6-ft tall fence where they have overgrown the cages) and are covered in (still green) tomatoes, but I think I may see a faint blush of red on one of the first ones that formed. Soon! Last night's storm was enough to blow them all over, despite the supports, but they seem to be doing OK this morning...I propped them all back up, and time will tell. I have a Jet Star, an Early Girl, and a Big Boy by the house, and two more Big Boys growing out by the defunct deck. My peppers and celery are doing well, after recovering from the onslaught of the little red and black bugs this spring, so I'm looking forward to a nice harvest of those here in the next few weeks.
My black raspberries have finally played out ~ I gathered the last few on Saturday, and have been risking life and limb clearing out the old, fruited canes and leaving this year's new canes for next year's crop. There are a lot of older canes still in the mess that were never cleared out from previous years, so I'm dealing with lots of sharp, pokey brambles. It's an easy job to find them all, because the black raspberries don't send up suckers, the new canes just come up from the crown each year. But I've lost some blood, and have come eyeball to eyeball with more spiders than I care to.
I do have one actual blackberry patch at the other end of the yard, and they're just starting to color up now. They are under the black mulberry tree that overhangs our yard in the back, so it's an interesting effect seeing the dark purple fruits on the tree and on the bramble below it. I know I'm going to have to keep the blackberries in check, or they'll overtake everything ~ they're already sending suckers up into the grass where I mow. But the two ripe fruits I just pulled off were yummy, and the bramble is absolutely loaded, so I'm hoping to get enough to make some jam out of them, too. They are so much larger than my raspberries, so I don't think it will take nearly as many to get the requisite 5 cups.
And the grapes are all over the mess that has grown up, but I'm not sure how I'm going to get the ones that are about 12 feet off the ground. And of course, that's where most of the grapes are located....
Indoors, the children have discovered that when you play with bubbles indoors you can make the floor really slippery and then slide things across it (including yourself and mommy, who didn't expect a soapy floor). Other fun things to do are finger paint with melted ice cream on the wall, pour the water out of the bathtub, and practice pouring juice from one cup into another ~ on the living room carpet, of course. So we've done plenty of Bounty hunting indoors, too ~ of the paper towel variety.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
New Trends
Our son, A, has been benefiting from the brushing technique; he is not hand flapping, spinning, or running back and forth nearly as often (although it does still occur), and is able to focus better on the task at hand. He even takes the brush and tries to do it to himself!
Another trend, not so desirable, is A's tendency to play with himself. He will shove his hands down his pants no matter where we are and just go at it. We were in the grocery store after one of his appointments on Tuesday, and I was in the process of paying the cashier when I looked over and noticed that A had slid in between the end of the check-out conveyor belt and a large stand of fabric grocery bags and he had both hands down the front of his shorts. He was watching me out of the corner of his eye, so when I made eye contact he stopped. Then he tried to slide between the movie rental and one of those claw games where you can "catch" a stuffed toy, and he started to do it again. The frustrating part is, he knows he's not supposed to do things like that in public. He knows. He keeps an eye out for when I notice and will stop every time, most often without my having to say anything. I ignored the distasteful looks of the other patrons, dragged him out to the car, and we went on with our lives.
I know it is somewhat typical for boys to discover their, ahem, toys, but most kids don't have the compulsory issues that A deals with. And it's a compulsion.
Initially, I was like, fine, he's a boy, whatever. If he wants to do that in the bathtub or in his bedroom when he gets up in the morning, whatever. I am regretting that decision, as he does not understand the concept of "appropriate", nor does he understand that he is rubbing himself raw and going to injure himself. It has become one of his favorite stims. He plays with himself whenever the mood strikes (which is multiple times a day). He will even stand in front of our huge picture window that faces the highway with his hands down his pants, working. He would mess around down there 24/7 if he could. (Actually, that may be more typical than I'd like to admit!)
Another more infrequent problem is fecal smearing. He had not engaged in that activity for a couple of years, but that all changed this weekend. A had deposited an exceptionally nasty bowel movement in his pants, but rather than let us know, he hid from us. While we were in the kitchen and mudroom areas, he was in the living room decorating the recliner, the couch, the picture window, the windowsill, the television, the carpet. Ordinarily, I'll let him do what he wants for an hour or so; he had just gotten up from a nap and was clean. He is generally very well behaved, and doesn't destroy anything but paper products (which he ingests), although he does love to empty the soap dispenser in the bathroom. Leaving him to his own devices, alas, was not the choice we should have made in this instance.
Thank God for slipcovers and antibacterial cleaners.
Another trend, not so desirable, is A's tendency to play with himself. He will shove his hands down his pants no matter where we are and just go at it. We were in the grocery store after one of his appointments on Tuesday, and I was in the process of paying the cashier when I looked over and noticed that A had slid in between the end of the check-out conveyor belt and a large stand of fabric grocery bags and he had both hands down the front of his shorts. He was watching me out of the corner of his eye, so when I made eye contact he stopped. Then he tried to slide between the movie rental and one of those claw games where you can "catch" a stuffed toy, and he started to do it again. The frustrating part is, he knows he's not supposed to do things like that in public. He knows. He keeps an eye out for when I notice and will stop every time, most often without my having to say anything. I ignored the distasteful looks of the other patrons, dragged him out to the car, and we went on with our lives.
I know it is somewhat typical for boys to discover their, ahem, toys, but most kids don't have the compulsory issues that A deals with. And it's a compulsion.
Initially, I was like, fine, he's a boy, whatever. If he wants to do that in the bathtub or in his bedroom when he gets up in the morning, whatever. I am regretting that decision, as he does not understand the concept of "appropriate", nor does he understand that he is rubbing himself raw and going to injure himself. It has become one of his favorite stims. He plays with himself whenever the mood strikes (which is multiple times a day). He will even stand in front of our huge picture window that faces the highway with his hands down his pants, working. He would mess around down there 24/7 if he could. (Actually, that may be more typical than I'd like to admit!)
Another more infrequent problem is fecal smearing. He had not engaged in that activity for a couple of years, but that all changed this weekend. A had deposited an exceptionally nasty bowel movement in his pants, but rather than let us know, he hid from us. While we were in the kitchen and mudroom areas, he was in the living room decorating the recliner, the couch, the picture window, the windowsill, the television, the carpet. Ordinarily, I'll let him do what he wants for an hour or so; he had just gotten up from a nap and was clean. He is generally very well behaved, and doesn't destroy anything but paper products (which he ingests), although he does love to empty the soap dispenser in the bathroom. Leaving him to his own devices, alas, was not the choice we should have made in this instance.
Thank God for slipcovers and antibacterial cleaners.
Even Better!
I was out picking more of my blackberries today, and noted that they didn't look like normal blackberries. The leaves were different, although there is quite the prolific amount of thorns, arching canes, etc. The fruit actually looks like raspberries, but they are the wrong color. Everyone I know here in Maryland calls them blackberries, though, so I assumed that's what they were. I figured it was just a local wild variant.
I decided to look up blackberries on the internet, because although these were growing wild, they are forming a mass of arched thorny branches down the length of my wooded area and I want to keep that moderately cleared out to keep snakes, mice, and other pests down as much as possible. I have huge loops between plants, where apparently the arches landed on the ground and started forming more plants. I also wanted to see if I needed to do anything to help the plants set fruit better, by pruning. (I know very little about growing fruit, but nearly every fruit I hear about has to be pruned at some point to increase fruit set so I figured it was the case with these, too, even though they're "wild").
The berries and plants I kept finding on the blackberry sites weren't matching what I have, though, until I stumbled on a site that encouraged people to Grow Native!, and saw what looks like my plants: I have black raspberries! The black raspberries are native to North America, while the red ones are from Europe and Asia. There are apparently two different types, one western and one eastern variety. The black raspberries fell from popularity in the U.S. because the red ones were considered a luxury (shipped in from Europe) and that's what everyone started growing for themselves. There are still some black raspberries that are commercially grown, but it is primarily the western variety in the Pacific Northwest. And they are expensive. Who knew?
The fruit and fruit set of my bramble is identical to the pictures I found on the site, down to the separation of the fruit from the plant, leaving a little hollow in the middle. The fruits are also not overly shiny, and have the tiny hairs I have seen on the red raspberries. Real blackberries, on the other hand, do not leave a hollow in the middle when you pick them and break off flush with the top of the berry; they also tend to be larger and more shiny than black raspberries.
Black raspberry fruit set:
My plant:
Black raspberry fruit:
My fruit:
Blackberry:
The pictures I found of the leaves (with whitish undersides) and the canes (greyish/whitish green) match in color, size, and leaf type to my plants, too. Blackberry leaves are also have much sharper ridges along the leaf veins, whereas black raspberry leaves have a sawed edge but smoother leaves. I checked a few other sites, and sure enough ~ that's what I've got.
Black raspberry leaves:
My plant:
Curiously, though, these do not get a whole lot of sun but seem to be thriving nonetheless. Each website I checked about growing black raspberries suggests putting them in partial to full sun, depending on how hot the summers are. Mine get a couple of hours in the morning, and then get about an hour in the evening, that's it. Maybe if I pulled one of the plants out and planted it in the sun, it would produce more fruit? Hmmm. An experiment for next year...
Anyway: Fabulous! I now know what I have back there, and how to care for it. I'm supposed to clear out the canes that bore fruit this year and leave the others. Raspberries bear fruit on the previous year's vegetative non-fruiting canes. Black raspberries are also not overly invasive, they only produce canes from their crown, so suckering off the roots isn't a problem. Whereever a cane arches over and touches the ground, though, it will root and form a new plant ~ which I'd noted when I was scrambling around through there getting scratched up this morning. If I want to thin it out, I can, realizing that the more canes I get rid of the less fruit I'll have next year.
I have a lot of pruning work to do this fall and winter, between the raspberry brambles and the still-unknown species of grapevine that has run amok over its trellis. I'm just letting it grow, there are a lot of grapes on it. I do know that it is not a wild grape variety. Whatever it is, it was deliberately planted and properly trained at one point, I can see where the single trunk was selected and it was trained laterally over the framework. I have no idea if the previous owners ever pruned that thing or not, but it is at least 10 feet tall, about twice as wide, and is reaching for some of my trees. I discovered what it was too late in the spring to prune it; if I'd tried it at that time, it would have "bled" (run sap) for a long time and possibly invite diseases in. So, I am waiting until fall to find out what they are ~ whether they are "table grapes" or "wine grapes". Because of the vigorous undergrowth of a couple of very large honeysuckles shrubs (trees!), I don't know if the grapes will get the sunlight needed to ripen or not, but we'll see.
The blob o' foilage:
(Unripe)Grapes:
In the meantime, I'll just keep on picking my black raspberries every few days or so as they continue to ripen. I have now picked enough to fill one of those plastic 1-lb strawberry containers, with more berries freezing on a cookie sheet. There's lots more out there, so I might actually get enough to make jam out of them! (It takes 5 cups of smashed berries to make jam). This is such an unexpected blessing! I had wanted to plant some raspberries in my garden anyway; I guess God knew that and had them waiting for me here at our new house! I may still plant some red raspberries, but I know I have to keep them far away from the black ones. For one thing, they'll cross-pollinate (with sometimes not nice results), and for seconds, apparently black raspberries can carry all sorts of viruses that will get into the red ones, the red ones being less able to fend off the diseases.
I decided to look up blackberries on the internet, because although these were growing wild, they are forming a mass of arched thorny branches down the length of my wooded area and I want to keep that moderately cleared out to keep snakes, mice, and other pests down as much as possible. I have huge loops between plants, where apparently the arches landed on the ground and started forming more plants. I also wanted to see if I needed to do anything to help the plants set fruit better, by pruning. (I know very little about growing fruit, but nearly every fruit I hear about has to be pruned at some point to increase fruit set so I figured it was the case with these, too, even though they're "wild").
The berries and plants I kept finding on the blackberry sites weren't matching what I have, though, until I stumbled on a site that encouraged people to Grow Native!, and saw what looks like my plants: I have black raspberries! The black raspberries are native to North America, while the red ones are from Europe and Asia. There are apparently two different types, one western and one eastern variety. The black raspberries fell from popularity in the U.S. because the red ones were considered a luxury (shipped in from Europe) and that's what everyone started growing for themselves. There are still some black raspberries that are commercially grown, but it is primarily the western variety in the Pacific Northwest. And they are expensive. Who knew?
The fruit and fruit set of my bramble is identical to the pictures I found on the site, down to the separation of the fruit from the plant, leaving a little hollow in the middle. The fruits are also not overly shiny, and have the tiny hairs I have seen on the red raspberries. Real blackberries, on the other hand, do not leave a hollow in the middle when you pick them and break off flush with the top of the berry; they also tend to be larger and more shiny than black raspberries.
Black raspberry fruit set:
My plant:
Black raspberry fruit:
My fruit:
Blackberry:
The pictures I found of the leaves (with whitish undersides) and the canes (greyish/whitish green) match in color, size, and leaf type to my plants, too. Blackberry leaves are also have much sharper ridges along the leaf veins, whereas black raspberry leaves have a sawed edge but smoother leaves. I checked a few other sites, and sure enough ~ that's what I've got.
Black raspberry leaves:
My plant:
Curiously, though, these do not get a whole lot of sun but seem to be thriving nonetheless. Each website I checked about growing black raspberries suggests putting them in partial to full sun, depending on how hot the summers are. Mine get a couple of hours in the morning, and then get about an hour in the evening, that's it. Maybe if I pulled one of the plants out and planted it in the sun, it would produce more fruit? Hmmm. An experiment for next year...
Anyway: Fabulous! I now know what I have back there, and how to care for it. I'm supposed to clear out the canes that bore fruit this year and leave the others. Raspberries bear fruit on the previous year's vegetative non-fruiting canes. Black raspberries are also not overly invasive, they only produce canes from their crown, so suckering off the roots isn't a problem. Whereever a cane arches over and touches the ground, though, it will root and form a new plant ~ which I'd noted when I was scrambling around through there getting scratched up this morning. If I want to thin it out, I can, realizing that the more canes I get rid of the less fruit I'll have next year.
I have a lot of pruning work to do this fall and winter, between the raspberry brambles and the still-unknown species of grapevine that has run amok over its trellis. I'm just letting it grow, there are a lot of grapes on it. I do know that it is not a wild grape variety. Whatever it is, it was deliberately planted and properly trained at one point, I can see where the single trunk was selected and it was trained laterally over the framework. I have no idea if the previous owners ever pruned that thing or not, but it is at least 10 feet tall, about twice as wide, and is reaching for some of my trees. I discovered what it was too late in the spring to prune it; if I'd tried it at that time, it would have "bled" (run sap) for a long time and possibly invite diseases in. So, I am waiting until fall to find out what they are ~ whether they are "table grapes" or "wine grapes". Because of the vigorous undergrowth of a couple of very large honeysuckles shrubs (trees!), I don't know if the grapes will get the sunlight needed to ripen or not, but we'll see.
The blob o' foilage:
(Unripe)Grapes:
In the meantime, I'll just keep on picking my black raspberries every few days or so as they continue to ripen. I have now picked enough to fill one of those plastic 1-lb strawberry containers, with more berries freezing on a cookie sheet. There's lots more out there, so I might actually get enough to make jam out of them! (It takes 5 cups of smashed berries to make jam). This is such an unexpected blessing! I had wanted to plant some raspberries in my garden anyway; I guess God knew that and had them waiting for me here at our new house! I may still plant some red raspberries, but I know I have to keep them far away from the black ones. For one thing, they'll cross-pollinate (with sometimes not nice results), and for seconds, apparently black raspberries can carry all sorts of viruses that will get into the red ones, the red ones being less able to fend off the diseases.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Post 100
Wow! Post number 100. Not bad for only posting about once a week, on average. Sometimes twice a week, sometimes not at all.
Yesterday was a great day! Not only was it Sunday, complete with nice worship service, gorgeous weather and unusually well-behaved children, but it was also my birthday.
As a special treat, we went out to eat so I didn't have to worry about cooking or doing dishes. We don't generally eat out very often, so this was a big deal for the kids. We went to Pizza Hut, which A and K absolutely loved; it's been a while since we had a made-to-order pizza. We live too far out of town for any sort of delivery, and the frozen pizzas you get at the grocery store just can't compare to a freshly made pie.
Among the day's activities:
We returned home after lunch to discover a 2-Liter of Dr. Pepper and a birthday card by the front door. Absolutely lovely! That is my absolute favorite soft drink (and my one true vice), which some dear friends knew of course. The pop was duly shared amongst the members of the H-- family throughout the rest of the day.
Another friend dropped by with a bundle of freshly picked flowers from a farm that lies 2 miles up the road from my house. I adore flowers of nearly any type, and I don't have too many in my flowerbeds just yet, so I am really enjoying seeing these cheery blooms in their vase. Now that I know what perennials are in place in the beds, I can actually dig around in there and plant other things. Being unfamiliar with the previous tenants' gardening habits, I didn't want to uproot something I was interested in keeping. I have daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, and lily leeks, all in a straight line, so there's plenty of room for other things. I have scads of the burgundy and yellow bearded iris that someone else had ripped out of their flowerbeds and left for me by our house, so some of those are going in the front beds. Others are destined for the backyard, and a few made it up along the fence that borders the highway.
I also discovered that the brambles growing along the forest-line on the back of the property are blackberries! I took a basket out there and picked some of the ripe ones. I'll have to get back out there every day or so this week to get more as they continue to ripen. I've got about 100 feet or so of forest edge, so after the squirrels and whatever else get their fill, there's still plenty for me. : ) I'm going to freeze them on a cookie sheet, then deposit them in a freezer bag for future use. I don't know if I'll use them as-is in muffins or something, or if I'll save up enough to make some jam.
And this is my new baby.
I get to bring home sometime mid-August, when he is old enough. He is a blue and white patch purebred Maine Coon. My parents used to have one, and Xerxes was a huge 26 pounds of snugglebunny, plus long hair that made him look even larger. These cats are known for being gentle giants, and for their playful personalities. I haven't had a cat since I left home to go to college, so this is going to be great! Also, given the recent mouse discovery, I think the timing is brilliant.
A nice day, indeed.
Yesterday was a great day! Not only was it Sunday, complete with nice worship service, gorgeous weather and unusually well-behaved children, but it was also my birthday.
As a special treat, we went out to eat so I didn't have to worry about cooking or doing dishes. We don't generally eat out very often, so this was a big deal for the kids. We went to Pizza Hut, which A and K absolutely loved; it's been a while since we had a made-to-order pizza. We live too far out of town for any sort of delivery, and the frozen pizzas you get at the grocery store just can't compare to a freshly made pie.
Among the day's activities:
We returned home after lunch to discover a 2-Liter of Dr. Pepper and a birthday card by the front door. Absolutely lovely! That is my absolute favorite soft drink (and my one true vice), which some dear friends knew of course. The pop was duly shared amongst the members of the H-- family throughout the rest of the day.
Another friend dropped by with a bundle of freshly picked flowers from a farm that lies 2 miles up the road from my house. I adore flowers of nearly any type, and I don't have too many in my flowerbeds just yet, so I am really enjoying seeing these cheery blooms in their vase. Now that I know what perennials are in place in the beds, I can actually dig around in there and plant other things. Being unfamiliar with the previous tenants' gardening habits, I didn't want to uproot something I was interested in keeping. I have daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, and lily leeks, all in a straight line, so there's plenty of room for other things. I have scads of the burgundy and yellow bearded iris that someone else had ripped out of their flowerbeds and left for me by our house, so some of those are going in the front beds. Others are destined for the backyard, and a few made it up along the fence that borders the highway.
I also discovered that the brambles growing along the forest-line on the back of the property are blackberries! I took a basket out there and picked some of the ripe ones. I'll have to get back out there every day or so this week to get more as they continue to ripen. I've got about 100 feet or so of forest edge, so after the squirrels and whatever else get their fill, there's still plenty for me. : ) I'm going to freeze them on a cookie sheet, then deposit them in a freezer bag for future use. I don't know if I'll use them as-is in muffins or something, or if I'll save up enough to make some jam.
And this is my new baby.
I get to bring home sometime mid-August, when he is old enough. He is a blue and white patch purebred Maine Coon. My parents used to have one, and Xerxes was a huge 26 pounds of snugglebunny, plus long hair that made him look even larger. These cats are known for being gentle giants, and for their playful personalities. I haven't had a cat since I left home to go to college, so this is going to be great! Also, given the recent mouse discovery, I think the timing is brilliant.
A nice day, indeed.
Friday, June 27, 2008
And Another New Thing
Remember a few posts back when I mentioned that I have to check out whatever my daughter is trying to show me, just in case it's something that needs to be dispatched?
About a half hour ago, she wanted to show me her "cute". This is her "cute" in the bathroom, under a glass bowl:
I did not freak out, no screaming or standing on chairs or anything like that (I reserve that maneuver for huge spiders that have enough hair to be spokesmodels for a shampoo company). I mean, it's a mouse. It has fur, adorable little ears, and was actually pretty cute (K was right on that one). But it most assuredly did not belong in my house, where it could wreak havoc in my pantry.
The mouse was remarkably calm, too. It was completely unfazed by K's curiosity, in that she kept getting down on eye-level with it to look at it. I first saw it in the hallway, and it very calmly ambled into our bathroom, where I put a glass bowl over it. It never did run away from us, it just kind of accepted us and unconcernedly moved on. Even under the glass, it didn't really freak out, although it did start shaking a little bit once it figured out it had some boundaries under the bowl. Then I had to figure out what in the heck I was going to do with it; I don't think that a mouse under glass would be the best decorative accessory for an ocean-themed bathroom.
After a few minutes of forcibly keeping my daughter from removing the glass bowl that was safely containing the fuzzy little vermin, I called my mother to see if she had any ideas on how to humanely and safely dispose of it without my having to actually dispatch the thing myself. I didn't want to just let it go, because I have a feeling it will be back, but I just am squeamish about dispatching anything other than bugs and spiders with a shoe, which is the weapon of choice around here. She suggested letting it loose in my neighbor's yard, where at least 5 adult cats and multiple kittens live.
Then I called my husband, not because he could do anything about it but because I figured he'd like to know that we apparently have a way for mice to get into the house. He wanted me to kill it, but I just couldn't. So then he suggested taking it to the back of the property and letting it go in the woods. That, I could handle.
So I took my daughter out of the bathroom, where she was still cooing over the mouse (and still trying to take the bowl off of it), shut the bathroom door, and threatened her butt with a spanking if she opened it again. I went upstairs to snag a cardboard frozen pizza insert that I'd earmarked for another project, went back down to the bathroom, slowly shoved it under the bowl (being careful not to damage the little toes or the tail), and walked outside to the backyard. I actually went behind our back fence and let him out at the edge of the woods.
He still wasn't frightened of me, after all that! I set the bowl and cardboard down, and removed the bowl. He just sat up and looked at me, and twitched his whiskers. Weird. I actually had to dump him off of the cardboard and shoo him into the woods, he started to follow me. Even weirder.
So, this is a first for me, at least in this house. I have lived in other older houses that had an occasional mouse, so it's no biggie. But I'd just commented the other day on how great it was that, even though we live out in the country, I had yet to see a mouse in our house. I guess that'll teach me!
About a half hour ago, she wanted to show me her "cute". This is her "cute" in the bathroom, under a glass bowl:
I did not freak out, no screaming or standing on chairs or anything like that (I reserve that maneuver for huge spiders that have enough hair to be spokesmodels for a shampoo company). I mean, it's a mouse. It has fur, adorable little ears, and was actually pretty cute (K was right on that one). But it most assuredly did not belong in my house, where it could wreak havoc in my pantry.
The mouse was remarkably calm, too. It was completely unfazed by K's curiosity, in that she kept getting down on eye-level with it to look at it. I first saw it in the hallway, and it very calmly ambled into our bathroom, where I put a glass bowl over it. It never did run away from us, it just kind of accepted us and unconcernedly moved on. Even under the glass, it didn't really freak out, although it did start shaking a little bit once it figured out it had some boundaries under the bowl. Then I had to figure out what in the heck I was going to do with it; I don't think that a mouse under glass would be the best decorative accessory for an ocean-themed bathroom.
After a few minutes of forcibly keeping my daughter from removing the glass bowl that was safely containing the fuzzy little vermin, I called my mother to see if she had any ideas on how to humanely and safely dispose of it without my having to actually dispatch the thing myself. I didn't want to just let it go, because I have a feeling it will be back, but I just am squeamish about dispatching anything other than bugs and spiders with a shoe, which is the weapon of choice around here. She suggested letting it loose in my neighbor's yard, where at least 5 adult cats and multiple kittens live.
Then I called my husband, not because he could do anything about it but because I figured he'd like to know that we apparently have a way for mice to get into the house. He wanted me to kill it, but I just couldn't. So then he suggested taking it to the back of the property and letting it go in the woods. That, I could handle.
So I took my daughter out of the bathroom, where she was still cooing over the mouse (and still trying to take the bowl off of it), shut the bathroom door, and threatened her butt with a spanking if she opened it again. I went upstairs to snag a cardboard frozen pizza insert that I'd earmarked for another project, went back down to the bathroom, slowly shoved it under the bowl (being careful not to damage the little toes or the tail), and walked outside to the backyard. I actually went behind our back fence and let him out at the edge of the woods.
He still wasn't frightened of me, after all that! I set the bowl and cardboard down, and removed the bowl. He just sat up and looked at me, and twitched his whiskers. Weird. I actually had to dump him off of the cardboard and shoo him into the woods, he started to follow me. Even weirder.
So, this is a first for me, at least in this house. I have lived in other older houses that had an occasional mouse, so it's no biggie. But I'd just commented the other day on how great it was that, even though we live out in the country, I had yet to see a mouse in our house. I guess that'll teach me!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
New Things
New Things that I have discovered this week:
1) Kayaking
I used to love going canoeing down various rivers when I was in high school and college, but haven't been on a river in 10 years. When a friend offered to let me go kayaking last evening, I took her up on it. I was a little apprehensive at first, mostly because I didn't know the river, I had never been in a kayak before, and my diabolical mind started replaying every film clip off of the National Geographic channel that involved kayakers being violently ejected from their boats in the middle of boiling rapids. That, and I'd always heard that it was extremely easy to tip those suckers over even in calm waters.
My fears were unfounded, I made the whole two-hour trip without falling in, even when climbing in or out of the kayak. The water was very low in the river, so the current wasn't bad. But, those pesky rocks had to be avoided or I was going in the drink, and I scraped the bottom a couple of times (and got stuck once or twice too). I had such a great time! I had forgotten just how much I love being on the water in a small craft ~ I do enjoy being on larger boats, but I especially love being in a canoe. And now, a kayak. The biting bugs were minimal, we saw 3 or 4 blue herons, a bald eagle, and too many ducks and geese to count. Oh, and a baby turtle sunning itself on a partially-submerged log.
I have found a new love. Now I just have to work a deal with Z to watch the kids for me so I can go again. I figure if he gets to go out and spend a whole day fishing, then my spending two or three hours kayaking shouldn't be too much of a big deal.
2) Crocs
I have never succumbed to the allure of the candy-colored plastic shoes sported by nearly every demographic in American culture. Mostly because they started out being outrageously over-priced for a molded plastic shoe, and I had other things to spend my money on. Like diapers, to keep my kids' butts upholstered. And food, so they could make their deposits in the aforementioned diapers. Even when we had the extra money, Crocs generally weren't on my radar. I have running shoes for running, and a pair of trashed ones for working in the garden. I didn't do anything water-related. Until yesterday. I had ransacked my closet looking for some shoes that would stay on my feet and were waterproof, but could come off if I needed them to if I fell out of the kayak, and possibly float. I found a pair of foam flip-flops that came the closest to filling those requirements, since I don't own any actual water shoes.
When I showed up to Mel's house, where the kayaks were, lo and behold she had gotten me a pair of Crocs for my birthday! She knew I didn't have any water shoes, and surprised me with these bright baby blue ones. I don't know what my previous hang-ups about the shoes were. Are they kind of ugly? Yes. But they are also kind of cheery with their nice, vibrant color, and they are insanely comfortable, which really surprised me. Do they make my feet look zaftig? Yes, they make each foot look like a huge baby blue marshmallow. That just means if I was unfortunate enough to be unintentionally separated from my kayak, the search and rescue team would be able to find my feet bobbing down the river, and know the rest of me was in the near vicinity.
Other benefits: I can chuck these suckers in the dishwasher to clean them. They also: a) stayed on my feet the duration of the kayak trek thanks to a handy strap that goes behind my heel; and b) had some surprisingly good traction, which came in handy when I had to scramble up an embankment at the terminal end of our journey. Especially because the two guys that were fishing didn't offer us any help, but stood there staring at us as we climbed out of our boats and hauled them up to the flat part, which was a good 6 or 7 feet up.
3) Anne Taintor
Anne Taintor is a collage artist with a wicked, subversive wit. Doesn't everyone need a little cynical humor in their life? I read through her book "I'm becoming my mother" and couldn't do anything but laugh at the irony of it all. Anne takes vintage advertisements and illustrations and removes any original copy (text) from the image, leaving her free to create her own commentary about what's really going on. Love her. Here's a couple of favorites:
4) Brushing
This is not for your hair or your teeth. This is a new (to us) technique for helping A to calm down and focus. We take what looks like the baby hairbrush you get from the hospital and firmly rub it up and down A's arms and legs, avoiding certain areas, and also on his back. It doesn't take long, maybe 10 strokes on each part. Then we do a few joint compressions on shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, hips, knees, and ankles, to give him the tactile input he needs, and (ta da!) he's remarkably calm for the next hour or so. To be the most effective, his OT said it needed to be done every 90 minutes or so that A is awake, every single day. I just kind of stared at her, and she laughed and said that unfortunately that isn't really possible with most people, so if we just do it when he wakes up, mid-morning sometime, at lunchtime, mid-afternoon, and then again at bedtime we should be good. A loves it! He'll take the brush and try to do it to himself sometimes. Since we just started with this technique, I have no idea how it will work out in the long run. For now, it seems to be doing something, though, so we're going to keep it up.
1) Kayaking
I used to love going canoeing down various rivers when I was in high school and college, but haven't been on a river in 10 years. When a friend offered to let me go kayaking last evening, I took her up on it. I was a little apprehensive at first, mostly because I didn't know the river, I had never been in a kayak before, and my diabolical mind started replaying every film clip off of the National Geographic channel that involved kayakers being violently ejected from their boats in the middle of boiling rapids. That, and I'd always heard that it was extremely easy to tip those suckers over even in calm waters.
My fears were unfounded, I made the whole two-hour trip without falling in, even when climbing in or out of the kayak. The water was very low in the river, so the current wasn't bad. But, those pesky rocks had to be avoided or I was going in the drink, and I scraped the bottom a couple of times (and got stuck once or twice too). I had such a great time! I had forgotten just how much I love being on the water in a small craft ~ I do enjoy being on larger boats, but I especially love being in a canoe. And now, a kayak. The biting bugs were minimal, we saw 3 or 4 blue herons, a bald eagle, and too many ducks and geese to count. Oh, and a baby turtle sunning itself on a partially-submerged log.
I have found a new love. Now I just have to work a deal with Z to watch the kids for me so I can go again. I figure if he gets to go out and spend a whole day fishing, then my spending two or three hours kayaking shouldn't be too much of a big deal.
2) Crocs
I have never succumbed to the allure of the candy-colored plastic shoes sported by nearly every demographic in American culture. Mostly because they started out being outrageously over-priced for a molded plastic shoe, and I had other things to spend my money on. Like diapers, to keep my kids' butts upholstered. And food, so they could make their deposits in the aforementioned diapers. Even when we had the extra money, Crocs generally weren't on my radar. I have running shoes for running, and a pair of trashed ones for working in the garden. I didn't do anything water-related. Until yesterday. I had ransacked my closet looking for some shoes that would stay on my feet and were waterproof, but could come off if I needed them to if I fell out of the kayak, and possibly float. I found a pair of foam flip-flops that came the closest to filling those requirements, since I don't own any actual water shoes.
When I showed up to Mel's house, where the kayaks were, lo and behold she had gotten me a pair of Crocs for my birthday! She knew I didn't have any water shoes, and surprised me with these bright baby blue ones. I don't know what my previous hang-ups about the shoes were. Are they kind of ugly? Yes. But they are also kind of cheery with their nice, vibrant color, and they are insanely comfortable, which really surprised me. Do they make my feet look zaftig? Yes, they make each foot look like a huge baby blue marshmallow. That just means if I was unfortunate enough to be unintentionally separated from my kayak, the search and rescue team would be able to find my feet bobbing down the river, and know the rest of me was in the near vicinity.
Other benefits: I can chuck these suckers in the dishwasher to clean them. They also: a) stayed on my feet the duration of the kayak trek thanks to a handy strap that goes behind my heel; and b) had some surprisingly good traction, which came in handy when I had to scramble up an embankment at the terminal end of our journey. Especially because the two guys that were fishing didn't offer us any help, but stood there staring at us as we climbed out of our boats and hauled them up to the flat part, which was a good 6 or 7 feet up.
3) Anne Taintor
Anne Taintor is a collage artist with a wicked, subversive wit. Doesn't everyone need a little cynical humor in their life? I read through her book "I'm becoming my mother" and couldn't do anything but laugh at the irony of it all. Anne takes vintage advertisements and illustrations and removes any original copy (text) from the image, leaving her free to create her own commentary about what's really going on. Love her. Here's a couple of favorites:
4) Brushing
This is not for your hair or your teeth. This is a new (to us) technique for helping A to calm down and focus. We take what looks like the baby hairbrush you get from the hospital and firmly rub it up and down A's arms and legs, avoiding certain areas, and also on his back. It doesn't take long, maybe 10 strokes on each part. Then we do a few joint compressions on shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, hips, knees, and ankles, to give him the tactile input he needs, and (ta da!) he's remarkably calm for the next hour or so. To be the most effective, his OT said it needed to be done every 90 minutes or so that A is awake, every single day. I just kind of stared at her, and she laughed and said that unfortunately that isn't really possible with most people, so if we just do it when he wakes up, mid-morning sometime, at lunchtime, mid-afternoon, and then again at bedtime we should be good. A loves it! He'll take the brush and try to do it to himself sometimes. Since we just started with this technique, I have no idea how it will work out in the long run. For now, it seems to be doing something, though, so we're going to keep it up.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Count Your Blessings, Name Them One By One
Today was a very interesting day.
First, A peed in the toilet at church during class!
I'll say that again, my 4 and a half year old son who still wears training pants actually urinated in the appropriate receptacle.
And there was great rejoicing in the land.
I realize this would ordinarily be a little bit of a strange thing to be bragging about, but after all we've been through with A this is most definitely progress. We are moving into complete sentence territory now, too ~ he routinely says, "I want [whatever it is] please." Even to his Sunday School teachers, so it's something he's comfortable with.
Of course, then he went and peed on the carpet in the classroom a little while later.
You win some, you lose some.
We had a rather lovely day today after all that, too. Our church had a baptism service down at the river, followed by a church picnic back up at our building. We haven't had a churchwide picnic in ages, so it was really nice to eat and visit outside in the gorgeous weather. Z had to work again today...so it was just me and the kiddos. Our friend Melody helped tremendously with her expert kid wrangling and plate balancing skills, otherwise things might have been just a bit more stressful than they were. Thanks Melody, I owe you one. Or is it seven thousand by now? : ) And their honorary Aunt Ruth and Uncle Mac kept them safely at the church and away from the river so I could actually enjoy the service. They are such a blessing to our family.
We have a lot of blessings, actually. I get so caught up in the busyness of everything that I fail to remember just how much there is to be thankful for. So here's a friendly reminder for you, too: have you thought about what you're thankful for lately?
First, A peed in the toilet at church during class!
I'll say that again, my 4 and a half year old son who still wears training pants actually urinated in the appropriate receptacle.
And there was great rejoicing in the land.
I realize this would ordinarily be a little bit of a strange thing to be bragging about, but after all we've been through with A this is most definitely progress. We are moving into complete sentence territory now, too ~ he routinely says, "I want [whatever it is] please." Even to his Sunday School teachers, so it's something he's comfortable with.
Of course, then he went and peed on the carpet in the classroom a little while later.
You win some, you lose some.
We had a rather lovely day today after all that, too. Our church had a baptism service down at the river, followed by a church picnic back up at our building. We haven't had a churchwide picnic in ages, so it was really nice to eat and visit outside in the gorgeous weather. Z had to work again today...so it was just me and the kiddos. Our friend Melody helped tremendously with her expert kid wrangling and plate balancing skills, otherwise things might have been just a bit more stressful than they were. Thanks Melody, I owe you one. Or is it seven thousand by now? : ) And their honorary Aunt Ruth and Uncle Mac kept them safely at the church and away from the river so I could actually enjoy the service. They are such a blessing to our family.
We have a lot of blessings, actually. I get so caught up in the busyness of everything that I fail to remember just how much there is to be thankful for. So here's a friendly reminder for you, too: have you thought about what you're thankful for lately?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
