Monday, February 23, 1998 - The Cranes are Back

Tens of thousands of Sandhill cranes are back, and a whooping crane, probably a juvenile, is among them. Snow geese hunters’ warnings abound, although to mistake a whooping crane for a snow goose is such a miscalculation, I wonder if a person that does so really ought to be allowed a gun in the first place. After all!--a whooping crane is nearly 4 ½ feet tall, while a snow goose isn’t even 2 ½ feet. There are only 182 whooping cranes in the wild in the whole world.

Did you know that if you are caught disturbing a whooping crane, you can get yourself a $100,000 fine and nine years in jail? They ought to impose sentences like that on people who are nasty to other people. And how do they decide whether or not you disturbed one? I mean!--what if you sneezed??!--and one squawked and took off like a turbo-charged whirlybird? Right while the game warden was looking?! There you’d be, then, slammed into the brig, all on account of a kazunteit! (How do you spell that, anyway?) Gesundheit?

Hmmm…Microsoft Word says that’s wrong, too.

Monday I worked all day on my brother’s and his wife’s 30th anniversary plaque, after which I finished Norma’s for Teddy (the one that says ‘G R A N D M A’). The next day Larry brushed them with first a natural stain, then sprayed them with a shiny acrylic. They turned out quite beautiful. Now I’m going to glue some little mushroom birds and butterflies and some feather butterflies on Norma’s. My brother and sister-in-law’s has already been given to them.

Aren’t babies cute when they first learn to stand up, on chubby little legs that are only about a foot long? That's a description of Victoria.

She likes to brush her hair, after which she always wants somebody to lift her up to the mirror. Now she tries to put on her socks and shoes.

One day Dorcas decided to make banana bread with two rather mature bananas--just the amount needed to one loaf. But she’s so used to doubling everything, she accidentally doubled the flour (but nothing else).

“This stuff is too stiff!” she complained, trying valiantly to stir it.

I peered in the bowl. “You doubled the flour.”

“Oh,” said she.

So she had to double everything else, using the only two bright yellow bananas, which I’d been drooling over. This blending blunder did not bring about a Better-Blended Batter. Therefore, the bread wound up with small chunks of this and that throughout; not, however, detracting from its flavor.

Victoria was sick last week; Wednesday night her temperature went up to 103°. Her ears and head hurt. The poor baby would try to play; then her face would crumple up and she’d put a little hand up to the side of her head and say sadly, “Head!” So I’d scoop her up and cuddle her, which, other than baby Tylenol, seemed to be the best medicine. She’s such a jolly little thing; it makes me feel so sorry for her. She rarely cries, and practically never fusses. Today she is back to her old self, and aren’t we glad.

Hannah, Hester, and Joseph all had the same virus, with earaches, sore throats, fevers, and splitting headaches. Joseph thought he had a migraine, took an Imitrex, and discovered it didn’t help in the slightest. Hester and Joseph are quite a bit better; Hannah’s worst day was Sunday. She was either in bed or the recliner most of the day. She’s been crocheting a soft, delicate, light blue sweater for Esther Wright, Bobby’s ten-year-old sister, for Easter. The sleeves are tightly gathered into shoulder and cuff, the neck and cuff have lacy ruffles, and the front will have several different shades of pink and ivory flowers, crocheted from fine thread, and scattered in clusters.

The little girls have been winning prizes at school right and left, and making sure to choose items they can give as gifts to their siblings whose birthdays are this month. Lydia, for winning the Addition Bee, won a large stuffed bunny with a cute set of clothes, which she’s giving to Victoria. Hester won a bottle of Gardenia bubble bath, which she is saving for Hannah. Lydia won a giant, green, rubber praying mantis. She put it inside Joseph’s Tonka horse trailer, making him yelp when he opened the rear doors, which, in turn, made Lydia dissolve into giggles.

Dorcas needed some help with a large drawing of the outer, middle, and inner ear she was making for her biology class. Upon its completion, we decided, just for the fun of it, to add an eye in the proper location, with a big tear dripping down, color the ear red, and make a few stars shooting out from it--poor bloke had an earache. The teacher thought it was quite funny.

Lydia’s mint green satin and ivory lace dress is all done, and it’s one of the fanciest dresses I’ve ever sewn. Now I’m making a turquoise taffeta jacket with black striped satin trim.

Friday evening Lawrence and Norma came with cookies, ice cream, and Keith’s present--a large replica of the Santa Maria. Joseph gave him the lighthouse picture, and Larry and I gave him an iridescent foil picture of deer and mountains, and two paper replicas of currency used during the Civil War. The rest of his presents, he had to wait for until Sunday--his birthday. My mother gave him--guess what. A large replica of the Mayflower. And a K-bar pocket knife which used to be my father’s. Keith is quite sentimental about things that used to be my father’s; he dearly loved his Grandpa. Larry and I gave him a bench sander and a shirt.

Lawrence and Norma gave Victoria two adorable dresses, which she wore to church Sunday. She takes note of new dresses, and is immensely pleased when one is brightly colored, such as the one she wore last night--red and green plaid, with a white peter pan collar trimmed with red piping and green pleated ribbon.

Now it is long past bedtime, and I’d better skedaddle, or I’ll fall asleep tomorrow while I’m sewing, tip over, and sew my nose.