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Last Friday we discovered, to our amazement, that Joseph had a biome--due Monday! Help. That was the same day Teddy’s science project, his miniature shop, was due, and there was still quite a lot to do on it. But, with Larry helping Teddy, and Hannah and me helping Joseph, we managed to get it all done.
Hannah cut pictures from magazines; Joseph cut down sides of a box, painted the outside, and put a layer of sand and gravel in the bottom; and I cut a couple of leaves off of my yucca plant, a spray from the bayberry bush, and pulled up a handful of mint leaves. I cut the long leaves of yucca into tiny pointed leaves, then hot-glued them into the bottom of the box. They turned out looking remarkably like little yucca plants, terribly cute, if you ask me. (You did ask me, didn’t you?) The biome is of the chaparral regions of the world. Here are a couple of excerpts from Joseph’s report:
“Of course, all that desert and scrub attracts another set of species one mustn’t ignore--reptiles. There is the leopard snake, arrow snake, Montpellier snake, western rattlesnake, red diamond rattlesnake, speckled rattlesnake, and small lizards. So please wear boots!
“Following is a short list of chaparral flora, which is quite varied by region: scrub oak (which may yield as much as ten tons of acorns in a single year!--the better to reproduce in the extreme climate and poor soil), manzanita tree (which has beautiful magnolia-like blooms in the springtime), Scotch broom (with yellow flowers), cork oak, chamiso-redshank shrub, wild olive tree, white shadbush, yellow gorse (into which Winnie-the-Pooh fell)...
“The chaparral is dull-colored for much of the year. But when conditions are right, it comes alive and turns into a wonderland of flowers, with brilliant blooms and blossoms of all sorts of shapes and sizes in myriad colors of pink, apricot, silver, yellow, red, blue, and green. On Table Mountain in South Africa, a small, beautiful blue orchid grows; and it grows nowhere else in the world. Nearby grows another orchid--the red disa, or ‘the flower of the gods’. Each 1 ½-foot plant carries five or more blossoms, each of which are about ten inches in diameter! Imagine the corsage that would’ve made your mother for Mother’s Day!”
Teddy was the star of the show when he took his miniature shop to school today. He’d put several of his model cars and pickups inside, and had made a little work bench, over which he hung several cute, tiny wrenches with red handles, which we found at Craft Village. In the ‘office’, he put the little desks with sliding drawers which he’d made a couple of years ago. Half of the roof is hinged, and there are two walk-in doors. Larry helped him rig up the overhead doors with long screws which are fastened with a bolt. Teddy can use Larry’s cordless drill with a socket to raise the door, or he can do it by hand with his own socket set, although that way is quite slow. Teddy had painted the shop gray, but I thought it looked too drab; so last night while I was typing Joseph’s report, Larry painted the doors and gutters light blue and put wood trim around the front walk-in door. I wood-burned a sign for Teddy, ‘Columbus Auto Sales’, with an old-fashioned pickup in one corner and an old-fashioned car in the other. He hung it at the corner with a piece from his erector set and a chain from an old necklace of mine.
One day, Teddy found a pile of railroad spikes near Larry’s shop. After cleaning them up, he painted them; and then he glued a little red metal train on top. It’s pretty cute; he gave one to his friend for a birthday present. He really wanted pewter, but that’s too expensive.
Monday while we were visiting some friends, their neighbor’s dog, a young--but large--black lab, came racing across the street to investigate our friends’ dog, which happens to be Aleutia’s own pup. Losing interest in the Husky, the lab suddenly spied Caleb, and headed straight for him. Caleb has never been afraid of dogs, but this dog startled him, whereupon he hurriedly backed up. And then the horrible mutt jumped right up on him, knocking him backward into a barbed wire fence and post, and putting a paw right on his face!
We all ran and rescued him before much harm was done, other than a few minor scratches that faded out quickly, but that’s still upsetting when something like that happens. Dogs like that ought to be stopped dead in their tracks! Our friends shut the dog up in their own pen. I told Caleb he should’ve bit that dog right on the nose--after all, his big black nose was right there handy, in Caleb’s face! Caleb giggled. He still likes dogs; but I bet he’ll be somewhat more cautious in the future.
The adapter to make the Cummins engine fit into the Ford pickup still hadn’t come by Monday, so Larry drew a diagram for it on a piece of paper, took it to a place called Fleischer Manufacturing, where they cut one out of a piece of metal. And that saved $600! He’s got the new engine in now, and just Saturday he got it running. This evening we are going to Burwell again for a few more parts and pieces for it.
Charbonneau’s Suburban is done. Finally. Thank goodness! And it works. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to pay us yet; because, although the woman’s father is a multimillionaire, and they live in a big beautiful house on a big estate, the lady’s inheritance is set up in a trust fund which only gives her a certain allowance each month. That was a wise move on her father’s part, because she spends every dime she gets on horses, horse shows, horse trailers, Appaloosa Great Danes, kennels, food and vet bills ..... you get the picture. They’ve periodically had their electricity, phone, or water turned off, and just last week they had their cellular phone service stopped. The man promised to pay us--someday. And maybe he will; he seems to be an honest man, and he works faithfully at his job and tries to keep up his end of the bargain. (It’s a second marriage for them both, and he seems to be more of an errand boy than anything else, in my opinion.) But we needed that money now. Oh, well; on to the next job! (Maybe the Nebraska Railroad Co. will pay us tomorrow for a vehicle of theirs which Larry painted, and then we’ll be in fine shape again.)
Last Monday I did the bookwork, and this Monday I sorted and paid bills. Quite time-consuming, it is. I took along the pile of bills, and wrote out checks as we were driving. I was still going at it on the way home, but I had to put everything away and take over the steering wheel before we were halfway home, because Larry was busy checking out his eyelids for holes, and, at the same time, checking out the left lane for potholes, which has a tendency of making his wife hyper.
Joseph’s shirt is now done, and Larry’s is half-done. The back to Hester’s dress is still hiding who-knows-where.
Lydia’s class took a field trip to Craft Village and the public library. At the craft shop they made cute little lace and pink-cottonball flowers in tiny flower pots; Lydia gave hers to me for Mother’s Day.
Tuesday, several flowers arrived from Michigan Bulb Co., so I had much planting to do. And I dug dandelions. I just spotted the perfect sweatshirt in one of my magazines, and I think I need it real bad: on the front is a big picture of a dandelion, and above it are the words “I fought the lawn” while below it, it says “and the lawn won.”
I’ve been taking Caleb and Victoria for walks nearly every day; it’s been nice out almost all week. Sometimes I put them in the twin stroller, where Caleb has to sit in front, because he just doesn’t fit in the back. That makes it front-end heavy, and I have the devil’s own time trying to get it up curbs and such like. I’m not very tough any more, I guess! I used to put three little kids in our farm wagon, one in a stroller, and pulling one and pushing the other, off we’d go in fine form. Every now and then, Hannah comes with us, so she pulls Caleb in the wagon while I push Victoria in the nice stroller Hannah got at a garage sale last fall, which is much easier. But often Hannah can’t go very far before she’s completely out of breath. That makes me feel bad; I wish my dear daughter, who’s one of my best friends, was hale and hearty.
One afternoon I was standing outside, talking with our neighbor lady, while Aleutia lounged in the lawn behind me. Along came my sister’s cat, sauntering down the drive just on the other side of the irises, so she didn’t see our cannibalistic beast. Aleutia flipped her head around, spotted the cat, and her ears flew straight up. She quickly glanced my way; her ears went flat. So back and forth she twisted her head, alternately popping up or dodging, while her ears did calisthenics.
I pointed my finger straight at her nose and ordered in no uncertain terms, “You just sit still and don’t even look at that cat!!”
Aleutia ducked and immediately turned her head far the other way. The neighbor lady was duly impressed.
The next day, I was outside again, talking with my sister. Aleutia was sitting by the back gate, looking our way. Behind her on our woodpile, a baby squirrel scampered undetected. Suddenly, from a sugar maple tree beside us, the mother squirrel noticed her baby. With a short chattering bark, she rushed down the walk straight toward our gate----and toward that dog of ours! Aleutia’s ears rose. She slowly lowered her head, and those light blue eyes of hers looked intently at the squirrel scurrying her way.
And then I, from the front walk, fearing for the squirrel’s life, bellowed in a most unladylike tone, “ALEUTIA, YOU STAY RIGHT THERE AND YOU LEAVE THAT SQUIRREL ALONE!!”
And you know what? She turned her head the other way, and she stayed put. Mrs. Squirrel sailed past, exactly right under that dog’s nose. My sister was duly impressed.
The fact is, even I was duly impressed!! Whew.
Friday evening Bobby and Hannah invited Dorcas, along with Bobby’s little brother and sister, James and Esther, to Lake Babcock with them, where dozens of white pelicans were bobbing about on the water.
Saturday I went to Wal-Mart, where I got some miniature lavender and purple petunias. Each blossom is shaped a bit like a trumpet, only flatter. I planted these in a couple of pretty coffee mugs on the sides of which were heart-shaped wreathes of flowers, and in the middle of the wreathes it said, “I love you, mother.” These were for Norma and my mother. We also gave my mother a white crepe jacket with tiny pearls and embroidery on the front, and we gave Norma a leather wallet.
Sunday, Larry made his usual yummy pancakes. I was busy setting the table, helping Victoria into her highchair, and so forth, when he told me to sit down and eat. I looked up, surprised; he knows I always wait until the children all have theirs!
And there on my plate was a hot, steaming, golden pancake shaped to read 'MAMA.'
The children gave me a Mr. Coffee iced tea maker, which we promptly put to good use. On Friday, Lydia brought a present home from school, all excited over it, and wanting me to open it right then and there, of course. She was so pleased over her gift, her feet were doing a tap dance while I was opening it up. It was wrapped in pretty flowered paper, and had bright pink netting and gold ribbon tied around it, and inside was a cup, one of those sorts that comes in two parts, and she’d colored the paper insert for it, a picture of hummingbirds. In the cup were a tea bag and a packet of hot chocolate, which I poured into my next cup of coffee to make ‘mocha’. Lydia stood smiling happily while I took the first sip.
“Yummmmmm!!!,” I told her, smacking my lips, and she giggled and skipped off, well satisfied.
Hester made me a miniature flower pot with little silk flowers. Hannah picked out an orchid corsage, which was from all the children. Saturday night Teddy gave me a dozen burgundy snapdragons, which I promptly planted. Dorcas crocheted a lovely bookmark of fine ecru thread, and Hannah made a white doily with a three-dimensional flower in the middle.
After church Sunday morning, there was a mother mallard with a whole line of little mallard ducklings following her across the street right in front of the church. I took several pictures. A neighbor lady called her brother, who lives at Stires Lake, to come get the ducks and take them to safety; but before he could get here, somebody called the game warden, who wouldn’t let anybody take the ducks anywhere. Stupid people with their “let nature take its course” attitude! Didn’t they ever know that for a hen and ducklings to be in a residential area with sundry hungry dogs and cats, and multifarious others that think they are, isn’t ‘natural’ at all??! Good grief. And if the dogs and cats don’t cause their demise, be assured, the bratty neighbor kids will.
Sunday afternoon we went for a drive near the Platte River to the west. Out in a field, we saw an Upland Sandpiper, which is the first time we’ve ever seen one. They are about 12” tall, have a long, skinny neck, and rather large, dark eyes, in comparison to their small head. The fields were teeming with birds: bobwhite quail, western meadowlarks, eastern kingbirds, all kinds of sparrows, mourning doves, and hawks. Young calves were cavorting about, too.
Sunday night after church, Lawrence and Norma came visiting. We’d intended to give Norma her Mother’s Day gift in the morning after church, but while I was rushing about the neighborhood taking pictures of ducks, ducklings, great-nephews, great-nieces, and such-like, they left. So after the evening service, I found Norma and said, “What’s the big idea of not coming to get your present yet today?!” (She hadn’t been asked, of course.)
She tipped her head, raised her eyebrows, and looked at me. “Well!” said she sassily, “Is it worth it?!”
So with that friendly exchange, we crossed the street to our house.
Norma told us about a time when Lyle was working with Larry, perhaps ten years ago or so. Norma went to the shop to take the men some lunch. Lyle decided he needed to go to the bank, so he climbed into the passenger side of the car, a bottle of pop in hand. Norma began backing up.
Just as Lyle started getting a drink, ka-WHUMP!! Norma backed right into a short post on the other side of the drive. And there sat Lyle, with more pop on him than in him, looking amazed, because he thought she slammed on the brakes on purpose, just to make him spill his pop.
Norma got so tickled when she was telling us this story, that we all wound up laughing till we cried. That reminded me of the time my mother and father were traveling somewhere out west, when they hit a deer.
It just so happened that my mother was pouring my father a glass of grapefruit juice just exactly when that deer jumped out in front of them. Daddy yelled, slammed on the brakes, and swerved. The nearly-full glass of juice slipped out of my mother’s hand and flew toward my father, emptying its contents all over the front of him. They then made abrupt contact with the deer, which caused my mother to lose her grip on the entire jug of juice. It rocketed skyward, hit the ceiling, and commenced to showering juice all over everywhere. To hear my father tell it, you’d think my mother threw the juice at him on purpose. (He really knew better, of course.)
My mother, adding her side of the story, was laughing so hard she could hardly talk. “I guess he thought I was mad at him for hitting the deer, so I went to throwing juice!”
And Daddy replied, “Well, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but it like to never quit raining!”
Tuesday, May 12, 1998
Last night when we left for Burwell, tornado and severe thunderstorm and large hail warnings abounded. My mother wanted me to ask Larry why he invariably thinks he needs to go somewhere in such weather. ha
As it turned out, the skies over Burwell were clear; the storms were all to the east. Columbus received strong winds and a short, hard rain; but that was all. Tornadoes were touching down in several places, and Central City had baseball-sized hail. Other areas had golfball-sized hail.
Only Joseph, Caleb, and Victoria went with us; the others stayed home. We didn’t leave until about 7:30 p.m., and we didn’t get back home again until midnight; so the other children wanted to stay home to do their homework, take showers, etc. Joseph and Caleb were sawing logs in two of the back seats nearly all the way home.
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