Monday was Hannah’s 19th birthday. Among other things, Bobby brought her some cashews. Caleb, looking hungrily at the canister, asked, “Could I have some cashiers, please?”
Hannah informed him that one does not eat cashiers.
Bobby also gave Hannah an entire bedroom set--quilt, bed ruffles, sheets, canopy and canopy drapes (to go on their new canopy bed), curtains and valances, and so forth. We gave her a big resin figurine of two teddy bears, all dressed up in fancy hats and clothes, and some money. Lawrence and Norma brought us two peach pies and an apple pie, and pecan caramel quake ice cream. Keith and Esther came, too.
Early Tuesday morning, Hannah awoke me to tell me Kitty was having troubles and needed help. I donned my nurse’s cap and leaped out of bed. Another kitten was on the way… but it was not alive. I gave an effort to helping Kitty, gave up, and did what I do best--I called for Larry. He rose groggily, looking around for his robe. Just knowing he was coming seemed to give me impetus of some sort; for by the time he got there, the job was done. Although I probably hurt poor Kitty, she merely licked my hand. Animals always seem to understand when you are trying to help them, don’t they?
But remind me not to become a veterinarian when I grow up, would you, please?
Tuesday, Teddy and Hester went to the library and borrowed some videos. Some time later, Hannah was telling Larry the names of the videos: “Bears…” (nobody said anything) “storms…” (still nothing) “and tornadoes.”
At that, Caleb yelped, “Oh, goody!!!”
The video about ‘storms’ turned out to be--a documentary about Desert Storm. ha
I’ve been doing bookwork for the last three days, and I finally got it done; last year’s records are ready to be taken to our accountant. If he does things the same way he usually does, he will launch right into it, give us periodical updates about twice a week for a couple of weeks, and then--nothing. Nothing more, until we call him the week of April 15th. And then, miraculously, he will get them done, with plenty of time for us to sign the papers, write out a check, affix a stamp, and make it to the post office--so long as we run every red light between here and there and, upon our arrival at the post office, leap out of our car before it is fully stopped and run like madmen for the drop slot.
Tuesday, Kitty got more lethargic... and more lethargic... all afternoon, until finally, Tuesday evening, she'd climb out of the kittens’ box, flop down on the floor, and lay on her side breathing so shallowly that I would dash over to her to make certain she was still breathing. Larry and Teddy took Kit and Caboodle to the vet--an emergency call. The veterinarian decided she was okay, other than a serious depletion of calcium. He gave her some liquid calcium, there in the office, and sent some home with us. Kitty seemed to perk up, until she was acting quite normal, purring and rubbing on us, peering into the box at her kittens, then looking round at us and saying, "Mrrrooowww!"--which is to say, "Aren't they just the cutest things you ever did see??!
We had just begun to relax when she got ever so sick. The calcium did not stay down. She was sick most of the night. But by morning, she seemed to improve, and I did not give her more calcium.
At 1:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, I wrote the following in my journal: “Kitty is better, I think. She has fed her kittens twice this morning, and right now she is stretched out next to the box, dozing--but her head is up, which is a good sign. The kittens seem contented. Last night, Kitty kept looking for dark corners to sneak into--which is what cats like to do when they are on their last leg. I knew she hadn't fed those kittens for some time, and I finally decided, well, if she's going to die, I might as well see to it that the kittens get one last meal! So I picked up Kitty and put her into her box. She then seemed to have a spurt of energy, and decided she wanted out of the box. But I kept her in there, petting her, and talking to her... and the kittens awoke and had Thanksgiving dinner.
“She is feeding them on her own now, and they are all snuggled together in a little lump, so I think things are going to be okay. I have not yet given Kitty any calcium; I will give her a little, later on. But I sure don't want her as sick as she was last night, again!”
But within an hour of my writing that, Kitty got more and more lifeless, until finally she would hardly open her eyes or lift her head. I tried giving her some calcium; she spit it back out, and it was very hot. So I knew she had a fever. Teddy and Hannah took her to the vet again. Sure enough, she had a high temperature; the vet said she must have an infection, caused by the stillborn kitten. The doctor gave Kitty a shot, and we took her back the next day for another shot. She didn’t eat or drink most of the day.
She finally drank some water Wednesday evening, and then Teddy made some Enfamil--powdered baby milk--and gave it to her--well, force-fed her, actually--with a syringe. It wasn’t long before she was acting like she felt better--and she was definitely stronger. I changed the blanket in the kittens' box, and when Kitty, who was lying in the kitchen, heard her kittens mewling, she actually ran to see what I was doing to her chil-dren. The kittens were still getting plenty to eat; they looked like little butterballs, and seemed strong, hale, and hearty. We thought maybe she'd be all right after all... we kept hoping, and hoping, and hoping... We do get ever so fond of our pets at this house!!
By Thursday, Kitty was much better. She actually jumped up on the kitchen counter that morning!
Construction workers are redoing the office at the church. My brother-in-law, John Walker, took a piece of extremely charred wood over to show Mama--it had been in the wall beside a heater, and it was a wonder the place hadn’t burnt down.
Dorcas is still searching for a job. She gets babysitting jobs fairly often; Wednesday she babysat for a little Walker cousin while her mother went to the doctor with the other children. Dorcas loves to babysit so well, she has decided to try applying at some of the daycare centers around town. She’ll give that a try tomorrow. Part of the problem is that she is only 17, and some jobs require the person to be 18 or older.
During the night, very early Wednesday morning, the police called, wanting talk to Larry. They had found a pickup on the nearby railroad tracks and called the owner, who had told them that it had been at our shop, being serviced. Somebody had taken it down to the tracks, where they got it stranded on the first set of tracks. They must not have known how to put it into four-wheel-drive, for they no doubt intended to take it to the main line, some ten feet further south. The Union Pacific engineer radioed his office, which radioed our police department, who went to the scene in time to see a Blazer or Bronco leaving. They followed them down to the Loup River, where they cut under a trestle where the police car couldn't go, traveling along the steep edge of the river until they were able to go up and over the dike near Wagner Lakes. So the police lost them.
Anyway, nothing else seems to have been disturbed at the shop, and the pickup is all right, thankfully. Last week somebody got into our big 5th-wheel camper trailer and removed all the lights! Every last one! And then they put all the light covers back on; wasn't that nice of them?
My brother Loren has a new motorhome, and Larry has spent a few hours this week installing this and that added convenience to it. It’s quite a motor home… it’s on the same order as one of those gigantic tour buses that haul around members of the music community, and there is no lack of accommodations inside.
Guess what, guess what??!! The new church organ just arrived!--the real, honest-to-goodness new organ, not just the loaned organ they let us use until the new one arrived. The new one was supposed to come shortly after Christmas, but ... the company out in California, which only had two of them, sold it! Ours! Our organ, that we had already paid for!
So we had to wait while loggers went to Lebanon and cut down more trees, floated them down the river to the Mediterranean, and took them to a lumber mill in Peru. Then, after they were transformed into logs, they flew them to an organ factory in Rome, where the organ was manufactured. After trekking it across the Sahara twice via Camelback Freight, it was loaded on an Airbus in London, and then flown to Ninilchik, Alaska, where it was rolled to the dock on ice block dollies and loaded on a ferry which took it to Seattle, Washington. From there, it was brought to Columbus on a lime green LeCar, which will now have to have its shocks replaced at Freeway Muffler over on the Boulevard. But, anyway, WE HAVE OUR ORGAN!
And wouldn’t you know, I am staying home from church today with Hester, who managed to catch the pinkeye that has been running rampant at our school the last couple of weeks. So I didn’t get to hear it.
One time I went to Yellowstone with my parents, and my brother and sister-in-law, Loren and Janice. I was ten. We (Loren and Janice and I) were hiking up a mountain trail near Old Faithful. About halfway up, we spotted a cow (moose) just off the trail and down about ten feet, beside a large boulder. Janice had her movie camera along, so she started filming it. But it was grazing, not moving much, so she handed me the blanket she was bringing along for us to sit on and have a picnic at the top, telling me to flap it--perhaps the cow would move.
I flapped. It didn't budge. I decided I would make that moose move, one way or another... So I jumped down onto the boulder beneath the path, yelling, "Hey!"
The moose grazed on. I jumped off the boulder--not realizing how large the boulder was, nor how far down the ground was, nor how big the moose would look from a vantage point directly in front of her. The moose, from a distance of not more than six feet away, lifted her head and looked at me.
And then Janice had a lively picture of her young sister-in-law clambering frantically back up the side of the boulder and onto the trail above... and they still laugh... and laugh... and laugh…
Larry's family, when they lived in Trinidad, Colorado, used to live by a family who had a magpie--and a cat. The cat was named Cindy. Now, this magpie had been taught to talk. And the magpie seemed to take great pleasure in mimicking the lady of the house: "Cindy! Cindy!"
The cat would come running--and then spot the magpie, and know it had once again been hoodwinked... it would switch its tail, and stalk off in high dudgeon.
Victoria just trotted into the room and asked, "Can I have some bread?"
"Yes," I answered, turning to smile at her.
She held up the slice of bread of which she'd already eaten a third. "Some of this bread?" she queried further, taking another bite. haha
Caleb was delighted to be invited to his cousin Jason’s birthday party Friday. He went skipping down the sidewalk to Jason’s house, carrying a brightly colored bag, inside of which were colored pencils, an art notebook, colors, and paint.
“We’re gonna play cops and robbers!” his voice drifted back to us, as he rounded the corner of 42nd Avenue and headed down 17th Street.
We have had beautiful weather the last few days. One afternoon Hannah, Victoria, and I were going for a walk, when down the street came Larry in his Isuzu Trooper. He drove alongside us for a while, and then he took his camera out and snapped our picture.
One evening, as I was working away on the ledger, and the children were watching a video, I heard Caleb say quietly, “I can’t see.” And then, “I can’t see,” he remarked. “I can’t see,” said he. “I can’t see,” he muttered. “I can’t see,” he announced. “I can’t see,” he proclaimed. “I can’t see!” he exclaimed.
I went to see why.
There sat Joseph in the wooden rocker, smack-dab in front of the screen, calmly rocking and watching the video, his nose about ten inches from the screen. I laughed; I couldn’t help it, it looked so funny.
“Caleb,” I said, “How in the world could you keep from thinking that is funny? Have you no sense of humor? He looks hilarious!”
Caleb obligingly giggled.
“Move, Joseph,” I said.
Joseph obligingly moved.
Almost every night, we hear Canada geese flying over. The songbirds are back, and the juncos have departed for their northern nesting grounds.
The birds have been singing like everything--robins, purple finches, starlings (singing? well, squawking), cardinals (“You could hear them, clear over at the Catholic Church?” asked Larry), and English sparrows. The crocus are blooming, the daffodils are coming up, the mums have put out little green leaves… Yes, springtime is coming!
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