Monday was our 23rd anniversary, can you believe it?
Dorcas gave us a little ‘stone’ electric water fountain with a big glass marble on top that spins when the water is flowing, and also a gift certificate to Wal-Mart.
Keith called to wish us Happy Anniversary. He and Esther have been busy fixing up their house, and now landscaping, getting it just exactly the way they like it--and now they have decided to keep it. They took it off the market and were able to refinance at 6% interest.
Teddy bought pizza for us that night.
A 21-year-old man had an accident with a four-wheeler on the Loup River last Saturday afternoon. The four-wheeler flipped and landed on his head. He broke a bunch of bones, including his skull--in four places. He was transported by LifeFlight to Omaha, where he is in critical condition.
Larry traded his unicycle to the twins for two non- running motorcycles. Dirt bikes. Whatever they are. Just what we need--more killer junk.
Anybody wanna buy some fire insurance with me? [heh heh heh (evil chortling)]
Hannah came visiting with Aaron and showed us the video they took at the zoo. Aaron was in a back carrier behind Bobby for a while. Bobby thought Aaron could see the animal displays okay, but he really couldn’t, because Bobby wasn’t turning sideways, and Aaron wasn’t tall enough to see over Bobby’s head.
“See the bear?” said Bobby to his small son.
Aaron looked to one side, then the other...there was nothing to see. (Hannah was videotaping all this.) Then Aaron gave a resigned sigh, reached out and folded Bobby’s ear down, and said, “Tickle tickle tickle!”
Larry had a lump on his wrist, thought it was a pimple, squeezed it. (Why he thought a pimple would suddenly materialize on his wrist, I cannot say.) With that, it swelled up huge, and looked quite formidable. It got so bad, so suddenly, that I got downright disturbed.
“That’s no pimple; that’s a bug bite!” I informed him knowledgeably. “You need an antihistamine.” I started rummaging through the medicine cupboard.
I called the hospital to find out if Sudafed was a good enough antihistamine; then, still on the phone, and still pawing through the cupboard, I found Zyrtec, which the nurse said was much better--then she suddenly realized I’d said it had been prescribed to Lydia.
“Oh! Wait a minute!” she said hastily, “People are not to take other people’s prescriptions!” (I already knew that.) “You must call your family doctor.”
“Mmmm-hmmm,” I said, “You’ve been very helpful, thank you, don’t worry, I won’t tell on you.”
She laughed and wished me well.
So Larry took Zyrtec and put Caladryl on the lump, and it got better. I think it’s a bug bite--but what kind of a bug?! Something lethal, by the looks of it.
Tuesday, Lydia and Caleb went to the dentist. I was glad to learn that what I thought was an abscess in Caleb’s mouth was only a canker sore. Lydia had two cavities filled on one side of her mouth; she will have one on the other side filled in September, which was the soonest we could get an appointment. Good grief. Aren’t there enough dentists in this state, or what?!
Lydia’s mouth hurt the rest of the night and part of the next day, and where it didn’t hurt, it was numb and tingly.
When we got home, we saw a couple of the little Mexican girls in our back yard, buckets in hand, purple of mouth. Joseph had been working in the yard, and he’d told them they could help themselves to our overabundance of mulberries. Just two small girls had gathered themselves almost a gallon of mulberries and then, sharing them with another of their sisters, they’d managed to eat almost all of them. Joseph said he saw them sitting on their front porch, all three of them eating with both hands, one mulberry after another. haha They’d come back to show Joseph how much they’d eaten.
The children picked mulberries while I fixed supper and pitted cherries; then I made mulberry/bing cherry pie using my favorite pear streusel recipe and adding lots of lemon juice for flavoring. Unfortunately, it got done too late for anybody to have some--well, that is, Larry and I had some in the middle of the night after everyone had gone to bed. Is that cheating?
After supper, we went to Pawnee Park, walked up and over the dike and down the Loup River a ways. Baby toads and frogs were everywhere. Even the little ones are loud. They squeak when we startle them, just before they jump into the water. I didn’t know they did that; did you?
Columbus is famous again; have you heard about it? We’ve sent out meat from ConAgra with E. coli in it. Again. Gobs (translation: millions of pounds) of it have been recalled. What I would like to know is this: how can meat that was processed in February still be in the market, on the shelf, or in people’s refrigerators? I suppose it might be in people’s freezers; but most people would have eaten it by now, wouldn’t they have? If they haven’t, then no wonder they’re getting sick from it, eh? A five-year-old boy nearly died from E. coli.
Evidently, the meat was contaminated in Colorado before it was shipped here; that’s good news for the Columbus plant, anyway.
Thursday, Joseph helped me fill the Suburban with junk and stuff, and for once we took things to the Goodwill rather than buying stuff there--old riding toys, things from Victoria’s room,--all sorts of things I wouldn’t want anybody to know I donated, because of the dubious shape they were in.
I thoroughly cleaned Victoria’s room that day, and Caleb and Victoria helped. (Well, sort of.) And that’s all I did.
At least, it sho’ ’nuff seemed like that was all I did.
We took a short break in the afternoon to trot over to Mama’s house for a few minutes, because Victoria wanted to show her that the tiny plastic camera on a tripod that I found on Mama’s end table Sunday night really did go with Victoria’s tiny-people camera-house that Mama gave her for Christmas. Hester discovered that the tripod fastened right onto a little peg over the flash, and a tiny person attached onto a peg behind the camera, and when the light flashes, a teeny clear tube up through the tripod and into the camera makes it look as if a wee flash goes off atop the camera. Victoria was delighted, and Mama was pleased because Victoria was delighted. All this time, that itty-bitty camera has lain on the end table, and no one noticed it or knew what it was for.
Caleb and Victoria went out to water my flowers. As usual, Caleb got himself drowned. He came in and informed me that it was nice out, quite a bit cooler than it had been. I knew better; it was just his cold, wet jeans making him think that.
“Call Time and Temperature,” I told him.
The temperature? 104°. Cool, eh?
One evening we were surprised by a phone call from my sixth-grade teacher--one of my very most favorite teachers, ever. He was calling to wish us a belated Happy Anniversary--his anniversary is the same day as ours, and they have been married 40 years. He said he wanted to offer his congratulations, because I was always so faithful with the cards--but wouldn’t you know, this was the year I totally forgot to send a card. Rats!
I remember why that teacher was so well-loved every time I talk to him.
Later that night, we stopped at Ampride for a few thises and thats. Larry went in...and then the kids followed. Of all things, Larry let them buy milk chocolate licorice and blue raspberry licorice. And then!!!--the urchins came back to the Suburban...and gave me some. Aaaaaccccckkkk. Why did I try it??? Bleah.
Fortunately, Larry got us a large Hershey’s with almonds candy bar, which we shared, and that got the horrid taste out of my mouth.
For supper, we had Schwan’s spicy little sausages wrapped in blueberry pancakes. Mmmmm, good. But it seemed more like breakfast than supper; it would have been good with eggs and syrup.
And now, speaking of sausage, just a little helpful advice: Do not kidnap a pig in the hopes of disguising him with a new paint job or a ruffly bonnet or a different wig or a fake tail. It won’t fool the experts. For you see, while pigs are not exceptionally eloquent at the English language, and therefore may not be able to inform the authorities of the pignapping or give them their home address, there is one surefire way the officials can identify him: noseprints.
Just so you know.
Friday, Joseph started working for the Ready-Mix company where Larry worked about the time we were married. Teddy worked there for a time, too, a couple of years ago. Teddy took Joseph to work since they were leaving about the same time, a little before 7:00 a.m., all in a dither, as usual, that he was going to be late.
As Joseph put it later, “I nearly got drug out the door shoeless!”
It felt almost too hot to breathe that day, but it wasn’t quite as hot as it had been the day before. The humidity was higher, however.
The Sears repairman was coming to look at my dryer, which has been rasping and wheezing and not turning freely (again). So we scurried around cleaning the kitchen, stairway, downstairs hallway, pathway (that’s all that’s left) through the shelf room (we should call it the ‘rack room’ now, since there are so many clothes racks in there we can’t see the shelves any more) to the washroom, and the washroom, too. Have you noticed, we only clean those areas that we deem absolutely necessary, and only when absolutely necessary? It's not my fault. I try.
As usual, it was sand around the barrel of the dryer that was causing the troubles. I was told Maytag was much sturdier than Kenmore; but, since I used Kenmore for 13 years with no troubles, and I’ve had troubles right and left with Maytag ever since I got it last year, I have to wonder if that’s really the case. It must not have a very good filtering system. Maybe it’s just this specific dryer; I don’t know.
Larry got home at 4:30, wanting to go fishing at Brainard. Joseph got home about an hour later, so we all got ready to go, although Joseph wanted to know if he could bring his tent and sleeping bag, because he was tired. They’d gotten off work early because of the heat...but there we were, then, heading straight back out into it. Aren’t we smart?
Joseph’s boss brought him home. He came driving down the street...and kept right on going, disappearing around the corner at the far end of the block. Hmmmm... After a few minutes, back they came again, and this time Joseph climbed out, retrieved his lunch box from the back of the pickup, and came up the walk, where I was watering flowers with Caleb and Victoria.
Merlin rolled down his window and told me, “We had to go back and get his feed bunk; he forgot it!” (Joseph has a big lunch box.) (By ‘big’, I mean ‘huge’.)
Joseph came in all pleased with his first day on that job, telling me about his day. They’d worked at the new hospital (I think it is set to open this fall sometime.) First, they removed forms from a poured wall around the new sign--old hat, for Joseph, after working with forms for Walker Construction. Then he helped clean the parking lot, using their big water truck. There is a hose attached, a little bigger than a regulation fire hose, and not as flexible. The entire hose weighs 300 pounds, so you can understand that it might be a bit unwieldy, and requires two people to handle it. Joseph is feeling a bit stiff.
Lawrence and Norma stopped by to give us an anniversary gift--our one and only picture of Larry’s Grandpa Jenkinson, Norma’s father, who died when she was only five years old. He is about 25 in the picture, and it is 1919; he is dressed in his WWI uniform. He was born in 1894 and died in February of 1945 of a sudden heart attack. Norma’s mother did not have things easy, after that. We were glad to get that picture.
Norma made us carrot raisin muffins. Yummy... Lawrence and Norma were on their way to Kenny (Larry’s brother) and Annette’s, where they had been invited for a birthday party for Annette.
We drove to Brainard, arriving just before the sun set. So there I sat at a picnic table typing, wondering if we’d brought the kerosene lantern, and, if we did, if I knew how to start it. The cicadas were loud. I wished they’d hush up so I could hear all the birds. I watched a kingfisher dive into the water after a fish. Cardinals, finches, robins, and probably wood thrushes were warbling, but I could hardly hear them for all those cicadas buzzing their fool brains out.
Larry, Joseph, Hester, Lydia, Caleb, and Victoria went out in a small boat. This time, Larry brought his own electric motor--and even a paddle or two; that broom just didn’t sweep them along nicely at all.
It wasn’t long before I couldn’t see my journal well enough to continue typing from it, so I went to the Suburban in search of a lantern. I found two...but I couldn’t get the top unscrewed from the one whose mantels seemed to be in the best shape--and neither one were in very good shape, really. So I walked down the dock and called across the water to Larry, telling him I couldn’t get the lantern apart so I could put it to rights and light it. He steered in, came to see about it.
Lydia had caught the one and only fish--a largemouth bass. They released it before we left.
Larry finally got the poor old thing lit (the lantern; not the bass), and then everyone but Joseph and Victoria went off for one more transit of the lake. I continued my attempts at typing while constantly reminding Victoria not to bump the rickety picnic bench where I was sitting, so as not to jar the mantels on the lantern and make them fall off. She gave a few futile efforts to making a hula hoop spin around her, gave up, and went to fill a bucket with sand.
I moved the lantern close enough that I could read my journal, whereupon the bugs came rushing to read it too, although they sometimes lost their place and buzzed annoyingly into my face. Furthermore, lanterns are hot. And the night was not cool.
Nevertheless, I just plain like being outside at night, hearing the frogs, katydids, night birds, fish jumping in the water, and bulls.
Yes, that’s right; there was a bull somewhere alternately rumbling and then calling in a funny middle-pitched tone that first made me think I was hearing a Great Horned owl. Victoria and I walked a little ways down the lane and, as we got closer, we could hear cows lowing.
A raccoon has been having a great lot of fun with the toilet paper somebody kindly provided in the little old wooden outhouse. It was on the floor, all bitten and clawed to pieces (the TP; not the coon). I can just see him, behaving exactly like Socks does, grabbing the hapless roll of tissue and falling over onto his side, valiantly beating it to death with his hind feet while biting it with his sharp teeth. Fortunately, somebody got wise and put a new roll into an empty coffee can.
Soon the anglers returned to land, and we went home.
It was 107° Saturday, and it felt like it. Joseph came home at a quarter till noon, showered, and went straight to bed. Larry came home about 1:30 or so, and we all got ready to go to the lake again.
Soon I was typing from the picnic bench by the little old camper. I moved it into the shade of the camper after sitting in the dubious shade of a small maple for a while... but it was altogether too hot, with the sun shining through the leaves. Sooo...without first saving my document, I moved the bench--and accidentally unplugged my word processor, losing everything I’d typed so far. What good, I’d like to know, is the auto-save feature, which wastes my time periodically by saving who-knows-what, clunkity-clunk, clunkity-clunk, when it refuses to bring up same??? Bah.
When we arrived, a number of the smaller Canada geese went swimming away across the lake. One pair has several half-grown goslings.
First, Larry and Lydia went off in the paddleboat; after a bit, Hester joined them. The boat is listing Larry’s way, as might be expected; but it hasn’t capsized.
So far.
(Yes, they have life vests on.)
Caleb and Victoria are splashing around at the water’s edge, and I made them put on life jackets before letting them splash. I don’t know how fast the lake drops off into deeper water--and I don’t want to find out, either.
Joseph is snoozing in the Suburban, and I hope he isn’t rudely awakened by one of the many wasps and hornets that are flitting around inside it, when it takes a notion to sit down on him.
The heat doesn’t seem to be bothering the wasps in the slightest; they are out by the droves. I have handy a can of wasp spray; they’d better beware!
There are dragonflies all over the place, perching on high reeds by the water’s brink, swaying in the wind. There are several different kinds: some are dramatic black and white; some are muted rusts and browns; and there is the beautiful sky-blue damselfly, one of which landed on Caleb’s finger as he was running along the shore.
Now Victoria is sitting in a little red plastic chair, her legs propped up on a blue one, and her dolly sitting beside her in a white one. Caleb is filling buckets with sand and water.
Oooo...here’s Larry and the girls peddling by now, and the paddleboat is waaay too deep in the water. Does he notice??! The bilge must be full of water.
‘Ye’re goin’ under, Cap’n!’
There are goldfinches, western kingbirds, purple martins, doves, robins, and wrens by the dozens. And the bullfrogs are going at it, carrying on a doozy of a conversation.
Larry brought the paddleboat in and beached it; now they are out in a bigger flat-bottomed boat on which they’ve attached Larry’s electric motor. Joseph and Caleb joined them. They’ve caught three fish--a big largemouth bass, a bluegill, and a whatchamacallit (according to Lydia). (It was really a crappie.)
The boat--to say nothing of its payload--is somewhat too heavy for the little electric motor, and while the fishermen were occupied with reeling in that big fish, the wind and waves blew them toward the western shore, where there is moss all over the water. And then weren’t they in a fine fix! The motor wasn’t powerful enough to pull them out of it, and they couldn’t make much headway with the oars, either. Both together improved things only slightly--especially when one person rowed the wrong direction, sending them in gentle spirals into an even deeper bog, which effectively scuttled the engine. Sooo...Larry bailed out into hip-deep water, shoved the boat out beyond the morass, and then, frightening the shipmate and making the other mariners’ hair stand straight up on end with all the tilting and heeling, he bailed back into the galleon.
They decided that was enough of that, and we went home.
While everyone headed for the showers, Joseph baked some apple streusel bars from the Schwan man. Victoria tried to lick out the little packets of frosting, and wound up looking like somebody had frosted her.
* * *
Sunday, July 21, 2002
Bobby, Hannah, and Aaron came for dinner today. We had chicken and dumplings, crackers, applesauce, brownies, and vanilla ice cream. Aaron had his own little bowl to eat out of, but now and then when Hannah wasn’t looking, he simply had to check out the food on her plate. Do you think Hannah was aided in her general endeavors to teach him proper table manners when her younger siblings could hardly stifle their snickers and titters?
As the children were getting ready for church tonight, Victoria looked at Lydia’s hair. Lydia had only moments earlier curled her bangs with a curling iron, and had somehow gotten some of the ends folded under, which makes them stick out strangely.
“Lydia,” said Victoria hesitantly, not exactly wanting to insult her sister, “Did you know that you have a lot of little chickens in your bangs?”
I am staying with Mama tonight...and now, having written about the dinner fare, I am remembering that I didn’t have any crackers, and wondering if there is the slightest chance in the world that there will be a single cracker left by the time I get home. ‘Awwwk! Mommy wants a cracker!’
Well, we’ll see...
P.S.S.: It rained tonight! Not much, but there were actually raindrops falling out of the sky, accompanied by thunder and lightning. More rain has been forecast; let’s hope they’re right!
P.S.S.S.: Teddy and Amy went to Norfolk Saturday afternoon to look at furniture at a big store there. Rings one week...furniture the next...sounds mighty serious to me; what do you think?
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