Wordless Wednesday

Nod to a Bygone Era



In Big Mom's hand, on the back of this photo, is scrawled, "About Easter 1967". This was taken on one of our annual Easter trips back home to Baton Rouge.
In the picture are my cousin Russ, my brother Donald, my cousin Gayle, and myself (in bonnet). The grown-up leaning protectively over us, I believe, is my mother.



Christmas photo taken in our home in Glen Rock, NJ. I can see the snow outside the window. We are a very long way from our "home" down south.
In this picture is my brother Donald, my sister Mary and myself. My sister's dress and my skirt are homemade from deep green crushed velvet. Like the lederhosen?



Back at my grandmother's house for another Easter visit. My cousin Gayle and I are wearing matching homemade dresses, ala early 1970s.

Caution: Shallow

Sometimes I just don't know why I write.

I read the headlines. I listen to the news......


Osama bin Laden has been shot.

Tornadoes kill hundreds in the south, destroy everything for countless victims.

Tsunami in Japan. Nuclear reactors eeking radiation. Thousands dead.



And then I sit down to write about ....

My chickens?
Hamsters?
A sassy child?
A long church service?

Does it ever all just seem so pointless to you?

I close my eyes and put myself in the shoes of someone who has just lost everything. Or lost a loved one. Or I try to understand the emotions of a woman who lost her husband, or a child who lost a parent on 9/11...

I am filled with the feeling of being so small, so insignificant. So helpless to bring real aid or comfort to those in need.

Of course, we contribute to disaster relief aid. After the tsunami, B the Younger took up a collection of his siblings' charity money and brought a jug to school to collect more and he ended up getting about $150. We will add to that and send it to the Red Cross. And I know we will help with donations to the victims of the tornadoes, too. But ....

Is it ever enough?

Pocket change and prayers. That's all I got.

And my prayers can't be all that helpful the way my mind works....

Dear God, please help all the people who suffered losses during the tornadoes. Especially any mothers who have lost children. I can't imagine losing a child. I can remember it like it was yesterday when I brought my first-born home. Now he's in high school! And I love him so. But I wish he would get his head in the game with his homework or he'll never get into college at this rate. Did he turn in that last lab for his chem class? Did he finish his math homework?

I mean the tornadoes! Help the victims of the tornadoes! Rebuild lives! Find lost family members! Shelter, food, water!

And dear Lord, please help heal the hearts of the people who have lost loved ones in the attacks on 9/11.I remember I was in MOMS Club when that story was unfolding so many years ago. So awful...Hey I wonder whatever happened to Sherry from MOMS Club? The one with the kid that was always picking his nose? I'll bet he's nearly S's age by now. Wonder if he's still picking his nose....

I mean, help the victims! The survivors! Closure, peace, justice!


Dear Jesus and all the saints in heaven, please help all those poor people who are still struggling over in Japan to contain the radiation and rebuild all that was knocked out by the tsunami and the earthquake. The pictures of that wave rolling in were just horrific. It's amazing what the force of water can do. Like the bank on our pond. We keep fixing it but then the water finds its way under or around the dam we've built and erodes the bank even more. I know F is going to need to get out there with his tractor soon to try to fill in some of that area. Hope his tractor starts right up for him, sometimes it gives him trouble. It makes that weird noise like that woman at auditions on American Idol. I wonder who will be going home this week on Idol?

No, no, no! Tsunami! Reactors! Earthquake! Victims! Help!

Amen.


Maybe I'd better stick to that pocket change.....






[Images courtesy of Google Images:
http://www.movetransport.com/watertransport/water-safety-signs.html]

Henny Penny

That's the chicken whose name I couldn't remember yesterday.



Sorry Henny Penny.

Two New Notches on My Overalls

I could stretch things and save this post for Farm Friday, but I've got nothin' for today.

No reserves in creativity either, so I'm making do with this.

"This" being that we have two new pets.

That's right. Because we didn't have enough.

Please give a warm welcome to our hamsters Fizzy and Dizzy.

It began innocently enough on Friday afternoon. I took the girls and James out on a few shopping errands. We had a nice dinner out at Boston Market and then went by the pet store for our last errand: buying some small goldfish for our ponds.

As luck would have it, they were out of goldfish.

As luck would also have it, we had to walk past the warm furry pets to get to the cold scaly pets.

And of course, we walked right past a cage with little black and white hamsters sitting up on their hind legs looking for all the world like prairie dogs scoping their surroundings.

Adorable?

We asked the nice man to take one out.

We asked the nice man to put her back so we ould talk things over.

Three of the four kids wanted one. As in each. To be kept in their rooms.

I did my best to talk them down.

I told them to forget the 3 - 5 years life expectancy the nice man mentioned. More like 2 for a hamster. They were setting themselves up for more heartbreak.

I told them they would need to clean the cages themselves. They would need to fill the food and water dishes. They would need to handle them with care. The cute little hamsters could possibly bite if they were handled too roughly or not with enough frequency or if the mood struck them.

They would have to pay for them themselves. This little prerequisite knocked one of the kids out of the running as she had just blown through about half her allowance on junk at Five Below.

But the other two, James and Julie, still had cash burning a hole in their pockets from the nice people who gave them gifts for completing their church sacraments.

So much so that Julie even decided to spring for a new cage, though our attic probably has enough critter cages to start a small zoo.

So we grabbed a cart and started loading it up. How much stuff could two pocket rodents possibly need? The cage, 2 bags of bedding (b/c James wanted blue and Julie wanted confetti), food, water bottles, wood chews, little houses, treats,hay, and an exercise ball.

There was no room left in the cart for the actual hamsters.

But somehow we managed, and we got our new pets home and settled into their new digs.

The kids were disappointed when I told them they had to wait till the next day before they could handle their new pets so they could have some time to acclimate, but they made it. And last night they took them downstairs to hold and love and cuddle. And in the process of so doing, they lost one.

Yeah. Someone was holding one of them and she got freaked out when she started climbing up her arm and then she dropped her and then she was on the sofa and then behind the sofa and then under the sofa and the kids were frantically running around searching for their new lost pet and plugging up the air conditioning vents and in general just freaking out.

Oh the joy of being a small critter in our household.

And of course I was blissfully unaware of any of this b/c I was on the road picking up one of the other kids from a party.

But they found her and returned her to her cage before I got home and all was well with the world.

I don't hold out much hope for them. Better start saving the shoeboxes now.


Meet Fizzy. Julie's hamster. Got cute?


You know, I'm betting when most people get asked,
How many pets do you have?
they're quick with an answer.
2
they might say. Or maybe even
3.
Or if the person being asked is borderline crazy, the reply could be something like
7.

Me? I'm beyond normal.
I'm beyond borderline crazy.
I probably fit more into the category of hoarder, because I don't actually KNOW how many animals I have unless I stop to count them out.

Let's see, I have....

(5)I have our dogs Sunny, Sophie, Cindy, Blue and Annabelle.
(3) Our cats Mamfy, Mali and Punkin.
(2) Toad 1 and Horny Toad.
(2) The new arrivals Fizzy and Dizzy.
(1) Nick the cockatiel.
(4) Hermit Crabs I don't care to know the names of.
(2) Rabbits Alice and Minnie.
(6) The goats Elfie, Frex, Tibbit, Crope, Ozzy and Houdini.
(3) The horses Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan.
(14)Our chickens Tizzy, Goldie, Puddin', Chicken Little, Miss Peggy, Elizabeth, Earnestine, Ting, Bam, Big Mama, Mamin, Nugget, Pox and 1 more I can't remember the name of.

Looks to me like that's 42. Is that correct? Someone check my math please.

Yep. Definite hoarder.



Please click the brown button. Not 42 times. Not 7 times. Not even thrice or twice. Once. Just once.

Calling Social Services

Rosie: Do I have to cut up any more of this potato?

Me: Tomato.

R: Yeah, tomato. Do I have to cut up any more?

Me: Cut up the whole thing, babe.

R: Why are you making me cut up the whole thing? I don't even like tomatoes. I'm pretty sure this would be considered child abuse.

Me: Hang on, I'll get the phone so you can call social services.


Me: James, come empty the dishwasher, please.

J: Aww Mom. I don't want to.

Me: Oh, well then. If you don't want to then never mind. I'll do it.

J: Really?

Me: No.

J: Vwy I even have to empty it? You should empty it, it's your job.

Me: I don't think you want to go there, son.

J: It is your job. You have nothing else to do. You should do all the chore stuff. You don't do anything.

*This while I am in the middle of cooking dinner, signing school papers and cleaning a mess off the kitchen counter.*

Me: Well as long as you think I don't do anything, I guess that's exactly what I will do.
Julie, you can stop cooking the meat, James is going to take over cooking the rest of the dinner tonight.
J, when you're done emptying the dishwasher, you can go ahead and refill it, because that's something that I was going to do. But as long as I'm now not doing anything, you can do it for me.
When you're done filling the d/w, I want you to finish browning the meat and while you're doing that you can butter these rolls and then cook the corn and finish the salad.
Of course, when dinner is over, you can clean up and put away all the leftovers and wash out the pots and pans.
Then I guess you can walk yourself the two miles to CCD since I won't be driving.
It's Bella's turn for reading tonight, so don't forget to make time to read with her just before bed.
She should also put some laundry in tonight, so be sure to fold and put away the towels from the dryer, then switch the washer load over to the dryer, and make sure she gathers all her laundry and sorts it correctly. She may need help getting the detergent down.
After that you can oversee that people get their medicine, brush their teeth, take their vitamins, and go to bed on time.
Next, set up the coffee for the morning.
After that you can put the dogs out, put Sophie and Cindy away, and lock up all the doors and turn out the lights.

I'll be sitting back and enjoying all the nothing like I usually do.

J: VWAT?! I'm not going to do all that, are you crazy?! Vwat you think I am, slave or something? I am NOT doing all that work.

Me: You have a choice my friend. Either you do all my work tonight, or you hand your phone over. What's it going to be?

J: VWAT? I'm not giving you my phone!
Grumble, grumnble, grumble....

Starts to load dishwasher. Begins to look around the kitchen at plates and silverware being gathered, meat cooking, salad being cut up, stove getting dirtier by the second.

Walks away from half-loaded d/w and gets phone. While staring at the floor with eyebrows furrowed, hands me the phone and walks away in a huff.

Call ME a slave?

I think not.


*Though I gotta admit, the kid's got a point*



Click the brown button to vote for me.
Just click the button. No dishwasher, no cooking, no laundry.
Just click the button. It's not slave labor.




Clip art from Google images
ttp://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSPXlDVt4OmaPBg_ZMhoEWJvfV6xSLyt90zFt3fbUSqFYHOhRq9jmuO8eJn