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Sunday, June 29, 2008

Bats!

So the Bunny did a stint as a Bat in the Missoula Children's Theatre production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. It was fun and goofy and she had a blast and the whole thing from auditions to strike only lasted 6 days.

This reminded me again that somehow I want to be part of recreating the best part of my childhood for other kids by doing/starting/leading/supporting a children's theatre. How? When? I have a huge home project and two kids but is that really any excuse? Won't the Bunny Kill me if I get around to it when she's too old? Yes. Definitely. So what am I waiting for? I don't know. A partner I guess. How do I get smart/organized/confident/qualified to do it alone? I don't know!
Argh. Guess 'd better get my a$$ over to that theatre and start meeting potential partners!
On with the slideshow...

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Long Days of late spring

So the sky is completely light at 4:30 am around here. It's 6:45 now and it's in my eyes but at least 6:45 is a moderately reasonable time to be up and about. 4:30, not so much.

On Friday we picked up the Bunny at school as the happy bus drivers pulled away honk honk honking about summer vacation. We caught the next ferry after a picnic in the park overlooking the marina and were off on our Camping Weekend! Then things started to go wrong.

  • Xoche bit some nice lady on the ferry. We weren't there to see it but apparently Nice Lady came over to say hello to Xoche who was hanging out on the truck bed and X Dog bit her. I'm sure the Nice Lady wasn't lying because I could tell Xoche was hiding a dark secret by the way she held her ears down. I've suspected for a long time that Xoche was the kind of dog who'd get called home for the big nap early due to Snappy Old Bitchiness but I think her countdown may really have begun. Since we've been here and she's been spending most of her time hunting vole or sleeping she just seems to be going slightly feral, and we can't have that, not with two little kids trying to love her.
  • So then we breeze through customs (yeah, what's that about? Can't the do the customs check between Victoria and SJI so that all of us innocents from the island aren't held up and intimidated?) I'm sure I'll have more indignation about that in future posts so I'll save it.
  • So then we get halfway to Bellingham and Dh realizes that he never packed the tent. I was on picnic lunch and clothes duty so I didn't pack it either. Doh.
  • When we arrive at the campsite we also realize we don't have diaper wipes but we sure do have a poopy diaper to deal with. We organize the freshy and toilet paper and unwrap the baby. Holy Mother of Poopy Babies! It's one of those blowouts that defies belief. We try to contain it but finally realize that the only answer is running water. I run with Ali G, dangling, stripped down, dripping poo and already lip chattering (still no teeth in there) through the adjacent sites to the bathroom. We rinse her off in the sink with the cold cold water and then warm her up under the hand dryer which luckily is nice and warm. She looks completely stunned that we could be so mean. She doesn't even really cry I think she thinks she's dreaming.
  • It's pretty nice out and the campground looks inviting so we decide to try rigging up a tent using the tarps we brought and padding the bed of the truck with an inflatable mattress. It sounds good while the sun is still up but by the time we come back from dinner (this being one of those eat-out camping trips) it is seeming less fun to me. But Dh really needs this to work out. He's been getting nuttier and nuttier as terrible allergies and island fever team up with an aching back team up in his sanity. So he rigs it up while I wrangle girls.
  • As the Bunny, Ali G and I tour the campground we bump into a raccoon. Well, he's on a tree right next to us byu the time we notice him and he climbs up higher when we make eye contact. Cool. Wildlife.
  • There is a sign at our campsite that warns of Excessive Train Noise. Yeah, whatever. We all grin smugly. Until the first train comes through and Ali G nearly rips off my nose trying to get away from the sounds.
  • Finally the tent is ready and it looks pretty snug. We all climb in. There isn't nearly enough space for us to expect to sleep well but by now it's after 10 and we don't have the heart to start looking for a hotel.
  • The raccoon starts in immediately on our food which we left out. Dh chases him off and stashes the goods and the dog in the cab.
  • Hours tick by. The trains come and go. The girls are out cold. Dh and I are cold. The tarp above us is gathering condensation and threatening to start dripping. I forget the cardinal rule about never touching the inside of a tent. It drips on my face. My back and neck and shoulder are locked into an excruciating position. If I move, Ali G screams like I've knifed her. Finally the Bunny begins to cough in a way that triggers all my maternal fear and vigor and I call it. That's it, I say, we're going.
  • We don't really know where to go. I'm thinking north for a motel by the border (there have to be some right?), Dh votes for the place we've stayed in before closer to the ferry. We head south. At 3:30 everything in town is either closed or has no vacancy. We give up and get on line at the ferry for the first boat home.
So anyway. Enough of that. This week we also had the fortune (so far so good) to find a KitchenAid double wall oven at the second hand shop for a tenth of it's new price. Dh wired it up and it heated up right away. It's white, not stainless but that's okay, it'll go with the cabinets that I want to paint white. That was at the very top of my Kitchen Wish List so that's pretty cool.
I wrenched my neck big time while putting my hair in a pony tail I finally realized it was probably due to all the jumping jacks we do at TKD that sowed the seed of discontent. It sucks to be in pain. I know this is temporary and I did get a laugh out of all the things I did over the course of the week that aren't recommended for people with back pain. I fell through the seat of a chair at the thrift store with Ali G in my arms, tried to sleep in the bed of the pick-up, helped haul the double oven out of the truck, tried to look over my shoulder once or twice. You know, stupid shit like that.
Dh has been having a super hard time this week. We have finally figured out that the lovely but evil Scotch Broom plant is causing him some excruciatingly awful allergies which are triggering depression and are somehow related to his lower back pain. It's been rough. It's hard enough that the transition out of SMA was hardest on him but it's even worse that the transition to SJI is also. Hopefully having a designated allergen will help focus the malaise away from a general fear and loathing of San Juan Island and everything in it and center the battle on eradication of the plant and restabilizing relations with the island. Let's all surround dh in a bright white light in the meantime yes? Today's plan for Father's Day? Finding a church.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Hello! Foal!!


So we had some big drama here today! This morning a mare next door had a baby, in the pasture, in the rain, with 4 other young mares there hassling her and her baby. From chatting with our neighbor, D, about this mare in the past we had a feeling that he didn't even know she was pregnant so we tried calling him but he wasn't home. A little while after I looked out and saw that the baby was walking into the electric fence and the mother was so distressed about the other horses she wasn't bothering to try to stop it. I thought that maybe if I went out and got close to the fence it might make her move her baby away from it so I went out. I brought some towels too, in case I could try to cover the baby. It was only about 48 degrees outside and drizzling and I was having flashbacks to Ali G having hypothermia. So, although I wasn't at all sure that our neighbor would welcome my intervention I couldn't sit and do nothing. I did get the towels on her back and they lasted for a few minutes succeeded in pushing the pair farther into the pasture and away from the fence.

We tried calling the school in the hope that they'd have an emergency number for D but after an hour more with no help on the scene we ended up calling the island's large animal vet who managed to contact D within minutes and soon enough he was running through the field with the vet and they quickly got a halter on mom. As they led the mother and baby through the pasture the other horses raced around like maniacs, they were obviously very excited though I don't know if it was joy or rage they were exhibiting.

Later on I went out to retrieve my towels and D came over to meet me. He said he'd had no idea that she was pregnant. In fact, she'd been bred but the vet had declared her not to be pregnant and they'd given up on the idea for this year. So he thanked me for calling around to find him and assured me that both mother and baby were safe and happy now that they were in their own corral.

Now we're watching a vulture and a bald eagle in a stand-off over the amnion which is still in the field, just across from our kitchen window! I've been trying to get a good picture but so far, no luck.

Never a dull moment here eh?

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Friday, June 6, 2008

Mold!!

Well,yesterday we had an interesting time. We met some really nice people and joined in a couple of crazy-happy community events, a toddler and baby hour at the library and a music class for families that was too cute for words, think an aging baby boomer with a guitar, a magic wand and a floorful of kids between 6 months and 6 years old all singing and dancing together. We also got invited to a potluck after the music class which gave us a chance to see some islanders in their natural setting and it was completely pleasant.

We also heard that there were once stickers on every window of our house warning people about the toxic mold growing inside. Stickers? Not when we came to see it! Now the reluctance of our realtor (and her above-and-beyond cleanup before our arrival) and the acceptance of our super-low offer are beginning to make more sense. Well, we knew there was mold in the house, we could see it after all. And we knew we were taking a gamble by not having an inspection done before we bought the place. So... here we are, freaked out afresh about the mold but a little more determined to eradicate it. But overall, it was a great day. I felt right at home with the couples we met, I finally feel like I've found my peer group. Not just a few like minded loners but an actual pool of people who are just like me. They shop at the thrift store, strive for natural births, try to fork out the money for organic stuff, use cloth diapers, like potlucks, wear fleece and tevas, you know what I mean and you know who you are! Anyway, it's not like I'm the last of some dying breed but everywhere I see a mother with a baby on this island (and I see them EVERYWHERE) I see someone who looks familiar enough that I ignore my shy self and strike up conversations. I haven't felt this outgoing since I started at RIC, and that was great too.

Here are my favorite girls. Ali G can finally sit on her own and she loves it. The Bunny also is loving that her little sister is finally getting big enough to be more interactive (though there are still the flashes of jealousy.)


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Tuesday, June 3, 2008

My Birthday Raccoon!


Xoche treed this little guy last night for me. She was very proud of herself.

So I'm celebrating this year's birthday with a membership to the TaeKwonDo studio down the street from us. I'm very excited, I've wanted to get involved with a martial art sonce I can remember and I was literally head over heels for a cardio kickboxing class way back in our Deer Creek days. The Bunny was so impressed by my new Gi (sp?) that she wants to join too. If only I could get dh to start we'd be like the Incredibles. lol
Other than the birthday punching and kicking, I feel like I'm making some headway on making friends. I went on a SeeMommyRun walk yesterday with a nice woman (who also is into TKD incidentally and who encouraged me to start, I bow to her in gratitude for being my catalyst!). She also pointed me toward a Mommy-Baby group that sounds cool. I'm missing today's group at this very moment because Ali G crashed out 10 minutes before it was time to leave and it's raining unusually hard. So, you know, you can't do everything at once. But it's okay. I met another mom who had 9 month old boy twins (who were standing and crawling!! Ali G look away!) at the library and we commiserated about 10:30 being right in the middle of nap time. But there is also a family music class on Thursdays that sounds cool and she invited us to a potluck at her house after this week's class so I'm going to try to hit that with the family in tow, dh too. Poor guy, he's got terrible allergies! I'm praying that they are being brought on by some short-lived pollen and not the house! Please god don't let him be allergic to the house itself! That possibility is too dreadful to consider honestly. This place is my dream home, I would be too sad to discover that it's uninhabitable for dh.
What else? I've volunteered to join a Relay For Life team. I don't know much more then that it is an all-night event and the point is to raise money for cancer research but it sounds like the kind of event that would attract kind and interesting people so, I'll give it a go.

So, that's the update for Birthday 2008. Now it's time to get back to regularly scheduled life, folding laundry washing dishes. Ahh, I love it!
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