The Love and Happiness Tour 2012

Two weekends ago, I went out of town all by myself,

to Indianapolis, where I used to live a long time ago,

where I made some of the best friends I've ever had.

One of them moved far, far away,

to Alberta, Canada,

where her girlfriend lives.

They got married there this April.

Canada is much more highly evolved than the US in such matters.

They held a reception for their stateside friends, where

we celebrated, and laughed and hugged, and all had a great time.

The reception was red carpet rock and roll glam attire.

There were two sets of the Village People,

 and a very well choreographed dance to YMCA. 

I haven't laughed this hard in years.

The next day I had a few free hours and went to the Art Museum.

 It was charming and lovely and fascinating.

Lots of intimate, surprising spaces to discover, inside and out.

This was my favorite view.

At the very end of the lawn is a wonderfully iconic sculpture.

When the museum closed, I walked down for a better picture.

It summed up my weekend perfectly.

Congratulations to two of my favorite people on the planet,
who really know how to throw a party, 

and manage to collect the best kinds of friends.

I wish them a lifetime of adventure and love, 

and hope that in the near future,

their marriage can be officially recognized in both their countries.

xxoo

I don't know how this happened

One day you send them off to kindergarten...

and before you know what hit you, this happens:

It's a mystery to me where the time went, where that little boy went and who this young man is, so mature, self assured and strong. We must have done something right.

I can't imagine what comes next, but I'm sure it will be amazing.

And happened some more...

So my smart husband gets home from his road trip, and hears the great baby opossum rescue story and says, if there's more, lets catch them in the chipmunk trap. (The chipmunk trap is an exercise in futility we experimented with a few years ago, it seems they spontaneously generate so trapping them is futile.)

We baited the trap with bananas and apples and set it by the hole under the porch. It took all of five minutes for the door to clang shut behind two hungry orphans.

I put them in a big barrel with food and warm blankets. 

We reset the trap.

Snap.

One more hungry orphan.

Reset.

Snap.

Two more.

Reset and repeat, one more.

Reset. 

I peep into the hole and see two tiny eyes watching me and the trap.

Probably wondering where everybody went. 

Cautious guy took an hour to succumb to the smell of bananas.

Husband happily worked on the firepit while he played rescue guy.

We kept the trap out until bedtime, but no action.

Grand Total = 7.

Holy crap.

Look at them, cute little buggers. They love the mashed bananas, applesauce and baby rice.

They were hungry.

 My daughter has decided opossums are her new favorite animal and she wants to volunteer at the wildlife rescue now too, on top of the animal shelter and the hospital. She was thrilled to have three at a time eating out of the spoon.  I imagine they like huddling up together under a blanket, safe and warm.

The girls at the rescue are going to love me.

I grabbed their wish list yesterday, so I'll come back bearing gifts besides babies.

Now that I know how much work and mess these little guys are, I can't imagine what their day is like. Bless their big hearts.

I hope the lone sibling at the rescue is happy to see the family.

I'm happy my husband helped out, and we saved these little critters.

I can't imagine the horror and the smell under my porch if we hadn't.

And I really, really hope we got them all.

There is never a dull moment around here, that is certain.

In other nature updates, the robin nest now mysteriously contains only 3 eggs and no sign of hatching yet.

We're still hoping.

Have a great weekend.

And then this happened...

I saw what I thought was a rat walking across the patio. Turns out it was an tiny baby opossum. Orphaned, I assume. The bug furry dog cornered mama a few nights ago. I knew something was living under the porch, and I prefer possum to raccoon so I didn't mind.

We heard the coyotes going nuts two nights ago, and figured they had caught something. Car, coyotes, dogs - it's a tough life for our marsupial friends.

So I ran to get apples, fruits, and cat food, I read they like cat food, because after the dog scared the grown up one, I put food out for it, but it wasn't inclined to stick around.

This tiny one licked the apple. Too young to chew. I ran inside, researched, found out hypothermia and dehydration are the biggest risks, and I called the local wildlife rescue who did not call me back.

I tried to catch the little guy, hiding inside a runaway patch of siberian iris, and darn if I didn't lose it. I looked for hours. Got down the old guinea pig cage, put out more food, looked everywhere but it gave me the slip.

Three hours later, I stand outside thinking if I just listen, maybe I'll hear it. And I did. It was crying for help. Took me a while to find it, where it had fallen in the window well, and one butterfly net later, I had it swaddled in a towel.

Made some homemade pedialite, added some baby rice and applesauce and once it warmed up it ate a little. Mostly it wants to curl up and rest and I don't blame it. I hope I can rest knowing I have this little baby in the house to take care of. I keep wondering if there are little siblings under the porch, because they usually come in big batches. I put food out there and that's all I can do for now.

I'm hoping it makes it through the night so I can get it to the people who know what they're doing.

Good lord, cute overload. It just took a teeny tiny bath licking its teeny tiny paws. I don't think I can stand this. Daughter is already lobbying to keep it as a pet. Wild things deserve to be wild, that's what I told her.  No matter how cute they are.

Mama's been busy

So far, so good with the robin's new nest.  Not a predator in sight.

Isn't mama cute? Looks like she and the Mr. have been very busy.

Our whole family is excited to see them hatch. I'll keep you posted.

Hope Springs Eternal

Remember this?

So lovely and promising.

Well, chipmunks happened. 

So frustrating and sad.

But then this happened.

Can you say chipmunk proof?

And now this.

We can only hope.

Those poor robin parents have worked so hard.

I'll keep you posted.

Running, running

I feel like a hamster on a wheel, running, running, ending up right where I started.

I've officially had 9 extra work free days, and yet, only a little bit to show for it. The yard's a mess, the garden's untilled, the house a wreck, etc. But at least I got the dog groomed. He was getting pretty moppy, dragging in all manner of detritus.

I did get 15 loads of laundry done, although it seems to be spontaneously generating in the laundry room.

I did get the spare bedroom unburdened with years of accumulated cast-offs. Many trips to the Goodwill and the basement and I think I can squeeze my mom in there when she comes in three weeks, because...

My oldest baby is graduating from high school in 24 days, assuming he manages to overcome a debilitating case of senioritis. But first we have to get through prom this weekend. Before that, we have to figure out what to do about his stolen iphone. Sheese. He's learned his first hard lesson about how some people suck, and that it's expensive to be trusting and or distracted.

In other exciting news, my daughter rolled her ankle before her volleyball tournament, so she spent her 15th birthday limping and in pain. 5 days later, it's still a bruised swollen sight to behold. You just can't fix sprained ankles quickly, which sucks. She also hasn't been wearing her retainer, so we both got chastised by the orthodontist, and of course need a new, more expensive appliance to correct the movement. Sucks. Both kids have colds, again, too. More sucks.

Me, I'm a hot flashing, sweaty gerbil on a wheel. Or is it a hamster? Gearing up for some surgery next month, to get my lady parts removed and the loose things shored up. It's been a long time coming, and as anxious as I am about surgery in general and pain, I'm relieved, because my uterus has been one giant pain in the belly, and my bladder is trying to escape my abdominal cavity, so this needs to happen. Nothing like a little pressure to get things done before I can't get anything done, though.

I would be getting more done, but the internet is distracting me.

Poem in my pocket distracted me A LOT. I ended up collecting a bunch of poems, making them into a little book that I printed out and have read several times already. I'm smitten with William Stafford and Wendell Barry right now. Here's one of each that I really like:

The Way It Is

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.

 ~ William Stafford ~

 The Real Work

It may be that when we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.

 ~ Wendell Berry ~


My mind is surely baffled. So I might as well sing.

We've had shit weather for a week, cold, windy, rainy, rainy, cloudy and more rainy. It was depressing. But today the sun and the humidity have arrived. Here's the only decent picture I took this week, after dozens of failed attempts to get those elusive forget me nots in focus.

Here's a picture I didn't take because I had no camera, just my eyes.

On the edge of a small pond ringed with cattails and willows, below the fighting red-winged blackbirds, a beaver's tail smacked the water, creating a ring of ripples that lapped against it's den, upon which stood a lone snowy egret, neck crooked, watching the ripples intently, then suddenly hopping up with flapped wings to fly slowly across the pond as a Canada goose splashed down gracefully, while a lone Monarch butterfly floated lightly in the breeze.

I guess it's just as well, the camera wouldn't have done it justice.

Gotta get back on that wheel. Until next time.


p.s. my loathing for blogger escalates. I had to manually reinsert every return and space on this post. Blogger even removed my returns on the copy and pasted poems. Why, I ask you blogger, WHY do you keep testing my patience? Wordpress leaves me the hell alone and works when I ask it to.
I need to quit you blogger, like the bad habit you are... except you are where all my friends are, so I suffer, but not silently blogger, no, not silent at all. You are a crappy product and you annoy your customers to no end. I'll use you, but I'll never respect you in the morning.