Bang Bang Bang

Building My Own

I Can Build It

Sometimes I forget how nice it is to work outside, and I honestly didn't remember how much fun building shelves can be. It only took one evening, including buying supplies, eating dinner, and apparently torturing an overtired, skinned-kneed Avery through a nice cool bath before bed.

They may not be pretty, but they're strong! 64 square feet of shelving (2 sheets of plywood cut up), 30 brackets, and 144 screws (plus a whole bunch I mutilated along the way). Thankfully Devon is amassing a nice set of tools, which was key!

The lame shelf I took down before I started putting up the real ones!One down, five to go!All done! Now I guess we have to get the stuff back into the duck barn.

It was so nice to be working with my hands & doing something I could stand back and see, it sorta made me wanna get my old Stihl & cut down some trees, or grab a pulaski & dig some line, or, hey, I haven't had a driptorch in hand for quite awhile*. Sorta.

On the down side, I was not happy to finding about 100 carpenter ants running amok after I swept up one of their sawdust piles. Having no ant or bug spray on hand, I did them in with a can of wasp & yellow jacket spray. I guess we better get some ant killer to have on hand, since the exterminator told us we have a world-class carpenter ant mecca going on all over our barn & back yard -- and it's not over yet!

Avery wanted to "build [her] own," which meant that she pounded & pounded on that nail for about 45 minutes. I thought she was doing well with the hammer, and she didn't complain of hitting her fingers once. I even risked it and held the nail for her off & on, and she didn't hit my fingers either. Not bad for 3!

*My old US Forest Service summer job, forest fire fighting.

Bathing Beauties & Other Weekend Shots

Canada's new top models: Avery & Jordan all ready for a swim with Devon and grandpa Earl at the Hope community pool. Avery hates getting her picture taken (grrrrr), so trying to get her to smile is quite a task. Usually it ends up in total defiance, or lots of silly looks & comments. This is what she came up with when I was instructing her to smile!Jordan sunbathing -- she loves the sun like she loves the water, but with skin that pale she can't take too much at a time. Avery's very adamant about "holding" Jordan these days. It's not easy, but she keeps practicing (as long as someone is always near in case Jordan protests & tries to slide away). Okay, this was what the duck barn looked like on Monday before we started unloading it. The big cleaning we did a few weeks ago stopped at the top floor, when we knew we'd have to pull it all out again for the exterminator. And, believe it or not, this was wayyyyyy better than it was before the first cleaning. . . .

Empty walls, all ready for shelves. I hope we can get that done before the rain comes! We left the stuff upstairs that was already in plastic boxes, then used secondary containment (painter plastic & duct tape). Boy, do our neighbors love us!! With all the camping & sports equipment it would seem like we live an adventure-filled life. 1 giant box of full hockey gear for both of us, ~5 boxes of camping gear, diving equipment, skis & boots, snowboards & boots, fishing gear, curling brooms & shoes, etc, etc, etc. Perhaps we'll actually get to use some of that stuff again, someday.

Always trying to make the most of the van, Devon decided that being sandwiched between the girls (and their carseats) was the way to go on our drive to Hope on Friday. We both get so car sick that neither of us was doing well sitting in the back, diving forward every few minutes to suction Jordan. So, she moved to the back with the rest of the cool folks. Squish squish.
Devon did this to her hair on purpose, after he bathed her last night. "Jordan Idol" he calls her like this. We decided her hair is a combo of my curls & Devon's unruliness.
Be thankful smells are not transfered over the internet . . . . Bleck -- a jug full of Jordan sludge! We fill 1 to 2 of these a day when she's sick (and yes, a good bit of it in the middle is water from flushing out the hose, while the snot & mucous settles at the bottom & floats on the top, for the most part).

A Hope-Full Weekend

We made it a four-day weekend and headed up to Hope, BC to visit grandma Linda & grandpa Earl. It was a long drive on Friday, and sort of against doctor's wishes, but we did it anyway. If we waited around for Jordan to be healthy before we did anything we'd never do anything! Then there's always Option B -- Devon & Avery go off for a fun weekend, and Jordan & I stay home. I guess I probably could have done lots of painting, but that's only so much fun.

Avery was a little confused after we crossed the border. When I told her we were in Canada now, she was very adamant that no, we were in the van. When we further explained that the van was in Canada, she looked all around and said "but I don't see any snow." Last time we were there it was Thanksgiving, and it snowed a full blizzard. She got to make a couple of snowmen & snow angels, and was a bit disappointed with the perfectly lovely weather. Soon she was too occupied with grandma, grandpa, new books, movies, toys, a trip to the park, digging for worms & "playing" baseball (she did hit the ball a few times from grandpa's pitches). She even went swimming & jumped so far she splashed water on grandpa's glasses so he couldn't see.

Jordan did fine for the weekend. It was a long drive on Friday, because she needed almost constant suctioning whenever she coughed -- so we didn't end up in the hospital in Canada (an insurance nightmare, that would have cost us 30% of whatever). At her hospital follow-up on Friday morning she had managed to get two infected ears, so we started the Amoxicilan (again, again, again) just before we left (her ears were clear on Tuesday at Emanuel). So, lots of sucking, snuggling, and hanging out with grandma. And some long nights. But she seems to be on the mend, and, knock on wood, she doesn't seem to be as cranky as she has been, despite the continuing increases of Keppra each week.

But it wasn't all naps & snuggles for Jordan. She also went swimming with Avery, grandpa Earl, and Devon -- and loved it. She was the perfect example of complete relaxation & floatation -- it only took a couple of fingers to hold her head above the water. The lifeguard followed her (and grandpa or Devon) around the pool, never taking an eye off her (the tube sticking out from her bikini-clad tummy probably scared the crew there).

Avery-ism of the weekend: When asked if she wanted Rice Krispy Square for dessert, she said, outlining with her hands on the table, "maybe you could go like this so it's a circle." Devon & I knew immediately what she was talking about, but there was a bit of a delay in grandma & grandpa's laughs. Gotta love the 3-year-old thought process.

Side funny of the weekend: Devon asked if he could color in her coloring book with her markers. Avery told him he could, but only if he colored the dragon pink. Trying to get her to join in, he teased that he was going to color it green, or blue, or purple. Instead of supervising him, she just took all the markers away (except pink, of course), and hid them under the bed in the guestroom. Then she went back to whatever she was doing with grandma. Pink dragon, end of discussion!

News from the Hope-front: Tim Horton's is coming to town (finally)!!!!

PICTURES TO FOLLOW (TOMORROW?)

Enough Already

After a long winter of short, grey days & feeling cooped up in the house, I love to get going on projects. Cleaning, organizing, sorting, throwing things out, it's all very therapeutic. But if this is therapy, I must have earned a degree in psychology this spring. It seems like it never ends; I just move from one end of the house to the next, then start all over again. . . . The worst, though, is the duck barn. While cleaning it in April we found a carpenter ant infestation (bad, bad, bad, and we have no idea how long it's been infested -- the whole thing could collapse tonight), and have a fumigation scheduled for tomorrow. So, for the second time this spring -- on an even bigger scale, we completely emptied it. And of course, now that it's empty, all I can see are walls to be painted & shelves to be installed. Meanwhile, ~80% of our storage is all spread out on the lawn, again. At least it's hidden from most of the neighbors now thanks to the great new gate & mini-fence at the front of the house. (I hope the neighborhood raccoon doesn't go crazy out there tonight!)

Although I no longer consider cleaning out the duck barn therapeutic, I do have one renewed passion -- painting. Not artistic watercolors or oil-on-canvas type painting, but house painting. I can't believe how many things around here need it! Trim around the new door & window in the playroom, touch-ups all over the playroom, new semi-gloss trim "applesauce" in the great room, trim in our bedroom (one piece of moulding behind the door), trim in the mud room, touch-ups in the mud room, green in Avery's room (ahhhhhh! we finally found it when we cleaned out the duck barn, and now we can finally cover the patch from the bathtub installation/repair with the actual matching color). And, of course, then there's priming & painting the outside of the house, and the main entryway door needs to be stained. And then there's the ENTIRE downstairs basement to be painted -- every wall in the hallway & family room, the built-ins, my goodness, I hope painting doesn't make me crazy either.

Now, I just need to figure out how to add a few hours to my days so I can get this all done. . . before it's time to start re-painting the house.

Chaos Theory

No matter how straight forward things seem to be, chaos abounds. Take yesterday, for example. Jordan got a cold over the weekend and was seriously bogged down in mucous, but we were holding our own at home with Benadryl & the suction machine. But by Monday she was slowing down, and Tuesday morning was the lull before the storm. By mid-afternoon I was on the phone with her pediatrician, and together we decided she needed some respiratory therapy and probably a little oxygen for awhile, along with a chest x-ray to make sure she wasn't developing pneumonia.

We also agreed that instead of driving down to Emanuel in Portland I'd take her to Salmon Creek 3 miles from here, BUT IF she did need to be admitted, she'd have to be admitted at Emanuel. I agreed, risking it, certain that we'd be home in a few hours. In fact, I was so certain we'd be home in a few hours, I didn't even stop to pack my stuff, and just grabbed a few bare essentials for Jordan, and some arts & crafts for Avery's entertainment.

Life at Salmon Creek is sooooooo calm & the service is so timely. What a great experience (not to knock Emanuel at all). We met a new ER doc that we quite liked, the nurses started an IV and drew blood with the first poke, and the respiratory therapist had extracted about a cup of mucous out of her in short order. Within an hour, with a little bit of blow-by oxygen, she was snapping out of it & getting back to normal. Even the x-rays went well; I was able to hold her still & in position for both of them, and Avery scored a couple of stickers for hiding behind the shield with the technician. All was going well, and despite Avery's boredom, she won the hearts of the nurses & the doctor by jumping up and yelling "don't worry Jordan, I have an extra kiss" every time Jordan cried (and usually tried to push the nurses & the doctor out of the way to get to her).

But then chaos took over. The great ER doc told me that Jordan's x-ray showed something inexplicable in or near the upper right lobe. Some options included an enlarged thymus, something weird with a heart chamber, developing pneumonia, or a perhaps she was just in a strange position when they snapped the picture. There was no pediatric radiologist on duty at Salmon Creek, and no one knew what to think of it. So, a few phone calls later and Jordan was being admitted to the floor at Emanuel. . . . Then the real kicker -- the hospitalist at Emanuel (another doc we love) insisted that she be transported by ambulance. Yes, ambulance! There's always a first time for everything. I offered to drive her, but they insisted on an ambulance transport because, at that time, she was on oxygen & had an IV placed.

So, there I was, stuck at the hospital with an ambulance on the way, Avery, & Jordan's wheelchair, and nothing for me. Luckily Devon was on the way to pick Avery up for swimming lessons, the wheelchair fit in the trunk of the Saturn, and there was a carseat in the Saturn for us to use in the ambulance. Of course, by the time the ambulance was there, Jordan was fully "recovered" (the deep suction and blow-by oxygen had worked its course, as planned), and the ambulance was truly overkill. And because Jordan was crabby again (thanks a lot, Keppra), the ambulance crew wanted me to ride with her -- there went my chance to swing by the house and pick up the stuff I guess I should have packed in the first place.

Upon arrival at Emanuel I was pleased to find out that not only was our favorite hospitalist on for the night, Jordan's actual pediatrician was picking up a shift overnight, too. Phew, at least I didn't have to explain Jordan to the residents for a couple of hours. So, we got settled in and made a plan: stop feeding her at 4:00am, take her to x-ray first thing in the morning & have the radiology tech make sure they get a good position, then have a ped radiologist read it. If there was still a problem she'd be NPO for sedation for a CT Scan at ~10:00am. If the x-ray was okay, and her oxygen level was fine (which it was all night), we'd head home and forget it ever happened.

Luckily we were home by 10:00am, instead of heading for the CT scan. Turns out, like her pediatrician suspected, she must have been rotated in a funny position for the x-ray at Salmon Creek. No big surprise there, she's always in a funny position. That's what happens when you weigh 26 pounds and have no muscle control. I did a great job of holding her still at Salmon Creek, but not holding her straight.

As for other chaos last night -- I had to have Devon grab stuff for me and bring it down to Emanuel to get me through night. . . . I'll never risk that again!

Curly Q

It's hard to appreciate Jordan's curly locks, since her head is always resting on something -- and because she doesn't get a lot of baths. She's a beast to bathe! She's over 26 pounds, has no body control, and lifting her in and out of the tub is quite a task. In addition, she's very crabby these days (due to Keppra for myoclonic seizures, I think!), so she's always arching and screaming while she's in the tub, which makes it very easy for her to swallow big gulps of water. Anyway, trust me, it's a task to get the girl all scrubbed up clean . . . . can you say "soap dodger?!?!"

Devon bathed her tonight (phew) then snuggled with her for awhile, so I caught a couple of pictures of them -- fresh, clean curls and all.

And here's a picture of me and of Avery at the exact same age as Jordan (May 2005) hours before her first haircut (a trim of the bangs). Guess where Jordan's curls came from!

Sammy Squirrel

We have about a gazillion squirrels around here, and, according to Avery, they're all named "Sammy." Here's one Sammy snacking on the treats Avery & nana Noma left out on the railing last week. I guess they were on vacation (I thought they were just not interested). Avery has been waiting & waiting, and was tickled to see them being eaten. (None of us knows what type of "berries" they are, but they sort of look like crab apples).

Uh Oh, spotted! Gotta run!

How Dirty Can We Get?

Rain or shine, it was Dozer Day on Saturday. Thankfully it was half-way in between. Not too hot, and not raining. So, dusty is the best word to describe it. Well, dusty & PACKED!!! What a great fund raiser! We even, miraculously, ran into Logan & Dan there. They were in the line to dig right beside us.

After about 30 minutes in line (which is like 3 hours when you're 3, I suspect), Avery had her 4 minutes of digging. She was "into" it for about 1 minute, then spent the other 3 talking to the operator or looking around to see what everyone else was doing (digging, they had about 10 in a row there). Other events included digging for treasures (with a shovel in some sand piles, with mini-equipment in others), climbing all over big machinery (I bet they have a lot of liability insurance for this event), and watching candy fly off a conveyor belt (but not getting to it in time because the girls were too distracted with the horn of the dozer they were on at the time). Then we had an ice cream break & headed home for some more play time.

Waiting, and waiting, and waitingWhen they couldn't stand still anymore it became "Ring Around The Daddy"
Then time to build rock piles
Finally it was Avery's turn to dig
. . . and to watch everything else going on, too
Kate decided she didn't want a turn digging, but had lots of fun going through the tunnel maze. It took awhile for us to extract them, a common problem for all the parents.
Digging with the kid-size equipment was pretty fun, too!
Climbing up on the big dozer (not in operation, except the very LOUD horn!). How to shoot candy all over the place! We missed the action (the girls were on the dozer), but I was glad not to be in the middle of the candy scavange. The big hauler was pretty fun, too. Okay, you drop her, I'll catch her (Avery was not amused, but there was no actual dropping of anyone). Ice cream & snow-cone breakAvery wouldn't let me take a picture of her & her ice cream without sharing the glory with the cool rock she found. Hmmmmm, girl after my own heart? No better way to have ice cream & snow-cones than to trade & have both. Digging for treasuresTheir pretty, smiley-face rings. Not exactly diamonds, but they were thrilled. I guess we probably should have gotten the pretend hard hats on the way in, instead of the way out. . . .

After pizza & hot dogs at home, Kate & Avery played dress-up for awhile with costumes from the Costumes Box (there are ~25 or so in there, various sizes). Kate wanted to be a princess, and was great in the high heels. She was annoyed when I made her take them off to ride the bicycle or go walking around the yard (they're real plastic ankle-breakers!). Avery couldn't decide, so she started off with the spider costume, but soon decided it was more fun to be a police woman and arrest people for "breaking the log." Kate soon got tired of being arrested. . . no matter what she was doing (the dangers of having just a little too much power).