Trauma

Friday morning, when I got to work, I noticed that my phone was dead. Not too concerned, I usually just talk to Kev. So, I put it away and went on with the day. At 5:30, when he picked me up, I plugged it in the car charger and we went to Walmart to get some paint and “stuff.” Got out to the car a little after 6 and we decided to stop at KFC to get supper. Miss Kat has been nagging us all week to bring KFC home. Before we went in, I checked my phone to see if she’d called, because she usually calls several times a day.

One message. From 8 a.m. It was Andy saying “Mom, Kat and I locked ourselves out of the house. Kat doesn’t have her phone and I don’t even have the pickup keys, so Josh is picking us up and is taking us to school.”

Fine, except for one minor detail…what was Kat going to do after school? Andy had a track meet out of town. Kat got out of school at 3:15. It was now 6:30. So I called Kat’s phone. No answer. I called the house. No answer. I then called Andy and asked just what his sister was doing after school since she couldn’t get in the house. His answer? “Gee I don’t know. I guess she’s at home.” Which ticked me off. I mean, he left knowing she couldn’t get in the house. He left not knowing what she was going to do, and knowing she didn’t have her phone on her. Men (and I use that term loosly) are jerks.

So, I hoped that she had either gone home, or had gone home with a friend. Kev has told her, that if she's locked out of the house, to just go wait in the shop till we got home. But, we are usually home by 6:00 at the latest. We got supper and hurried home. But, I was worried.

We turned down our road and there she was, with both dogs, heading to town, bawling her head off. She’d rigged up two rope leashes for the dogs. She turned around and ran home and straight into my arms, sobbing hysterically. She was a mess—emotionally, fine physically.

She’d rode the bus home, sat in the diesel (which had the key in it) and listened to the radio, read her book, went to the shop and played with the kittens, waiting for us. Poor girl waited for 4 hours. She tried to break into the house with screws and a knife and who knows what other devises—left lots of burrs and scratches on the locks. She’d cried some, but wasn’t worried, because she expected us by 6:00 at the latest. And then 6:00 became 7:00 and we still weren't home.

By then, she was worried about US. She started imagining that we had been in a wreck. She imagined that we were stranded somewhere. She imagined that she’d be stuck outside, alone, and would starve to death, or be taken by some child molester. She imagined that she'd have to wait until 10:00 when Andy got home and they'd be stuck outside, alone, without any parents. She was scared. She’d been outside, waiting for 4 hours. She was really scared.

Me, I was worried too. I was worried about her being home scared, alone, no way to communicate with us, or anyone. I was hoping that she’d have gone home with one of her friends and left a message on the machine at home. I wanted Kev to drive much faster to get home to my little girl…One additional problem..we didn’t have a key to any doors either! We had one key that we knew opened one door. Oh, we were given a handful of keys when we bought the house, but could only get ONE to work. Kev and I relied on the garage door opener to get us in, and it hasn’t been working right, sometimes, it wouldn’t open the garage doors. So, I was afraid she’d be scared, and I was afraid that the garage door wouldn’t open, and we wouldn’t be able to get in, and Kev would have to break either a door or a window. And, then he’d be mad and so I’d be left dealing with a mad husband and a scared daughter, which would make ME mad…because Men are jerks…

So, of course, when we got home, she was emotionally a mess. Fortunately, the garage door opener DID work. We got into the house. It took me several minutes to get her calmed down. It took me several minutes to calm myself down too. She was more upset than I have ever seen her. I really didn’t know what to do. So, I let her cry and hugged her, held her on my lap, let her talk about everything she'd done, and about everything that had scared her and everything she had imagined might have happened to us. Her father thought she was being overdramatic…men are such jerks. He wasn’t very sympathetic and told her she shouldn’t have gotten scared, because she should know that we’d come home eventually…men are such jerks.

Me, I let her cry. I know, if it had been me, I’d have been just as scared. She was fine within a few minutes, probably 15-30 minutes. The KFC helped her tremendously :), but she was wiped out emotionally.

So, Kev put on a new lock, one with extra keys. He brought an extra key to town with us today to get a copy for Kat, a copy for Andy, one for him, and one for me and one to hide out in the shop—just in case. We had a conversation with our children…asking questions like, why didn’t Andy call his dad when he couldn’t get me…and why didn’t they make a plan and let us know? And why on earth did they walk out of the house without pickup keys and house key and phone. Just what in the world were they doing? And we discussed what Kat should do next time (not that any of us think there will be a next time.) But, she’s ok. And we are finally getting much needed keys made. But I sure wish we could have done it all without all the trauma.

It's finished!

The chicken mansion is finished! It's complete. It's done. Well, except for painting. I have to paint it. Relatively soon.

Kev and I spent most of the day on Saturday working on finishing it up. We put in the windows, which actually open and close and have screens. We put in the chicken door--you know, that little door that chickens can go in and out, but humans and dogs are too big to get in and out. Kev started on the nesting boxes, and we need to make more permanent roosts, but the structure itself is complete.

We also put up a fence Saturday. The fence is mainly a deterrent for foxes and raccoons. And, until the chickens learn to watch for danger, it's to keep them closer to their shelter. They'll have to learn to watch for hawks and such, but that's something I can't teach them.

Last night, in celebration, I fed them some week-old, dried out donuts. Oh, and some week old popcorn. But, these chickens aren't used to having food tossed to them yet. They didn't run to see what I'd thrown down, instead, they ran away. Won't take them too long to learn to run to me when I call, "here chick chick..." Since these guys wouldn't come to me, I put their donuts and popcorn in their feeders. I'm sure it's gone by now.

I'll try to get out with the camera and take some pictures. But, I have to admit, I'm quite proud of our chicken mansion.

signs of spring

Yesterday, the wind was howling around 40 miles per hour. It was cold, about 40 degrees, and misty, raining on and off all day long.

And yet, last night, I found a definate absolute sign that spring is really here.

No, it wasn't the chicks, it wasn't the daffodills, or the eleven kittens who were born on our place with in the last month or so, and, it had nothing to do with it being track meet season either.

I found a tick.

In my hair, crawling up some hair right beside my face. [insert shudder here]

I hate ticks. HATE ticks.

And I don't know where he came from. All ticks are "he". Nasty little blood suckers that they are...

I wasn't around any trees, or in any tall grass. The only animals I was near was the cats, who I didn't hold (well, ok, I held a couple of kittens, but they are too small to be out and about) and the chickens who haven't even seen the sky yet.

I have no idea where this nasty little bloodsucker came from, but I'm glad he was still crawling when I found him. The only thing worse than finding a tick crawling on you is to find one that has his head stuck under your skin. [insert another shudder here]

Ick.

If the ticks are out, it's spring.

Miscellaneous photos

These two shots are of the "Chicken Mansion" in progress. You will notice that the Mansion is elevated, or not sitting on the ground. That's so the chickens can find some shade in the summer heat. There aren't any real significant trees here, and they will need some shade come summer. That's Kev on the roof. The Chicken mansion is almost complete. In fact, the chickens are living in it. I'll get more pictures of it before the interior is covered with chicken poop. (too late!)


This is the view of our house from the general vicinity of the Chicken Mansion. It's an ok house. Our summer project is to landscape the yard. The house has been here for 10 years and no one had really landscaped the yard much. Kev plans on putting in a pond and stream and whatnot...

This one if on Mr. Andy and his date at Prom. No, it's not a full view, but you get what you get. Remember, I said, Miss Kat took most of these photos--and she definitely took this one of her big brother. Doesn't he clean up nicely?

That's it for the photos--right now, today. The rest of the 217 photos were of Miss Kat and her friends...well, not all, a few are of Prom decorations. Let's be honest here, I did not scroll through all 217 photos to find the ones I wanted.

Today...

Today is my anniversery. We've been married 13 years today. At times, it seems like we've been together forever, at other times, it seems like yesterday when we decided to share our lives together, for the rest of our lives.

This morning, Kev actually remembered the date before I did. But, then again, he's awake and alert instantly, me--not so alert. My anniversery gift for both of us is a new TIVO for the Living Room. THis one will allow you to run two TV's off one receiver and record from both TV's while watching a different channel. We have one TIVO in the bedroom, but we won't let the kids use it to record and we aren't as good about watching TV in bed as we thought we would.

I don't know if he got me a gift or not, and it really doesn't matter, because he doesn't have to buy me something to show me he loves me. He shows me all the time how he feels.

Building me a chicken house shows me he loves me, because really the chickens are mine. Yes, Kev enjoys the chickens, he enjoys watching them and he enjoys the fresh eggs, but building a chicken house has taken considerable time and effort on his part. Yes, I've been helping him, but the majority of the work has fallen to him.

Moving shows me he loves me. He was willing to just up and move after living in Colby for 30 years--because I was unhappy in my job and I wanted to someday, be closer to my family. The only family we had in Colby was the family we made together and the family of friends we "allowed" to enter our lives.

Kev's very affectionate. He's always touching me--my shoulder, my back, in public and at home. We spend a great deal of time together, just the two of us. We like being together and we don't have to have outside entertainment, we can entertain each other. The older I've gotten, the more I've realized how rare that is. We talk to each other--real conversations, real observations. We share the good and the bad about our days. We share the frustrations and the joys of our work, and family with each other. I've grown to really enjoy our drives to work together. Some days, we're quiet, other days, we talk.

I often feel that I need to do more to show Kev how special he is to me and how much I love him. Because, I often feel that he's better showing me than I am him. I suck at buying him gifts. I worry too much about it being something he likes, and I can't spontaneously buy him a gift. But, he also sucks at being a gracious gift-receiver. So, that balances out. I like to show him how special he is by cooking him special meals or stepping out of my comfort zone and actually wear that nightie on occassion. I worry too much about NOT looking sexy or being slim, trim, and firm. And, he always makes me feel like I'm the most beautiful and sexy woman on the face of this earth.

Anyway...it's our anniversery today. Thirteen happy years, two beautiful and good kids, a home we are creating together, a shared faith, and joy in each other.

Happy Anniversery Babe!