I meant to make this entry yesterday.
My Dad, Gunner's Mate First Class Jeff Dowell, Jr. He was twenty years old in this picture, preparing to head out to sea on the USS TAPPAHANNOCK, an oiler servicing the big ships in the Pacific during WWII.
http://journals.aol.com/helmswondermom/OurFamilyStory/entries/934
There are things that are just inexplicably pleasurable to the senses. Things like popping bubble wrap or squeezing those little squishy things that are supposed to relieve tension – and they do! Certain words are pleasurable for the way they sound; others for the way they roll off the tongue. One of my favorite words is onamatapeia, pronounced on-uh-mot-uh-pee-uh. I may have the spelling wrong, but it’s the pronunciation that counts anyway, because it gives me great pleasure to say it..., to savor it as it rolls off my tongue.
And this time of the year, one of the things that gives me the most inexplicable pleasure is the sound of dry leaves crunching under my feet. My front yard is full of Maple leaves, and I haven’t had any urge to rake them up yet, or to have the kids or Thomas do it. They’ll have to be raked up sooner or later, but for right now I go out of my way just to crunch through them. I crunch across the yard purposefully, taking the long way to get to or from my car or the mailbox. I love the smell, too.
Of course there are times when you don’t want that crunch sound. Like when you’re making your way to your tree stand early in the morning, trying to get settled in before the deer come by. And that’s what got me to thinking about my leaves – tomorrow is the first day of gun season, so we’re getting Thomas all ready to head out early in the morning. Hope he gets one, because our freezer is finally empty of venison.
There are probably readers out there who don’t care for hunting, and I respect that. I grew up with fresh meat as a big part of my diet, and so did Thomas. We never buy beef anymore, unless it’s ground beef. Thomas usually gets three or more deer a year, so we fill our freezer and then give meat to our families and friends, and especially to people we know who are struggling to make it. It’s good, lean meat, no additives, no preservatives, and we process it ourselves so we know it’s clean and unspoilt. And it tastes great too! When it’s our deer, processed by us, there is no strong, wild flavor. And we don’t make much of it into ground meat or salami or whatever – it’s roasts, steaks, stew meat and ribs for us! We don't hunt for the "outdoor experience", or for socializing puposes (no drinking, no smoking allowed), it's not a "get out and do something with the guys" type of thing. (Actually, there are only a couple of men that Thomas will hunt with. He's very particular when it comes to his hunting.) And it isn't about the rack either. We both prefer a doe over a buck. So it's all about the meat with us!
Saves some money through the winter months as well.
Our kids have grown up with deer meat. When Andrew was little he wouldn’t eat anything unless you told him it was deer; so I had to preface everything with the word deer: deer-bacon, deer-chicken, deer-turkey, etc. Once when Eler Beth was little we were having dinner at my Mom’s and when I asked her if she’d like some roast beef she said, "What’s beef?"!!! She knew hamburger was from cow, but roasts and steaks were venison as far as she knew. She was about three years old, and when I told her what beef was she went running to Andrew, "Andrew, Andrew guess what we’re having for dinner! Beef! And guess what beef is! Cow!"
Boy did Thomas and I feel guilty!So I guess we’ll see if the great hunter takes one tomorrow. He probably will, but then you never know.
My baby girl is feeling better. I kept her home the rest of the week though. Her fever didn't really begin to go down until around noon on Wednesday. She finally ate a little that evening. But until today she has kept a low-grade fever. Her doctor called yesterday to let me know that the other strep tests had come back normal. So I guess she just had some viral infection or flu virus. Who knows, with all the crud that's going around right now. I don't like to see her down like that with a fever. She's so active, it just really hurts to have her so sick. So far Andrew has only had a sore throat lately. He just bought one of those DDR games for Game Cube (Dance Dance Revolution), and I think he's about to wear himself out on it, though. (You can actually see how many calories you burn using it; maybe I should commandeer it a few days a week!)
Thomas and I had a nice, relaxing evening. He had shot his newest muzzleloader right after work today, sighting it in, and so tonight he sat here cleaning it, and I kept him company. Of course while he was cleaning the gun I was on the computer, messing around, and AOL Radio has been playing the best 70s music on their Super '70s station. We were both singin' along and gettin' down!
Oh. I just had a thought. Maybe that's why the kids didn't interrupt us? You know, I was thinking how wonderful it was that they were leaving us alone and we were getting some down time, companionably doing our respective things, but enjoying the music together. Now I realize that our jammin' was acting as a protective barrier. I'll file that away for future reference.
Thomas came home from work with a good story today.
It seems that one of the guys (a mechanic) that works at his company had a very bad toothache yesterday. We’ll call him "J". Apparently J didn’t want to take off work to go to the dentist. Or the tooth was so bad that he thought he wouldn’t have any trouble. Or maybe he’s just an idiot.(!) Anyway. He decided to pull it himself. At work. With needle-nose pliers.
Half the molar came right out. The rotten half.
The other half apparently had a very healthy and very long root and refused to budge.
Me, appalled, "Did he go to the dentist today?"
Thomas, laughing, "He had to! His wife made him! He tried and tried, but he couldn’t get it out with the pliers!"
Me, cringing, "I should hope not! Of all the stupid things!"
Thomas, reasonably, "Yeah! He should have used those bent-nose pliers. They would have grabbed the tooth better!"
I've never had a problem with age or the idea of aging. My mother was 42 when I was born, and I never really thought of her or my Dad as being "old" even in their seventies and eighties. They never acted old. And although there is a large spread of years between me and the oldest of my siblings, again, none of us really seems old. And even as a young child I always liked being around older people.
I have even thought, and indeed spoken aloud my thoughts, about looking forward to turning 50 and getting to join The Red Hat Society. And things like Senior Discounts and AARP have actually appealed to me. I mean, I've gotta get old, anyway, right? So why not look forward to some perks?
Well, I'm beginning to get really irritated!
I'm 39. I'm five months away from turning 40. And the AARP has been knocking down my door (mailbox) trying to get me to contact them and register for all their wonderful benefits! EIGHT TIMES so far this year!!!
Five years ago I got something from them in the mail, and I sniggered and showed it to my husband and threw it away. Obviously a mistake. Two years ago I got something. Again, obviously a mistake. Last year I got one letter. I started to feel a trifle paranoid. Why were these people insisting I was 50?
Now enough is enough!! Today I got the EIGHTH letter of 2005, wondering why I haven't registered yet! It starts out "Our records show that you have not registered to receive the benefits to which you are entitled." I think I'll return their little form and see what happens. I wish there were a live person I could contact to ask why they think I'm 50. The name and address are mine. And apparently they've been able to follow me, because the first one I got was right before we bought our current home and moved into it.
I have my birth certificate. I have my memories. I have corroboration of people I've known all my life that I was actually born in 1966. I know I'm 39. I haven't slipped through some time warp. I haven't pulled a Rip Van Winkle. And for some reason, although never bothered by judgements about age before, for SOME reason, this insistance by this organization that I am 50+ has really bugged me! Maybe I'll check their website (surely they have a website?) and see if there's someone I can contact. Because for 11 more years I want the AARP to leave me alone!
Someone once sent this to me, and I really liked it!
Apples and Wine
Women are like apples on trees.
The best ones are at the top of the tree.
Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt.
Instead, they just take the rotten apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy.......
The apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing.
They just have to wait for the right man to come along -- the one who's brave enough to climb all the way to
the top of the tree.
Share this with other women who are good apples, even those who have already been picked!
Now Men....
Men are like a fine wine.
They begin as grapes, and it's up to women to stomp the crap out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.
Doesn't that just warm your heart....
I have been home for the past two days. I had taken a PTO day for Tuesday. I thought I'd get some work done at home and go have lunch with Eler Beth at school as a surprise. But about midnight Monday she crawled into bed with us complaining of a headache. She was burning up! I took her temp and my thermometer read 102.5. I got her some Motrin and some juice and sat up with her for awhile. She was hot one minute and cold the next and her headache just wouldn't go away. She finally fell back asleep with me rubbing her head.
Needless to say Tuesday didn't go quite as I'd planned.
Her fever would not stay down. But she had no other symptoms. She was achy and headachy, which could just have been from the fever. No stuffy head, stomache-ache, sore throat, coughing or sneezing. But her neck was stiff and sore; so that worried me.
So I took her to the docter. The rapid Strep came back negative, but they took a second culture to send off. Her throat was a little irritated, but not too much. Her ears looked fine and they could find no congestion, neither chest nor sinus. They did a urinalysis and it came back fine. So the doctor said, "So I'd like to check her blood count, just to be sure." "Okay," I said, but inwardly I was thinking, "Oh, well, shoot! It's going to be next to impossible to get her to sit still for this!" I didn't say anything about what was coming, but when the nurse came in and started getting everything out, Eler Beth grabbed my hand and scooted closer to me. "Mom, what's that!" she quavered. "We're just going to have to prick your finger and get a little blood, that's all," the nurse said. Yeah. Right.
It took a few minutes and a threat to call Dad to get her to unclench her fist. My little drama queen! "It will be over in just a minute" was countered with, "Mom, you just don't understand!" "Remember "M" (her cousin with diabetes, two years older than she is) has to do this every day" was met with "I don't care!" "If she can't get it all this time she'll just have to do it again" got "No she won't!" Finally it was done.
Her white count came back fine, but the type of white cells indicated a bacterial infection, not viral. So it probably is strep throat. But the doctor said if the stiffness in her neck and shoulders worsened at all to get her to a hospital. She wrote a scrip for Amoxycillin just to be on the safe side, and I'm still giving her Motrin.
It took until about 11:30 this morning for her fever to go down and stay down. She was finally able to eat a little applesauce this morning, and she's napping right now. But she was up and down all night, restless, so consequently so was I. I should know by Friday if it is strep. The stiffness is better, but she is still achy. I was able to take another PTO for today, but I may see if someone can stay with her tomorrow. Hopefully by Friday she can get back to school.
As for the things I wanted to do around the house -- oh well! I did manage to get some laundry done. I guess the little projects I wanted to do will just have to wait for the weekend.
