With N, came Teddy. Energetic. Cheerful. Spirited. And so cute. What isn't there to love?
Well, there is the point of the flea colony that transferred its residency from his fur to our rugs. But maybe we should just look on it as an opportunity for learning?
A Math Lesson: Female fleas produce about 50 eggs per day. Multiplication enough to quickly take over any room.
A Biology Lesson: After trying many "natural methods" we ended up coating the affected rugs with Diatomaceous Earth. This became a precursor and practical application to our study of the diatoms in Kingdom Protista.
An Economics Lesson: It's cheaper to buy the monthly flea treatment than to rid the household of fleas, buy a carpet cleaner and replace the vacuum that could not handle the DE intake.
A Time Management Lesson: How do you treat large areas of the house with a substance that is not suppose to be breathed in, while maintaining a safe environment for a three year old plus others? Timing is the key.
Relgion? "Mom, why did God make fleas anyway?" and the opportunity to say as Paul did, "...for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." (Phil. 4:11)
Thanks Teddy for expanding our world. We still love you.
Baxter delighted in darting by D as he opened the door. She began barking as she followed in the delivery man's footsteps. He probably set a new record in heart rate as he raced down the driveway. He also probably didn't hear as C called "Sorry!" as C tried to reign in our self proclaimed guard dog. Hopefully they pay well at Fed Ex.
The kids have been begging for weeks to go and see the new puppies of friends of ours. All reason seems to go out the door when one begins to play with a cute 4 week old puppy. But C remains firm. No more dogs!
The unique thing about our town is the many miles of golf cart paths that meander through the neighborhoods. The first day of winter break the younger set and friends set out on the golf cart to play at the local playground and feed the geese.
***Our gas powered nine seater golf cart can get us around in style!
The kids quickly discovered that the geese prefer pretzel sticks picked from the snack bin over seed pods picked from a tree.
Besides the comfort of having all ten of us under one roof, N brought excitement with him in his 1 1/2 week visit.
On this visit N introduced Theodore, "Teddy" his 7 month old poodle, to our home. Frisky, happy Teddy took to the commotion of our household quickly as well as provided a bit of commotion himself. His unwelcome habit of eliminating in the house led to A's first clearly strung together words, "Dog Poop Ewww!" Having a lap dog in the house was a delight, especially for the younger kids. Though we quickly realized that a trip to Pet Smart for a lamb cut was needed to restore a pleasant odor and order to his smelly matted fur. Teddy was obedient and earned his Good Dog Award, and his Pet Report Card stated he was "a little angel." He went away fluffy and came back looking like one of those circus poodles often appearing in children's book illustrations. Teddy's visit wearied one soul. After about 5 days Baxter was beginning to exhibit signs of displeasure at having a 4 legged housemate. She welcomed us every morning with the contents of her stomach by the front door and began to chew at her fur. (Symptoms which disappeared with Teddy's absence.)
**K inspects Teddy's new do.
The other tale of N's visit began while we were Christams shopping the Saturday before Christmas. N received a call from a friend in a neighboring apartment informing him of a broken window. Upon entering the apartment the friend discovered N's plasma tv was missing as well as a few other items. How does one carry a 52" tv from a second story apartment without being seen? Since the roomates suspected the culprit was a neighbor, they monitored Craig's List for a tv fitting the description. Lo and behold, one was listed by their supicious neighbor under an email containing his name! The police were able to contact the culprit and eventually arrested 4 suspects of many area robberies.
K was excited to attend the Preview Weekend at Covenant College (http://www.covenant.edu/) on top of Lookout Mountainas a piece of
the information needed to explore the options for her future. The weekend
went according to plan. She stayed in a dorm with a friend, toured the
campus, attended classes, was entertained by campus events (battle ball, a
talent show, movie on the lawn, etc.) and enjoyed eating in the
cafeteria. All in all, she decided she'd like college life and could see
herself benefiting from the education offered at Covenant.
Since we can never pass up an opportunity to make an adventure out of the
ordinary, S and E joined K on her adventure. We celebrated E's birthday
touring the campus and then leaving K at Covenant while we checked into a local
hotel. K's friend directed us to large shopping mall where E could pick
out a few birthday gifts. We ended the evening eating ice cream in a
comfy king bed while watching the Palin/Biden debate on a large screen TV
without the reception fuzz of home. What a treat!
Meanwhile at home: C had the experience of packing the dog and the 5 remaining
children into the suburban and traveling up to Chattanooga to join us. He managed to
do this while "working." The kids were respectful enough that
he could get in a few calls between stories of Hank the Cowdog. S did
laugh as they arrived at the hotel at about 5 p.m. M was still wearing
his pj bottoms, A had no shoes and several were in need of redressing so as to
look respectable before we headed to the restaurant for J's birthday dinner. (S feels secure that she can keep her job :-) )
***The girls in the restaurant.
If the Lord sees fit to send K to Covenant, we’ll enjoy
visiting her and exploring the nearby interesting city of Chattanooga.This weekend the incredible weather added to the fun of the trip.After dinner we walked around the city and
across the Walnut Street Bridge. Built in 1890 to span the Tennessee River and repaired in the 1980’s for use
as a pedestrian bridge, it has the distinction of being one of the longest
pedestrian walkways in the world (all 2,376 ft of it.)
***C carries A over the Walnut Street Footbridge Birthday boy J surrounded by 5/7th of his siblings.
On Saturday C joined K to check Covenant out for himself.The rest of us were amazed by the abundance of
variety of life in the ocean and rivers at the Tennessee Aquarium. Sea horses, Fish, Penguins, Rays, Turtles, and more fish! http://www.tnaqua.org/index.asp
**On the way to the musuem we played with bubbles outside the Creative Discovery Museum (a children's musuem)
***A, now 2, gets to carry her own provisions.
***M, L and D play "inside" the king crab exhibit. ***L and D with a replica of a Stupendemys Geographicus shell. The largest fresh water turtle that ever existed is now extinct. ***M enjoys watching a butterfly at the butterfly house.
C, J and D were sweating away navigating an orienteering course with the Boy Scout Troop and K was dutifully obtaining her card from a Alcohol and Drug Awareness Program required to get her license. (Which, by the way, she received a 100% on her test and got the experience of witnessing the effects of Methamphetamine on a person as he was escorted through the police station.) The rest of us were searching for something to do in the Griffin area for the four hours we waited on her.
That's when we came upon a little story about Evidence, a young zebra who was found on the roadside of Interstate 75 last spring. He was injured and taken in by an animal rehabilitation facility called Noah's Ark. The story of Evidence, so named because the abandoned zebra was evidence that God cares for even the little ones, captured M's heart. He empathized with him all day as he walked around looking at the other animals. "I would hate to be Evidence, going bump out of a truck"... Soon he was asking the story behind all the other creatures. The link below tells more of the story of Evidence and Noah's Ark.:
Unphased by comments of others, M and L dressed as American Revolution Soldiers all weekend. On this hot afternoon the clothing was minimized to the modern standard American dress, but the hats remained.
O.K.... If the find of hundreds of centipedes in our basement and the tales of scorpions by our summer house guests weren't enough, last night D and C humorously pieced together a scenario of how the mouse scat and this snake skin made their way into my bathroom cabinet while we were out....
