our weekend

Went hunting/camping this weekend.  Not LOADS of fun, but not bad.  We left Friday morning [took Gman out of school with teacher permission] and drove 2 1/2 hours to the Land.  The Land is inhabited by one camper that sleeps 2 people, a 1950s city bus stripped of the interior attached by a doorway to a second camper - sleeps 4 - 6 depending, a third camper that doesn't belong to us, 2 outhouses, a shower shed [rubbermaid shed with a special camping shower] and a work shed.  I call it the Dent County Davidian compound.  It looks like something you'd expect to see in Deliverance.  We stayed in the original camper that has sturdier beds.  Truthfully, though, I hate staying in the camper.  Everytime we go there I have to sweep the beds free of mouse poop.  It totally grosses me out.  We put these great fluffy camping mattresses on top of the beds so we never come in contact with the mouse poop, but even knowing it was there is ick.  I also worry that the boy will get a disease of some sort because I obviously can't get all the mouse poop.  There's tons of it [a bit of an exaggeration] and it's all over the place.  I'd prefer to stay in a nice clean tent.  But that isn't as secure or safe from the elements, so I have to tough out the mouse poop.

When we got to camp, Dad unloaded a couple tons of gravel [no exaggeration] and I swept the mouse poop, while the boy twirled with delight to be again at the hunting camp.  Throughout the day he and I read Peter and the Starcatchers while Dad did some camp maintainence.  Gman misunderstood and thought that he was going to go deer hunting with his little Cricket Rifle [bolt action that only holds 1 bullet at a time and is impossible for Gman to shoot without help from me or dad - he doesn't have the finger strenght to pull back the safety].  After lunch the boy and I shot his Cricket and I shot my .38 while Dad got camo'd up to go bow hunting.  Then the boy got camo'd up and they left.  I was right on about estimating how long they'd be gone.  I got about an hour nap out of the whole thing.  We started a fire and the boy played in it [poking it with a long stick].  I was supervising but he managed to heft some burning embers onto his shoulder and proceeded to burn his hands trying to get it off himself.  Very minor burns [no blisters and no red spots even] but it made him wary of the fire so I was thankful in the end.  Lesson learned with very minor damage - if any - and now he is cautious around fire.  After dinner he had fun peeing outside, gathering leaves and twigs to throw in the fire pit [it's 5 feet in diameter], and playing with the flashlights.  He got tired around 7:45 so we washed up and went to bed.  We read a few chapters of his book and he was out.  All that outdoor play really tired him out.  Dad and I returned to the fire to have one last drink.  We marveled at the stars - millions of them clearly seen - and at the people in the early centuries who figured out all the stuff about them and listened to the owls hoot.  No coyotes this time unfortunately as it is really cool to hear them sing.  We did hear a few cows lowing, but it's not the same.  We went to sleep without turning on the heater and it was a bit nippy.  Fortunately for me, I slept with Gman as Dad got up at 4:30 to go hunting again and I didn't want him waking up the baby.  The baby is a great little furnace however.  He exudes heat and kept me warm since he's also a cuddle monkey and cannot sleep in the same bed with someone without taking over the whole thing.  It was like having a little electric blanket pressed to my back.  Once Dad left to go hunting the boy and I went back to sleep and slept until 8 AM [he woke up at 6 something with the sun but I told him there was no way I was getting up with the sun and he'd do better to get a little more sleep because I'd be a much more pleasant mother later in the morning.  He listened].  We laid around, read more from our book, and played make believe.  We got up around 9 - 9:30 and went outside.  I made a fire and made some breakfast.  We read more of our book while he ate his breakfast.  When Dad got back we shot our guns again.  The neighbors came up about noon while we were eating PB and crackers with their dog Rocky.  Gman really attached himself to Mrs. Neighbor.  They were throwing things in the fire together and then he showed her his rifle and let her shoot it.  Once they headed home for their own lunch we started packing up.  We left about 4 something and Gman - exhausted from all the outdoor play and excitement - slept for about an hour of the 2 hour drive home.

So really, except for the mice poop, we had a really nice time. 

Camping

We're going camping/hunting this weekend.  Archery season started and Dad wants to teach Gman about hunting.  Gman is all into it already, but doesn't understand the part about sitting quietly in a tree.  He's okay with the killing of animals as he understands that's how we get our meat and he's also okay with his dad killing stuff as he's helped skin deer and rabbits.  I'm not sure how he'll do sitting in a tree for long periods as last time he went out in a blind and his dad read him stories while they sat in a hunting blind and then he fell asleep.  I give it about an hour from the time they leave camp, walk to the tree, climb it, sit for 15 minutes, have to climb down and walk back to camp.  If he has to pee in the pee jug, well, then I give it an extra 15 minutes for the joy of peeing outside and into something unusual.  But the whole family is going so I will tend the fire and read a book while they are gone.  I think I may bring my DVD player and watch the 2nd season of GLEE.  I think I deserve something nice because I'm going to have to get up with the Sun on my one day a week I get to sleep past 6 AM.  And as we all know, sleep is very important to me.  I don't give it up lightly.  But Gman got his first progress report from school yesterday and had straight As in all his subjects, behavior, and effort.  He deserves a treat as well.

Among the .....

I 've started reading a series of books by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Among the Shadows, Among the Imposters, Among the Betrayed, Among the Barons, and 3 or 4 more.  These "Among" books are written for middle school children and aren't very long, but I find myself pondering some pretty heavy topics after I've read them.  The US has gone through droughts and famine and as a result families are only allowed to have 2 children.  The law has only been in effect for about 14 years.  Many families have had 3 or more children and these become the shadow children.  They have to hide because it is an automatic death sentence for them and their families if they are discovered.  Some of the topics I've been thinking about are obvious - forced sterilization of women after their 2nd child, a culture that makes pregnancy out to be unattractive and disgusting, abortion, birth control, etc.  But other topics are less obvious.  One thing the kids do to survive is get fake IDs so that they can come out of hiding.  So I've been pondering ... when is it acceptable to deceive or lie?  I was once involved in a theoretical discussion about this various topic.  If you were living during WWII and the Nazi's came to your door and you were hiding people of the Jewish faith, would you lie to protect them?  Or would you be honest and accept the consequences?  Would you allow yourself and your family to die and condem other innocent families to die?  Or would you lie and perhaps add straw to the camel's back toward your own eternal damnation?  Who knows the mind of God?  Would you be forgiven because you were protecting someone else or does all deception count the same no matter what?  And this is all brought up in my mind because these children and their families are taught to lie the day the kids are born.  As a Catholic birth control is verbotten - so if I lived in that society would I follow the laws of my Church or the laws of the land? 

books

Gman and I have been reading a ton of books.  Picture and chapter books for him, young adult and other stuff for me.  We've come across some great stuff.

 

Gman fell in love with The Black Stallion and the Narnia books.  He was so enthralled with The Black Stallion that he would ask for it when it wasn't time for our nightly read.  He got so excited at certain points that he couldn't lay down and listen, he had to bounce on his knees.  And with all the Narnia books, we read them for bedtime as well.  One Saturday the whole family was wondering what was going to happen next in the last book, The Last Battle and we were just going to read one more chapter, but then we ended up reading the whole thing.  Gman sat still for 2 hours enthralled with the story.

 

I've read a several really great books.  Testimony of Two Men, Pillars of the Earth, and Still Alice [the last about a woman with Alzheimer's].  My favorite so far has been Left Neglected about a woman who suffers a brain injury and becomes unable to perceive things to her left.  She's not blind or deaf on the left, she just doesn't remember that it's there.  This is apparently a read neurological thing that can happen.  The book was written by a neurologist [or neurosurgeon, I can't remember which] and I found the whole clinical aspect of it fascinating, but not nearly as great as the story about how the family grows and changes for the better from having to deal with this issue.

Musclebones

I threw out my back and Gman has been "treating" me.  He's gone with me a few times to the chiropractor and he also thinks he's my doctor.  When I have aches and pains he brings me wet kleenex to put on my "owie" or he squeezes my muscles and I pretend it hurts and then he has to fix it.  It's very cute.  Last night he decided to fix my back [where i have a herniated disk] by pressing on it.  It didn't hurt because he has little pipe cleaner arms.  Plus, even if it had hurt a bit I would still let him do it just because it amuses me that he thinks he's my doctor.  But, thankfully it didn't hurt, although I did pretend to be in some discomfort.  He gave me blankie [his precious] and told me nothing would hurt while I snuggled blankie [who's a girl].  Then he proceeded to treat my "musclebones".  Just about the cutest thing I've heard lately and he does say some cute things.  When he was done with a variety of treatments [including making me do some exercises - which he drew on his chalk board and then pointed out with a marker just like a teacher] not only did he let me snuggle blankie, he volunteered to let me suck his sucky finger [index finger].  I thanked him but declined that privilege.  He did rub his finger against my mouth to show me the dry desicated part that he likes best.  It was weirdly touching.

 

Today is picture day at school.  Last year they didn't have anyone to take pictures, but thankfully, this year we do.  He looked so cute in his uniform this morning with his little plaid tie and sweater.

Spring Break Fun

Gman is on Spring Break this week.  He and his dad had an outing to a train museum today.  Yesterday they went to 2 WHOLE HARDWARE STORES!!!!  Gman loves riding on the tractors and visiting the hammers.  I ended up with 4 dogwood trees and a cherry tree [to pollinate my current cherry tree].

 

He's been saying funny things again.  I woke him up the other morning and all day, to both me and his father, he kept grouching that I'd "ruined his dream".  He apparently was having a lovely dream and my waking him up destroyed it.  Bad Mama!

 

We were taking a walk the other day and he looked up at me and said, "Mama, my legs are weary."  I don't think I've used the word "weary" since I learned to spell it in 3rd grade and I have to admit, I'm still not sure if that's the right way to spell it.  What 5 year old says these things!

these days

Gman has been in a great mood these days.  Maybe it's something about getting out and playing now that it's spring.  He hasn't been getting in trouble in school and he's been more agreeable at home.

 

The other day Tom was driving him to school when an ambulance drove past, siren blaring, and Gman began positing reasons a person might need an ambulance.

 

"Maybe someone broke their arm, Dad." 

"Sure, Son, that could be what happened."

"Maybe someone broke their leg."

"That's another good reason."

"Maybe someone got real sick and needs an operation." 

"Sure."

"Or maybe they're just drunk."

 

Due to a circumcision that didn't heal the right way, we've been having to put goop on the boy's private parts.  Each time we do it he tells up we like torturing kids.  His face is so sincere and mad and he just looks so fierce as he accuses me of enjoying torturing him that it's hard not to smile which only gets me in more trouble.  Of course I don't enjoy the whole process because I love him immensely and hate to see him uncomfortable let alone in pain, but the look on his face is priceless.

 

On the way to school this morning a cement mixer was getting ready to pour a patch of concrete for a street.  Naturally the boys were thrilled, but also very sad because, well, they were on the way to school and couldn't really stop to watch the whole process.  As they drove on Gman was talking about how great it would be to be able to watch the whole process.  Dad agreed.

 

Gman: "It would be even better if we lived on the street.  That way we'd be right there."

Dad:    "And we wouldnt' be in the way and we could see the whole thing." [not sure that Gman wouldn't want to get in the way and 'help'

Gman: "That would be great, Dad."

Dad:    "And we could set up some lawn chairs and watch from the comfort of our own house."

Gman: "And we could make some popcorn and it would be just like watching a movie!" - only little boys would equate the pouring of concrete with watching a movie, I'd liken it more to watching paint dry.  But that's the great thing about having a dad who was once a boy, he remembers what it was like and how great it is to see those construction trucks in action.  We had a telledine deliver some bricks the other day and Tom mentioned there was a forklift at our house while Gman was at school.  You would have thought he missed seeing one of the seven wonders of the world.  He was crushed, but he got over it when they saw the cement mixer.  Maybe they'll be lucky and see an excavator at work on the way home.

 

Tom is going to build a small retaining wall in the front of the house and yesterday he spent the day digging up the trench he needs.  When Gman got home from school, instead of playing, he wanted to help Dad dig.  So Tom would break the soil with his big shovel and Gman would dig out portions with his little one, natually wearing his yellow gloves with the caterpillars on them [AKA his "work" gloves] and his bright green, smiley face rain boots.  He was adorable.  And he had to give me a "tour" and show me where he had been digging and then he gave one to each of his sisters in turn.  He was quite entertaining.  "and here's where I was digging.  You can tell because it's so straight.  And here's where the bricks are, I helped Dad unload the wheelbarrow." and on and on.  Like the time he was giving the girl's uncle a tour of the house...."and here's the basement.  It's not very exciting."  Like it was his own little fiefdom.  Well today when he left for school he asked Dad not to build the wall without him.  He was very sad to hear that Dad had to get it down, but was cheered up at the thought that there was the whole other side of the wall to dig out yet.  I'm sure I'll be getting a tour of that as well.