For those that don't want a lot of words with a few pictures, I'll include below a lot pictures from the trip (and very few words), with all the photo credits going to my dad! And here's the quick run down of their itinerary:
Saturday, March 25 – Leave and drive to Dayton, OH to
visit Jason’s cousin, Steve, and his family
Sunday, March 26 – Drive
to LaPlata, MO to visit our good friend, Adam, at the Possibility Alliance
Monday, March 27 – Arrive in Kearney, NE and spend
evening in blind for Sandhill Cranes at Rowe Sanctuary
Tuesday, March 28 – Morning in blind and spend day
looking/birding around area
Wednesday, March 29 – Drive to Calamus Outfitters in Burwell,
NE
Thursday, March 30 – Morning in blind for Greater Prairie
Chicken lek; Sarafi Jeep tour
Friday, March 31 – Morning in blind for Sharp-tailed
Grouse lek; Drive to St. Louis, MO
Saturday, April 1 – Bird with Bird Pal (to find Eurasian
Tree Sparrow) and visit the City Museum in St. Louis
Sunday, April 2 – Drive to Dayton, OH for another visit
with family on the way back through
Monday, April 3 – Drive HOME!
In short, it was an amazing trip (meeting and exceeding expectations at every turn). And, I think I can safely say, that as much as he enjoyed being with his dad and mine for 10 days, he was happy to return to his home of gals!
I am typing with a very restless napping baby! She fell asleep easily much earlier than normal (11:30 a.m.) but don't know if her stuffy nose or her injury are making her unable to settle. So we'll see how this goes...
Jason is back! Yay!! We (ok I) went from counting the days until his return to the hours and then the minutes. What a delightful sight to see them come up the driveway. It was lovely the evening of his return to review all the lists pictured here and recycle them! I was no longer in charge (with Mom as my side kick!) of the outdoor and indoor plants, composting toilet, eggs in the incubator, hatching chicks, and all the chickens. It felt like an accomplishment to have been able to tend things well and have the place in good shape upon his return, but what a delight to be able to share around the load again. He seemed very eager for the opportunity to dive back in!
In anticipation of his return, I thought it might be a fun time to do what I had been hankering to do for quite some time - chop and donate my hair again. I'm on the "haircut every 2 years" schedule and had a good foot I was able to send off. It was just getting too long to manage (since I have very little time to devote to personal care) and I will admit that I was getting tired of it serving as Terah's security blanket or stuffed animal replacement (she pretty much needed to be stroking or tying it in knots to be able to fall asleep while nursing). So it was for that reason that I was both eager to do it but worried about how it was going to go for her. Let's say that there were a few tears in the first nursing sessions and mostly I moved from having knotted hair to kinks in my neck from trying to bend down far enough for her to reach it. Thankfully, now 5 days out, she seems to have mostly adjusted and I only have to offer her my head for very short stints. Phew! Very grateful that my favorite hair dresser was able to do the honors. Thanks sister!
The other major focus of the days/hours before Jason's return was monitoring (closely day and night) the two incubators full of eggs. We started with 80 eggs, took out 3 infertile in the first candling and 1 in the second. So there were 76 potential chicks under our care! I was worried about messing something up. Thankfully, we had a good hatch and had a total of 59 chicks hatch - my that many chicks can be noisy! Since hatching one has died, Jason had to do one mercy killing, and 18 went off to PA to Jason's brother and girlfriend. So we are still enjoying 39! Here's a very common scene in our home of late!
All the girls love to spend time up there watching them but Terah is more or less obsessed with our fuzzy friends. In the first few days she was cracking us up: saying "boo" at them as they all were trying to take a nap or playing peek-a-boo or just letting out a spontaneous shriek of delight or even reading them stories. I can't say gentleness is yet her forte but she really is doing pretty well, though we do have to watch her closely as she will try to swipe for one and pick it up if she can get close enough. Sadly, it was her enthusiasm for the chicks that was literally her downfall yesterday!
I was just getting to my desk after a lunch presentation when I got a text from Jason that started with "Sad times..." and went on to tell me that Terah had cut her lip. In her eagerness to get up close and personal with the chicks she had run up to the edge of the kiddie pool and then continued going, getting top heavy and falling over the edge, catching the white plastic wall on her lip. While not a huge gash, I am told it bled considerably and she had a good cry before being settled by all the comforting of those caring for her in my absence (a group effort no doubt).
It wasn't long before she sacked out for a nap and I modified my afternoon plans so I could get home early and we could troubleshoot what we needed to do. Initially the thought was that no stitches were needed but then that decision started to come into question - the placement of it made scarring pretty likely and the scarring, we started to fear, would possibly include a healing of tissues where there could be a lump or divot or both on her lip. Once I was home and Terah was awake we checked in by phone with our neighbor who had been an ER nurse. Kali and I did a blitz picking of the spinach patch until he got home and graciously came over and gave us the news we really didn't want to hear, but were grateful for his honesty in giving it. He was clear that if a child came in with that cut he would want to stitch it. He was concerned about how it would heal up and the potential for a nasty and obnoxious scar. He was also clear about the process of what they would do at the ER and that it would be traumatic for her (and us) but would not last long.
So my folks agreed to take Kali and Alida to soccer and after Kali and I had a teary parting Jason and I were off to the ER with Terah. She was not even in RMH's system yet since she had been born at home, which tripped the check-in woman considerably. I feared we were not off to a good start when Terah screamed bloody murder while they tried to get her pulse by putting the little pulse-ox on her foot. She was also not impressed with her ankle hospital band. I was fearing the worst at this point, honestly!
We were put in the fast track waiting (thankfully) and so were called before we had gotten through our full bag of toys and books. The next part was about the worst - getting her weight. Yep, she HATES the scales - she could stand or sit on it but it meant me putting her down in an unfamiliar place with people she was not feeling inclined to be warm and friendly with. They graciously allowed us to get creative and Jason stepped on the scales without her and then with her. She still didn't like it but they got her weight...
The consult affirmed our coming. They would put in one stitch to pull it back together. They kindly explained the process and agreed to put some topical numbing on before doing the needle numbing and stitch. The minutes felt like they went by slowly as we tried to keep her calm and to keep our own anxiety in check. Soon enough they were there with the little board and velcro vest used to restrain her. She screamed, she gagged, she threw up as they tried to clean it with iodine, they cleaned her up again, flushed the spot, she's still crying but not as intensely, they give her several shots of numbing stuff, I sing to her, she cries but is not kicking or fighting, he puts in one stitch, we all breath a sigh when it is in to the point that he almost lets go of the needle before tying it off, she keeps crying but is hanging in there, Jason is rubbing my shoulders while I comfort her, he ties it off and proclaims us done, we unvelcro her, I lift her up and feel a surge of emotion, my ears start to close and I realize I better sit down with her, they leave us alone to nurse, gather our emotions and then we are free to check out and go home!
Oh, it felt so good to be driving AWAY from the hospital. And we even beat the girls and grandparents home from soccer. We found ourselves getting back to our original evening plans - I started washing and processing the spinach, while making popcorn for testing and our first round of fresh spinach dip. Terah did a lot of nursing throughout the evening and was a tad more tender (maybe) than usual, but honestly was such a trooper! Her night was not even so much worse than is normal for her (not saying much, but basically I noted in the morning that I wasn't about to complain - while woken a lot, I spent the full night in bed rather than the chair). She has a little cold two so is contending with multiple uncomfortable sensations.
It feels good to feel like we did the right thing. As soon as the stitch was in and we could see how much of a difference it made, it felt like the wise path to have chosen (even if the hard one to consider initially). Jason and I both felt emotionally weary in the evening. There were aspects of the day, especially for Jason who was with Terah when it happened, that brought back some of the trauma associated with Kali getting burned with hot water around the same age on Wolfe St. Jason noted that Terah falling into the kiddie pool felt similar to how it was when Kali fell into the bath tub - that feeling of being right there and kind of like it was happening in slow motion and he just couldn't get there in time. I was glad in both cases that we could be with our injured daughter together AND that I was still nursing her. Can't quite imagine either ER visit without that method of comfort. It struck me that our neighbor was working as an ER nurse the day we took Nora in the day she was air lifted to UVA. And, this time, while not working at the ER, he still played an important role in our experience; one that we felt very grateful for once again!
So I think the worst is behind us and as we ate last evening I commented on all the things I felt thankful for (little and big things alike): that my parents were around and could help with the older girls, that it was easy for me to clear the last few hours of my work day, that she got a long nap that afternoon and I was able to get a walk in with a friend before coming home, that the ER wait wasn't too long, that the staff there were kind and patient and gentle and competent, that her injury was not worse, that I was still able to get the spinach picked and processed before today's storms, that she did not seem traumatized by the experience and even handled it with a bravery I had not anticipated, that Jason and I were able to be with her and with each other through the experience, that we had my dad's counsel and our neighbor's second opinion to help us make a good decision...So, I'm certainly not looking for more ER visits in our future (no need for Alida to take a turn), but do feel glad for the support and care we received.
Now, I better work on my work backlog from the unexpected hours off yesterday...
How, you might be wondering, did I manage to go on a date when Jason is away?! Well, I enjoyed a glorious morning with our newly turned 6 year old! It was a long time in coming, way overdue, and I really hope 6 more years don't pass before we do it again! It should be a yearly tradition, at a minimum. A big thanks to Mom for hanging with Terah and making it possible. It felt like a selfish birthday present in that it was not only a present for Alida but a huge gift for me too. I have missed having one on one quality time with Alida, and clearly so has she! We soaked up our hours out and about, and I was reminded what an absolute delight Alida is when not competing with our other gals and the many demands of our homestead for my attention.
Alida and I did a few quick errands in the rain before landing at the Little Grill for breakfast. Alida was super chatty about how much fun we were having and were going to have! While we waited for our food to come, we played games. And we played some more while we finished eating and savored our hot drinks. We lingered there for a good while, and thankfully by the time we departed the rain had slowed to a drizzle. Then off to Gift and Thrift and Artisan's Hope for her to pick out her birthday present(s). I should have thought more clearly about how much loot one can acquire for $30 at the thrift store when choosing how much to allocate for her shopping spree. She had so much fun pushing the cart around and making her selections. The most touching part for me was she wanted to go to the dolls first thing. She wanted to buy Terah a doll with some of her money. As we were driving home she said that she wanted to be nice to Terah because Kali had been nice to her (buying her Ashley at Christmas). She commented, "Big sisters pass the love down!"
So, no dates with Jason and while I would say we are all doing ok, we are all missing him. Terah didn't talk about him much in the first few days but the frequency of the word "daddy" popping up in her babbling is increasing a lot in recent days. And the other day when she was hollering "daaaady" and I told her he would be home in 3 days, she stopped what she was doing, clapped her hands, and said, "yay." I couldn't agree more! She was even cheering for Daddy on the sidelines of Alida's soccer game today - hope he felt cheered on towards home, all the way in Missouri!
The girls are both on new teams with new coaches for soccer this spring, and both seemed to enjoy their first week of practice and games. I have to gear up for the season, as I find it rather exhausting to add into the mix, though watching their enjoyment of it does make it feel very worth the effort!
It's been a full and overall good week. I think my arm muscles might show a discernible improvement by the end of this stint of morning chores! Some of those coops are heavy! And I'm getting a little more used to getting pecked when I retrieve eggs. I'm still not enjoying checking the mouse trap and was very sad to have to bury a hen today that died (some kind of heart thing most likely). I love my stints of watching the mama and baby chicks and get a kick out of how very happy the chickens are when I let them out to range. Today when I left the compost coop chickens out the mama hen must have had too much of a hankering for some fresh aid to stay inside. She hopped up and went down the ramp, calling for her chickies to join her. My what a ruckus they made calling her back: "wait, mama, have you looked at the size of our legs and wings? we can't jump up there and join you. we aren't big enough yet! come back! come back!!" And come back she did!
There have been a few curve balls thrown at me in the routine but mostly it's going as expected. The one day I found a hen meandering around the drainfield roving pens and was perplexed. At nightfall she was still there and obviously wanted to go to bed in one of them. BUT which one? I have not paid close enough attention to the moving pens to keep track of which have 5 hens and a rooster, which no rooster, which 3 or 4 and a rooster... So I thought I was smart when I opened one of the doors to collect eggs and she came meandering around the corner, calmly walked inside and up onto the roost by the rooster. Ah, she was home. But, wait, there were now 6 hens and a rooster in that pen and I was pretty sure that was above capacity. Sigh! Now where did she belong? A phone consult with Jason helped me sort out her probable home, but now I needed to get her back there in the dark by plucking her from the roost and putting her on the right roost. I took Kali along out with me to help me be brave, and hopefully convince her to do the plucking! The hen was securely tucked on the far left of the roost kind of behind the rooster and in back of the nest boxes. Bad roost placement choice hen! I looked at the job and felt like I should be on the roost as I felt more or less like a chicken myself. Kali stepped up to the plate and got as far as touching the birds on the roost. Then we both chickened out and relief surged through me as I saw a head lamp bobbing up and down over at Charlie's. Off we went to make our confession of chickennness and beg for help. In about a minute the hen was in her right coop and I imagine our neighbor has enjoyed more than one chuckle at our expense!
Now we are enjoying more chicken action inside the house that it much more my speed - the first chicks are hatching from the 76 eggs in 2 incubators. We were at 4 before Terah's nap commenced, we'll see if the numbers have grown by the time she wakes (I just heard lots of peeping and Kali just poked her head in to say another just hatched). Terah is SO excited about them - shrieking with delight when we go check on them. They were set to hatch tomorrow evening so I'm hoping we will have a good hatch, with these just being the first early ones. I'm hearing plenty of peeping from the incubators from where I sit. Come on chickies! The sooner you all hatch the sooner I can get back to sleeping normally at night. Terah is in a stint of sleeping a bit better and now I'm up every hour or two to check for pips, check temp and humidity on both incubators, or just listening to the peeping and scuffling and hatching action. Sigh...
Ok, I better get a move on as it feels like my "computer related work" these days exceeds (by far) the amount of time I have allotted (and wish) to spend in front of a screen. I do want to note here that the fact that I'm putting up the second blog post since Jason left is in no small part due to my mom's help here on the home front in this time without Jason. There is no way I'd be surviving (and in part even thriving) this week without her! She has watched Terah on the days I've been at work, in the mornings while I do chores, and in many other stints (I even got the shallots and potato onions weeded!). She has read and played with Alida and invited her for multiple sleepovers upstairs. She has fed us, helped me with laundry, done activities with kids when the girls' friends came over and helped us at many of our normal pinch points (bed times and transition times when we need to get somewhere at a certain time) - not to mention helping me pull off three days of special birthday fun for Alida. Thanks Mom!
It is only because she was with us that I felt able to even add in some "extras" this week - we enjoyed going to our neighborhood potluck earlier this week and then yesterday we enjoyed a several hours long visit with our Kurdish neighbors learning how to make their bread and falafel. The girls had a great time playing and we enjoyed visiting, learning and feasting on many delicious foods! Feeling grateful for these new friends and the times we are sharing together, but also wishing that they would never have had to be uprooted from their homes and that they did not have to live worrying for the safety of their loved ones still back home! I want every bite I enjoy of the bread we made together to remind me and inspire me to keep working towards making the world a place in which communities are supported and strengthened and not torn apart!
Sunday afternoon and it's quiet! The only noise I can hear, other than the occasional chicken cackling or rooster crowing, is me typing. That's a change and I'm enjoying it, while also really savoring the memories of the sounds that have filled our house over the last day or two.
As alluded to in the last blog post, this past week was a very full one getting ready to say goodbye to a very intricate member of our homestead for 10 days! Not only does Jason do a lot, the gals in this household are quite fond of him (and the oldest gal, me, found herself in tears as the car pulled away with him in it!). As my mom truthfully noted, I had brought this upon myself, since I was the one who dreamed up the idea to send him off to Nebraska to see the sandhill crane migration. And I'm so glad I did! Stay tuned for a guest blog post by Jason upon his return about the adventures he enjoyed with my dad and his in honor of his 40th birthday (a half year ago).
In the meantime, the news from Tangly Woods: the week was spent in a bit of a mad rush to get as much of the spring planting done before his departure, and to also prepare for Alida's 6th birthday. Maybe not all that surprising in light of that that I woke up Friday not feeling great and as the day progressed I felt worse and worse. I couldn't quite believe the timing for me to land the first virus like this (the achy chills and general blahness kind) for years. I know I feel bad when I can't concentrate on working during Terah's nap and instead snooze through more or less all of it... I managed to keep moving through the list, but at turtle pace and with some help along the way. The weather cooperated beautifully though for us to make an outdoor fire for pizza pockets for our little family bday gathering. Alida loved throwing sticks in the fire, but about drove all of us crazy asking about every minute if it was safe. It was in fact quite safe and I marveled once again at Jason's design expertise and forethought - it was lovely having Terah running around the fire and now worrying about her falling. She was so cute climbing on and off of the chairs. And eating outside makes so much sense with that gal, as she rivals all our others in her ability to make a huge mess at a meal!
The oddest (and most beneficial) side effect of the virus was that I lost my energy for being anxious or worried. This might sound really strange and if I didn't feel it so keenly I'd think it was. But somehow when my body has to turn all its attention to healing, I just don't have a lot of space for getting up tight about other stuff - it's like I go into energy conservation mode and just do the next thing in a more present and calm state. So that was handy on the eve of Jason leaving on a trip taking him farther from us and for longer than we've been apart in our married life.
Thankfully, by Saturday morning, my fever was below 100 and continued to go down and my headache mostly subsided by party time! I'm still not back to normal, but I could go a long time in the state I'm in now, which is eons better than two days ago at this time. It's a good thing because there is nothing like having your partner go away to realize how very much they contribute to the functioning of the household. Other than being someone we like having around a whole lot, there are just many things that normally fall into "Jason's domain" that I'm getting an opportunity to insert myself into: emptying the toilet, monitoring and managing the incubators, tending seedlings, watering gardens and recent transplants, chicken chores, etc... So far so good, I think, but I'm also getting in touch with some of the pressures associated with Jason's daily tasks (for some more than others). When the toilet doesn't get emptied, oh well. We can just switch to the water one. But if the incubators get too hot or the seedlings get to dry or the chickens don't get fed, there are more major consequences for our homestead, and our winter food supply. So here's hoping there are lots of chicks to welcome Jason home next Monday, and that our peas will be sprouting outside and the tomatoes poking up inside.
Before moving on to the birthday celebrations, I'll have to take a minute here to just note that I do have moments of feeling just a tad proud of myself. So I'm not the bravest gal around, I'll be the first to admit. When I give blood, I'm always nervous about the finger stick at the beginning - it's the surprise factor, not the pain, that always gets me. Same with black snakes - I'm fine with them being around, I just don't want to come upon one by surprise. Well, the same is true with hens sitting on nests full of eggs. I've never ever been able to bring myself to just insert my hand under a hen who is cocking her head and eyeing me with that "sure, go ahead and try to get the eggs and see what happens" look. So last evening, I had Terah with me for most of the rounds (which complicates things considerably) and was not wearing gloves (which makes me braver) since it was so warm out. I was almost done rounds when one of the range pens had a hen who had bedded down on the nest. I was not about to lug Terah back to the house to get gloves as there was a birthday party underway that I needed to get back to hosting. So under I went, getting a good number of pecks on the first dive. AND, knowing there were more eggs to be had, I subjected myself to round two. This was not a broody hen, so despite me texting Jason about being pecked savagely, I will now admit that they really didn't hurt and that I have now successfully taken the edge of that particular fear (similar to giving blood - it does get easier over time - not sure I'm quite there yet with being surprised by snakes...).
So it's good and hard - we miss Jason, we will appreciate him all the more after this time apart, we'll be so eager to welcome him home, and we are finding ways to enjoy and thrive during this time apart (it would not be so if my mom were not hear to lend a set of wonderfully capable helping hands and we'll have to check in if I'm still feeling so positive about this whole thing a week from now!).
But the first 24 hours were pretty fun!
When I knew that the timing for this trip was going to fall over Alida's birthday I thought maybe it would be fun for her to have an all girls' party (I was secretly trying to ease any feelings of sadness about Jason missing it - which I think we succeeded in doing)! She was keen on the idea and it was a fabulous one. Maybe it wouldn't be so wonderful if our girls didn't have amazing friends. But they do and it was such a fun time. There was sidewalk chalk drawing ask guests arrived, followed by a little scavenger hunt, some artwork creating outside, and visiting the first brood of chicks before her chosen dinner of rice, lentils and green beans. Then the girls all took off to play while we cleaned up from the first course and they rejoined us for cupcakes she made and decorated with my mom, ice cream and some present opening. Not all the guests slept over but those that did all got ready for bed and lined up for a thriller - the only Max and Ruby movie we own, that Alida loves. It was thrilling enough, anyway, that no one fell asleep during it and they still had enough energy to whisper and giggle through a few reminders that they might want to get some sleep before morning. They actually did better than Terah who kept me up a good half hour after the noise subsided from the front room!
Alida was the only gal still sleeping by about 7, and so we sang Happy Birthday to wake her up. I'm fully expecting if those of us with Alida the remainder of her day special don't treat her with tender loving kindness, she will likely fall apart from exhaustion and sugar overload (we plan to treat her with those things and will hopefully get her to a reasonable bedtime all in one piece!). This morning included the kids playing more "mouse in the house," a game I think our girls invented with I & M but I'm not sure. Oh, and there was more art happening and a few more presents to open and her birthday breakfast (our home grown/nixtamlized/dehydrated/ground grits, eggs to order, chicken sausage, frozen berries and yogurt). The guests dwindled down to the final one leaving a little before 1 p.m.
I found myself feeling so very grateful for the group that had gathered to celebrate with Alida - all kind, good natured, creative, fun, energetic girls/women. And her friends' ages ranged from just shy of 6 months to 13. She got presents that suited her so perfectly from her favorite foods from the co-op to puzzles to a doll house made by one of her friends. I love it! I hope that Alida feels truly celebrated and I'm excited to spread out the fun by her redeeming the coupon from me later this week - thanks to my mom's willingness to keep our littlest gal, we'll enjoy a date morning and lunch out just the two of us! It's been a long time coming and I'm eager for some one-on-one time with her!
Now getting this blog post done this afternoon means I won't be thinking about wanting to do that this evening and it will increase the likelihood of us getting in some good game playing with the birthday girl before she crashes! It will be just us and Grandma Myers for her birthday dinner (she planned the menus months ago, so long ago that she had to be reminded what we were having) of pesto pasta and chicken breasts. I like our girls' taste for foods as we all share some similar favorites! And then it will be Monday again - they come around so fast!
Before I close, three more tidbits:
For those who won't see this on facebook OR want to see it again, here was how Terah felt when Ivy arrived at the party last evening. As soon as Ivy arrived Terah was very insistent on me getting her out of the carseat and then she went over and patted the love seat - she had remembered getting the honor of holding Ivy on that seat during their last visit:
And Alida still has the upper hand on getting Terah to do her best belly laughs. Of course I got in on it a bit late so the peak of the laughter had passed, but you get the point. Who knew jars of old giveaway seeds could be so fun:
And, finally, someone has long enough hair for pigtails!
