Adjustments

Driving along the dusty gravel roads last year, it was hard not to think there might be a cop sitting at the next intersection, or hiding behind that big barn up the way. In the city, it is always in the back of your mind to keep an eye out for speed traps. In the country, it just isn't an issue. I used to marvel at the trucks barreling down the highway at 75mph in a 55mph zone, just knowing they would be pulled over shortly. After living there for over a year, I know it is laughable to think of a cop at every intersection. You can drive for weeks without seeing one. Certainly there are no fancy speed traps with multiple vehicles ready to pounce on offenders.

So without knowing it, over the past year, my driving has changed. I had to run an errand at a local grocery store in Washington, and on the way, I actually found myself watching the side of the road, my eyes darting from one to the other searching for deer. Yes, in the city. In the middle of the day, on a completely developed, suburban road. All of the sudden, I realized I had also not been paying attention to other cars (you don't really pass that many out on country roads). I felt like a foreigner learning to drive on the wrong side of the road!

Don't worry, I didn't have to pay attention to the speed traps and plethora of cops about - I was going slow so I wouldn't hit any deer.

Chickens Here and There

These past few weeks have been pretty eventful for us. My parents came out for a "working visit" and then Ryan and I flew home with them for a 9 day visit to Washington. As a result, I am actually quite muddled in my thoughts. It's been a whirlwind of work and people - and as wonderful as it is, it's difficult to write as if I am on an Iowan farm while in the middle of suburban Washington.

None the less, there are exciting things to mention, as I wrote in my last post. For example, the chickens are now outside...and my dad and Phil spent some time working on Chicken Palace. The chickens certainly like the grass and sunshine, and I certainly like having them out of the garage! Although its still in progress, the fence is up and fortified with electric wire and it's warm enough for the little birdies to thrive out there.

My dad spent the rest of the week in the scary parts of the house (the attic and downstairs) ADDING OUTLETS to the upstairs! Two of the four bedrooms in our house have never had electrical outlets. The bathroom had two outlets- one unusable, scary outlet, and one that was part of the light fixture over the bathroom mirror- two pronged only- which you had to do some fancy reaching to use.



While it has not been the biggest challenge we have faced, the lack of electricity upstairs was a bit of a nuisance. That is why this picture of the GFCI outlet in the bathroom is SO very exciting to me. (Contrast old, scary outlet that didn't work to new, pretty, reachable outlet) Also? I can now put a baby monitor IN the baby's room instead of stringing an extension cord across the hallway from my room. Maybe the little Winnie the Pooh lamp could move from the master bedroom back into a kid's room! Oh the luxury!



The other really neat part of the whole expedition into the attic was that he found a way to remove all of the old wiring to the lights and existing outlets and update them to new, safe wires. That part of the process will have to be next trip- but it's possible!

While my dad was fishing wire and grounding outlets, my mom was repairing and painting the final untouched room upstairs. This will turn into my sewing room/office. This room has two walls of windows and a beautiful view, and up until now has been crammed full of boxes. To have it a usable part of my home will be amazing. No pictures yet, but soon!



Spring is finally here (Phil said I would be coming home to 80 degree weather next week!) and I feel like our whole family is stretching our arms and legs, coming out of a winter slumber (although I don't really remember much hibernating...). I am excited to start planting my garden and spending time outside in the sun, breathing in the sweet warm air.



Back in Washington, we have had a couple of really full days- a dinner with family, a dinner with some close friends, Thai food, Starbucks, and a day at the park being just a few highlights. I have met my new nephew (so little and perfect!) and played with his older brother whom you see pictured. He is about 9 months older than Ryan, and they had so much fun playing together.


Through it all, Ryan has had a blast, even if it is different from his usual surroundings. For example, while feeding the ducks at the park, he had to be reminded a couple of times that they were not swimming "chickens." And Grandma and Grandpa have a black and white dog next door - not a small cow. Also, the loud cars we hear driving past the house outside are not tractors (which of course, we realize after running to the front door to peek).

Think cold, then colder

Life seems to whir by anymore. It could be that we have a two-year-old...or chickens...or busy everyday lives...or an old house to fix up...or visitors here. Nonetheless, I often think "Hey, I need to post that!" and weeks go by, while I ignore the story, until I see a picture of the event. Things like this picture, which was a result of a mid-winter furnace fiasco.

See, for some reason every time we have loved ones visit, something major happens. LIKE, 4000 ladybugs invade our house...or the water in our well runs out...or the septic backs up. Small issues like that. We kind of laugh about it, because it would just figure that things would run smoothly until we need them to. No wonder Iowa's population isn't growing, the houses revolt whenever they have visitors!

This past January- in the dead of winter - my mom came out to help me with some "accounting issues" I had with my city job (ok, and to visit the grandson). We thought, "Hey, this would be a wonderful excuse to add on a wood-burning stove to the main furnace, we could keep the house warm for mom!" Small job with my handyman husband, right? So, three days before she comes (yes, I know, error number one, but we didn't get a lot of notice here, ok?) we head to the hardware store and purchase one of these stoves (for 25% off, might I add!).

We have a couple over for dinner, and as us women cook, the guys spent the evening downstairs hooking the add-on into the existing furnace. It's going really well, but they have all of the heat turned off for this, since it's a bit dangerous to cut into the side of a burning furnace. We have heavy coats on because it's about 4 degrees outside. And windy. But, the guys make so much progress that Phil decides to just stay up a few more hours and hook the rest of it up - "All it has to do is hook into the chimney!"

At 4am he trudges up the stairs. "It's not going to happen."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, I unhooked the furnace from the chimney, and found that the liner is aluminum, and crumbling."

"What does THAT mean?"

"It means I can't hook a wood stove up to it because it is too hot to use with aluminum. And I can't hook the propane furnace up to it because it could leak through the liner and poison us to death."

I look at the thermostat, a weak 39 degrees, and force a smile.

"So...what do we have to do to fix it?"

After a long sigh, he explains how he will have to get on top of the roof, remove the old liner, insert a new liner into the chimney, and hook up the stove and furnace to this one.

Ha. On top of the roof, half covered with snow...in wind-chill factor of -15...SURE...

OR no heat for a 1 week visit with mom. Not to mention the rest of winter.

(Note to reader- sorry, I thought this was going to be a short post...)

The next day, neighbor Mike happened to stop by. (I was told not to call him because Phil didn't want him to worry.) When I explained the story, he walked through the house, looked at the work Phil had already done, went home to get a space heater, and informed me his plans had changed because our project seemed more exciting than his original plan. Austin showed up a short while later- willing to work even given the new circumstances, and the three men spent the rest of the morning, afternoon, and evening hauling lining up on top of the roof where Phil assembled and dropped it down the chimney. At 9:30pm we were able to turn the furnace back on - safely.

Mom arrived the next day to a warm house.

Amazing.

So, my parents are here again this week. I would write about all we are doing but I will save that for my next post. Really, really exciting stuff. But I mention this because there was no large fiasco this time (knock on wood). Though the weather was awful for the previous weeks, it has been gorgeous since they arrived. Sunny and warm. Maybe the house is turning a new leaf, deciding it doesn't hate visitors after all? Your guess is as good as mine, but I am sure thankful for it!

In my email box this morning

Because Weather was not listening when I said I was through with it. Done. No, still it lingers...And, yes, it is snowing, and sticking to the ground. Ick!

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Issued at: 4:03 AM CDT 4/11/07, expires at: 12:15 PM CDT 4/11/07

Winter storm warning remains in effect until 7 pm cdt this evening,A winter storm warning remains in effect until 7 pm cdt this evening.A mix of rain and snow will change over to all snow around or shortly after sunrise. Expect periods of moderate to occasionally heavy snow later this morning and afternoon along the highway 20 corridor. The snow will taper to flurries later this evening. Total snow accumulations of 4 to 7 inches are likely by the time the snow ends. Winds will becoming northerly today and gust around 35 mph at times. Blowing snow will likely reduce visibilities below one quarter mile at times, especially in rural areas.A winter storm warning means significant amounts of snow, sleet, and ice are expected or occurring. Strong winds are also possible. This will make travel very hazardous or impossible.

It's Official

"You know, we are in competition here."
"What do you mean?"
"Uncle Jim has a lot of grandsons- we have to be thinking baseball teams! We already have four..."

And so it began... An excited grandpa and some gentle coercion set the wheel a-spinning and we will have boys in our family until there are nine of them. Maybe because they like their grandpa. Maybe because they know their mom's are getting better at finding cute boy clothes and building REALLY big Lego towers.

We get another boy! That makes five...so, between you two other families, you just need four more before we get some girls in here.

We get bunk beds and boys weekend hiking trips and trains and really really cool bug collections. (OK, truthfully, I am not excited about the bug collections...) On Friday's ultrasound we also got to see the little guy yawn and wiggle around and look adorable (as cute as you can look at 20 weeks gestation!). How fun! We are so very excited, and I think Ryan will be thankful that he doesn't have to worry about cooties in his playhouse anytime soon.

They say it comes in threes

This has been an eventful weekend.
This is a difficult post to write because my brain feels a bit on the exhausted side, like it could handle some going in but not anything intelligent coming out. I don't know if I have not processed it all quite yet or if I have already started to put it in the dusty little storage box only to be dug out years later for walks down memory lane.

It wasn't all bad- no- we were blessed with a new baby cousin, had a yummy potluck at church, and learned the Texas Two-Step (YES, Phil and I, two people who didn't even dance for their wedding, learned a dance yesterday!). We tried to play a fun joke on the pastor and wore slightly out-of-date clothing to church in honor of April Fools day (picture my side ponytail "For a limited time only glamour shots by Deb are half price." and Phil's t-shirt with sport coat ensemble, complete with white tennis shoes). It was so effective we even embarrassed kids that weren't our own! We had a fun game night with friends and tacos.

On the other side, we also had wind that slowly (or quickly) tore apart parts of our house and an emergency room visit. Small paragraph compared to the other, I know, which is why I am still standing, most likely.

We have moved quite quickly into Spring- something which has been much anticipated by our family. Last year we were so over-cautious about tornadoes and storms (mostly because we had no idea what we were getting into) that we were relieved by the lack of severity that came with it. This might have also put our guard down a bit when it comes to these Spring storms. Who knew that a gust of wind could take a 10X12 metal machine shed door, flip it straight up, rip it from it's track and hinges, and fling it over a trailer and tree line 30 yards away into the cornfield behind ours? Yes, this wind has some power. Some expensive power.

On the way over the tree line it was kind enough to leave some small shards of wood and metal to poke holes in the camper of a friend that is being stored here for the winter. In all seriousness, we count our blessings that the door didn't fly onto...or into...the camper instead of over it. The track that the door usually hangs from looks like a crazy roller coaster now.

So, that was Saturday. Sunday brought more winds, and that caught a screen door that had been improperly latched (by myself, I might add). An hour into our mid-Sunday respite came a loud crash, and upon investigation Phil informed me we had also lost this storm door. I feel like our house is slowly blowing away...

Later that day we went and had some desert with Phil's boss and his family, after which they taught us a dance. This was neat, by the way, since all of our friends back home AND my parents have been taking dancing lessons while Phil and I still sway to the music. Their sweet daughter took Ryan inside to watch a Veggie Tales movie because he couldn't stand his parents touching without being wrapped tightly around one of our legs (which makes dancing challenging). About an hour into the lesson, I see this daughter walking Ryan back to the shop where we were, his cheeks red and his face covered in tears. I walked out to greet them and pick up my son, and that's when Phil asked if there happened to be peanut butter in those yummy bars we had for desert.

I don't know why I didn't taste it. Or ask about it. Every time I leave Ryan with his babysitter- the same one- she gets the nuts-epipen speech. I always ask...except this time. This time I thought it was odd that he only ate one bite of the m&m bar, but I don't put it together. I felt like a complete dunce AND just plain awful as I watched my son swell up and gasp for air. Thankfully we had his epipen as well as some benadryl with us. I gave him three doses of benadryl hoping I wouldn't have to use the epipen (the kid was already in enough discomfort without my sticking a needle into his thigh) but after ten minutes he was still not looking much better. By this time we were on the way to the hospital and at a stop sign I pushed it into his pantleg- and then held him while I cried and he cried, knowing I had done the right thing as a mamma, tough as it was. By the time we reached the emergency room he was happy enough to go look at the fish tank and talk excitedly about the "Nemo" in there, his stuffy nose sounding like he had a bad cold and a touch of bronchitis.

I would like to say this for small towns, though. We were seen by a nurse who came out and checked his oxygen levels about five minutes after we walked in the door. When they called for Ryan to come back ten minutes later Phil and I didn't even respond because we had NEVER been seen in an emergency room within 15 minutes. The nurse had to give Phil a nod of the head before he realized she was talking to us. They looked Ryan up and down, and praised us for doing the right thing, saying he looked really, really good. They called the pharmacist at home to issue us another epipen to add to the one at home, in case we needed it throughout the night. We were in and out in an hour and fifteen minutes. I don't even remember going to a regular walk-in clinic and being done that soon growing up- let alone notorious 8 hour ER trips.

Ryan slept just fine through the night and is still up sawing logs as I write this. I am SO thankful we have technology now that is so effective for allergic reactions. They are quite terrifying, and it is really heartening to know that I have all the tools possible to help him if needed. But I am tattooing "no peanuts" onto his head- that is certain.