Throwing Pitch Forks

Just as he was getting over his ear infection that kept him out of school for a week with a fever, Danny had an accident. Yesterday afternoon, he and Hayden were throwing pretend pitch forks at each other. One caught Danny in the right eye.

Kathy and I heard him screaming home. Hayden was walking with him. His eye looked bad. It was purple and it looked like a marble was under the swollen lid. We all got in the car and drove to the emergency room. Danny held an ice pack on his eye all the way. He said that he could sort of see. Some things were black and white and some things color.

I carried him in. The triage nurse said it didn’t look like the eyeball was punctured and directed me to a registration nurse. As I held Danny in my arms, the registration nurse started with her list of questions. She didn’t get past asking for my zip code when I asked her if someone could look at Danny’s eye. I would be glad to answer all her questions after that.

That got us in. The triage nurse looked more carefully at Danny’s eye and then had him read an eye chart. He did real well considering he has only a recent command of the alphabet. He stood behind the line by himself, one hand over his good eye, his hurt eye swollen. I was relieved.

We rented The Empire Strikes Back and moved the couch so that Danny could be comfortable and close to the TV. He fell asleep before it started.

Kathy, who does not care for science fiction movies, played with Kelly in the sitting room. It was Kelly’s 3rd month birthday and she laughed (giggled) for the first time.

Nicole and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

[Danny’s version transcribed…]

Me and Hayden were throwing pitch forks at each other. We had to go to the doctors because I got hit in my eye with the pitch fork. They had to cover my good eye and they made me read the letters. I wasn’t right on some of them and I was right on some of them. After that they put me on a scale to see how much I weigh. I went into this bed and they put lots of eye drops, water, on my eye. I cried. They had to turn off the lights and they looked at my eye with a flashlight. Then they looked at my eye with another flashlight. I cried because I didn’t like it shining in my eyes. Then they had to put a double patch on my eye. Then I went to go home. I fell asleep at the start of Star Wars.

Kelly Moves Out

Kelly is slowly turning into a person. She likes playing with the little toys that dangle from the bar over her recliner. She likes to smile and she’ll even laugh with an inhaling yelp.

We kicked her out of our room last weekend. She can move around enough to get to the edge of the swinging cradle and end up sleeping with her face tilted into the bars. She has graduated to a big crib and has enjoyed the past few nights sleeping with her big brother.

Danny has been recovering from a week long fever and an infected ear. Kathy remarked how pleasant he was throughout his sickness. Very quiet and cooperative.

He must have recovered because he is already giving us fits with all of his running around, torturing his big sister, and whining.

House Update

The aerating, lime, seed, and fertilizer all paid off. The yard looks great. I’m most proud of getting a thick stand of grass to come in under the southeast Bradford Pear. The leaves are off almost all of the trees. The Bradford Pears and the Willow have yet to change color. I guess the Magnolia stays green year round.

An invasion of dandelion weeds has crossed the border between the up-hill neighboring yard. The results of the surgical counter strikes with salt spray will not be known for a couple of weeks.

gutters-cleaning-plan.pngBob E. and I worked up the latest plan to attack the gutters. Three approaches have failed thus far. The latest idea is to place two screw eyes into the joists of the roof. Tie a rope between them, and then hold onto a rope that will slide along that one as I go down the length of the gutter.

Later I realized I don’t have joists, so that could make placing the screw eyes tricky. The 32 foot ladder I could buy would be $189. I’m not sure where I would store a ladder this high, though.

Kelly Baptized

Kelly Elizabeth was baptized today. She was much better behaved than Thomas Joseph who was also baptized. She contributed her share of noise however, especially when the deacon was paying more attention to what he was reading than his pouring. She got a face full of holy water and did not enjoy having some of it go up her holy nose.

However, she was much quieter than Danny had been at his Baptism in front of the entire congregation at Holy Cross. St. John Neumann’s after-mass Baptism is a much better arrangement. At least you only have to worry about bothering the immediate family.

After the Baptism, Godparents Ted and Bernadette, Mom and Dad, Tom and Jennette, Tom Jr., and assorted tots (Little Bill, Shawn, Eric) and siblings (Nicole an Danny) gathered for a terrific lunch. Kathy worked hard all day Saturday to prepare it. Delicious honey baked ham, fresh fruit salad, pasta salad, a regular salad with some kind of topping, and three desserts: coconut cake, cherry-chocolate-chip cheese cake, and some peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses on top.

Kelly even put in a nice stretch of smiles an cooing for the occasion.

The Darkest Fears of Children

Our first “normal” Halloween was worth the wait through the town house years. Although there was no Mr. Johnson to give each kid two pounds of candy, they still got plenty by combing the entire neighborhood. Nicole (a devil) brought in 106 pieces of candy. I’m sure Danny (a bat) did just the same.

They toured Hunters Station with Haden and Lindsey (both devils!) and their father. Then they made the rounds in Rae Woods with Kathy and Kelly.

I stayed at home greeting 75 or so trick-o-treaters. Kathy had bought 5 bags of Peanut Butter cups, Snickers, Sweet Tarts, and suckers. As the candy got low, I went through the cabinets and got granola bars and hot apple spider mix for emergency backup. Fortunately everything died down by about 8 pm with 2 or 3 pieces of candy left.

At one point, I was walking with Kelly out on the street. A little pumpkin and a little Peter Pan crossed our yard, climbed over the monkey grass, and made the long climb up the front steps. I had hooked the PowerBook to the boom box playing the After Dark sounds from “Nocturnes.” The cricket chirps did not sound unusual, but as the two got almost to the porch, they heard a long howl. They both stopped on the same step obviously concerned.

“What was that?” asked their father out on the street with me. The howl had sounded like it came from the river. I explained as we watched the frozen pair.

Candy will overcome the darkest fears of children. Both decided to risk the howl, and go on up to the door where they promptly rewarded for their bravery by Kathy.

And so the season of calories begins. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Camping with Belgain Café

[Nicole writes…]

Last weekend Dad and I went camping, and it was something for girl scouts. The first night we set up camp, took a walk to the lake, and sat around the campfire drinking belgain café. Then we went to sleep.

On Saturday we got up early in the morning, ate cereal, and then made a lanyard. A lanyard is a series of knots that you tie together to make a rope. We went on to leather. I made a necklace, and Dad made a keychain. We ate lunch. After we ate lunch

we went canoeing. We went looking for good sticks to cook smores on. After that I painted a t-shirt. We went back to our tent. Dad took a nap while I watched a show.

That night we went to a big campfire. After that we went back and cooked smores over a campfire. Then we talked and went to bed. At about 3’o clock am the next morning we woke up. The rain was hard and it was windy, so we got packed and left. But I had fun anyway!

Mammal In The Kitchen

Danny got his animal catalog in the mail today. As we were putting the tabs in for each section, the mammals tab came first.

Danny: “What are mammals?”

Dad: “Mammals are usually furry and warm.”

Knowing that wasn’t the correct definition, I added: “All mammals make milk to feed their babies.”

Danny: “Mom is a mammal.”

Mom the mammal was in the kitchen making chilli. She laughed, unable to dispute Danny’s conclusion.

Life Insurance

This morning, Eve Cheeks came over to take blood and urine samples, measure my height, weight, chest and waist, and ask a bunch of health questions. She is a nurse collecting information for my new USAA life insurance policy.

Danny and Nicole each fixed themselves some breakfast as they watched my examination in the kitchen.

Nicole went to a fair with Anna. She got a free fly swatter among other trinkets.

Carol, Bob, and Eric came over for the evening. I was tired from mowing the lawn twice to get it short then running the motorized aerator rented by John Homolak across the street. Bob and I went on a beer run to Kroger where I used the self-swiping credit card machine that threatens to wipe out the check industry.

All four of us had gone to the biannual used clothes sale at the abandoned mall on Oak and River. I got a coat, some pants, a shirt, a dreaded (by Kathy) sweater vest, a red Lacrosse button up sweater, some golf shoes and a sports coat, all for just under $50. Kathy spent $22 on a couple pairs of jeans and a short winter coat.

We watched the video of Kelly dancing to Jimmy Buffet’s volcano song. Carol suggested sending it into America’s Funniest Home Videos so we could win $10,000.

Carol has the early pregnancy blahs.

9:46 AM Welcome Kelly!

Kathy woke up at 4 a.m. with contractions. The alarm went off at 6, and I woke up, hearing her mulling about in the bathroom.

She came out and told me she didn’t think I would be going to work. These contractions seemed to be the real thing. Seems the raspberry tea I had insisted we drink together the night before had worked.

I got up. Kathy wanted to get a shower and wanted to see the kids off to school. I had to type up some instructions and do a little work on some slides that would be needed at work that day.

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