The Life & Times of The Soggy Bottom Boys

Fire Ants and Iowa and All That Stuff

2007-10-02T22:40:00.002-04:00

It's Official! Everett turned FOUR YEARS OLD! I gave him planes on his cake because he had taken his first plane ride just a week earlier and is quite smitten with flying now. Hard to believe it's been four years - technically, his clubfoot journey is over, he could stop wearing his foot abduction brace with everyone's blessing...but, it still fits so as long as it fits him he will keep wearing it for just that much more added insurance against his feet relapsing. He doesn't mind anyway, and I figure when he does outgrow it we will have him one whale of a Graduation Party for the event. Four years - perfect feet. THANK YOU DR. PONSETI!!!!!

Wow, been a while since I checked in here. We made it up to Iowa City for the 7th annual International Clubfoot Symposium and family banquet dinner with Dr. Ponseti and Mrs. Ponseti and lots of wonderful people and friends in the clubfoot world.

The boys rode the plane like it was a walk in the park - I could not believe how well all three of them handled it! Even total strangers commented on their good manners, wow! No last minute freaking out like I sort of expected, they just walked right on (which was interesting because on the small jet we had to walk across the parking lot to climb the stairs in to the plane), took a seat and had a ball looking out the windows at 30 thousand feet.

"Mommy." Said Everett. "Do you see those things that look like ants crawling? Those are cars." I'm glad he was there to educate me. Actually I did not handle the four different air planes nearly as well as the boys did. Taking off and landing terrify me, along with almost all the other aspects of flying except the actually getting off the plane alive part. A couple times when Brian sat beside me he held my hand real tight for me and kept asking, "Are you OK? Are you OK?" I sat with my eyes squeezed shut and my butt cheeks so tensed up they actually hurt for two days afterwards.

It was a great symposium though with doctors from all over the world and great strides made towards the actual formation and organization of the Ponseti International Association. We are looking for volunteers to help us get it up and keep it going so if you follow that link I just gave you, you can learn how you can do your part to promote the Ponseti Method and the well being of children world wide (hint hint, go visit that link now!)

Moving along in our current adventures we have a small photo show:

these are Garrison's feet after a Fire Ant attack recently, photo taken the day it happened - which was also Everett's 4th birthday! September 22nd. .......

This is the next day, September 23rd.

The next day they looked like this, Sept. 24th.

Not a pretty site when he has to wear his foot abduction brace (clubfoot brace) 16 hours a day!

On his heel, we had this....
a major pustul that grew as big as a pencil eraser. I haven't seen a sore on a baby's heel like this since we gave up using the Markell braces 4 years ago!

And a day after that, on September 25th, his feet were at their worst:

Fire Ants are nothing to fool around with! Fortunately little Garrison Goo Goo Baby was a trooper and we managed to keep his braces on him through the ordeal.

I didn't know what to do being new to Fire Ant country so I rushed him to a sink and poured in a box of baking soda. Obviously that old wives tale doesn't work. But I was inspired at least to look further on the web and read several accounts saying to pour bleach on the bites immediately, with in five minutes of the attack, so a couple days ago when poor Everett came in screaming with ants biting his feet, I threw him in the sink and doused him with Clorox.

Amazingly, he did not get the huge red welts and infections!

In other news we have torn out our kitchen. I mean walls, switches, lights, cupboards.... Oiy. Kids crawling around in chaos dragging sheet rock dust and power tools every where they go. It's been so fun to watch Everett though, he is just so impressed with his Daddy's ability to just take a sawzall and cut a wall in half, just tear the thing down and throw it out the back door. His eyes would get so big with amazement! Not to be outdone he had to start picking up the biggest chunks of debris he could and throwing them out, and then because Monkey See Monkey Do, Garrison had to get in on the act, holding the end of a 2 x 4 with me to carry out, or picking up what chunks of broken sheet rock he could for a while - and then, he promoted himself to supervisor and simply pointed at things that needed carried out and screeched at us. Point, screech, point, screech until someone picked it up. He'll make a good boss some day when he learns to talk.

Other than that, I guess it's just the SSDD routine. If you live in the south, remember that clorox bleach trick on the fire ant bites, it really works!

Till next time,

Soggy Bottom Momma and the Gang

Gearing Up for Iowa

2007-09-11T08:02:00.001-04:00

Today is Tuesday. That gives me today, tomorrow and the next day to get geared up to fly to Iowa City for the International Ponseti Symposium.... I couldn't be less ready if I tried.

I haven't flown on a commercial jet since I was a teen ager. I don't want to talk about how long ago that was but every bit of two decades ago. And I've never had to fly with my children. None of them have ever been on a plane either, except when Brian and I flew back and forth on little Angel Flights. I guess the only real difference between a jet and a little piper is the number of people screaming as it goes down, but I am nervous anyway, and that has frozen me in my tracks with a sense of denial so I haven't washed or packed or even called the airline yet to see just what we can or cannot take on with us... are the boys considered carry on luggage? Can they be?

It is going to be insane to say the least. We must leave home Friday morning around 3 o'clock in the morning to get to the airport on time. Our flight departs at 7, providing there is no delay. Then there's a layover somewhere; then to Cedar Rapids where I hope our luggage arrives with us. Speaking of luggage I've been meaning for two weeks to run by Good Will to see if they had a suit case instead of taking our duffle bags. From Cedar Rapids we will rent a car and drive to Iowa City, getting there I hope as early as 1 PM to our motel.

Then it's the insanity of finding lunch, getting cleaned up and finding our way to the event by 4 PM for a fund-raiser meeting, then the party part of the night starts at 5 and who knows when it will wrap up but I expect kind of late in the evening. The next day we'll have just enough time to check out of the motel and run back to Cedar Rapids to catch our long flight home.

It hasn't helped a bit that yesterday was my birthday. That wouldn't be so terrible except my mother's birthday is today and for all my life we've shared our birthdays with each other and she died two years ago. Last year wasn't quite as bad because I had my mother in law to think of, as her birthday is the 9th (mine the 10th, Mom's the 11th), so I still had someone there to dilute the day a little for me. This year we are in Florida, Mom is gone and my mother-in-law is a thousand miles away so it all hit me hard with loneliness. And even that would have been tolerable except then my Aunt Sally sent me a small box of personal items from my grandmother who passed away just a few weeks ago - so that came yesterday. It was a sweet thing to get on my birthday but it broke my heart none the less, the loss of Mom, the loss of my grandmother...... Oiy.

Husband took me out for dinner. We dressed the boys nice and he dressed nice and I put on this little blue dress I found at a 2nd hand store recently that i had no reason to buy whatsoever except it was sexy and I thought what the hay I'll buy a sexy dress for six bucks and maybe someday I'll actually wear it. Everett and Garrison fell asleep on the drive to the restaurant so when we got there we carried them in and laid them on the seat of a booth. Both slept until dinner was over, giving us an almost-private dinner with Brian. I drowned my sorrow in fajitas and margaritas then came home to the birthday cake Chriss had bought which was simply beautiful.

And now here we are at today - three days to get the laundry done, organize a hard whirlwind trip for five people and try hard not to chicken out of the whole affair which is really where my mind is at with it. I've been concentrating on getting my website cleaned up as a diversion, which is sort of what I'm doing right now instead of laundry and organizing...guess I really should start to get all that done. I hope I see some of you at the Ponseti Banquet!

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!

2007-09-03T08:49:00.000-04:00

Greetings!

It was an eventful week in Soggy Bottom Land. It started off with a bang last Saturday when Brian told Everett, "Put this nickel in your mouth, we'll do a magic trick!"

Should I whip Brian for telling his baby brother to put things in his mouth, or whip Everett for putting it in his own mouth? Indeed.

Everett staggered in to my office coughing and gagging, red in the face, holding his throat.

"What did you swallow!?" I demand.

"uh .....!" he wheezes.

"A what?"

Then he managed to say "Nickel." right before he began to barf all over the office floor, hallway floor and most of the bathroom as we rushed him towards the toilet. The stuborn nickel did not come up, however a glass of milk did manage to make it go on down at least. Where the nickel has gone from there over the past week is anyone's guess.

The young raccoon whose mother was a "Nuisance Animal" - well lets say the fruit does not fall far from the tree. He has turned in to quite the brat. The three squirrels on the other hand have done exceptionally well, growing fat on milk and whatever food I rob from my pantry for them.

This picture shows Brian feeding one squirrel - she is holding up her own baby bottle!

Meanwhile we are anxiously wrapping up our plans to fly out to Iowa in a couple weeks to attend the Annual Ponseti Association Symposium...the clubfoot races and the dinner banquet with Dr. and Mrs. Ponseti along with many, many other parents of children born with clubfoot.

I have not flown on a commerical plane in more than twenty years. My boys never have at all so I'm expecting this to be a very interesting trip for all of us.

Labor Day weekend was fun for us. Chriss actually took two days off instead of his usual one per week. On Sunday we drove over to Cedar Keys to fish. We caught 3 eels, 2 sting rays, one seagull and various small fish ranging from minnow-size up to a few pounds.

Here is a picture of Chriss freeing the seagull - it looks mad!

And here is Brian holding his eell, and his sting ray.

It was really a fun fishing trip. Poor Googoo, we had to fight him off the bait, and the fish we caught as he claimed it all for his own. He will carry around any little crab, lizard, snake, fish, squirrel, raccoon, (you get the point) hugging it close and saying "BAY-BAY!", which of course is "baby". He'd put them in is small wagon or the tonka dump truck and drag them around the pier, or carry them around or just sit with it (whatever it was at the moment) on the ground poking it and exclaiming loudly BAYBAY. Any attempt to get it from him would result in wails and sobs.

I packed us a lunch and naturally the frozen weenies were still frozen late in to the afternoon; I also forgot the mustard. Garrison threw our three cups off the dock. I reckon they are now Reese Family artifacts somewhere on the bottom of the Gulf. Everett had started the morning getting the fire bit out of him by his pet Hermit Crab at home; then at the beach Garrison was pinched severely by a wild crab he picked up.

Beach combing at low tide was a lot of fun though we found these large conches. I put them in the dumptruck to give an indication of their actual size. That is a tiny snail in Everett's hand. The shells on the beach there were fierce though. Garrison ended up cutting his toe, shin and finger, thin lines as if a razor blade sliced him that bled a great deal. Packing the cooler that morning I heard a voice tell me to pack the First Aide kit. I ignored it and walked away, turned around and promptly picked it up, tossing it in the cooler with everything else. Mother's should never, ever ignore that inner voice!

Now it is Monday, Labor Day and we have rain. The boys are asking for food so I'm going to let you go now. Wishing you a happy holiday.

S.

Dogs and boys and raccoons

2007-08-18T11:57:00.000-04:00

This is just such a pretty picture I wanted to share it with you - my middle son Everett sitting with my dog Sara Lee last spring.

Poor Sara, life in Florida has not been kind to her Turkish breeding. The heat has caused her to shed this beautiful coat down to bare minimum.

She's a year old now, and tall enough to eat from the dinner table with out stretching her neck at all... a fact she certainly enjoys. She remains as gentle with the children as ever, and intimidating to strangers with her guardian instincts to protect her small herd of "lambs" here. I always trust a dog's instinct and judgment of a person - and so far there are a couple individuals in our new neighborhood whom she warns against quite strongly while the majority pass freely.

Life goes on here as usual - the usual being the same weird stuff we always end up with. We have a new pet on the property - a young orphaned raccoon Chriss brought home. He's moved in as if he were born for a life of luxury on our laps or sofa. The boys are quite smitten with him, and he starts many a fights as they struggle for his attention. It is really getting on my nerves, to tell you the truth - fight, argue, complain and tattle tale....

Here's a picture of Ricky Raccoon (I wanted to name him Zorro) sniffing noses with Little Debbie and Sara Lee; that's Mowgli on the floor.

If we were in Oklahoma still we'd take him to the lake to play, but with the alligator infestation down here, we hesitate to risk him becoming gator-food. I'm thinking he might enjoy a ride on my kayak though.

The lizards in our new Bug Screen TV are thriving well. We've witnessed two of them share their ... eh-hem... affections with each other, and one laid an egg on the floor of the habitat. Two days later the egg disappeared, not sure where or how. They are a huge pleasure to watch though and educational.

Well that's the scoop from here today, wishing you all the very best.

Fort Matanzes Florida

2007-08-13T00:09:00.000-04:00

I guess you could say we've been up to no good as usual - you know, just the day to day things that make life tick. Today it was a trip over towards St. Augustine again to visit the beach; this time we went further south visiting the old Spanish fort there - Matanzes I believe it was called. This is a free thing to do, so if you're in Florida around St. Augustine it's worth the drive a few miles South to see it.

The idea was to go fishing but I swear we're always running late. By the time we were done touring the fort, the beaches were full of people and Chriss didn't want to fish with a crowd, so we just took the boys swimming in strong wind and waves instead.

Our 57 inch Bug Screen TV is up and running in our living room now! That's the big display case we turned in to a lizard,frog,snake cage. Garrison calls all creepy-crawly things Bug-bug so it's the bug screen tv. We put a bunch of crickets in there for the frog to eat. He did, much faster than we anticipated but we did notice many of the crickets were laying eggs before they were ate - so maybe a few will hatch out on their own lessening the need to buy them so often.

Here is a photo of Garrison holding a Bug-Bug (a small crab in this case). He loves all these things dearly and will carry them around "loving them plumb to death" given any opportunity to do so. Snakes, lizards, crabs, bugs.... He's a dandy.

The Annual Ponseti Symposium is coming up in mid-September with the 1st annual banquet dinner with Dr. and Mrs. Ponseti. Damn, I'd give my front teeth to be there but alas, my lofty plans do not mesh with my less lofty budget. It breaks my heart, really - but getting three boys up to Iowa from north central Florida is no cheap excursion, believe me.

I guess I will sit this out much like Prom and Home coming and all those other big events in life I never found my way to. At least I made my own wedding, eh? ha. Sit it out here and do my good work from home. Six-Feet.com is growing in leaps and bounds and it makes me proud. I get notes daily from parents across the globe regarding the care of clubfeet in one aspect or another so I know they are out there, and know I am providing a good service even if I do have to miss the damn banquet dinner.

Well gang, it's late, I'm off to la-la land, hope all is well with you.

2007-08-03T14:06:00.000-04:00

I'd like to say Greetings from Sunny Florida but we've had rain every day for weeks now. So much for that big drought, eh?

Swimming lessons are over, thankfully. Getting up to drive 17 miles then get in to a cold pool under gray skies every morning was starting to get old. I'm not sure if any of them learned much except Garrison who knows now to hold his breath before he jumps in.

We went to Crescent Beach last weekend - Wow! It was a picture perfect beach day with crystal blue water that was warm, enough breeze we didn't roast and it was late in the day before the wind kicked up the waves, although those are fun to play in too if you're not a toddler getting knocked down and washed fifteen feet up the beach by 'em.

All the boys had a great time though. Everett pushed his Tonka truck around until he had blisters on his hands from the salt and sand, poor kid. Garrison found a crab and carried it around forever thrilled with his "bug-bug", squeeling with delight. He's a strange kid - give him a lizard, snake, crab - anything creepy and crawly and he goes nuts to have it, then go even more nuts if it's taken away. One day he'll walk in with a big rattle snake and then where will I be? Calling Critter Control, I guess! I hope my husband won't charge me for that house call seeing's how he's the guy that would be sent to our neighborhood now that he's managing the Gainesville / Ocala office.

Here is a picture of Chriss catching an alligator!

OK, not really, it's just one of our feisty pet lizards. We picked up a display case meant for a retail store the other day from some folks who had it in their front yard. We're working on turning that in to a big natural'ish habitat for the snakes and lizards we find. Can't wait to have that done!

We got stuck in the sand trying to leave the beach.... Chriss will happily tell you that I ran him over as we tried to free the car, but really all I did was bump him in the knee with the car bumper and he was on really thick, soft sand to boot. What was he doing standing in front of the car anyway??! I suppose all is well that ends well. Late that night he tried real hard to squeeze some swelling in to it so he'd have some actual proof of the "injury" he kept trying to complain about but really there was none and by the next day he couldn't even legitimately show me the non-swelled knee cap anymore cuz my sense of mercy had fled along with any amount of injury there may have been the previous day.

I guess that's about it from Soggy Bottom Land today, hope this find you all well!

Shaw and the boys

2007-07-22T23:48:00.000-04:00

It's Sunday night in Soggy Bottom Land, following a great day working outdoors in the yard between late morning rain showers.

The quest to save energy continues as I found the old water softener unit attached to our house that we thought didn't work was actually hooked up to the juice and running so hot it's a wonder the house didn't burn down!

In our defense I suppose, we've only lived here a couple months and we really, really were of the impression the thing didn't work so we never fooled with it. Today though, I heard a small noise and discovered it had a motor that was kicking on. Chriss hunted it down and got it unhooked. Wonder how much that's been costing us???

I've included a picture of Chriss here, by the way. That is Garrison with his hand in his mouth, and Everett beside him. They just came out of the bath.

The boys and I put together some home made laundry soap yesterday... the jury is still out on that, whether or not it'll work as good as folks claim. Even if it does, I figure it will take about a dozen batches of the stuff before i start to realize any savings in making my own after the amount of time and gas it took me to find the right ingredients.

Holy cow - go to eight different stores with three kids, two of them still confined to car seats! Aaahhhh! Insanity, all of it is pure insanity.

Why do I need a better and more affordable laundry soap? This is Garrison just 2 days before his 1st birthday... if he gets this dirty and not a year old yet, imagine what he gets in to now that he can walk!

I decided if it doesn't get the cloths clean I'd just start putting it in their bath water instead.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week! The boys get to Soggy it up starting their swimming lessons tomorrow! Wish us luck!

Squeeze Every Nickel...

2007-07-19T23:41:00.001-04:00

....until the buffalo screams!

That's my motto, more so lately than usual as I aim to reduce my electric bill. I have cooked on the gas grill every night this week - estimating propane usage to be much cheaper than my electric range, not to mention cooler since I put a ban on air conditioners a week ago.

Who knew though that you could cook spaghetti outside on the grill? But then again, why not? Last month for Father's Day the Soggy Bottom Boys and I ran all over Gainesville looking for a deal on a grill (a deel on a greel). This was made far worse than it had to be due to the fact that 1) I don't know my way around Gainesville and 2) some smart@$$ punk kid working at Sears gave me very horrible and totally misleading directions to Home Depot (never did find HD).

That left us at Lowes, next door to a Walmart. We checked prices at Lowes - which again made life impossibly hard because they didn't have price tags on their grills. That meant finding a worker (fat chance of that!), then asking HIM the price. OK. Walk over to Walmart, check their prices and decide to buy at Lowes instead.

Back across the scorching hot parking lot with three boys in tow, back in to Lowes where once again, not an employee can be found and the boys are getting darn sick of all this by now.

I go on the hunt, find a guy, he has to call a guy. Another teen age worker arrives. "Tell me again now how much was this?" I ask.

"$199.00" He says.

"Earlier I was told this model was only $99.00."

"No, it's $199.00"

"How would I know that?" I ask. "There are no marked prices."

"BY this." he says, pointing to a picture of a grill there on a little stand.

"But that grill is not THIS grill." I'm confused. "How would I KNOW how much it costs if it isn't marked?"

"By this!" he points harder at the picture as if I'm illiterate (or he was).

"Yes, but that picture is not this grill. Can you please call your manager to come over?"

The manager finally arrived and we settled on a grill and a price, but then neither of them knew if I could buy it assembled. They wanted to call yet another person. I'd been there an hour already so I told them, "Just give me the damn box so I can get these kids out of here."

They couldn't find the box. Twenty minutes later it finally arrived.

Chriss loved the grill but hated that I spent a hundred bucks on something when we really couldn't (shouldn't) afford it. "Aw Honey you work hard, you should get some of the reward." I told him. He didn't suggest I return it for a refund....ha.

Then last week, after it's sat on the car port for more than a month getting used maybe once a week he made the comment that the tank of gas would probably last a month. I took him at his word, and have been cooking outside ever since - meat, a pot of beans, biscuits, spaghetti, home made corn dogs and onion rings....

Tonight he said, "I can't believe you haven't ran out of gas yet!"

"What do you mean? You said I could cook dinner for a month on this tank."

"I was joking!"

OH. Well, I guess we'll just see how long nine bucks of propane can really last.

The man who sells solar water heaters came by today. Looking at about $6,000.00 for one of them. Ouch. We still believe we can build our own for just a few hundred and have every intention of doing so as soon as I can come up with a couple old used water heater tanks.

That wouldn't be a problem in Oklahoma, junk everywhere, but here in Florida? Um, not so much. So I continue to put a ban on hot water as well, turning the heating unit on only once a day at bath time, then turning it off again, which is a practice everyone should get in to. The water heater is about 1/3 of your electric bill when ran non-stop like it usually is. I go around constantly turning off the lights and fans and every other electrical thing behind the boys all day; I filled the empty freezer spaces with jugs of water and try to keep the frig door shut. All this works pretty well till the husband comes home. He wasn't raised with conservative mountain mindedness like I was. Conservation is as ingrained on my brain as saying Please and Thank You - but with him, uhhh, not so much. So I go around turning off things behind the kids and a grown man. Oh well. Make money by saving money!

Sid, the salesman, sat in my kitchen with beads of sweat streaming down his face. Poor guy, guess he's not used to living outside the AC world.

Meanwhile, it's onwards and upwards in Soggy Bottom Land. Tomorrow we're going swimming at the Y, grocery shopping, errands and the like. At least the car has a cool vent (no, I don 't use AC in the car either, eats too much gasoline!)

Till then oh thrifty partners in life, have a good one helping me save the world.

Hot Summer Days

2007-07-17T15:46:00.001-04:00

I feel like the long hot dog days of summer are upon us despite the almost daily rain showers here. Sunday we took advantage of a Kayak Demo out on Santa Fe Lake. A retailer out of Gainesville hosted the event with fifty or so kayaks on a beach that people could hop in and try as they pleased. It was a great time and Brian has taken to kayaking like a fish to water; I was so pleased and proud to watch as he went from boat to boat, hopping in and taking off, then bringing it back just as easy as he pleased. I think most the adults there were pretty impressed as well to see a 9 year old boy with such command and confidence.

I always felt water-sports would suit Brian well due to his clubfoot deformity that continues to disable him slightly (thanks to non-ponseti treatment). Swimming and paddling can use his brains and strength but not require his feet or ankles to perform as they would need to in baseball for example. Later this summer he will take his first swimming-class, I'm anxious to see how develops for him.

Chriss and I rode several of the demo kayaks ourselves, always with either Everett, Garrison, or both on board with us. Paddling with a baby sitting between your knees earns a person a lot of looks and points from others (pointing at us, I mean). After all that though I was surprised to find that my old 2nd hand Old Town handles as well as, and mostly better than any of the fancy new models. I'd never used any other boat and had wondered over the years how mine really stacked up. I didn't find a single rig I wished I had over the one I already have.

A huge thunderstorm came upon us after a couple of hours, sending us off the water and on our way so we drove down to see the crystal clear Rainbow River in the Ocala, FL area - a must-see paddle destination in our near future.

Meanwhile back at home, we languish int he heat...I have put a ban on air conditioning in effort to reduce our electric bill as I study and research solar water heater plans to reduce our energy usage even further. I run the boys outside where it's marginlly cooler, at least it seems that way. I am boiling our pot of beans on the propane cooker on the car port today to avoid heat in the house. Yes, I guess I do cheat by having a fan blowing on my computer desk here...ha...but still cheaper than air conditioning as I strive to make money by saving all I can (including putting a small bleach jug full of water in my toilet tank to reduce the amount of water wasted with every flushing). I have gone as far as to turn off my water heater except for once a day to warm water for showers.

Eventually we will afford those two new kayaks we want! One for Chriss and one for Brian.

Chriss has officially taken over as the new General Manager for the Gainesville-Ocala Florida Critter Control office - the reason we relocated here from Oklahoma a few months ago. He's loving it and business is booming since he began making the owner sit up and notice. Last week he caught two cotton mouth snakes and one coral snake (very deadly!). He loves his job! Getting paid to catch snakes - it would be like Brian getting a job as a candy-taster! ha!

Everett is trying to grow water mellons (good luck with that) and Brian just finished his last reading assignment, "Animal Farm". I have been assigning him books all summer. I think "To Kill a Mockingbird" might be next. Not bad for 9 years old, really. And Garrison Googoo baby, well, he's just googoo doing his googoo'y things. Today he discovered he can walk backwards and is quite impressed with himself.

So we continue, taking it day by day.

2007-07-11T23:41:00.000-04:00

It's been a quiet week in Soggy Bottom Land all in all. The only big news is that today Garrison Goo Goo Baby peed in the toilet just like he had good sense with an audience of one momma and two big brothers all crammed in the little camode cheering him on. Not too shabby for his very first time to sit on that Royal Throne.

How silly what we reduce ourselves to - clapping and cheering for a baby who discovers his body produces water. Or maybe, how silly we grow up and forget about, or become ashamed of, all those amazing functions of our human body that is merely operating as God and Nature intended for it too on a scale a million times more grand than any human could invent.

In any event, a little peace and quiet can be a good thing. It gave Everett and I a moment to sit together. I put my arm around his back and said, "I love you." and for the first time in many, many months for none of my boys will humor their old momma, he said, "I love you too." Then his arm slipped behind my back. We sat there a while and even an invitation from Brian to go eat a popcicle didn't budge him from my side, his arm wrapped behind me. Brian came to stare at us, and Everett who worries that he's not heard being the middle child admist the chaos of a hyper big brother and just a loud baby brother said to me again, "You know...I love you too." I squeezed him and said I did know and it made me so very happy.

"We all love her." Brian stated to him lest Evy get credit that Brian didn't also somehow get. He wouldn't dare say he loves me anymore than he would volunteer a good night kiss. At least he lets me kiss him. Maybe it's a boy thing, but as a Momma sometimes it sure would do my aching heart good if my boys would just give me that kiss, hug or say they love me. I know they do, though. Brian has started an interesting morning ritual of bringing me toast and coffee. Several times now he's done this and I don't know what's started it, but that's OK, I don't look the gift horse in the mouth.

They are good boys, all of them. Soggy or not.

Getting Soggy on the Santa Fe River and Beyond

2007-07-02T21:00:00.000-04:00

What a busy weekend it's been....

Friday I took the boys to the Natural History Museum in Gainesville.

Saturday the whole family headed out to see the Devil's Millhopper, which is a big old sink hole up in Gainesville. There is a wooden trail and stair case clear to the bottom - 236 steps if I remember right. We counted on our way back up - felt more like 536. After that we visited the Santa Fe community college Teaching Zoo - and after that, as if that wasn't already a day full, we drove out to Newman's Lake which isn't very far from our house. We crept up on a bunch of big old alligators laying on the shore, it was rather exciting!

Sunday we took the canoe and kayak out to the Santa Fe River for a float trip. It wasn't one of our better floats - Chriss mostly wanted to fish so we spent a lot of time just sitting dead in the water, then paddling a ways to sit dead in the water again, but slowly we made our way up stream and got out to swim a bit when the clouds blew in and thunder began to rumble.

A whoosh of wind came screaming up the river channel right at us as the sky grew black and we knew we had to hustle back to the truck. With Everett and Garrison on board with me, I began to paddle, stroke after stroke after stroke until my arms were burning with exhaustion but the thunder was cracking directly above and behind me, racing me it felt as I paddled leaving the canoe with Chriss and Brian far behind me.

"Lord help me! Lord help me! Oh God give me strength!" I spoke out loud keeping my eyes fixed on that water bottle between my feet, just stroking paddle after paddle because if I let up at all, the strong head-on wind spun me around. Every stroke took me a few inches further, fighting against the wind that wanted to push me back in to the coming storm.

Garrison bless his heart, he fell asleep. Everett, appearing to sense the potential for doom kept his mouth completely shut. How much further could it be? Oh God how much further? And then a burst of wind and a crack of thunder, the black sky lowering itself on to us with fury. I looked behind me to find nothing but storm clouds and a choppy river. Chriss and Brian were far out of sight behind me somewhere and CRACK went the thunder and POP went my heart in to a major panic that very nearly threw me in to a tail spin as I realized I was out in the middle of no where with two babies on board with a massive storm hot on my tail. Suddenly my paddle strokes were cutting the water instead of pushing it as I fumbled with the paddle that felt like lead in my hands. The wind began to push the bow of my boat around sideways and terror didn't creep in to me, it rushed!

"Oh God help me! Don't panic Shaw! Don't panic Shaw! It's OK, it's OK, paddle, paddle, just paddle oh Lord lay down this wind before it knocks me over!" then realizing the 3 year old was hearing his mother's near hysteria I focused on him, "It's OK Everett." I told him. "Mommy will take care of you, don't worry."

"OK" he said with total trust.

If I could only trust myself....paddle Shaw, paddle Shaw, focus on the bottle cuz if you look up all you'll see is dark clouds and wind and waves and that endless river you gotta cover back to the truck, focus on the bottle and stroke. I could see my heart pounding in my chest and my arms were on fire as I paddled as fast as I possibly could.

Alas, the launch. I swung in and jerked both boys out of the boat running to deposit them safely in to the truck before I ran back to the water to watch for Chriss and Brian to arrive. Eventually they did and we were tying the boats on in the rain.

It was one of those days that remind you that you're alive.

Today, Monday, the last of Chriss's 3 day weekend for the Independence Day Holiday we went back to the Santa Fe to test drive a couple kayaks from an outfitter there in High Springs. We had our eye on one in particular for Brian but when I tried it I discovered how tippy it was when it promptly flipped, throwing me off in to the water. OH well, the search continues.

Home to a rack of ribs that had been slow cooking on the smoker all day and the boys all in bed early...ah, peace.

Tomorrow its back to work for Chriss and back to normal at home for the Soggy Bottom Boys and I.

s.

Heart Attack City

2007-06-29T23:27:00.000-04:00

These boys are going to be the death of me with their accidents and near misses. Yesterday we went to the YMCA. Young Everett was going to display his polite young man manners to open a large door for us, so he ran ahead to get there first. Well - then the grown man behind us decided he would display his polite grown man manners, so he reached above us and past us to pull the door open (I had my hands full with the baby and our swimming gear bag).

He pulled it open all right - right over the top of Evy's big toe, peeling the toenail backwards to bleeding and leaving an ugly purple bruise. Ahh! Oh how his crying echoed down the long concrete block walls of the swimming area!

Tonight it was the bike ride. We have tried to pick up a new routine of "family bike ride" after dinner since we moved to Florida; tonight we went a little late and it was getting dark on us when the road curved sharply. Chriss was in the lead pulling Goo goo baby in the baby-buggy-wagon-thingy; Everett right behind him, me coming up behind Everett, and somewhere way behind was Brian fighting his dog that he insisted on bringing who was not cooperating with this whole bike ride run at all.

Enter one speeding pick up truck coming straight at us! Chriss and I saw it at the same time and yelled at the boys to get to the side of the road as we do when any car approaches at any speed, but this truck was SPEEDING! "Get off the road!" we were both yelling. Everett obediently peddled his tiny Tigger bike in to the grass on the right hand side as we've been teaching him, but where was Brian? I didn't see him and looking behind for him I veered over to the left hand side and this truck was still coming fast. Chriss was in the middle of the street at that point waving his arms, shouting at the driver to slow down, the baby buggy in the middle of the street with him, Everett confused - should he stay behind the buggy like we've told him to or on the right hand side in the grass? So he's teetering on the edge of darting out in front of the truck (and WHERE is Brian!?!) so I'm shouting at Everett to go back to the grass and looking behind me for Brian. I've dropped my bike by now and am on my feet when here comes Brian's dog running up so I snag him from certain death as I hold my own dog still on her leash and finally....fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinally in this horrible splilt second near death experience comes around the corner my air head, my day dreamer, my fantasy child lost in his own world down the middle of the street completely unaware of any impending doom under a speeding truck.

"Brian! Get off the road! Get off the road!" We scream at him. Chriss and I are both in the center of the street now waving our arms at the driver and shouting at both the truck's driver and our nine year old space cadet. Right up on top of Chriss the driver finally sees us - it wasn't that dark, I think he was tuning his radio or rolling a joint for all I know but he obviously wasn't watching the road anymore than his speedometer. He brakes heavily and comes to a stop.

"Sorry, I didn't see ya there!" he says.

*WHEW!* I did a quick inventory, everyone still alive? Brian is behind me in the grass looking confused not having a clue what just happened or how very near we all came to being road kill, thus totally not understanding the rage that came next.

We peddled on home from there, glad to arrive all safe and sound.

Thank you God and your little green angels.

2007-06-28T00:50:00.001-04:00

It was another beautiful day in central Florida, fun in the sun hanging out at the Pool over at the YMCA where Everett and I slithered around in the baby pool playing alligator while Goo goo kept himself amused poking his fingers in the water spouts that feed the pool.

I keep waiting for the 911 call to bring the jack hammers to remove his above mentioned finger... Yup, the Fire & Rescue trucks, the reporters... I can see it all now.

I was hoping to introduce them to the Y's day care facility today, a concept foreign to all three boys but we got around too late and it was closed for the afternoon. Garrison's FAB doesn't come off until 11 a/m so I generally wait till then to go places but I suppose next time we'll just go early. He can play in there till it comes off, then we can go in the pool.

Later it was bike rides around Micanopy. Poor Brian desperately needs a new bike. His keeps breaking down. But nice rides none the less, Goo goo in the baby-wagon-thingy riding with Little Debbie (the weenie dog) pulled behind Chriss, Everett riding fast on his Tigger training wheels, Brian on his jallopy, and myself riding the 10-speed someone gave us the other day.

"That's a funny looking bike." Brian said,
"Hey! I grew up riding these things!" I said, a bit insulted.
"Is it an antique?"

Holy cow. Antique or not, it was funny looking enough he had to try riding it but ten-speeds respond nothing like a boy's mountain bike so that didn't last long. And Sara Lee, my 100 pound dog trotting beside me on a rope.

I'm happy to say I am continuing my plans of attack to take the Gainesville, FL doctors by storm although as yet I haven't made contact with these alien beings who still insist on chopping up little babies feet instead of adopting the Ponseti non-surgical approach. This is keeping me up way too many late nights - which is why we got to the pool too late today. A girl has to sleep sometime, and lately that has been in the morning more than in the night as I aim towards my approach of them.

I reckon that's about it from here this evening. Just looking foward to this coming weekend when we are going kayak shopping again. Someday we might even buy one!

Jump in with both...I mean, with all Six! feet

2007-06-27T00:19:00.000-04:00

As we begin this new blog adventure, I'll introduce you to the cast of characters:
Me, the Momma.
Chriss, the Daddy.
Brian, the oldest big brother, age 9
Everett, the middle brother, age 3
Garrison Goo Goo Baby, the baby brother, age 16 months.
The scene takes place in a small, rural central Florida town.

Everett's black eyes are nearly gone after nearly a week since he fell full speed in to the old coffee table. I told him that's what he got for being a smart elic as I propped him on a pillow with a sack of frozen corn on his forehead. He was doing his dead level best to keep away from Daddy. Chriss puts Everett's FAB on him every night while I put Garrison's on him; it's become quite a game of keep away between the two of them, wrestling the shoes on. That night ended badly and the games haven't been quite as crazy since then although the knot remains with a sickish yellow color fading down his nose and around both eyes.

Garrison is starting to get in on the game in his stagger-n-fall steps since he's only learned to walk recently. He tries though, squinching up that little face in an evil grin and running from me, coming close, then running away again. They keep us on our toes.

Speaking of bruises, it was only the day before when Goo goo pulled the crab cage off the shelf. This is an aquarium with about 25 pounds of sand in the bottom, how he pulled it I'll never know but it came off, landing on his ankle quite badly. I'm still surprised no bones were broken. He spent the afternoon laying around with the frozen corn on his foot while his doting big brother Brian fed him frozen yogurt sticks. Brian is a good big brother. That night the ankle was still too swollen to wear his brace so Garrison slept barefooted, which I suspect was worth the pain he felt to earn such a treat.

See y'all tomorrow or so.