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thothmesI just wanted to post to let folks know why I have been rudely ignoring them.
I haven't really.
On June 8th we had a couple of sizeable thunderstorms come through here, and this caused us to lose both power and phone. When the phone came back on a few hours later, it was at best unreliable. On our end, sound kept dropping out. The folks we were talking to heard plenty of crackling and static.
This made connecting to our dial-up internet an impossibility. I got about an hour in while sitting with our laptop at one of my kids' weekly appointments, because the building has free wi-fi, and I mostly used that to answer my personal e-mails. We finally got connectivity back here a few hours ago, and then I had some business transactions I needed to take care of before I could get down to socializing.
So if you asked me a question or sent me a response, and you got no reply [*How rude!*] it wasn't because I was lazy or ignoring you. I just was "away".
Back now. Hopelessly behind. I'll be working hard to catch up about in time to go out of town for a week for the last week of June. At least then I'll be able to take the laptop with me, and I'll be heading into the land of wi-fi and fast internet!
So anyway, I'll be getting back to you all as soon as I can, provided I don't have to take too much time out building an empty padded room for the Whirlwind of Destruction to bounce from wall to wall in without wrecking anything. School ended today, and she's been in rare form lately.
On Friday she followed on foot after her almost 16 year old sister, who was on her bike. The Whirlwind is not allowed to leave the property. She's eight and knows this. A mother of a classmate drove her home from way down the two lane road where the cars come by doing 60 in the 50 m.p.h. zone by our house, and where the shoulders are narrow. I read her the riot act, and threatened to tear her a new one if she did it again, and restricted her to the house. It was a first, and she'd been lost and scared until the mom saw her and stopped, so I figured she'd learned her lesson.
On Monday, someone from our town stopped by to ask was the small person wandering the road around the bend ours? She rather thought she might be. I had been in the bathroom when the Whirlwind took off. I ran the half mile down to the neighboring farm in flip-flops before I saw her. Again she'd been trailing her sister, who saw but took no action! Grrrrrr!!!! The local cows got to stare wide-eyed at my stomping, roaring, wildly arm-waving madwoman show. The Whirlwind was chasened. For at least five minutes.
Today I shut my eyes for 15 minutes because I'd had to get up ferociously early after only about 2 1/2 hours of sleep to be sure to get things done and be ready for the early dismissal time, so I wouldn't be still doing my 5 mile circuit when The Whirlwind was dropped off, and she scattered every sandwich bag we had in the house (who knew we had so many!) all over the floor to do their acclaimed banana peel impressions, while using up an entire role of cellophane tape (which had been hidden in my room) and writing on (it seemed like) everything in sight with indelible marker. And she purloined two gluesticks and lost one and used most of the other up. She said she was making her dad a Father's Day present. I found the sticks of unused staples before I stepped on them though, so there's that.
People wonder why she will spend two weeks this year in hockey camp, and most of the other weeks in day camp. For people who needed the indolence of summer to recharge their batteries when they were kids, this seems brutal, and for some kids it is. I would never have done that to my other three. The Whirlwind needs the presence of other kids and massively energy-sucking activity, or all Hell breaks loose, and she starts to feel like she is a Bad Kid, she spends so much of her day in the dog house. If I can get through this week, and the last one before school starts, it should be manageable.
On the plus side, the flowers have been stunning. Our front garden has well over a hundred Siberian Iris in bloom, and the peonies are tightly budded, covered with ants, and awaiting imminent blossom. Hummingbirds swoop in and out feasting. Down under the apple tree, the older peonies are in full bloom, and the yellow Siberian and the dark blue and white "Blue Flag" Irises lining the stream are all unfurled and flying. The rhododendron and the climbing roses are open. The chives are a forest of pink pom-poms. The rhubarb has sent up high spikes of white disks on a stalk that pass for its flowers. Off in the woods the Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Columbine, and Coltsfoot Lilies are in flower.
I haven't really.
On June 8th we had a couple of sizeable thunderstorms come through here, and this caused us to lose both power and phone. When the phone came back on a few hours later, it was at best unreliable. On our end, sound kept dropping out. The folks we were talking to heard plenty of crackling and static.
This made connecting to our dial-up internet an impossibility. I got about an hour in while sitting with our laptop at one of my kids' weekly appointments, because the building has free wi-fi, and I mostly used that to answer my personal e-mails. We finally got connectivity back here a few hours ago, and then I had some business transactions I needed to take care of before I could get down to socializing.
So if you asked me a question or sent me a response, and you got no reply [*How rude!*] it wasn't because I was lazy or ignoring you. I just was "away".
Back now. Hopelessly behind. I'll be working hard to catch up about in time to go out of town for a week for the last week of June. At least then I'll be able to take the laptop with me, and I'll be heading into the land of wi-fi and fast internet!
So anyway, I'll be getting back to you all as soon as I can, provided I don't have to take too much time out building an empty padded room for the Whirlwind of Destruction to bounce from wall to wall in without wrecking anything. School ended today, and she's been in rare form lately.
On Friday she followed on foot after her almost 16 year old sister, who was on her bike. The Whirlwind is not allowed to leave the property. She's eight and knows this. A mother of a classmate drove her home from way down the two lane road where the cars come by doing 60 in the 50 m.p.h. zone by our house, and where the shoulders are narrow. I read her the riot act, and threatened to tear her a new one if she did it again, and restricted her to the house. It was a first, and she'd been lost and scared until the mom saw her and stopped, so I figured she'd learned her lesson.
On Monday, someone from our town stopped by to ask was the small person wandering the road around the bend ours? She rather thought she might be. I had been in the bathroom when the Whirlwind took off. I ran the half mile down to the neighboring farm in flip-flops before I saw her. Again she'd been trailing her sister, who saw but took no action! Grrrrrr!!!! The local cows got to stare wide-eyed at my stomping, roaring, wildly arm-waving madwoman show. The Whirlwind was chasened. For at least five minutes.
Today I shut my eyes for 15 minutes because I'd had to get up ferociously early after only about 2 1/2 hours of sleep to be sure to get things done and be ready for the early dismissal time, so I wouldn't be still doing my 5 mile circuit when The Whirlwind was dropped off, and she scattered every sandwich bag we had in the house (who knew we had so many!) all over the floor to do their acclaimed banana peel impressions, while using up an entire role of cellophane tape (which had been hidden in my room) and writing on (it seemed like) everything in sight with indelible marker. And she purloined two gluesticks and lost one and used most of the other up. She said she was making her dad a Father's Day present. I found the sticks of unused staples before I stepped on them though, so there's that.
People wonder why she will spend two weeks this year in hockey camp, and most of the other weeks in day camp. For people who needed the indolence of summer to recharge their batteries when they were kids, this seems brutal, and for some kids it is. I would never have done that to my other three. The Whirlwind needs the presence of other kids and massively energy-sucking activity, or all Hell breaks loose, and she starts to feel like she is a Bad Kid, she spends so much of her day in the dog house. If I can get through this week, and the last one before school starts, it should be manageable.
On the plus side, the flowers have been stunning. Our front garden has well over a hundred Siberian Iris in bloom, and the peonies are tightly budded, covered with ants, and awaiting imminent blossom. Hummingbirds swoop in and out feasting. Down under the apple tree, the older peonies are in full bloom, and the yellow Siberian and the dark blue and white "Blue Flag" Irises lining the stream are all unfurled and flying. The rhododendron and the climbing roses are open. The chives are a forest of pink pom-poms. The rhubarb has sent up high spikes of white disks on a stalk that pass for its flowers. Off in the woods the Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Columbine, and Coltsfoot Lilies are in flower.
