Thursday's Putterings
Topics contained herein:
A martial arts mishap and a species-confused dog.
Weather / Phenology:
Mostly gray and wet today. The rain started sometime in mid-afternoon and continues as I write this. I just took Boo out for his last walk of the night. I’m only a little damp around the edges. I was supposed to take the first of twelve monthly photographs of the meadow today but I’m going to see how the weather is tomorrow or the next day - I’ve already decided that photographs taken within three days, on either side of the 21st, will be acceptable.
The chickens are laying well again - got four eggs out of the tractor today. I hope to get the two winter coops (and some sheet mulching) done this weekend. Anyone (local) want to stop by and help us move the tractor to a different spot?
Mood Summary:
I’m tired but it feels good to sit here and type. Overall, I’m happy. I feel like I’m on top of things. I’ve done an awful lot of laughing and learning with my boy in these last days.
Tonight we slipped into hysterics due to an unfortunate Karate incident. I was attempting to help Ch- practice a … side-kick? (I’m sure there’s a proper name for it but it escapes me at the moment.) He lost his balance and fell into painful-looking split. He grabbed a nearby chair for balance but his momentum was great enough that he just ended up pulling the chair over onto himself as he headed for the floor, still in that horrible split. Kitten, who had been napping on said chair’s seat, went flying. Meanwhile, Ch- thrust his hand toward the rapidly approaching floor in order to catch himself. Sadly, Honor - our Fat Cat - was resting in the precise spot that Ch-‘s hand landed. At the same time, Ch-‘s knee (or foot) caught Boo right in the chops. All three animals scrambled to get out of the way and out of the room. Toby - our most dignified cat - observed the whole incident from the regal perch of the dining table. He blinked.
It didn’t become funny until Ch-looked up at me from under the chair and said, “Only I could take out all three animals in one blow.” I helped him to his feet, feeling grateful that he could shake off the pain. When he saw Toby, still contentedly settled onto his folded Gi on the table, gazing disapprovingly at him, Ch- started to laugh in earnest. Impersonating Toby, he said, “Don’t do it, Boy. Don’t do it. Nothing good is going to come of …”
--CRASH! MEROW! MEROW! YELP!--
“See? I told you so.”
By now we were both laughing hard enough to make our eyes water. Ch- looked at me through a film of tears and said, “None of them are gonna cuddle with me tonight.”
“Oh sweetheart,” I said, “they are tough. And they’ve forgiven you for worse, back when you were younger.”
“Yeah. Like when I stuffed Toby into a pillow case and then swung it around to give him an airplane ride.”
“You never told me that you did that! When did you do that?”
“A long time ago and I’m still trying to make up for it.”
--------
Just FYI: I think anyone who reads this knows that I would have punished Ch- when he did that awful deed if I had known about it. Tonight though? Tonight all I could do was laugh helplessly. I now understand why Toby can get away with ANYTHING as far as Ch- is concerned. My boy already understands the idea of penance. And Toby really is a saint-cat.
In other animal news: Boo is a mouser. Yes, our dog caught, played with and killed a mouse in the house the other night. The cats looked on approvingly.
One major difference between cat and dog hunting methods caught me by surprise. I was working on the main computer while R- snoozed on the daybed in the living room. It was late and mostly dark in the house. When Boo started making a fair bit of noise behind me, I assumed he was just playing with one of his chew toys. It’s not unusual for him to get frisky all by himself so I didn’t think anything of his mad dashes and feints. Then I heard a faint squeak. I spun around only to see a large field mouse scurry across the floor. I pulled my legs up onto the chair and called out to R-.
“Your dog has a mouse!” (I may have shrieked. I won’t rule it out. And why is he always R-‘s dog when I don’t like what the dog is doing?)
Surprisingly, R- actually woke up without further prodding, though he remained groggy. He sat up. (All the better for questioning my sanity, I suppose.)
“Boo has what?”
When Boo heard his name spoken by his beloved master, he sprinted toward R- and then screeched to a halt. He turned back, caught the escaping mouse in his mouth, and headed straight for his “dad”. I believe he had every intention of delivering it right into R-‘s hands. R-, however, seemed reluctant to take it.
At least the cats only leave the dead bodies for us to find.
(I should really spend some time seeking mouse entry points, armed with a can of that insulating, expanding foam, this weekend. They are just fat field mice seeking a warm, dry den for the winter but my friends are starting to get freaked out.)
Five Gratitudes:
1) Despite the above story, I am extremely gratified to see that Ch- is taking to Karate like a natural. His punches and kicks are sharp and clean. He listens closely to the instructor, whom I think he already idolizes. He takes seriously the traditions and ethics embedded in the lessons. It’s a little scary to see that he is likely to become quite proficient. I’m thrilled that he has found a physical endeavor that he feels so confident about.
2) I can hear my husband moving around downstairs which means that I will actually get to see him even though I expected to be asleep by this time. Ummm. Conscious cuddles.
3) I just went to check and found that Boo IS sleeping with Ch-. Ch-- will be happy to hear that in the morning.
4) I’m grateful that my hair curls in rainy weather.
5) I’m grateful that my husband has been taking care of the money maintenance. I entered a few receipts tonight because I know that the next couple of days are going to busy for him. It was no big deal, of course, but it reminded me how much I used to hate that daily task.
Accomplishments:
I’m managing to get at least three quarters of my daily dozen chores done on most days, and usually more than that. I am still frequently missing personal care, exercise, support writing and real writing but I seem to have pretty well mastered everything else.
This week has been about reclaiming a sense of order … I nailed down Ch-‘s weekly school schedule over the last several days. The pre-packaged schedule would have been fine if we weren’t actively accelerating our son through 4th grade Math and Language. (Which we need to do because he already knows almost all of the material … we are just looking for the holes in his knowledge. Hidden within about every third lesson there is a concept, method or term which is unfamiliar to him. When we find one of those, we slow down and walk him through it.) Today, now that I’ve made a schedule that makes sense to both of us, he covered all the material in about five hours and we didn’t miss anything except for an extra art lesson I’d hoped to get to. That’s no big deal because his Friday schedule is deliberately light. My hope is that he’ll spend most Fridays taking unit tests and spending some time with the more creative classes like music, composition and art.
Daily Dozen
My Mission 101 List
My Evil-Twin Mission 101 List
Start Date: July 27, 2006 10:00 pm ---- End Date: April 24, 2009 10:00 pm
Goal Level Behaviors
Routines
Cleaning: zones & weekly schedule
A martial arts mishap and a species-confused dog.
Weather / Phenology:
Mostly gray and wet today. The rain started sometime in mid-afternoon and continues as I write this. I just took Boo out for his last walk of the night. I’m only a little damp around the edges. I was supposed to take the first of twelve monthly photographs of the meadow today but I’m going to see how the weather is tomorrow or the next day - I’ve already decided that photographs taken within three days, on either side of the 21st, will be acceptable.
The chickens are laying well again - got four eggs out of the tractor today. I hope to get the two winter coops (and some sheet mulching) done this weekend. Anyone (local) want to stop by and help us move the tractor to a different spot?
Mood Summary:
I’m tired but it feels good to sit here and type. Overall, I’m happy. I feel like I’m on top of things. I’ve done an awful lot of laughing and learning with my boy in these last days.
Tonight we slipped into hysterics due to an unfortunate Karate incident. I was attempting to help Ch- practice a … side-kick? (I’m sure there’s a proper name for it but it escapes me at the moment.) He lost his balance and fell into painful-looking split. He grabbed a nearby chair for balance but his momentum was great enough that he just ended up pulling the chair over onto himself as he headed for the floor, still in that horrible split. Kitten, who had been napping on said chair’s seat, went flying. Meanwhile, Ch- thrust his hand toward the rapidly approaching floor in order to catch himself. Sadly, Honor - our Fat Cat - was resting in the precise spot that Ch-‘s hand landed. At the same time, Ch-‘s knee (or foot) caught Boo right in the chops. All three animals scrambled to get out of the way and out of the room. Toby - our most dignified cat - observed the whole incident from the regal perch of the dining table. He blinked.
It didn’t become funny until Ch-looked up at me from under the chair and said, “Only I could take out all three animals in one blow.” I helped him to his feet, feeling grateful that he could shake off the pain. When he saw Toby, still contentedly settled onto his folded Gi on the table, gazing disapprovingly at him, Ch- started to laugh in earnest. Impersonating Toby, he said, “Don’t do it, Boy. Don’t do it. Nothing good is going to come of …”
--CRASH! MEROW! MEROW! YELP!--
“See? I told you so.”
By now we were both laughing hard enough to make our eyes water. Ch- looked at me through a film of tears and said, “None of them are gonna cuddle with me tonight.”
“Oh sweetheart,” I said, “they are tough. And they’ve forgiven you for worse, back when you were younger.”
“Yeah. Like when I stuffed Toby into a pillow case and then swung it around to give him an airplane ride.”
“You never told me that you did that! When did you do that?”
“A long time ago and I’m still trying to make up for it.”
--------
Just FYI: I think anyone who reads this knows that I would have punished Ch- when he did that awful deed if I had known about it. Tonight though? Tonight all I could do was laugh helplessly. I now understand why Toby can get away with ANYTHING as far as Ch- is concerned. My boy already understands the idea of penance. And Toby really is a saint-cat.
In other animal news: Boo is a mouser. Yes, our dog caught, played with and killed a mouse in the house the other night. The cats looked on approvingly.
One major difference between cat and dog hunting methods caught me by surprise. I was working on the main computer while R- snoozed on the daybed in the living room. It was late and mostly dark in the house. When Boo started making a fair bit of noise behind me, I assumed he was just playing with one of his chew toys. It’s not unusual for him to get frisky all by himself so I didn’t think anything of his mad dashes and feints. Then I heard a faint squeak. I spun around only to see a large field mouse scurry across the floor. I pulled my legs up onto the chair and called out to R-.
“Your dog has a mouse!” (I may have shrieked. I won’t rule it out. And why is he always R-‘s dog when I don’t like what the dog is doing?)
Surprisingly, R- actually woke up without further prodding, though he remained groggy. He sat up. (All the better for questioning my sanity, I suppose.)
“Boo has what?”
When Boo heard his name spoken by his beloved master, he sprinted toward R- and then screeched to a halt. He turned back, caught the escaping mouse in his mouth, and headed straight for his “dad”. I believe he had every intention of delivering it right into R-‘s hands. R-, however, seemed reluctant to take it.
At least the cats only leave the dead bodies for us to find.
(I should really spend some time seeking mouse entry points, armed with a can of that insulating, expanding foam, this weekend. They are just fat field mice seeking a warm, dry den for the winter but my friends are starting to get freaked out.)
Five Gratitudes:
1) Despite the above story, I am extremely gratified to see that Ch- is taking to Karate like a natural. His punches and kicks are sharp and clean. He listens closely to the instructor, whom I think he already idolizes. He takes seriously the traditions and ethics embedded in the lessons. It’s a little scary to see that he is likely to become quite proficient. I’m thrilled that he has found a physical endeavor that he feels so confident about.
2) I can hear my husband moving around downstairs which means that I will actually get to see him even though I expected to be asleep by this time. Ummm. Conscious cuddles.
3) I just went to check and found that Boo IS sleeping with Ch-. Ch-- will be happy to hear that in the morning.
4) I’m grateful that my hair curls in rainy weather.
5) I’m grateful that my husband has been taking care of the money maintenance. I entered a few receipts tonight because I know that the next couple of days are going to busy for him. It was no big deal, of course, but it reminded me how much I used to hate that daily task.
Accomplishments:
I’m managing to get at least three quarters of my daily dozen chores done on most days, and usually more than that. I am still frequently missing personal care, exercise, support writing and real writing but I seem to have pretty well mastered everything else.
This week has been about reclaiming a sense of order … I nailed down Ch-‘s weekly school schedule over the last several days. The pre-packaged schedule would have been fine if we weren’t actively accelerating our son through 4th grade Math and Language. (Which we need to do because he already knows almost all of the material … we are just looking for the holes in his knowledge. Hidden within about every third lesson there is a concept, method or term which is unfamiliar to him. When we find one of those, we slow down and walk him through it.) Today, now that I’ve made a schedule that makes sense to both of us, he covered all the material in about five hours and we didn’t miss anything except for an extra art lesson I’d hoped to get to. That’s no big deal because his Friday schedule is deliberately light. My hope is that he’ll spend most Fridays taking unit tests and spending some time with the more creative classes like music, composition and art.
Daily Dozen
My Mission 101 List
My Evil-Twin Mission 101 List
Start Date: July 27, 2006 10:00 pm ---- End Date: April 24, 2009 10:00 pm
Goal Level Behaviors
Routines
Cleaning: zones & weekly schedule