It's The News Again

We drove to the ballgame this morning as the newscast filled the van. Never good news; always the bad. It should be no surprise. There was no news of healthy baby boy or girl delivered overnight. There was no news of clearing skies and improving job markets. There was only the news of tragic forest fires and raging wars, of theft and rape and murder.

The sun shone bright over the fall ball field and the October wind whipped dust on the infield. Parents left their cars and vans and trucks to sit on cold metal bleachers, for 90 minutes engaged in the paramount struggle of 11-year-old Indians -vs- Braves. Siblings yelled and cheered, played on swings and slides, lost interest and played in the sand. Baseball players frowned and cheered, swung and missed, ran and stole bases.

And the news came on again in the van as the afternoon sun rose high in the autumn sky. It was full of wars and murders, accidents and presidents, gas prices and insider trading. Baseball players and baby sisters slept in the back seats.

Getting Ready for Halloween

"There is something not right here.  There is something exactly not right about this."  The three year-old's blond hair dances wildly around her face as she digs in the grocery bag.  Her hand erupts from the bag, spilling candy, toys and Dollar Tree plunder all over the bed.  "Look!" she says, holding up two small boxes.  "I only got one of these and they gave me two.  Two necklaces that glow in the dark and look, there's more in the bag!" 

Her daddy leans over and looks at the boxes.  "Honey, I picked up enough for everybody to use on Halloween.  It's your birthday, remember?  We're all getting dressed up and going to the Fire Station for your birthday party.  Won't that be fun?  The whole town will be there for your party."

Committed To Trying To Write Daily

She looked at me; her eyebrows stretching up, above the wire-rimmed glasses. Her lips were thin and tight, and not with anger this time. One small brown curl rocked back and forth with the motion of her head. The eyebrows slowly slid back down into place as she released a long sign.

I'd let her down. Again. And this time I wasn't sure I'd ever have another chance. The bank vault full of trust might just be empty after this little episode.

I didn't say "I'm sorry." Not this time. Not again. She's heard all of that before. I put my head down, slinking off to my room.

What is a Critter Getter and Where Can I Find One?

I struggled to find a name for this blog -- something unique and something "me". My dear husband has been in Iraq for 10 months now and, in that time, our house has been under attack by all creatures great and small, furry and slimy, flying and walking! The kids and I have battled squirrels in the attic, mice in the basement, yellowjackets in the yard, a snake in the basement and a mother opossum and her seven babies -- IN THE BASEMENT. Of course, the boys (age 9 and 7) have totally gotten in to the "trapping" lifestyle. One of the daily chores is to go downstairs and check the traps. We've had live traps, snap traps, poison and finally, sticky traps. Up until yesterday, we were blissfully plodding from summer to fall. The last round of sticky traps had been in the basement for two whole weeks with nothing more than a cricket and two spiders to show. The yesterday morning we found that one of the sticky traps was gone. No, it wasn't just pulled away from the area where it had been left -- it is absolutely gone. Now, I'm pretty rational, so I know that it is in my basement -somewhere- with a dead or previously living rodent of some sort stuck to it. I know we'll find it when the smell starts to get strong.

Anyway, as much to pass the time as anything else, I had the boys suit up and head to basement to find the trap. Of course they didn't, but it kept them busy for 30 or 40 minutes.

Can you imagine the anger and frustration I felt this morning when I went downstairs to check the remaining trap and I found that one of our dear sons had left the basement door open -- all night? So now, who knows what critters have crawled in to get out of the cold? All I know is that I set more traps this morning and I TIED THEM TO THE FURNITURE! (We may have to make another trap-run to Southern States this afternoon!!)