A couple of weeks ago I took Emily and three of her friends garage saling. This was Emily’s choice of a birthday adventure and was intended to also provide fodder for my next article.
The article didn’t come together in the same mysterious way that sometimes pudding or jello simply won’t gel. My notes seemed to be all about girls snapping at each other. But Amy thought I should post something from the notes anyway.
Ok.
We get in the van and Emily whips out her notebook. “I wanna read you my latest dream.”
The others groan.
Emily, undaunted, reads.
They laugh.
“Now I wanna read you my latest story.”
More groans.
She reads.
They laugh.
Mysterious phrases followed by wild laughter:
“It’s a ghoooost.”
“I got your email about Mudd.”
“Remember to wash your socks today.”
Me: dear me.
“Why do they say a dog is a man’s best friend?”
“It should be a woman!”
Stephanie C. starts a story on Belt Line Road and has said “like” 14 times before we reach Hwy. 99.
Me: Dear me.
It is hot. Very hot. The sun glares off all the garage sale stuff and it’s hard to focus. The girls descend on each sale like hens to the feeder and the old ladies look at them and smile or look flabbergasted.
They admire old gloves, old clothes, anything impractical.
SC tells of the time she answered the phone and thought it was Arlene so she said, “Yessss. Whaddaya want THIS time??” and here it was Emily and Stephie’s grandma.
Emily shrieks. “Is that a stinkbug??”
Bethany: No wonder you stink.
Emily pinches her.
Bethany: I’ll chuck you in the creek.
Me: Dear me.
An arm jabs in front of me just as a Willamette Ag truck passes. “KURT!! Hey KURT!” yells SC.
Who’s that?
Kurt! He works with my dad!
Him? He’s old!
He has some cute kids, like, boys.
The other girls imitate her for a few miles. “Kurt! Hey Kurt!”
Stephie: You’re mean.
Bethany: Yeah, it’s my hobby.
Me: Dear me.
Bethany: Emily, knock it off. Your fingernails are not trimmed enough! You’re making marks on me!
SC: I used to bite myself, like, in church, to make marks on my arm.
Me: Dear me.
At one point the girls snatch the notebook out of my lap and write their own version of things:
Dorcas: goes driving full spede over the curb when driving out of the gas station. Then she goes creaming over the curb at dairy Qween.
SC finds a denture container in the free box. She gets it for her mom.
It is very hot.
At DQ, the girls walk to the door and Stephy S. gives the door a hard push and then notices the sign that says “PULL”
They slam each other’s handwriting on the way home and suddenly we pass a pasture and they burst into a chant: Four. White. Horses. Standingbyariver. Hey. Hey. Etc
They have a staring contest.
Me: Dear me.
We get home and they all go swimming.
I relax with a tall glass of iced tea.
Quote of the Day:
“Whew!”
--me, after I survived an afternoon of garage saling with four girls, taking them to the Deep Hole, sending them through the shower after they swam, feeding them, and getting them to the scrapbook party in Halsey where I delivered them all safely back to their moms
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Thursday, July 28, 2005
A Good Place to Grow Up
Not long ago a visitor paused in our front yard and looked around. She took in the old-fashioned house with a big white porch, the homemade swing set in the yard, the green grass, and the trees and said, “Do your children appreciate growing up in such an idyllic setting?”
“No,” I said, “they don’t. But someday they will.”
I have a feeling that ten or fifteen years from now one of my children will be teaching in some inner city or immunizing children in a dusty village overseas, and suddenly they’ll get this incredible appreciation for growing up where they did, where the creek beckoned on hot summer days, the water flowed clean and delicious from the tap, and the kids slept outside on the trampoline all summer long with no danger beyond the cat pouncing on them at 3 a.m.
We are very blessed.
Quote of the Day:
“I can put up my hair in exactly 12 seconds.”
--Emily, who wraps her long hair around her wrist, twists it once, and skewers it with a plastic chopstick. Her Aunt Lois took an hour to put up her hair at this age, Paul says.
“No,” I said, “they don’t. But someday they will.”
I have a feeling that ten or fifteen years from now one of my children will be teaching in some inner city or immunizing children in a dusty village overseas, and suddenly they’ll get this incredible appreciation for growing up where they did, where the creek beckoned on hot summer days, the water flowed clean and delicious from the tap, and the kids slept outside on the trampoline all summer long with no danger beyond the cat pouncing on them at 3 a.m.
We are very blessed.
Quote of the Day:
“I can put up my hair in exactly 12 seconds.”
--Emily, who wraps her long hair around her wrist, twists it once, and skewers it with a plastic chopstick. Her Aunt Lois took an hour to put up her hair at this age, Paul says.
Monday, July 25, 2005
New Blogs
They keep popping up like mushrooms--check out these:
Paul's sister Rosie talks about mothering and lots more at Joyful Noise.
And Matt's friend Justin who works a seed-sacking shift at our warehouse, has a blog called Kilted Blogger.
Paul's sister Rosie talks about mothering and lots more at Joyful Noise.
And Matt's friend Justin who works a seed-sacking shift at our warehouse, has a blog called Kilted Blogger.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Wish List
In his seven months in the U.S. Steven has learned that in America you can get Cool Stuff. So he made a list of things he wants and posted it on the fridge:
dog or 2
Parat
Cat
Garden
Hemster
Basketball
Remot ckontrol car
BiBi gan
BasBall
Room by my self
Flipers
Bird
Duck
Sheep
Checken
How much of this does he have a chance of getting? Well, probably a lamb in the spring...probably not the parrot...no room to himself til a few siblings leave home...maybe the remote control car for his birthday (don't tell).
Quote of the Day:
"In human years it’s probably 65—not dead yet, but a senior citizen."
--Matt, on why our computer acts how it does
dog or 2
Parat
Cat
Garden
Hemster
Basketball
Remot ckontrol car
BiBi gan
BasBall
Room by my self
Flipers
Bird
Duck
Sheep
Checken
How much of this does he have a chance of getting? Well, probably a lamb in the spring...probably not the parrot...no room to himself til a few siblings leave home...maybe the remote control car for his birthday (don't tell).
Quote of the Day:
"In human years it’s probably 65—not dead yet, but a senior citizen."
--Matt, on why our computer acts how it does
Thursday, July 21, 2005
U of O Talk
This morning I drove down to the University of Oregon and spoke to an ESL class about Amish and Mennonites. They had just watched the movie "Witness" and were studying melting-pot vs. salad-bowl cultures.
I have never seen Witness but was told that in the book version as the girl is getting ready for bed she pulls off her white lace cap and her hair goes cascading down her back. Don’t these people realize she needed about 15 hairpins as well? So I hoped to clarify a few delusions.
There were two teachers and maybe 20 students in the class, hailing from Japan, Korea, Mauritania, Togo, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan. It was a great chance to sneak in the Good News because of course I had to explain that our salvation comes from Jesus and not from these things we do.
I talked for 15 minutes or so and then they asked questions. Why don’t we get politically involved if we could do some good that way? If you don’t wear rings, how do you tell married and single women apart? (My answer: married women look old and tired.) What do you like best about being part of a community? How do we relate to people of other religions?
The guy from Togo was obviously a Christian—"How can you live in these isolated communities when Jesus tells us in Mark 16 to go and share the Gospel with the world?" So I talked about the growing awareness of the need to evangelize and the difficulty, at times, of reconciling outreach with protecting our families from bad influences.
I don’t know how much I clarified things for them but I do know I renewed my admiration for foreign students. They are respectful, mature, dedicated, and focused.
And an extra perk: the teacher in charge is going to see if there are any Kenyan, particularly Luo, students this fall that we could have in our home now and then to keep Steven’s native languages alive.
Quote of the Day:
"That’s the whole point."
--Ben, when I told him to quit doing stuff that makes Jenny scream
I have never seen Witness but was told that in the book version as the girl is getting ready for bed she pulls off her white lace cap and her hair goes cascading down her back. Don’t these people realize she needed about 15 hairpins as well? So I hoped to clarify a few delusions.
There were two teachers and maybe 20 students in the class, hailing from Japan, Korea, Mauritania, Togo, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan. It was a great chance to sneak in the Good News because of course I had to explain that our salvation comes from Jesus and not from these things we do.
I talked for 15 minutes or so and then they asked questions. Why don’t we get politically involved if we could do some good that way? If you don’t wear rings, how do you tell married and single women apart? (My answer: married women look old and tired.) What do you like best about being part of a community? How do we relate to people of other religions?
The guy from Togo was obviously a Christian—"How can you live in these isolated communities when Jesus tells us in Mark 16 to go and share the Gospel with the world?" So I talked about the growing awareness of the need to evangelize and the difficulty, at times, of reconciling outreach with protecting our families from bad influences.
I don’t know how much I clarified things for them but I do know I renewed my admiration for foreign students. They are respectful, mature, dedicated, and focused.
And an extra perk: the teacher in charge is going to see if there are any Kenyan, particularly Luo, students this fall that we could have in our home now and then to keep Steven’s native languages alive.
Quote of the Day:
"That’s the whole point."
--Ben, when I told him to quit doing stuff that makes Jenny scream
Monday, July 18, 2005
Oregon
O give me a home
Where the nutria roam
Where the ryegrass is cut in July
Where the summer is bright
But it cools down at night
And the humidity never gets high.
Quote of the Day:
"A bird can lose a lot of feathers and still fly."
--anonymous warehouse worker who got tired of an aggressive starling and chucked a spool of sack-sewing thread at it
Where the nutria roam
Where the ryegrass is cut in July
Where the summer is bright
But it cools down at night
And the humidity never gets high.
Quote of the Day:
"A bird can lose a lot of feathers and still fly."
--anonymous warehouse worker who got tired of an aggressive starling and chucked a spool of sack-sewing thread at it
Sunday, July 17, 2005
New Blog, News, and Cycle Wipeout
Emily has hopped on the blogwagon at http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=SupergirlEmzel
And Amy tells us about her next big adventure over at Globetrotter_AJ. Yes, she's living up to her blog name. Kleenex donations are welcome for Mom.
Would all of you please make a note to be careful when you drive past our house? These curves just past our place to the north are nasty especially when you're driving too fast. I can't tell you how many times we hear that ominous screeeeeeech and then we wait for the THUNK.
In the five years we've been here we've seen a seed truck that lost its load, a red car in the field to the north, a red car in the trees by the creek, a car that hit a tree and burned up, and others that I can't remember the specifics of.
Thankfully, most times, people regain their footing before they wipe out completely, and then proceed on down the road. Yesterday, however, another person was not so fortunate. This time it was two guys on cycles. The younger one made it fine but the older one didn't lean into the turn enough or something so he hit the gravel and got flipped into the grass field.
I walked down to see if I could help. The guy was lying on the ground but coherent and not bleeding thanks to his helmet and leather jacket. He had tried to get up, he told me, and couldn't very well because his back and ankle hurt. A passing farmer called for the guy's daughter to come get him, and he promised me he'd see a doctor.
They parked his cycle at our place and later when his daughter and her husband came back and got it they said he would be fine. Sore but fine.
So that ended well but I have a feeling one of these days those curves will take the life of some teenage guy in a fancy pickup--the kind that drives too fast and thinks the laws of physics don't apply to him.
Quote of the Day:
"Mom! It's true! An ant, you know? An ant with four legs--that kind of ant? It's true, it will not cross a line of chalk! I saw an ant on the concrete on the basketball court and I drew a circle around it and it would not cross the line! So it's true! And then I let it go free. I can't believe it's true!"
--Jenny, who will have to learn to talk less when she goes to school this fall
And Amy tells us about her next big adventure over at Globetrotter_AJ. Yes, she's living up to her blog name. Kleenex donations are welcome for Mom.
Would all of you please make a note to be careful when you drive past our house? These curves just past our place to the north are nasty especially when you're driving too fast. I can't tell you how many times we hear that ominous screeeeeeech and then we wait for the THUNK.
In the five years we've been here we've seen a seed truck that lost its load, a red car in the field to the north, a red car in the trees by the creek, a car that hit a tree and burned up, and others that I can't remember the specifics of.
Thankfully, most times, people regain their footing before they wipe out completely, and then proceed on down the road. Yesterday, however, another person was not so fortunate. This time it was two guys on cycles. The younger one made it fine but the older one didn't lean into the turn enough or something so he hit the gravel and got flipped into the grass field.
I walked down to see if I could help. The guy was lying on the ground but coherent and not bleeding thanks to his helmet and leather jacket. He had tried to get up, he told me, and couldn't very well because his back and ankle hurt. A passing farmer called for the guy's daughter to come get him, and he promised me he'd see a doctor.
They parked his cycle at our place and later when his daughter and her husband came back and got it they said he would be fine. Sore but fine.
So that ended well but I have a feeling one of these days those curves will take the life of some teenage guy in a fancy pickup--the kind that drives too fast and thinks the laws of physics don't apply to him.
Quote of the Day:
"Mom! It's true! An ant, you know? An ant with four legs--that kind of ant? It's true, it will not cross a line of chalk! I saw an ant on the concrete on the basketball court and I drew a circle around it and it would not cross the line! So it's true! And then I let it go free. I can't believe it's true!"
--Jenny, who will have to learn to talk less when she goes to school this fall
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Boys
I had one middle-sized boy with all the attendant appetites, messes, noise, wild behavior, etc. And then I got another one. Now wouldn’t you think that since the number of boys doubled, the consequent messes, noise, etc, would merely double also?
No. Something freaky happens when you double the boys—the noise, trouble, and messes increase exponentially.
This is not a good year for apples. I went out to my 5-tree orchard the other day and inventoried and figured I’d be lucky to get a bucket or two of apples. "I’ll have to baby these things along to get any applesauce," I thought.
The next day I was hoeing in the garden and found a nice-sized apple. Hmmm. There are no apple trees close to the garden. I began asking questions.
Oh, um, well, Ben and Steven finished weeding the hedge that morning so they picked dozens of my precious apples off the trees and used them for batting practice.
We will draw the curtain of charity over the scene that followed except to say that I was about to turn them both over my knee and warm their bottoms but thought I would first call Paul for sympathy and moral support.
Mistake. He started laughing. I wanted to turn him over my knee and well, never mind. He can understand the boys so well, he said, because when he was a kid he used to spend hours hitting a rock with a broomstick. (Irrelevant, said the prosecution. Overruled, said the judge.)
Paul didn’t think I should spank them but they should each dig for an extra half hour out by the carport where we’re going to put gravel in.
And, I humphed, if I have to buy apples to make applesauce, guess who’s going to pay for them.
The next day I told the boys that if they do anything so foolish again I will spank first and THEN call their dad.
Quote of the Day:
"I don’t see any reason to make my bed cuz me and Steven are the only ones that’ll see it and it’ll just get all messed up again in thirteen hours."
--Ben
No. Something freaky happens when you double the boys—the noise, trouble, and messes increase exponentially.
This is not a good year for apples. I went out to my 5-tree orchard the other day and inventoried and figured I’d be lucky to get a bucket or two of apples. "I’ll have to baby these things along to get any applesauce," I thought.
The next day I was hoeing in the garden and found a nice-sized apple. Hmmm. There are no apple trees close to the garden. I began asking questions.
Oh, um, well, Ben and Steven finished weeding the hedge that morning so they picked dozens of my precious apples off the trees and used them for batting practice.
We will draw the curtain of charity over the scene that followed except to say that I was about to turn them both over my knee and warm their bottoms but thought I would first call Paul for sympathy and moral support.
Mistake. He started laughing. I wanted to turn him over my knee and well, never mind. He can understand the boys so well, he said, because when he was a kid he used to spend hours hitting a rock with a broomstick. (Irrelevant, said the prosecution. Overruled, said the judge.)
Paul didn’t think I should spank them but they should each dig for an extra half hour out by the carport where we’re going to put gravel in.
And, I humphed, if I have to buy apples to make applesauce, guess who’s going to pay for them.
The next day I told the boys that if they do anything so foolish again I will spank first and THEN call their dad.
Quote of the Day:
"I don’t see any reason to make my bed cuz me and Steven are the only ones that’ll see it and it’ll just get all messed up again in thirteen hours."
--Ben
Sunday, July 10, 2005
July Article
You can read today's column at http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/07/10/ol.smucker.0710.html
Quote of the Day:
"I'm sorry--I get hungry here."
--Matt, explaining why he took all 8 leftover grilled hamburgers to the warehouse to sustain himself on his 4pm-to-midnight shift, after I found that there weren't any leftover burgers here for Ben and Steven to eat and called Matt up and asked him if he suddenly grew a pink snout. I admit he works hard and some expert said you burn 100 calories every 15 minutes sacking seed, but still--8 hamburgers!
Quote of the Day:
"I'm sorry--I get hungry here."
--Matt, explaining why he took all 8 leftover grilled hamburgers to the warehouse to sustain himself on his 4pm-to-midnight shift, after I found that there weren't any leftover burgers here for Ben and Steven to eat and called Matt up and asked him if he suddenly grew a pink snout. I admit he works hard and some expert said you burn 100 calories every 15 minutes sacking seed, but still--8 hamburgers!
Friday, July 08, 2005
Photo
I have never figured out how to post pictures on here but today Matt posted a photo of me over on my Xanga site:http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=dorcassmucker
I hope to post pictures of the rest of the family sometime.
Quote of the Day:
"Ach, zu natural!"
(Translation: Oh, too natural!)
--my mom, whenever she saw a picture of herself
I hope to post pictures of the rest of the family sometime.
Quote of the Day:
"Ach, zu natural!"
(Translation: Oh, too natural!)
--my mom, whenever she saw a picture of herself
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