Baby Powder

Caught unaware

I always seem to have bottles and bottles of the stuff around, and it rarely gets used.  Somewhere I think there is a conspiracy that tells everyone to buy new moms baby powder by the boat loads.  The stuff is really only good for keeping ants away and occasionally dusting on a moist baby.  Now maybe some people use it all the time I on the other hand use it rarely, when heat rash or sick rash; Sick rash, you know the rash on the bottom when the baby is feeling ill and throwing up, but it isn't a diaper rash or a yeast infection?  Yeah that one.

Covered head to toe

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All the kids were home sick the other day, yes all 5 of the kids were home and under the weather enough not to be able to go to school, and the baby had sick rash from the night before when she was throwing up in her bed, in my bed, on me...  Well, I was a little tired when I changed her last diaper and left the bottle of baby powder sitting out.  Never ever leave baby powder sitting out if you have kids, it goes from innocent moisture control to a powder bombs in seconds.

Dancin'. dancin', dancinn'!!!

I went upstairs to check on the sickest of the sick, my oldest who was hunkering down in my bed, and by the time I came back the other 4 managed to coat the kitchen floor with a whole bottle of baby powder.  They were having a grand old time, dancing, and kicking, and stomping, and patting little handprints into it, rubbing it on their faces, playing makeup with it, and so on and so forth.



It was everywhere, and I just had to laugh, who knew that a bottle of baby powder could cure 4 sick kids of the cruddies?

 

I didn't do it - FarmDog

And yes that is a fog of powder hanging in the air.

Thing 1 & Thing 2

Last week (or was it the week before?) we had a huge snow storm here, dumped over 2 feet of heavy wet stuff on us in under a day.  A few days later, rain, and flooding.

The Old Man

Farm Dog

Somewhere in the midst of all that yucky, cold, wet, weather Farmdog, the border collie was barking at something late at night.  I let him out, no big deal who knows what he saw I thought probably a fairy.  But then I heard responsive barking just feet from the house.  I looked out and sw 3 black dogs, I thought it was a pack of pitbulls.  I called Farmdog in, he didn't respond, I went out and shouted at them, 1 ran away.  I went inside and got TheOldMan, a guard dog that retired to the farm three years ago to die, that doesn;t look anywhere near deaths door these days...  He thought they were great playmates and ran off to play.  In the cold and rain.  My Oldest suggested getting a gun, a .22 to frighten them away, I was all for it, but that was not an option.  So I went after them with a flashlight, I managed to frighten one away while the other just cowered down as I approached.

Once I got near, my heart broke for the little fella, he was soaking wet and shivering, He was skin and bones and afraid i was going to beat him.  I stopped trying to chase him away.  I went inside and got him some food and tried to convince him to eat.  He didn't, but slowly left.  I went back inside feeling awful for how I had treated the 2 pups.  And I remembered a chapter in the book The farmer boy by Laura Ingalls wilder about a stray dog, and thought maybe they were sent by a higher power.

When they reappeared the next day I was ready, i had food and brought it out to him, he ate wagged his tail and was a grateful little guy.  A few days later he returned with his friend.  Both were still super skittish, but decided this is where they belonged.  Ever since that day (the 3rd dog made a brief appearance, but didn't stay or come near, it was just to afraid of either people or the house to come near) they have acted as if they belong here, at night curling up against the front door together guarding us from the night.

I contacted the shelter, the SPCA, I contacted the animal control officer, I have placed a found ad online.  No one has claimed them, someone wanted to adopt them, but I think they have adopted us.  They are great around the kids, don't mess with the cats,  are cautious around the cattle and sheep (bordering on scared), and play well with the other dogs.  I am going to take them to get scanned for microchips, and if they don't have any I am letting them stay.  Thing 2 even helped FarmDog and me bring in the cattle over the weekend.  Oh, and they are not pitbulls, one is some kind of hound mix and the other may have some pit in him, but not the body type or the lockjaw.

Thing 1

Thing 2

I think I am ready

to come back, to blog again, to start anew.  You may have noticed that all there was is now gone, that is because all I have known is now gone.  My marriage of 10 years is over.  What once started as a loving relationship made a sudden turn last year into a very abusive one, it was bad.  Bad for me, and bad for the children.

Last summer when my writing slowed and eventually stopped it was because I felt I could not write what was truly happening, I was censoring myself against the truth, protecting myself and others from what was really happening here, and afraid of the consequences that I would face if I shared our lives truthfully, and I was becoming tired of the lies, lies to myself, lies to the world and at the point where I just couldn't do it anymore.

So now I can lay it on the line, try to be who I am, or was, or want to be.  I am facing the facts and moving forward.  I have been living a new life, or at least trying to since the beginning of December, and I think I am finally ready to share again.