Someone Is Sick

The doctor says it's swine flu.

I don't know how he could be so sure.
All those years of training?

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.  ~Ephesians 5:8-10

SugarPlum Meets the Chicks

or
A Giant in the Chick Nursery


Just tossed that one in for kicks.
Son4 was adjusting fresh floor cover.

Plum and Pullets...

Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.  ~Psalm 119:160

Firebugs

SugarPlum and I made firebugs Thursday.  Last year, I dipped pinecones in wax to serve the same purpose.  Firebugs use less wax and take up considerably less space near the woodstove.  I just don't have very many dead candles lying about right now, and space is an issue in this little house on the prairie, so the fires will be kindled with bugs this year.

If you need some firebugs, grab that former peach can from under the sink — the one in which you toss dead birthday candles and remnants of votive candles — and set it in a double boiler over low heat.  Put water not only in the bottom of the double boiler, but also in the top.  Surrounding the can with hot water will speed the melting, and there can never be too much water near melting wax, for wax is highly flammable.  But we'll get back to that in a moment.  Be glad for leftover wickbits in your melting wax, because firebugs thrive on stray wickbits.

Cut pieces of twine or cotton string about 5" long.  Your goal will be to encircle your 1" newspaper cylinder, tie, knot, and have some dangling twine tails.  If you have a plum to help you with this, she or he may be ruthless with those big scissors and warn, "Watch it, Nana!  I don't wanna cut you!" and you'll heartily agree with that sentiment, so be ready to drop the stretched twine at any moment, lest you lose a digit to SugarPlum Scissorhands.

Get some newspapers and lay out a stack of 6 to 8 sheets.  Roll that stack as tightly as you can, so you end up with a firm, skinny newspaper stick.  Have your helper hang onto that stick while you begin tying twine about 1½" from one end and approximately 3" apart down the length of the whole thing.  You can slide your twine ties around a little bit when you get to the other end, so they'll all be equidistant from one-another.  You're going to be cutting your newspaper stick midway between the twine ties, but this isn't microscopic surgery or anything, and you're just going to set fire to the little buggers, so don't be using a ruler.  Just eyeball it.  And you may want 4" or 5" firebugs; adjust accordingly.

Now it's time to slice-up that newspaper stick.  If no one volunteers to go to the man room in the barn to get the jigsaw, you can use your new electric knife you bought in the spring, but it'll burn up the motor, and you'll have to throw it in the wastebasket, so I recommend you send someone to fetch the saw.  [Is it growing ever clearer why CarolineNOT rarely publishes tutorials on her blog?]  Cut that thing into pieces, and I can't tell you how many pieces there will be, because that eyeballing thing never works out the same twice.

Assuming your wax is melted, it's time to dip the bugs.  Drag a chair to the range for your plum to stand in, and when she or he asks why there's water in the pan, explain that it helps melt the wax, and wax is highly flammable; then explain what highly flammable means.  Go over this a couple of times, because flammable is a 3-syllable word not in everyday use by 4-year-olds.  Be thorough.  Don't be so thorough that when you tell your plum to pick up a bug by its twine and lower it into the can of wax, she'll get a stricken look on her face and say, "I don't want to.  You can do it."  If that happens, though, don't lose heart.  Drop one bug into the wax and let it sit there for 5 to 7 seconds; remove it with an old pair of tongs and set it on the inverted donut box (mmmm, donuts ♥) to cool.  When your plum sees that you didn't spontaneously combust, she or he will say, "Okay, I'll do it now, Nana."

When all your bugs are dipped and cool enough to touch, take some photos of your plum dangling one of the creepy little things, so you can post them on your blog.

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!  ~Psalms 139:17

☺

But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children.  ~Psalm 103:17

Twenty-eight-and-a-half excruciating months.
Rescued at last.

How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.  ~Psalm 36:7 Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.  Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.  ~Psalm 145:2, 3 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.  ~Matthew 18:6

Dressmaking

I ordered flannel fabric for winter SugarPlum dresses.  When she came for a visit, and we'd finished a game of Spelling Bee, my thinking cap was on crooked: "Hey, SugarPlum, Nana bought fabric to make you dresses.  Would you like to see it?"  Six prints, plus their companions.  I like the chickens and pigs.  SugarPlum liked the snowman fabric, my least favorite.  She liked it a lot. 

"Nana, can we make it now!?"

"Now?  Right now?  Oh...um...well, okay."

Better nanas are always ready to put their hands and bodies to work.  Notsobetter nanas, who've developed a pesky habit of awakening for the day at 3:30 a.m., sometimes can't believe what they've gotten themselves into in the mid-afternoon, when a sitdown with yarn and needles sounds ever more inviting than wrestling tissue paper and snowman flannel.

"Are you ready for another nail?"
"Almost.  Those are pins."


"Here's another nail, Nana."
"Pin.  Thank you."


Jabbing myself the third time with a nail, this plunge drawing blood, SugarPlum instructed, "Nana, you really shouldn't do that.  Don't do that any more."

You don't say.

I told Zoomer, if I had a quarter for every time SugarPlum said nail, and I responded pin, I could hire someone to sew the ugly little dress for me.  Absent those quarters, I have to try to make myself stitch that thing together before Wednesday, when the plum will be back.  Worse things have happened.

But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.  ~Jeremiah 9:24

While They Were Waiting...

They picked up the plum and enjoyed some much-needed R & R.

clickables





SugarPlum's clown gene rose to the surface.





And Son3 began cracking up over his brother's kuhknucklehead kid.

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.  For evildoers shall be cut off.  ~Psalm 37:7, 9a

What a Plum

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.  ~Psalm 126:5

Sons1234

It had been many, many moons since all the boys were last together.  First order of business was to try out the blow gun Son2 brought Son3 for his birthday.
clickables


Notice the long, red band on the blow gun:
DO NOT INHALE DART! 
Scary.


This was a photo op for Mom.
Okay, Mom sees all things as photo ops.


The children let their C-gene bubble up.
Clown op.


SugarPlum made a cake.


And iced it.

When it was time to leave, she made a last stop in the powder room and opened the linen cabinet to see if Purrle was still napping inside.  She whacked herself in the head with the corner of the door and needed a cold compress.


Of course, she always takes a little something away with her, and this time, it was a little homegrown pumpkin...


...and the magical stick-tight compress.
[Kinda looks like there might have been a bit of brain damage.  No, wait.  I think it's just that C-gene again.]

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.  The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.  ~Psalms 46:1-3, 10-11