Fishing

Just a lazy day fishing on the carpet-front

No bites here

Oooh, there's a big Jules fish!

He takes the bait

Reeling him in

He's a keeper!

My Side of the Mountain

We have discovered some wonderful books by Jean Craighead George. My Side of the Mountain is the first in a series of books about Sam Gribley, a boy who leaves home to live alone in the woods, and the peregrine falcon, Frightful, that he raises. The next two books are On the Far Side of the Mountain and Frightful's Mountain. I found them in the tween section of our public library. There are also two wonderful children's books that continued the series, Frightful's Daughter and Frightful's Daughter Meets the Baron Weasel. These children's books have beautiful illustrations by Daniel San Souci. I have really loved reading these books to Orion. There are so many interesting details about nature and survival that the stories were interesting to us both.

These stories about Sam and Frightful have led Orion to some imaginative play. Sometimes he would be Sam, I would be Frightful, Jules would be my eyas (falcon chick), and Isaac would be Bando (Sam's friend). My hamper would get placed on its side and become the tree house. Even Orion's stuffed animals would become characters from the book. We would eat acorn pancakes and turtle soup or go fishing.

Isaac and Orion playing Falcon-Dove

We also started playing a game we call Falcon-Dove. Orion would insist on being the falcon and Isaac or I would be the dove. We would run in circles around the living room, the dove saying coo-coo and the falcon in pursuit saying kotchi-kotchi. Sometimes A third would join in as an owl and chase the falcon saying hoo-hoo.

Caught!

These games typically ended with Orion on the floor being tickled.

Our Eyas

Then one day we noticed in our yard at the base of a tree an eyas. Orion was so excited. (I always wanted my own eyas!)

Other eyas

There was another seemingly younger eyas in the nest overhead squawking. The one on the ground was silent and very sad looking. The wildlife people we called said to leave it alone and call them in a few days if it was still there. The next day the eyas was still there, but dead. We were very sad. We continued to notice the other smaller eyas in the nest and saw the parent as well in the next few weeks. Now however they seem to be gone I guess well never know what happened to the little one. I researched birds of prey in Oklahoma and have decided that these birds were likely Cooper's hawks. They are common in Oklahoma and live in wooded areas in nests up in trees. Sometimes they will nest in the same location over and over, so perhaps there will be eyases here again next year.

Once we finished the Sam-Frightful series we went on to read Tree Castle Island, also by George. Now Orion would imagine he was Jack and I was his dog Dizzy. He would walk around with a machette (a kid's toy plastic kitchen knife) and hunt for bears. He started cooking resin in his play kitchen. Mostly, though, he trimmed many imaginary trees and bushes with his machette. One day we were sitting on the back porch and he pointed to a tree and told me that is where he would like to build his home. It was near enough that he would still be able to come visit me.

Now we are reading George's Julie of the Wolves. It's about an Eskimo girl who lives with wolves. We'll see what kind of imaginative play he comes up with next.

Orion Turns Four

Our Starshine boy is growing up so very fast. Here is how we celebrated his fourth birthday.

His special day started with a birthday version of what I call The Clue Game(*).


He got a birthday card, "To the Birthday Explorer..." and in it was his first clue, "Go look under the TV."


Under the TV was his first present (a backpack with some books in it) and the next clue.


Under the piano he found headphones and a clue telling him to get on his boots. In the place where he keeps his boots there was another present, a new pair of boots,


and a clue telling him to look in the sandbox.


Out in the sandbox was a new shovel and a clue telling him to go water the new lilac bush.


At the lilac bush was a little watering can


and a note telling him that his last gift was in front of the garage. There he found a glider bike (no pedals), a special gift sent from Grandma Y and Aunt Alisa.


For dinner Isaac grilled hamburgers (local ground beef) that was very yummy. For dessert Orion requested an angel food cake(**), so that is what I made. He decorated it himself.


A few days later we had our friend party. We all met at a park for lunch. I provided "cupcakes" (chocolate chip banana muffins) and his friends all got to sing Happy Birthday to Orion. I brought chalk and the kids drew roads on the ground and drove matchbox cars on them. Later we all went for a walk around the park with the big kids all on three wheelers. Is was so much fun for the kids and moms, plus very easy and low stress, so I considered it is big success.


Notes:

* Somehow Orion taught himself to read. We have always read to him a bunch and I guess he just picked it up. I think it was mostly because he has such a great memory. Anyway, I started playing the clue game to give him some fun stuff to read that didn't have too many hard words in it. Our everyday version has just a "prize" at the very end, usually a healthy snack.

** The angel food cake took 11 egg whites. What would you do with 11 leftover egg yolks? I made 5.5 batches of pudding. 2 vanilla, 2 butterscotch and 1.5 chocolate. I ate almost all of it myself. It was quite yummy. Maybe next time I should just toss the yolks.

Fire, Fire Everywhere

A home less than a mile from ours

Perhaps you've heard about the wildfires in Oklahoma. Here is our story. For us the ending is happy.

On Thursday, April 9, the forecast said WINDY. Not, sunny, cloudy, chance of rain. Just windy. It was the hottest day of the week, with temperatures in the 80s. In the morning I took Jules to see the doctor for his 6 month checkup. Orion went with friends to the Little River Zoo in Norman. Isaac and Ed went shopping, cause it was just too windy for yard work. In the afternoon I picked up Orion at a school playground. As we were leaving we had to duck behind a building to get out of the wind. It was whipping dirt at our bare legs. I think the gusts that day were 50-60 mph. Whatever. It really hurt. When we got home I sarcastically commented to the men that it was a good day for a fire. We have a few burn piles throughout our yard and we'd only had one day in the past week that wasn't too windy for a fire. Today was obviously not a good day for a burn. After I made the comment I remember thinking, unless you ARE the fire.

Our area has many undeveloped lots where the fire consumed the dry underbrush.

Our first clue that there were fires was that the lighting turned yellow. Then the men, who were still outside, smelled smoke and heard sirens. Isaac came in to tell me to prepare to evacuate. We didn't know how close the fire was, or how bad it was, but the wind was blowing it right towards us. The men stayed outside to watch for flames coming from the empty lot behind us. Once I had shoes lined up by the door and the diaper bag packed, I got on the news (and the weather radio and the weather on the internet) and found out that the fire was about 5 miles southwest of us. At this point I should have started packing more stuff, but I guess I was in denial. Surely the fire wouldn't be able to travel 5 miles.

Eventually, the fire did travel that far. We were evacuated and it wasn't until the boys and I were on the road that I realized the danger we were in. I first tried to get to my friend Brittany's home. She lives pretty close to me and her home was just outside the most recent evacuation area. I didn't make it even a quarter of a mile before I was stopped by a road block. I couldn't see beyond the block, there was too much smoke. I turned around and decided that I would try for Rebecca's house. She lives just outside Choctaw in Harrah. The roads were so crowded. Thank goodness for GPS. I was able to find an alternate route to her house and avoid the congestion.

Not shadows, charred earth

Isaac and Ed didn't leave for a few more hours. By then were were worried that we might have to evacuate Rebecca's house, so the men went to the Johnson's house in Edmond.

It was a sleepless night for the adults. How can you rest when your house may be burning down? I started thinking about all the things I could have packed. Comfort items: toothbrush, contact lens case and solution, glasses, pillows, pjs, etc. Memories: my mother's photo albums, hard drive with all my digital photos. Valuables: my engagement ring, camera, video camera. While I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that I didn't need any of it. Things would be missed, but we were all safe and that was all that mattered. I think the thought of being displaced, of not having my own home, of having to start over, was the scariest. Still we have fire insurance so I knew it would be alright.

Charred fence

In the morning the first thing I did was call home. The answering machine picked up and I did a dance of joy. My house was still there. We all returned home.

But the story doesn't end there.

Charred tree, charred earth, green in between

Saturday we went to the Choctaw Easter Egg hunt. Then we had brunch. It was a nice day. Ed was coming inside from doing some gardening and we noticed the lighting going yellow again. And smoke rising just southeast of us. And the sirens. And helicopters. I tried to put Jules down for a nap but was interupted. The police came down our street to tell us all to evacuate. This time I packed a little more stuff and headed to Brittany's house. The men stayed home and watered the lawn and house. We stayed at Brittany's house for four hours. Finally we were able to get home. A few hours later the blessed rain started.

Jules enjoys some time with Brittany

It's really sad to drive around the area and see all the damage. It seems that the homes were just catching fire so fast that the firefighters couldn't keep up. They had their work cut out for them just trying to keep things from spreading. It seems that any house that caught fire, burned to the ground. Some beautiful houses just less than a mile down the street from us were lost. The fire got even closer than that to us, but fortunately only hit forest and missed the houses.

Isaac and I are so grateful for the support system that we now realize we have. Friends and family both near and far called us to let us know that they could help us if we needed it. We feel very loved. Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers.

I Shot a Turkey!

with my camera, of course :-)

Here she is trying to figure out how to get away from me.


Here she is on the run.


She was fast! I'm glad she chose flight instead of fight.

We had heard gunshots out behind our house about 30 minutes before I sighted her out my kitchen window. I guess some of our neighbors were hungry. Bad shots, though.

Orion's Corner

Orion got to take some photos at the end of the photo shoot. Unfortunately for him, Jules was already done.

Photo Shoot

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