If you took my hand out of the picture and pretended that Chloe was not bird hungry, you'd get the image of her displaying a trophy.
When we went up to the cottage to stay for a whole week, we had no idea what was in store for us. Making a trip to the ER was not what we hoped to accomplish. Who knew that on Thanksgiving Day, we would go up sledding and come down screaming? Rose certainly didn't consider the possibility when she was high up on a steep rocky ravine. Dad did think she was too high but when he called, she couldn't hear him. She hit a rock. She got the wind knocked out of her and then she was crying. A man came up with a dog named Precious. He looked down at Dad holding Rose and cheerfully exclaimed, " Well, at least she didn't hit a rock!" Hmmmm......Dad showed him the only rock in all the snow. We drove back to the house. Dad picked up Mom to go to the ER with Rose. They dropped us kids off to watch over the turkey. " But when do I take this turkey out of the oven?" I asked Mom who was running out the door. " Just take it out at 2:30," She replied. Okay. Wait, why go to the Emergency room just because an 8 yr. old girl flew 20 ft. off a sled? Her spinal cord pained her catastrophically. Once they were there, the doctors gave her morphine and a CT scan just in case she had internal injuries. She didn't.....thank the Lord, but she did have a sprained back. The doctor told Mom and Dad that she would be 100% in 2-3 days. Because of the morphine, Rose said many interesting things such as crying out every 5 minutes for "Mother's turkey" and telling Bethany the nurse that she was her best friend and giving out our address. When they finally got home and we were all seated round the table except Rose who had to lie down, we found out the turkey was not done. I had taken it out like Mom said but it was still pink and soggy. We had an interesting Thanksgiving.... that we will always remember.
The Rock
Rose right after the accident.
This video of Grant going down the same hill Rose went down is sideways so if you just crane your neck......this by the way was just a couple minutes before Rose went down.
It also snowed at our cottage. Here's some pictures around it.
A huge cedar fell on our dam, cracking a stone bench in two. We made a bonfire out of the cedar that literally averaged 100 ft. of sparks into the air. It was fun to dodge them as they fell down.
Tonight, I just thought of some funny stories that I want to share. They are all true not made up.
Our neighbor Allison is an artist who sometimes stops by when she's walking her dog and she and Mom share stories over the fence. Once she came over and related a story about jogging down Main Street and people were waving from their cars and laughing at her. Well, she just thought, our town is very friendly! I love this! Then someone pointed at something beside her. Looking down, she found a chicken that had jumped over a fence of one of the houses she had passed. It was jogging right along beside her. Obviously, chickens like Allison!
Mom shared back a story that was somewhat similar to Allison's. Mom had been teaching a ballet and had placed a tiara in her hair. Unfortunately, she forgot that it was there and went to the library. Everyone smiled or tried to hide their smiles as they watched Mom browsing the metal racks with a shimmering crown placed in front of a brown bun. Afterwards, once she was safely home, Mom checked in with the mirror and was very surprised to find she still had her tiara on. That's why people were so friendly at the library, she mused.
If only people could be outgoing and friendly in this town without the help of tiaras and chickens!
Allison shared another hilarious story recently with Mom. She told how she taking a walk in the park and she was about to pass an old couple walking their two dogs. As she passed them, she said, "Two old poopers out for a walk in the park!" She was meaning the dogs but as soon as they were past her she realized that they thought she meant them! They gave her mean glances but poor Allison would have only made it worse if she tried to go back and explain!
Okay, there are some of the funny stories. And now, I'm going to post Grant's mission trip video from Trinidad so you can watch his trip. He's often wearing a neon green shirt. He's sweeping the bricks by himself and when it does fast speed, he's the one in the bright green shirt, doing all the shoveling! You'll also spot him in the beginning in the airplane and a couple other times. There's also some super fun Trini music!
This summer transitioning into fall has been a beautiful change. The sun will come out for a couple days then disappear and we'll be wearing our short-sleeved shirts in rainy grumpy weather. There are many pictures I took that hardly capture that magical glimpse. The camera is nothing compared to be actually seeing, smelling, feeling that something in the air, that makes us wonder.... if nature is so awe-inspiring, what about heaven where we'll be experiencing heart lifted moments probably all the time. When I see the ocean roll back and come forth, endlessly, it is a magical glimpse of God's great love and power poured out over us.
Now here are the photos of our life the past two months. ~
When we go into the orchard, the dogs are constantly eating pears, be it Bosc or Anjou.
I found this intact as you see it. I looked around for the weaver and the bird who lost its feathers but could not find them.
The reddish glow on each side is from a hazy sun due to forest fires. In Parkdale, the smoke was especially bad. It killed my bird who I had just gotten 2 weeks earlier. The baby parakeet had been named Rillie. Really Rillie? Must you die?
But then..... I exchanged my dead bird for a new parakeet at PetSmart! I had less than a minute to pick her out so she's a bit of a splotched bird. I named her Pippi but I call her Pipster all the time.
Here she is:
This was Rillie and behind her is Gwenivere who we had to put down. She had some...problems.
I kept trying and trying to get pictures of spider webs. It's really tough!
Fall!
On the left side, is the summer bark color. On the right, you'll see it changing to its winter garment.
No , I deny it. I did not put that pear in the nest. I discovered it in one of our orchard trees. Amazing!
By the way, that's a bosc pear in a vacated robin's nest.
Pickin' goodies!
Dad in the bucket of the tractor picking pears.
Over-hanging the creek.
I know I probably put a ton of pictures on here but before I leave, Chloe has something to show you.
I (Chloe the cat) can fit in this tiny box. I love to feel uncomfortable!
Right now, I (Chloe the Cat) need to preach on looking smart on a popular book... The Bible!
Now Avonlea, I (Chloe the Cat) will cross my paws over your biology book so you can't look at the answers.
This summer I went on a trip to Trinidad with an organization called Teen Missions. But we didn't go to Trinidad right away! Me and 22 other kids had to go through intense training at boot camp. We slept in tents, woke up at 5:30, and ran the difficult obstacle course. We had to bucket flush the toilets and we couldn't use the sink. We had to wash ourselves and our clothes with muddy lake water.
I arrive at boot camp.
We arrived safely in Trinidad and drove to the church we were going to be working for.
We dug ditches, moved sand piles, we made and layed concrete, and put blocks on the top. The Trinys were very impressed by what we did.
After a Worldview camp that I attended with my New York cousin for a week, we headed off to the cottage once more for 5 days, Monday through Friday. In the period of those 5 days, I experienced the deaths of chicks.
Monday and Tuesday went by quickly and soon it was Wednesday. I woke up and Comet (the golden retriever) and I walked into the orchard. We had a lovely time watching birds and then we started back up to the house. Comet was ahead of me and she was in a very wild mood and jumped right below....THE ROBIN'S NEST. Now the chicks were almost grown but they still didn't have their tails quite in. As I called Comet to me, 2 of the 3 chicks fluttered down to the ground. I scolded Comet thoroughly and tied her up to a tree. Then I went back for the 2 chicks. Imagine my horror when I could not find them! I rushed back to the house and noticed a bird sitting quite still on the front upper lawn. It happened to be one of the baby robins. I ran into the house, stressed my point to Rowan and Rose that they should not go outside for fear of scaring the bird, and then grabbed a rag. I crept slowly up to the bird from the back and gently scooped it up into the rag. I tried to float over the ground so the bird wouldn't be jarred. Placing it carefully on its nest, I searched for the other 2 since the 3rd chick must have flown as well later on. They were nowhere to be found. So I played a game inside with Mom and went out to check on my saved chick after about 20 minutes. It was gone. I have not seen the three chicks to this day. Mom said they were ready. I just hope their tails grow in fast. There are predators waiting.
Thursday was a fun day except for the evening. The Martins came over! We had not seen them for like 8 months and we were so excited. We had a very good time with them and Conner and I had an adventure with a watermelon which rolled off the counter while Conner had his back turned. It was a long juicy watermelon and we soaked several rags in getting the juice off the floor. While we ate watermelon outside, the boys brought up a mouse. I ran inside to get a book to identify it. I found it was a deer mouse and proceeded to read aloud that it can carry Lyme disease and Hanta virus. We released it into the field. After the Martins left, we found 2 dead chicks and one live fluffy one under the hedge tree. They were white-crowned sparrows and they must have fallen out of their nest? The live one, we tried to make comfortable for the night but I think it must have twisted its neck for its head lay on one side. It's eyes were closed although it opened them a few times. I went to bed, determined to get up at 5:00 to see how it was doing.
Friday morning, my mental alarm clock woke me up and I hurried downstairs. The baby bird was alive. As soon as Rowan and Rose got up, I ordered them down to the creek for worms. They came up with a few and the chick ate them. Its head still sagged to one side and I worried about it. After breakfast, Rowan and I went into the shed/barn where I wanted to check on the five tiny Pacific-Slope Flycatchers that had just hatched a couple days ago. Tragedy and calamity had stricken that nest as well! The frazzled mama bird was flying around the room and there a chick lay dead on the cement floor. The stool that we had placed to glimpse the chicks stood directly under the nest. I raised myself up and peered inside. Another dead chick lay inside the nest. Three chicks missing! Just then, Rowan, who had been exploring the cubbies on the far side of the wall called me over excitedly. Something was behind the shelves scurrying around. We now suspect it was a squirrel that found the chicks. Or maybe an owl. But anyway, it must have just happened for the mama flew out the window and she hasn't been back. We left that cottage Friday with the living white-crowned sparrow chick on the ground and the dead Pacific-slope flycatcher chicks in the ground (Rowan buried them in our increasing graveyard). We came back to our main home Friday with chores to do and a parade to look forward to on Saturday.
The baby robin I rescued.
The Pacific-Slope Flycatcher chicks before something destroyed them.
Rubber Boa.
The white-crowned sparrow chick.
I seriously did not put that pinecone there or tell Comet to stay. Too bad Rowan is in the picture.
The eight children with broken watermelon pieces.
Note: All entries hither to are to be written by Avonlea unless otherwise signed.
