Obituary for a hamster

Our beloved Butterscotch

Butterscotch Nowak, Dexter, MI Age 8 months. Butterscotch passed away peacefully surrounded by family on July 21, 2010 after an extended battle with some weird tumor the size of a baseball. He was born sometime in November somewhere in a hamster breeding facility somewhere in Michigan (probably). Not clear on who his parents might have been but they obviously had some bad genes. Butterscotch didn’t really have a job, mostly because he was a hamster, but he did work really hard to escape his cage every chance he got, so I guess that counts for something. Butterscotch never really got a chance to marry or reproduce (thank goodness) but we’ll count his survivors as Max and Zoe and, I suppose, Joe and Julie Nowak. We will miss his twitchy little hamster face and his genuine love for all of us. Even at the end of his life he did his best to comfort those of us he was leaving behind. The family will receive friends if they happen to stop by for whatever reason from 2 - 4 p.m. and 6 - 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 22, 2010 and again on Friday, July 23, 2010 from 9 a.m. until the time of funeral service out by the garden. Internment to follow in a hole near the garden. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to “Let’s get Zoe a New Hamster That Isn’t Diseased” fund. (Just don’t contribute too much because they only cost about $10 bucks). He will be deeply missed.

Fair Week

It's fair week. It's hot, the kids are filthy, everyone has been in tears at least once and it's only Wednesday. Also, one of the goats got loose, Susan (my sister) actually "farmed up" and tackled the goat in the aisle. I was pretty impressed with her! The goat ("Cammie") was less than pleased because she thought she was in the clear, but Sue did a flying leap as "Cammie" rounded the corner and saved the day. Never mind that Sue was wearing some cute khaki pants and a matching cute shirt, which was then covered in goat hair. She sacrificed her outfit to save our goat and I will be forever grateful.

There is always at least one of each animal that gets loose during fair week. The cows and the horses are the most exciting ones but the goats and sheep keep it interesting as well. If you ever see a commotion and a bunch of people walking slowly, kind of crouched down with their arms outstretched, you know that some animal has had about enough of the fair.

Zoe and Max showed their chickens yesterday. For those of you who are not 4-H people, it's a little out of the ordinary to "show" a chicken. (I.e., "Show it what?") There's actually a lot to it and the competition is quite fierce. Some kids take it quite seriously (Emma) and others are just there for the ribbon (not mentioning names). The chickens could care less about the whole thing and just want to go back to their cage. I can't imagine what this all looks like from the animals' perspective. As if they didn't think we were crazy enough...

There is something very sweet and kind of humbling about watching the 4-H kids with their animals. I watched today as a toddler (complete with pacifier) walked a goat around who was about 100 pounds and towered over him. The goat just walked along without hesitation. Then you see a little 10 year old girl hauling around a 1200 pound steer and it makes you believe in the human-animal connection.

And then there are the parents and volunteers. The whole lot of them is completely crazy but none of this would happen without them. They give up their time, money, blood, sweat and tears for the 4-H program but more importantly for the kids in the program. They get, more than most, that kids need to get back to basics. Back to a time when it was ok to just be a farm kid and spend most of your time caring for your animals and playing on your property. You weren't running in 3 different directions trying not to be late for soccer and tuba practice while still maintaining a presence at swim practice. If it allows the kids to have a little more free time, I'm all for it.

The 4-H volunteers still believe in the idea of community and they understand the concept that it really does take a village to raise a child. They get the concept of giving back and of volunteering your time when it isn't always glamorous to do so. They attend countless meetings on countless evenings to make sure that things go smoothly. And for what? So that kids can learn where their food comes from. So that kids can learn to respect the land and the animals that sustain us. They can learn how to sew a dress or can some jam. Things that might be forgotten if we don't reinforce and celebrate them.

People make the mistake of thinking that 4-H is for "farm kids" only but that just isn't true. Kids can be involved in a lot of different ways even if they don't live on a farm. They can enter classes like creative writing, photography or jewelry making. They can join a club and start to meet kids and parents that they have things in common with. The parents then form their own community and it builds from there. There's no telling where we could go with this. Do yourself a favor and check out 4-H.

Close Call

I’ve survived yet another brush with death. Or at least it feels that way. I ended up in the Emergency Room the other night with kidney stones. Never having had them before I naturally assumed I was going to die. The only other time that I felt a similar amount of pain was when I was in labor. To be fair, I was in labor for all of about 20 minutes before being rushed off to get a C-section, but it was a rough 20 minutes. My sisters are natural born birthers – honestly, they were troopers all the way through. Sue gave birth in a birthing center with NO DRUGS and Kelly’s babies were all over 10 lbs (and at least one was born with no drugs).

Me? Well, I asked for the epidural at 7 months and was ready for the C-section at the doctor’s earliest convenience. With Zoe I actually did go into labor and they were going to make me deliver but it turned out that Zoe was breech. Whew. I was totally unprepared for an actual delivery. Joe and I had dropped out of Lamaze class and went to dinner and a movie instead.

Anyway, back to my near death experience… I started having pain around 4:00 pm and decided that I’d better get to the hospital. I had no idea what might be wrong – appendicitis, ectopic pregnancy, total body sepsis. The pregnancy thing really had me freaked out because I’ve seen waaaay too many episodes of “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant”. Lots of time spent screaming at the screen, “Come ON – how could you NOT know???”

So I figured it would be best to go to the hospital. Just in case. Now let me tell you one thing – my family is the best family on the planet when it comes to a crisis. We can mobilize quickly and efficiently, working out child care and car rides in a matter of moments. We thrive in an emergency setting. Needless to say, I got to the ER quickly and efficiently (Thanks Dad!).

After a VERY long wait in the waiting room, I finally got into a room to see the doctor. He informed me that they were going to start an IV and get me some pain meds – NOW we’re talkin’.

While I have many strengths, one of them is NOT that I have good veins. They’re horrible as a matter of fact. Everyone that tries to poke me misses at least once. By the time the third nurse was ready to take a stab at me, Joe and the kids showed up. Zoe was hysterical. Let me just summarize the situation – I’m in screaming, agonizing pain but my daughter is totally freaked out and crying. Yet another instance where I have to be the adult. Ugh. So as the nurse has stabbed the needle into my arm and is shifting it side to side to hit the vein, I’m smiling and telling Zoe that everything is fine. When it most certainly was not. All I really wanted at that point was the damn pain meds. The nurse came in with the meds and said “ok, here we go”. Finally, I could sense relief on the horizon. Almost. As soon as she started putting the meds into my IV I was faced with another challenge. With the kids about 2 feet away from me, I leaned over to the nurse and said, “I think I might be sick.” Good grief.

After NINE hours in the ER they sent me home with some Vicodin and their best wishes. The doctor told me that the stone should “pass” within 12 hours but that I should also be aware that they saw another stone on the other side as well. Great news.

Today was pretty bad. Never mind that it’s about 400 degrees out today and I was in the worst pain of my life. I think things finally resolved around noon today but I’m in such a Vicodin fog that I can’t really be sure. Either way, I’ve had enough and I’m going to bed. Tomorrow has GOT to be a better day.

Fun with Grandma

Aren't Grandma's just the best? Max and Zoe had a sleep-over with Grandma Kathy last night and had the time of their lives. Not only did she take them to a movie but she took them to a carnival as well! A CARNIVAL! How could I compete with that? And she didn't even PLAN to take them to the carnival - they were just driving by and they saw it and she stopped. That would have been an instant "NO" from me. But being the wonderful grandma that she is, she not only stopped - she let them go on rides AND play games. Honestly. I would have accelerated past the carnival as fast as I could - mileage be damned. Maybe next week-end she'll take them to Disney World after stopping at Cedar Point....

Lock Down

Phineas (the pig) has officially crossed the line. Joe came upstairs yesterday to find cars honking because there was a pig in the road. Our pig. Crap. The dumb pig thinks he can just be anywhere he wants to be at any time. He acts as if there is no fence at all separating him from living life with us humans. In the morning, my once peaceful routine of feeding the chickens has been disrupted as well. Used to be that I would call to the chickens and they would all come running as I spread out the corn for them to eat on the ground. Now, as soon as I call the chickens, Phineas comes barreling out and knocks the chickens aside like a bunch of bowling pins to get at their food.

Enough is enough. We're in the process of installing specialized pig fencing which, we're told, should do the trick. Phineas is clearly not supportive of the idea as he's been carefully watching us as we put up the fence. It's almost like he knows what we're up to and that his wild and free days are about to come to an end. We're the top of the food chain baby and we're calling the shots!!

If you can't stand the heat...

It’s really, really, really hot out there. I say “out there” because, luckily, I’m tucked away in an air-conditioned office today. Tomorrow, I won’t be so lucky. For those of you who have central air at home – quit calling me. I’m fine. I know the news reports say that you should be checking on people who don’t have air, but it’s just getting annoying. Can’t you find an elderly person to bother instead?

I’ve never been good with the heat, never. It makes me crabby, irritable and downright nasty. Others (Joe) really enjoy it. The other day, when all the heat advisories were really gearing up, Joe was out in the garden doing some weeding. In full sun. I was squirreled away in the basement with water bottles, canned chili and a crank radio!

Of course when the heat index really goes up I worry about my animals staying cool enough. (Except I don’t worry about the hamster too much – can hamsters die of heat stroke?) We made a mud hole for Phineas (the pig) the other day to help keep him cool. Joe dug a big hole with the tractor and we filled it all up with cold water and then we all stood there staring at the pig. He didn’t make a move towards the pit at all. So I decided, because I’m such an experienced pig handler, that I would “lure” the pig to the pit so he could enjoy it. I got some pig food and stood near the hole shaking the feed scoop to try and get him to come over. Apparently my shaking was a little too vigorous or the pit was too muddy because I fell in. It’s not too awfully gross because the pig had not yet made the pit his home but it’s still a muddy pit nonetheless. Once you pass the age of 10, falling in a mud pit loses its appeal exponentially. Of course Joe and kids were beside themselves. None of them could stop laughing long enough to actually assist in extricating me from my situation. Not saying that I wouldn’t have done the same, but still, I’m the Mom, where’s the respect?

Just another day in my oh-so- glamorous life….