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An Easter Surprise

Preface: I actually started writing this post yesterday, on Heather’s actual birthday, but was too tired to complete it. “It doesn’t really matter if its a little late,” I said to myself. “Heather doesn’t read the website anyway.” Apparently I was wrong. I’m glad you DO read my posts, Heather, Honey, and very sorry that I didn’t post this yesterday. I really do love you very, very much. And now, our feature presentation: March 26, 2006
Today is a very special day. It is Heather’s birthday. When I told Johnny, he asked, “So is today Easter?” Well, I guess it was a valid question, since Heather was, indeed, born on Easter. And today IS a Sunday. It is at least more logical than the time Jim was creating an event calendar in Computer Class and slapped his sister’s birthday down on Easter Sunday in the middle of April. I guess it never occured to him that sometimes Heather had birthdays that were not on Sundays, and sometimes even had ones on which we did not celebrate Easter, but I guess I should cut him some slack. He was only 16 after all.
I already covered all the salient details of her birth and much of her early life in an earlier post “Heather, This One’s For You”, complete with cute baby pictures, and I strongly encourage you to review that excellent, informative post. So now I will fill in a few more details about the life and times of that young enigma known as Heather.
Like all my kids, Heather was pretty much bald at birth, and when her hair did come in, I worried for awhile about her hairline, as it seemed to start halfway back on her head. But my concerns were groundless. Like her mother, Heather is blessed with very thick, healthy hair, but unlike her mother, whose shade of hair has been alternately described as ‘dishwater blonde’ (brother) and ‘honey-blonde’ (mother), Heather’s hair is the most gorgeous shade of red. It was a lot of fun having a little girl. Finally I was able to use all those dresses and nightgowns people bought for Bobby when he was a baby, and in which his dad refused to let me dress him. Okay, I really only had a couple of dresses from Bob’s babyhood (given before he was born), and Heather also wore a lot of hand-me-down blue rompers and t-shirts. Bobby was so excited to have a little sister, and wanted to help with all aspects of her care. I realized just how closely he had been observing everything when I came upon him trying to feed his boy-rag-doll, “Pockets.” He had his shirt lifted up and Pockets was contentedly feeding on Bobby’s “tummy”, as he explained to me!

My little girl loved her dolls and stuffed animals, but also liked to play in the dirt with big brother. When she first began to talk, her speach was hard for a lot of people to understand, though I could usually decode and translate. One day, my mother, Ultra-Grandma Wesley, took the whole family out to eat in a nice Chinese restaurant in Idaho Falls. The proprieter was an ancient Chinese man known as “Sammy”, and it was his habit to circulate amongst the tables spreading good will. “Everything ok?” he asked as he passed our table. “You like?” Heather picked this moment to speak loudly and distinctly. “That man doesn’t talk very good, does he Mommy?” Impecable timing!
All of my kids have raised 4-H animals, but Heather really enjoyed it and was good at it. She became especially adept at the difficult and frustrating task of “fitting” a lamb. For you novices, this involves first shampooing the lamb with mild dish soap or Woolite. ( I know, it seemed funny to me too.) Then the lamb must be towl-dried, and “carded” with a wool-card. Then the real work begins as the lamb is alternately trimmed with shears and recarded. This can take hours. Heather’s lambs were always gorgeous, and she actually won several demonstration contests with her “How to fit a lamb” demonstration. She always had female lambs, and tended to name them after women who were important in her life at the time. “Suzanne” was after our current minister’s wife. “Lori” was a teacher Heather admired, though Heather was never in her class. Heather raised pigs too, but I think the lambs were her favorites.
Heather had a vivid imagination, and invented a scary childhood ‘friend’ she called “Suzie Who”. I never quite understood the entire concept behind “Suzie”, but she was the object of one of Heather’s favorite jokes. “Knock, knock.” “Who’s there?” “Suzie.” “Suzie who?” “Suzie Who is there? AAAAAAHHHHH!” (runs away screaming)
It can’t have been entirely easy being raised as the only girl among three brothers. For awhile she and her older brother, Bob, seemed to have an especially fractious relationship. Several months after he left home, I thought this might be changing. “I sure miss Bob,” Heather sighed one night after getting “into it” with Johnny. “You do?” I asked incredulously. “But you and Bob fought all the time.”
“I know,” she replied, “but the oldest one gets blamed for everything!”
Another of Heather’s love is cats, and around the farm there were always plenty. UltraDad was pretty firm about no cats in the house, but one day, 12-year old Heather came home with a kitten she had found on the school playground. “Poor thing was all alone. It’s mother left it. My teacher said I could keep it until its mother comes back.” And so Brenda, thus named because she was a tortoise shell or ‘brindle”, became our first house cat. She wasn’t really a very nice cat, but Heather adored her. Brenda returned the favor, even bringing presents of freshly-killed mice, and leaving them on Heather’s pillow. We had that cat for years; in fact she only died relatively recently. (See post “Beautiful Brennie”........Bob, I seem to have forgotten how to insert links) Heather’s hands and arms were always scratched up from playing with Brenda and the other cats and kittens on the farm.
Now that Heather has her own place, she has three cats of her own. Callie is a large, gray tabby who looks as if she may be part Maine Coon cat. According to Johnny, who shared digs with Heather and Callie for a time, Callie is a bit satanic, but he only says this because she liked to attack him for no apparent reason. Nimbus is a black blimp of a cat, very affectionate. Rocky, a black and white former-stray, is the relative newcomer.
Heather has been in a relationship with Heath (Heath & Heather….........sounds so cute!) for several years now. Heath is a personable young man, but the trait I most like is his consideration and caring where Heather is involved. Plus he likes the cats as much as she does! Heath is a very good sport, a survival necessity in this family.
Heather, I am so pround of the capable, responsible adult you have become. When we get together now (all too infrequently), I have SO much fun with you. Dad and I LOVED our anniversary gift of a coupon book from you and Heath, and are looking forward so much to your visit in June. Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. Now I think its about time for me to whip out some of those coupons and start enjoying a movie, carwashing, and breakfast in bed. And while we’re at it, lets see some comments, Babe.

UltraMom

Heather with Murphy and feline friends

Heather and her favorite Dad

Heath and Heather

“”

Baby, its Cold Outside

An interesting surprise awaited us when we looked outside that morning. A couple of inches of snow had already settled, and more was on the way. My brother’s house is replete with many large, stately conifers, so the scene was like a winter wonderland. In Placerville, California. In March. “This is the most snow I have ever seen here,” Jane informed us. “I think there is enough to build a viable snowman.” Or so she claims. What I heard was “I think there is enough snow to build a Bible snowman.” Well, I mused, this was Sunday. Growing up in our home,on Sundays we were encouraged to forego our everyday activities in favor of those that turned our thoughts towards God and edified our minds. So, no monopoly or cards, no reading my favorite “Wizard of Oz” books. But loopholes can always be found and, rather creatively, I thought, I made up a “Bible Monopoly” game with a piece of cardboard and lots of paper. We bought Bethlehem and Samaria with doves, sheep and camels, and put tents & temples on our property. But a Bible snowman? “How do you make it a Bible snowman?” I asked innocently, “Does he wear a robe and sandals?”
Jane soon set me right, but I found the whole thing highly hilarious, and may have run it into the ground, just a bit, in the hours to follow. What really was NOT so funny was my apparent hearing problem. But more on that to come.
Meanwhile, Dave had been checking on Amtrak. Amtrak is notorious for running behind schedule, and apparently, this particular route was among the most notorious. He was hoping for an hour or two late; that way we wouldn’t have to arrive at the station at 6:00 A.M., but a delay of 4 or 5 hours was, at that time, projected, as they were having some problems with some of the rails. We decided to pack up, run on down to the station and decide from there; the top choice now being to drive to our destination in the large, roomy van. The packing up was soon accomplished with one minor hitch. Michael had worn his slippers the day before, and by the time he decided he needed his regular shoes to navigate the snowy landscape, they were packed away in an unknown and possible unreachable location. Jim and Uncle Dave were, therefore, elected to shovel the long sloping driveway. It probably wouldn’t have been a problem if the driveway sloped down to the road, but, alas, the slope was up. Time and time again Dave tried to back out of the drive, only to get stuck again partway up. Michael helpfully asked if they had any chains, and Jane located their equivalent under one of the seats. Dave positioned the snow “tubes”, as they were called under the front tires and Jim fastened them on. This routine was repeated many, many times as the tubes would fall off each time another backing out was attempted. The rest of us remained in the van to provide that helpful added weight. After 1/2 hour or so, Dave decided we should perhaps take a little break. “Maybe I’ll just see how hard it would be to locate Michael’s shoes,” Panther mused, as she rummaged throught the pile of suitcases and bags in the back of the van. Not all that hard, it turned out. We trouped back into the house, raided the fridge for an eclectic breakfast, and played “Dimishing Whist” for the next hour. Jim was doing very well, for just having learned the game, and was kind of rubbing it in. “Remember what the Berenstein Bears say,” Panther remonstrated, referring to a forgotton (by me) childhood book, “Noone likes someone who puts on a big, braggy show.” As you can imagine, this became an oft-repeated phrase throughout the rest of our vacation. By the time we again loaded up in the van, enough snow had melted that our next attempt was successful.
Amtrak was now running about 7 hours late, so we stopped by the train station only long enough to secure a refund for the purchased tickets. Finally, after a quick stop at In-and-Out Burger, we were on our way to, hopefully, sunny southern California. Dave and Jane alternately did all the driving; I think it was a 6-7 hour drive. With their long legs (Michael is 6’6” and Jim 6’3”) it would have made sense for the two boys to sit in the middle, roomier, seat of the van, but as I tend to get carsick, Jim allowed me a middle seat berth, and he took the “way back” with Aunt Debi. Michael entertained himself with his laptop computer watching borrowed-from-Johnny episodes of Futurama, and Jim and Aunt Panther entertained themselves by playing with the rubber chickens. They had contests to see who could squeeze out only the yolk, or only the white (harder). Jim, apparently, got a bit too competitive, and soon his chicken sprung a leak, right in its egg-white. “I needed to bring two chickens back,” bemoaned Panther, thinking of the chicken that got, or was given, away. “Oh, well. No big deal.” Panther is not one to dwell long on negative things.
It was after dark when we reached our destination.

Next time: Sunny San Luis?

UltraMom

UltraMom and Jane thinking about building a “Bible Snowman”

Dave surveys the snowy landscape from his front door

Ready or not, California Here We Come!

I just got back from my week-long, whirlwind vaca to CA. We flew back to Boise, via Los Angeles, on Saturday, and boy are my arms tired! Okay, I know its an old joke, but it is, perhaps, a nice lead-in…....or not…......My sister, Ultra Aunt Debi (I mean “Panther”) has become an avid fan of my posts, and reminded me a couple of times, say every hour or so, that I would be expected to blog the trip. Being a creative genius is a lot to live up to, and I’m definitely feeling the pressure. As a matter of fact, I had several slight, momentary seconds of not immensely enjoying every aspect of my vacation. So, I feel the need to start with a disclaimer, setting the bar fairly low, if you will. That way, if my CA trip blogs are not up to my usualy sparkling standards you can all say “Poor Ultra Mom. She is cracking under the unwarranted pressure.” and if they ARE, you can say “Bravo, brave UltraMom. She came through despite overwhelming obstacles and hardships.” Frankly, I don’t see how I can lose.
For me, the trip started on Friday, March 10th with a 6-hour drive to Boise. I always plan to leave fairly early for these long drives, and I always manage to leave in the early afternoon, if I’m lucky. I just can’t seem to really kick into the packing mode until deadlines are looming. Actually, that pretty much describes the way I do most things, and I’m starting to worry that at my “advanced” age, it may be too late to change. I marvel at people like my son, Jim, who often complete school projects several weeks before they are actually due, and would question his parentage, if I had not actually been there for his conception and birth, but I digress. As I was finally leaving, it was snowing pretty hard, but I soon drove out of it, and had clear, dry-road sailing the vast majority of the trip. I had recently purchased a new “book on CD” entitled “Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader, Slightly Irregular”, and spent much of the trip filling my head with useless, but interesting knowledge. I quote,” A dog has a 10 minute memory, but a cat: 16 hours.” How do they know this? How is it measured? Are there control groups, such as ferrets? A double blind? Gotta admit, am more than a bit skeptical, esp considering the canine phenom known familiarly as “Murphy.”
I arrived at Panther’s house around 9 pm, having lost an hour somewhere along the way, and found her and college freshman son, Michael busily packing. Jim, my college junior son, arrived about an hour later, having driven from Moscow that afternoon. I know, it seems that coming clear from Russia would take longer than an afternoon drive, but Jim is an incredible driver, and besides, he cheated by only driving from Moscow, Idaho. We had a little pizza, spent the requisite amount of time admiring Fatz, the huge part-Siamese feline who has become Johnny’s raison d’être, and hit the sack. At least I hit the sack; I have a sneaking suspision that Johnny and Jim spent a few hours in the TV room watching reruns of Futurama.
I had packed in a last-minute fury the day before, and spent about an hour going through everything in my suitcase to decide what I could leave behind. I had packed WAY too many clothes. In the end, I was able to leave a pair of pants and a couple of shirts. You just never know about the weather, or what you will look cute in on any particular day. Looking cute was a high priority since I would be spending time with siblings I hadn’t seen in a while, and with my son and nephew that I never see often enough. My suitcase weighed in just a few pounds under the 50 lbs-to-avoid-paying-additional-charges limit. But of course I had my pillow in there too.
In the Boise Airport, as we and our belongings were being screened for weapons or other dangerous contraband, we “ran into” Nicki, Chad (niece & husband)& Roz, (former sister-in-law and current good friend.) They were on their way to Portland, OR for a weekend of fun. Sara, Nicki’s sister was already there, and it was Sara’s birthday they would be celebrating. Nicki and Sara both work for Frontier Airlines, and airline tickets are a nice perk of the job. We hadn’t seen Nicki and Chad since their wedding last June, and they enthused for a bit about their recent late-honeymoon trip to Costa Rica. “EVERYONE should go there,” Nicki declared. We were heading to Portland, also, for a layover on our journey to Sacramento, but unfortunately were flying on a different airline, so all-too-soon we had to say farewell. Next, as we sat in the waiting area, I spotted some other people I knew: Paul & Christopher Aikele. Jim & Chris were good friends in high-school, and both Chris & his brother Paul currently attend Jim’s college. It was their mom, Peggy that I drove with last year for Mom’s weekend at the college, as you may remember from that classic post: “Greetings, Comrade: Fun in Moscow.” The brothers were headed to Mexico for Spring Break.
Finally we were on the plane, and had a pleasant and uneventful flight to Portland, where we found our connecting flight to Sacramento delayed. We had plenty of time for an excellent meal, and for a bit of airport shopping. Panther located some, rather disgusting, small, rubber chickens. When you squeezed them, an “egg” popped out of you-know-where. She was enchanted, and bought their entire remaining stock, that is: three. “There are a couple of special patients who have been in the hospital for a while,” she explained (Panther is a cardiac care RN). “This will be a fun way for them to strengthen their hand grip.” A woman behind us in the plane-boarding line greatly admired the chickens. “My great grandson would love one. Where did you buy it?”
“I bought them all,” Panther told her, and then presented the woman with one of her prized chickens as a gift, a generous move, but one that, perhaps, she later came to regret. Stay tuned for more on the chickens in a later post.
Dave & Jane (brother & wife) picked us up at the Sacramento Airport, luckily, in their large, roomy van. We had dinner in a fun Chinese Restaurant that featured sushi and stir-fry made to order. Soon, we were all happily stuffed to capacity and settled for the night in Dave & Jane’s comfy home, ready to arise early the next morning for the next leg of our journey: an Amtrak train ride down the California coast to San Luis Obispo where we would spend the remainder of the week.
But, as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men don’t always get the cheese, or something like that…..........anyway, many more exciting surprises and adventures await our intrepid travelers, so stay tuned.

.UltraMom

Boise Airport: Jim, Michael, Chad, UltraMom, Roz, Nicki