We're back, after a trip up to the north country for the most lovely wedding celebration I've been to in a good while. My gorgeous, intelligent and gifted cousin Amy got married to the handsome, brilliant, and talented Mike. Sounds like a good match, eh? Mike and I have always participated in some good-natured ribbing, but we have buried the hatchet and have since become teammates for my new favorite outdoor game (or is it a "way of life?"), Ladderball. I won't speak our team name here - but it's a good one. Mike and I even have uniforms. Take that, Team Godzilla! Mike is a good egg. If you have any questions about Ladderball, or the U.S. Tax Code, he's the fella to ask.
Anyhow, my parents, siblings and their spouses, aunts, uncles, gram, cousins, nieces, nephew, godsons, and I had some super-high quality family time. We also had some wildlife encounters requiring no trip to the zoo or nature park. On Wednesday afternoon, Henry had just awakened from his nap in my old bedroom at my folks' house when we heard a sound and we looked out the window to see a medium size black bear sauntering past the mailbox, about 20 feet away from the house. At my gram's house we saw a large turkey in her yard. We heard the whipporwill that drives my parents nuts every night with its non-stop calling. One night we saw some young foxes running across the road. And then on Friday night, we discovered one of these on Henry's hip:
Yep, that's a deer tick right there. This isn't the one that bit Henry - just an internet photo I grabbed. It hadn't been on him for more than a few hours. On Thursday night I had one crawling on me, so we checked him very carefully that night and found nothing. So sometime during the day Friday, he got bitten. If you don't already know, these are the ticks that carry Lyme Disease, which can be very serious. Not every tick carries it, and he was also not bitten for very long. We'll be keeping an eye on the site and pray for the best!
So the trip was amazing. New England is beautiful this time of year - green, green forests, cool nights and warm days (mostly!), and flowers blooming. The maple tree Timon gave me when we got married that we planted in my parents' yard is flourishing and growing well. Hopefully the 50-inch plasma Hi-def tv that Amy and Mike got for each other for their wedding will be as nice as the years go by. Love is a beautiful thing.
Anyhow, my parents, siblings and their spouses, aunts, uncles, gram, cousins, nieces, nephew, godsons, and I had some super-high quality family time. We also had some wildlife encounters requiring no trip to the zoo or nature park. On Wednesday afternoon, Henry had just awakened from his nap in my old bedroom at my folks' house when we heard a sound and we looked out the window to see a medium size black bear sauntering past the mailbox, about 20 feet away from the house. At my gram's house we saw a large turkey in her yard. We heard the whipporwill that drives my parents nuts every night with its non-stop calling. One night we saw some young foxes running across the road. And then on Friday night, we discovered one of these on Henry's hip:
Yep, that's a deer tick right there. This isn't the one that bit Henry - just an internet photo I grabbed. It hadn't been on him for more than a few hours. On Thursday night I had one crawling on me, so we checked him very carefully that night and found nothing. So sometime during the day Friday, he got bitten. If you don't already know, these are the ticks that carry Lyme Disease, which can be very serious. Not every tick carries it, and he was also not bitten for very long. We'll be keeping an eye on the site and pray for the best!
So the trip was amazing. New England is beautiful this time of year - green, green forests, cool nights and warm days (mostly!), and flowers blooming. The maple tree Timon gave me when we got married that we planted in my parents' yard is flourishing and growing well. Hopefully the 50-inch plasma Hi-def tv that Amy and Mike got for each other for their wedding will be as nice as the years go by. Love is a beautiful thing.
2 comments:
First, another good website for Ladderball is the Official Ladderball site:
www.ladderball.org
Also Sis, I could be wrond, but I am sure that the tick Henry had was NOT in fact a "Deer Tick", but a more common tick. True Deer ticks are so small you cannot really see them with the naked eye, even on the unblemished skin of a 3-year-old.
Also, a deer tick requires a minimum of 24-36 HOURS of continuous feeding on the host, (i.e. embedded under the skin gorging itself on your BLOOD) to transmit the Lyme disease pathogens. (isn't that a big fancy word for the unedumicated guy I am?) While it is good to keep an eye on it, it is HIGHLY unlikely good Henry did not contract that nasty disease
However, ALL ticks carry some possibility of disease transmission, whether it is Lyme or some other disease, they all can carry something, just as they all can NOT carry anything. The vast majority of mosquitosdon't carry West Nile, or Eastern Equine Encepholitus (sp?), or Bird Flu, but are completely harmless.
Anyway, good luck and our prayers are with the little guy. We sure did have a good time. I LOVE seeing Henry, Melody, Kylie and Zachary together playing. It was especially cute when Henry gave Kylie a kiss out of the blue with no prompting from anyone else.
Can't wait to see you again.
Love, Peter
I miss you already!! Was looking at flights this morning... can't decide when to come. I'm thinking about taking that Friday off so we have more time. But let's see what Kat & Anna find, too and then I'll decide. But I'm definitely coming!
What a great time and a great party (or, really, parties). I had so much fun. And to top it all off, I got a husband out of it, too! :)
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