For Donna

My friend Donna has been asking me to post photos of Zoe and I really have been neglectful.  She's 39 weeks old this week.  Yes.  I keep track.  Hard to believe she is almost a year old.  Think muppet when you look at Zoe.  Her personality is just as goofy as her hair.  Which by the way, is seriously so soft!  She begs to be pet because she feels like an angora bunny.  And no shedding thank you very much!!  Sooo, the time has come where she needed her first hair cut.  She did good.  The SM cut her hair how he thought she should look.  The Mum took one look and said, "I don't think so"!  UGLY!  Sorry SM.  He spent a long time grooming her and quite honestly, the cut was good, I just didn't like it so being the brat that I am, I made The SM take Zoe back outside and cut her hair so it is all one length pretty much.  No poodle cut please and poor Zoe was left with a really really short hair do to which we're going to wait a bit before we take photos of her.  You know how it is........  we girls.  A bad haircut can just ruin our lives!!!!  Bad enough that several of these photos are red eye.  Add bad hair to it too!  I just can't do that to this little girl.....  I get the whole bad hair thing.  I've been living with bad hair for 40 years!!

Labels and Signs

Once again I will be writing with absolutely no idea of where I am going or headed.  Trying to sort through thoughts and feelings.  I have a confession, or maybe it is a realization about myself.

Because Levi doesn't have a sign hanging around his neck that says, "I'm different.  I have special needs." I feel like I have to pull out a neon sign and wave it around really fast and big in front of him so people don't feel awkward because awkward is just................. awkward.  I can't decide which is worse!  Having the sign or label that looks like a wheel chair or a walking stick or 'that look' that tells people, "Oh my goodness, what do I do!  Awkward moment!  Do I look at the person, do I talk to them, what do I do!!!!!" So usually, people freak and don't make eye contact and scurry along or they want you to know that they are cool with special needs so they make a point of showing you that they're cool and talk real slow and loud and well, duh!  Just because someone is blind doesn't mean they're slow!!!  Or, in Levi's case where he doesn't hold up a sign so people try to talk to him and then when he doesn't look at them or answer there is that lull.......... oh grief!  Not the lull!!!!  The awkward moment.   Here it comes..........  either Levi will eventually mumble something or won't say anything at all and then here comes me!  Go mom!  Let's be the cheerleader and whip out the big neon sign and this is what I do.  I talk to Levi like he's a baby!!!!  It's my way of letting people know that he has special neeeeeeds.  Seeeeee???  Isn't my son cuuuuute?  Tell the nice lady thannnnnk youuuuuuu Levi!  To which Levi mumbles thank you and well wasn't that fantastic of me to help the awkward situation.

There's no manual for parenting and there sure as heck isn't a manual for parenting a kid with special needs!!!  I can't even give you the answer of what to do when you approach someone with special needs because they're all different!  Pass gas or burp.  Yup!  That usually breaks the ice for em all.  It's not like we can all do that though so once again, it is big question mark.  How one approaches Levi would be totally different from how we'd approach someone else!

I think I'll make Levi a big sign to hang around his neck like the pan handlers. "Hi!  My name is Levi.  I have special needs just like you!"  Because aren't we all special?  And different and have needs?

Oh Honey!

Last Saturday started out beautiful.  A perfect day to harvest the honey.  The SM and Mr. T suited up and set forth for the task armed with only their white marshmallow alien suits and a shop vac that when you put the hose on the out take side, it blows instead of sucks.  Thus, the bees are blown away from the bee boxes where the honey is.  At least that is the theory............

No one gave the memo to the bees before hand so it took a little more persuasion to remove themselves from the bee boxes then was hoped for but alas, the job was done and as you can see, I'm not sure if this Native is hurrying inside the house with a box full of trays filled with honey or if he is going off to some fencing class!

Did you know that one little bee makes about only one twelfth of a teaspoon of  honey in it's little lifetime? To make one pound of honey, bees must tap about two million flowers!  Imagine! That can be about 55,000 miles to make one pound of honey.  Isn't it incredible?  And did you know, that honey is bee throw up?
Fascinated with all of my bee knowledge yet?  Yeah, me neither.  I got it all off of the Internet.......

As I was saying, this Native, not sure of his purpose......  swinging........... fencing.........  actually, he was a huge help to his Pa.  I have to say Pa cuz I feel all, "Little House on the Prairie" with us harvesting our own honey and all........  just don't ask me to be making a balloon for my little ones out of a pig's stomach.  I've not got the stomach for it.

What I DO have the stomach for is this!  Raw honey.  Look at it just oozin' waiting for someone to put their finger in!

Sorry.  Couldn't help myself.

Apparently I'm not the only one........

Anyhoo, it was a beautiful day for harvesting honey.  The sun was out, the temperatures were perfect, The SM and Mr. T were able to get all of the bee boxes in the house and just in time.

Not a moment to soon.  This started to happen.  These clouds started to roll in and I mean roll.  Not move or glide, roll.

The sky became very dark.  Inside of the house it was dark as if evening.  Supper time.


We've seen this before.  The clouds coming in fast and low like this.  Time to get everyone inside, all windows closed, the toys in the garage and the garage door closed, and then wait and see......


The wind increases and picks up.  Not too bad.  Yet.  So noisy!


And then the rains come with the whipping wind.  The rain coming side ways.

There was a bit of a mess to clean up after.  We actually didn't get hit that hard.  Further north of us received much damage as the winds and rains increased even more than we got if you can imagine!  I sat outside on the front porch watching and amazed at what was taking place when literally just minutes before it was calm, the sun was out, it was beautiful............  I stayed until the wind changed direction and started sending the rain directly at my front porch.  

After the storm, while it was still pouring rain, The SM and The Natives ran outside to see who needed help. They were gone for quite some time putting fences back up and picking up branches that had fallen in the yards of our neighbors.  It's what they do.  I love them so for it.

Back at home and somewhat dry but with wet sopping heads of hair still the honey harvesting resumed.

Isn't it beautiful?  I think I've said beautiful a few too many times this post........  but it is a delightful sight is it not?

The grey you are seeing are little caps of wax that the bees put over each little honey cell to keep the honey inside.

Did you know that if you barely touch one of those caps it breaks easily and then honey starts to ooze out and you have no choice but to take your finger and clean the mess up licking as you go like a lollipop?

At this point I wanted to stick my whole head in the bucket and pretend I was a bear!

The day after the storm.  I sat looking out my window as I once again was amazed at how crisp and clean everything looked.  The colors so vibrant.

The air so fresh smelling.  A cleansing.

Meanwhile, day two of harvesting, The SM using the best of equipment.  Top of the line use what you've got equipment.  That's how we roll 'round these parts.

Who needs a bucket of white flour when it can be donated to the cause of filtering this nectar?

Beautiful isn't it?  Just beautiful.............  and there's many many many more of this where it came from which makes the fun facts I told you about earlier all the more amazing.  Bees.  So tiny, and yet look at the good they do.