B had been hard at work all day, splitting firewood (Jess, meet Mount MustStack'EmSoon.) while I was at work, and the kids helped a bit in the morning and then got all dressed up and went to a party.
So when I rolled in, I had just enough time to fix my hair and check my teeth before B and I went to the same function, which was lovely. And the kiddles had been good while B and I weren't there. It's amazing how proud I am when someone compliments the kids. I mean, I know they're awesome - but it blows me away when other people notice it too.
After the party, B started splitting wood again while C and R went off to play with balloons in the breeze. And it wasn't long before I got called off the slopes to go and rescue the balloons, which were firmly trapped in the woods. Wedged between a (thorny) rose bush and some (thorny) raspberry canes. Of course.
Juuuuust out of reach. Of course.
Well, maybe I could get to them if I tromped through the underbrush and the fallen growth and made a path through the trees.
Well. This was a bad decision.
I fell down.
Lost both my shoes. (I may never get all the pluff* mud off my toes.)
Turned the air blue with cursing. (I tend to do that when my ass is wet.)
Thought seriously about having one of the kids go find B and have him get a rope. I was trapped in a thicket of young maple canes, stepping on broken bits of downed branches, on an incline.
I gasped and swore and fumbled my way up to the top, finally breaking out of the trees nowhere near where I thought I was - of course.
The damned balloons are still there.
Then - then! we were all stacking wood and B gave C something to show Rosey.
It was a termite.
Have you ever seen a termite? Lord love a duck. So after R saw it and I (shudder) saw it, Cass dropped it to the ground and stepped on it.
And Rosey burst out sobbing like we'd torched her Barbies. "It was my friend!"
Aw, crap.
*According to Dictionary.com, this isn't the right word for what I want - but I grew up calling that rich, dark swamp mud - you know, the stuff that smells like you should be able to watch things grow out of it? - pluff.
5 comments:
Sounds awesome. Or not. We have had experiences similar to you termite one, but with worms and other kinds of bugs.
Pluff actually sounds like a swear word. I am going to use it as such from now on.
Laughing, with you, I hope. Stacking wood and getting messed up in the woods both resonate a lot with me. I once had to unsnarl my daughter's yard long hair from a patch of raspberry canes; I needed earplugs and scissors and had neither.
Pluff? Lovely word for it.
HAHAHAHAHA I was wondering what pluff was!
Stacking woods, balloons, pluff, it all sounds wonderful!
Just think of the angst if the balloons had popped on the thorns. Of course, then we wouldn't have the visual of you and your wet butt. ;-)
Post a Comment