Poison Ivy, Giant Needle, Raccoon

POISON IVY

This was a busy week. As previously posted, B had an allergic reaction to what we thought was hay. After comments about it looking like poison ivy and the doctor even commenting about the similarity - though he did say it could be an allergic reaction and don't let her go near that hay again - we read about how long it can take for a poison ivy reaction and looked at pictures of poison ivy blisters. The conversation went like this:

Me: Have you ever seen anything like that before?

B: Yes.

Me: Really? Where?

B: On my hands.

Me: Really? Do you know what that is?

B: No.

Me: The rash from poison ivy.

B: Oh.

Me: Are you sure you didn't touch any plants at the picnic Sunday evening?

B: Oh OK, OK, I DID.

It's nice to get to the bottom of the story, isn't it? Sometimes it takes a LOT of digging (nearly to China) to get to the bottom of B's stories!

GIANT NEEDLE

When we went to the doctor to have the rash checked out, B was very concerned about having to get a shot. She hasn't had many in her life, but the last one - 2 years ago - was memorable and she had a reaction. So no more shots for her. But she doesn't believe me. I assured her that she wouldn't need nor get a shot this time. I was almost positive she wouldn't (because I didn't know if she should have a steroid shot or not and I wanted to leave a little bit of wiggle room.) As we pulled into the parking lot, she says, "Mom, if your almost positive I won't get a shot, that means there is still a small chance I might!" Poor thing.

We parked the van, she looked out her window, and exclaimed: "GIANT NEEDLE!" Here is what she saw:

It's on the TOP of the building where the doctor has his office!

RACCOON
We had a big storm Friday evening. BIG. Not tornado-big, but close. Standing in my across-the-street-neighbor's doorway, I watched one neighbor's tree lose big branches, then I watched half a tree come down right in front of me. Well, I watched the whole thing blow over and only half of it came back up. That was really weird. Weirder was that there was no sound with it. That sheds a whole new light on the question about a tree in the forest. But that's another story.

When the power flickered several times and then didn't come back on after that last flicker, we decided it was time to get the generator going. Last time it was 8 days before it came back on. So Hubby was in and out of the garage a few times in the dark to get the gas tank, extension cords, etc. After the generator was running, he thought he heard some thuds from the garage, but didn't really think anything of it. Saturday morning, heading out for gymnastics with C, I noticed the curtain inside the little window of the garage was pushed aside. Noting it was strange, but not strange enough to remember to mention it, apparently.

Today, we pulled in to the driveway after church. We park in the driveway because there is too much "other stuff" in the garage. (My parents always parked in the garage, but they were pack rats. Hubby's family never parked in the garage and are also pack rats. That should explain the "other stuff" in the garage.) So, pulling in to the driveway, here is what we found:

That little window is broken. We thought someone broke in. Why? Who knows. But that's what we thought. We have so much stuff in there that it would be hard to tell if anything was missing. But it looked ransacked. Stuff was thrown around - knocked off shelves, boxes flung, Hubby's heavy Craftsman stackable tool case toppled over. Huh? Why wouldn't this stuff have been stolen instead of just thrown around? Maybe they were looking for a door into the house? (It's an older home with an originally detached garage that was attached through an addition about 35 years ago, but no door connecting the two, so it's attached but detached still.)

We called the police. We checked the shed. Nothing messed with; nothing missing. The officer arrived and we started showing him around and talking through it. As we looked further and more closely we found footprints. And poop. I don't have pics of those yet, but I may add them just to add to the adventure. It had to have gotten in Friday evening. Looking at what that critter did, can I just tell you, "Man those critters are strong!" I guess we weren't broken in to, but out of. (I'm glad it got out - even if it did have to break the window - rather than us being broken in to or us finding a dead raccoon in the garage!)

I'm sorry Hubby had to board up the window on Father's Day. But he did get a massage from Massage Envy. And 3yo C woke him up this morning saying, "Daddy, Happy Mother's Day!" (Isn't that cute?) LOL. :)