Fish, Redneck Pick-up Trucks, Dead Animals, and Failed Liturgical Living

We had first frost last week. Very pretty.

So. 

All that talk about finally being back, and then I drop the ball on the next 7 Quick Takes post. 

At least I remembered this week. 

1.) It Finally Happened. 

Someone in our immediate family came up with a positive Covid test. We were actually out on a family camping trip when we got the call. 

Chris is asymptomatic, which means that he's not sick and not very likely to make anyone else sick, but he's still stuck home from work until he gets a negative test, and we've been staying home more than usual and trying to avoid running any errands just in case. 

We did end up sitting in the car for an hour, with five year old Little Boy doing a Zoom meeting for school and three year old disruptive Little Girl, to get one of those drive through tests. We wanted to confirm Chris's first test, or, if we got lucky, to hopefully get a negative one so he can go back to work. 

We were supposed to sign in with this online thing on our phones, but they didn't advertise that fact ahead of time, and there were at least 70 to 80 cars already out there all trying to do the same thing. 

Predictably, the website crashed.

There we were, for an hour, trying to navigate a broken down website on our phones with a Kindergarten Zoom class going and a toddler kicking the back of our seats. It was very Purgatorial. 

They ended up having everyone write their info on a slip of scrap paper (thank goodness I carry a notebook) that they slipped in the little baggy with our spit swabs. Two days later and we're still waiting for the results; hopefully we actually get them and don't have to go get tested again. 

2.) FISH

Since we're stuck not being around people more than usual, and he's not at work, Chris has gotten a bit more serious about fishing. 

We went out on the boat yesterday (a tiny aluminum affair involving oars that we got for $75) on the local river. I promptly got sea/pregnancy sick and asked to get out with Little Girl. 

We pulled over to the bank, and I stepped out into mud that went well over my ankles. Needless to say, the mud removed my sneakers with an impressive slurping sound, and I proceeded barefoot carrying the mud encased shoes (luckily avoiding the broken glass all over the ground) with Little Girl (who thankfully still had shoes in usable condition) walking behind me back to the truck. 

(Oh yeah, we have a truck now. Bought it off Facebook marketplace. It's about 20 years old with a broken AC, but it runs pretty well, has a backseat for the kids, and we can squeeze the boat in the back. When we bought it, it had a full back windshield decal of a skull wearing a cowboy hat encircled with barbed wire in front of a Confederate battle flag. Luckily, this came off with the aid of a paint scraper. 

My man has paint scraper skills. Somewhat satisfying way to spend an hour or two. 

Unfortunately, it still has the chrome skull encrusted rear-view mirror, brush guard, and pointy gothic looking cross decal on the tailgate. I live in a rural trailer, have a tattoo, and own this thing. Heaven help us). 

I ended up sitting in the back of the truck with little girl scraping rapidly drying mud off our legs and goofing around for an hour while Chris and Little Boy fished. It was actually kind of fun; the weather was lovely, and there were a lot of herons, seagulls, and butterflies flying around. The boys didn't catch anything within the keep limits though.

Chris went out by himself and finally caught a fish he could keep this morning. It was just barely big enough for each of us to have a little bit. Tasted good though. 

Black Drum, in case anyone was interested in the type. 

3.) My Gate Decoration Failed. 

Actually wasn't too bad while it lasted. 

I tried to make an Advent decoration for our gate with the kids last week. 

I cut the pieces out of cardboard, and then newspapered the table and gave each kid a paper plate of poster paint and some basic directions. We ended up with a pretty passable looking advent wreath on the front gate, and the kids seemed really happy and proud of the results. 

Unfortunately, it rained heavily for the first time in several weeks that night and melted it right off of the gate, leaving behind a pile of soggy cardboard and a few sad scraps of wire on the fence.

I was planning on maybe trying to do a Nativity scene type thing for Christmas as a follow-up, but we'll see. Depends on the weather. 

4.) My Dog has Decided to give us Gifts. 

It's kind of hard to see, but that sad little black heap to the right is a dead bird, and the brown thing to the upper left is a dead rat. 

Our dog (possibly the cats, but I think the dog is more likely) has started to kill random small animals and leave them by the back door. 

So far, we've had a grackle (a black, noisy bird that poops on everything), a mouse, and a rat turn up on the walkway below the porch. 

On one hand, I'm glad she's getting the rodents. They were REALLY awful last winter, and I'd rather not have to deal with them again. 

On the other hand, I went outside to look for something I dropped in the dark the other night and put my hand on a dead bird. Not pleasant. 

I finally had enough this morning. I got the pitchfork and pitched the carrion over the back fence into the field, so I don't have to worry about going to the car without stepping on a dead almost decapitated rat or a bird beak.  

I should probably stop walking around barefoot. 

5.) I got a new book! 

Well, sort of new. I'd read it before, but really wanted a copy of my own. Chris got it for me as an early Christmas present. 

It's called The Year and Our Children by Mary Reed Newland, and I love it because it's a liturgical living book that inspires me to do stuff instead of intimidating me into a sense of inferiority. 

It was written in the 1950s, so parts are a little dated.  It's probably no longer a good idea to do a St. Nicholas day puppet show involving Black Peter (even if it IS authentic to the original Dutch tradition), five-and-ten stores don't really exist anymore, the liturgical calendar has changed a bit since Vatican II, and praying for the conversion of Communist Russia isn't quite the pressing need that it was. 

But her writing more than makes up for those flaws. I love that she talks about doing projects with what you already have laying around the house, and that she has a really realistic outlook about doing things with children. She's alluded to her experience of being poor in one or two of her other books in addition to this one: she talks about not being able to afford shoes for one of her children at one point, and about being evicted from her home at another. She was also the mother of a large group of rowdy boys.

As a result, the projects and suggestions seem a little more grounded than other books of this ilk. From the onset, she expects you to take her suggestions as a starting point to be adjusted to fit your family's budget, resources, and endurance level, rather than a set of step by step instructions to be followed to the letter. (I've read some reviews of the book that find this aspect frustrating rather than endearing. I prefer it, but I suppose that changes based on what you're looking for). 

I also love that she shares how she arrived at many of her traditions. It feels less like reading an instructional or devotional book than it feels like reading a letter from a friend who doesn't mind talking to you casually and sharing stuff she finds interesting for its own sake. And given that this book is nearing 70 years old, it's pretty impressive how well the tone that she takes has held up. 

6.) No Gender Confusion Here

Little Girl just walked up to me as I was typing this and said, "Hello, Female." 

I prefer mommy, but I guess it could be worse. 

7.) Christmas Prep

So far, I have most of the Christmas cards written and sent, presents for the kids bought and wrapped, and a couple of Nativity scenes and the Advent wreath out. 

I still need to decorate (which involves defending the box of ornaments from Little Girl's insistence on playing with them...next year, the Advent wreath is going in a different box), finish sending the cards, get Chris's present (why are adults so much harder to buy for?) and do all the baking. 

I guess I'm on track? Given the fact I was pretty much out for the count for the past several weeks, I feel like I've done pretty well. 

Now if I could just get back into the swing of things with my blog...

Read the rest of this week's takes here.