The Joy Is in the Living

As Christmas approaches, I feel the urge to write...especially because a friend told me the other day that she misses reading these updates. I apologize, dear reader, for not posting here more often in the past few months. I have been responding to the siren's call of Facebook and using it to update so many people about our day-to-day lives, even though not everyone is on Facebook very often.

So, here's a brief (let's not kid ourselves--it's as brief as I can make anything) summary of our year:

Mike began a contract in November 2010 at Ball Corporation, and in May of 2011, they hired him full time. He, the new man on the team, was going to be relegated to working a lot of overtime while everyone went on vacation in the summer. That never let up. Since about July or August, he has been working 60- to 84-hour work "weeks." Understandably, much of the responsibility for the gardening and care of the house fell to me.

In the spring, a lovely neighborhood dog showed up at our house and seemed to adopt us. We loved her greatly and renamed her Princess from Snowball, because she really was a princess. She kept us company and brought us much joy throughout the summer. Around the beginning or middle of August, she showed up a little injured one day. Then she disappeared.

In July, we learned I was pregnant again. We were cautiously optimistic, but we didn't want to tell anyone until we made it out of the first trimester. In August, we lost that baby, as well. I was about 6 weeks pregnant. The good news was that the miscarriage went much more swiftly and effectively than the first. I still had to go to the ER because I lost so much blood, but it was over very quickly and I suffered no more than the "normal" ill effects of a miscarriage--almost all emotional, and only a few cramps physically. Overall, we were sad but hopeful. It took us less than two years to get pregnant this time, whereas it had taken us three or more years the first time, and this pregnancy progressed further, and we had a lot of emotional and physical support this time, in the form of very good friends, Becca Sparks Lowry, Christina James Chase, Dana Fischer Welborn, and Jill Bastian Truax chief among them.

In the late summer/early fall, Sir George, our older kitty, began to decline healthwise. I made an appointment to have him put to sleep, but either I waited too late or he decided he preferred to pass on at home. Becca was with me via text, and Tina was with me through the day. Both provided tremendous emotional support. George passed away at the ripe old age of 18. It wasn't as peaceful a death as I would have hoped for, but he died at home, with me right by his side. I was incredibly honored to be with him in his last few hours. I know, he was only a cat, but to share a natural death with another being you love is truly touching. George is "planted"--for whatever reason, that day, when I talked about trying to bury him, all I could say was "plant," go figure--in our front yard, under the maple tree and next to the boxwoods lining our driveway.

A very short time later, because Maury seemed to be very much missing George's company, we adopted Cali, a real sweetheart of a kitty. We were told she was a little more than a year old, but she is still very much a kitten, though she had already had a litter of kittens before we adopted her. She was not very keen on Maury at first, doing a lot of hissing and spitting and growling, but with patience and calm, he soon won her over. Within two weeks, they were almost as good of friends as Maury and George.

Our garden gave some good harvests this year, despite its neglect. Through the summer, we were on a night shift, so we didn't have long each day to really tend it. Even now, only three days from Christmas, we haven't removed the stakes or fencing from our garden, because we have so little time. In addition, this was the busiest summer *I* have ever had for my freelance work, and even though I had a full crew of people helping me, we were still swamped at maximum capacity with slow turnaround times for most of the summer...the summer I had wanted to use to go slowly so I could care for the house and garden while my husband worked insane amounts of overtime.

So, you ask, why aren't I mentioning my husband more? Well, because I barely see him. The only things I really know about him since August are that he is perpetually exhausted, he's trying to fix his Montero single-handedly, and he has a blood elf paladin that has partnered with my blood elf priest for the past two weekends in the world of Kalimdor while he has been too exhausted to do anything but sit in front of a computer and I've been too tired to care, as I'm in the first trimester of my third pregnancy.

We've shared the news of the pregnancy this time. Not telling most people last time turned out to be a little too emotionally stressful for me, especially trying to work out getting to doctor appointments and the like with Mike's very limited free time. Plus, I believe strongly in the power of prayer and positive thoughts and know that when two people get together to pool their "spiritual resources," they create benefits greater than two working individually. So, I'm telling anyone and everyone and unabashedly asking for prayers, energies, positive thoughts, whatever, to keep this pregnancy going in the right direction. So far, it seems to be working well. I've had some spotting in this pregnancy, as I did in both the others. The thing is, we don't know if the spotting in those other pregnancies were precursors to my miscarriage or if it's just normal for me to spot. With all the prayers and positive thoughts for us, however, the spotting has been minimal this time and has tapered away. Now, if it appears, it's once, maybe twice, a day, right before bedtime and right when I get up in the morning. I'm amazingly calm this time around. Even though I have yet to find an OB. Even though I have a history of miscarriage. Even though hormones are doing their damnedest to make me anxious. It's partly because I know that if I'm going to miscarry in the first trimester, there's not much I can do about it, so I take the best care of myself that I can, getting plenty of sleep, not overexerting myself, but still staying active, and eating the best I can with random nausea spikes and food aversions. With every new "pregnancy woe," as one of my friends called them, I cheer. I smile. And I share. And my friends on Facebook cheer with me. And smile with me. And offer words of encouragement. And so that's another reason I'm amazingly calm--because I know that, no matter what happens, I have amazing friends and family supporting me, cheering with me, crying with me. And that makes a HUGE difference.

I just keep hoping and praying for the best and telling the baby that he or she is very, very loved and will be fortunate to be born into such a loving circle. In addition, the baby will have a grandpa (we haven't yet worked out if he wants to be Pappaw, Grandpa, Gramps, Geezer, etc.) with a new lease on life. My dad had bariatric surgery not long after our miscarriage in August. My mother tells me I won't recognize him, as he's lost more than 100 pounds. I'm looking forward to seeing him tomorrow to see him at the lightest I've ever seen him. Hell, he might even be lighter than me now...I have no idea!


We miss Mike's friends and family in Oregon, but our friends have really stepped up to help lighten the sadness a bit this year. Though we didn't get to travel to share Thanksgiving with my parents or his, and though none of our family members could share that holiday with us, we did get to host Becca and her husband, Shaun, and we had a great day.

And so, as Chanukkah has begun, people all over the world are celebrating Yule, and Christmas approaches, we are happy and hopeful. Mike is researching options for starting his own business. He's also trying to study so he can take a test for another certification. And he's enduring the incredibly long hours at work, getting whatever experience he can as he sorts out when he will leave if he wants to leave, and what he will do when he leaves. He's got two (nonconsecutive) weeks of vacation coming to him in May if he's still at Ball then--the first vacation he will have ever received. That's right, EVER. Since leaving grad school, he's been unemployed or employed in seasonal jobs or working as a contractor and in jobs that don't award vacations or that give vacations only after a full year of employment. So, May is when we have our sights set on him taking more than two days off. He may be taking a week-long certification class, but who knows?

2011 has been a challenge for us, but it has also been rewarding. We've had sorrow, and we've had joy. And I'm sure we have more of both to come, but we look to 2012 [even the coming return of Nibiru/release of Becca 2.0/end of the Mayan calendar/shift of the magnetic poles/return of Cthulu/galactic alignment/return of Jesus/Armageddon/cosmic shift in consciousness/zombie apocalypse (well, *I* can never look forward to a zombie apocalypse. We all know my fear.)] with hope. It's the only thing that keeps us going--aside from each other...and all of you.

So, to all of you, I wish you the happiest of whatever holidays you are celebrating, and the rosiest of new years. Thank you for being there for us, and for loving us. We appreciate all you do for us.

* Stringham high: Life is beautiful.
* Stringham low: Separation from loved ones for far too long.
* Stringham super-high: Our blessings, including loved ones, are too numerous to count!

(Remember that if you view the post on my blog, the title links to a video specially chosen for the day.)

There Might Be Hope for Me Yet

Yesterday, I stumbled across a Website (http://www.abledata.com) that talks about assistive products. There was a government organization that ran clinics for creating and distributing low-vision aids from the late 1960s to the late 1980s but no longer exists, but they made available all their publication and information so people can benefit from their knowledge. (http://www.abledata.com/abledata_docs/Peripheral_Vision.htm) Apparently, there are special “field-expanding” glasses developed for people with reduced peripheral vision, even as severe as tunnel vision. The assistive devices don’t restore normal vision, obviously, but can help in day-to-day functioning, even, in some cases (depending on the severity of the condition and on state regulations) driving!!!!
Of course, one of the worst problems I’ve had in coping with my eye damage is not being able to drive. I go in April to have my vision tested again, and I’m going to have my peripheral vision tested to see if it is sufficient as-is for driving, at least in some situations. But in case it’s not, I want to find out more about these devices. I’ve posted information and questions to the two online support groups I’m a part of to see if any of the IIH “old hands” have used any of these devices. I have to do more research and reading on this subject, but I’ve just been so excited by skimming this website that I can’t really take it in! I even had Mike look it over (without telling him anything about the website), just to make sure I wasn’t seeing what I wanted to see (that there may be a device to help me drive again!). He came to the same conclusion I had. Woohoo! I mean, before I stumbled across this website yesterday, I had been mulling over such assistive devices, thinking about my friends with spina bifida and my friend paralyzed from the waist down who use assistive devices to drive and thinking that it would stand to reason for there to be such things for people with vision issues. But then, I thought, no, it really wouldn’t make sense because those friends, although they have a hard time steering with their arms and hands, can at least SEE the road and the things around them without difficulty. But someone once upon a time DID consider us poor unfortunate souls. (I’m taking a moment now to sing and dance in my head at this joyous coming-together of older knowledge and newer knowledge!)

Also, someone on one of the support groups today or yesterday posed an interesting question about hormones and IIH. Specifically, she wondered if anyone had had their hormones tested. Apparently, talk of hormones and IIH symptoms comes up a lot in the forums, but the doctors just keep pushing weight loss. The problem is that there are so many people with IIH who lose weight and still have symptoms, and there are even people who have never been overweight but have IIH, so she’s going to actually have her hormones tested. A couple of us expressed a deep interest to keep posted. I mentioned that I have tracked my symptoms on a calendar and have found that the past two or three times when my vision seems to have gotten grainier and a little more limited, it happens when I believe I might be ovulating. This is difficult for me to ascertain, of course, because I have only had three cycles since all of this happened and I’ve not generally been regular, but if this cycle begins on Day 28 or 29, it would hold pretty well with my theory. Anyway, when I mentioned this online as a reason for her to go for it and keep us posted (because I can’t afford to go to the doctor all the time with no insurance), someone else said she has the exact problem with her vision and pain spikes WHEN SHE OVULATES. (And she’s never weighed more than 150 when pregnant.) It’s so good to know I’m not alone… And that my observations are actually showing me something worthwhile. (Also, this second woman had thought of mentioning the hormone link to her doctors at Johns Hopkins, but now that I’ve mentioned my issue, she DEFINITELY is going to bring it up at her visit this spring.)
Well, I may not be able to do much on my own, but I’m planting seeds and encouraging others, and maybe we really can get somewhere in knowledge about this condition. (No, of course I don’t think I’m the key to pulling together all this information, but if we’re all working together and I can be a fresh supportive voice, all the better.)

* Stringham high: Received two shipments of seeds and gardening supplies today!
* Stringham low: Still surrounded by snow!
* Stringham super-high: Stephanie might be able to drive sometime this year!

Well, Holy Damn!

Well, the new medicine from the doctor cleared up my bleeding problems. And we got our bill for the first labs today. Boy, howdy, is this going to be fun. Still no word from Medicaid. We were supposed to know a WEEK ago.

M and I have been putting food away in preparation for being gone to my parents' for the better part of a week. We've spent the weekend and today harvesting from the garden and drying, canning, shredding, and freezing. So far in the past three days, we've put away:
A couple of pints of dried herbs
3 pints of zucchini
2 pints of summer squash
7.5 quarts of pickles (dill and freezer)
9 sunflower heads
3 pints of spicy tomato juice
4 pints of salsa verde
a 5-gallon bucket full of dill stalks
10 pounds of onions
3 pounds of potatoes
2 pints of green beans

This is in addition to the things we've already canned or cooked, which include:
5 pints of Southern-style pickles
8 pints of spaghetti sauce
4 pints of salsa
4 pints of hot salsa
6 pounds of green beans
countless zucchini and summer squash
5 pounds of potatoes
5 pounds of onions
20 ears of flour corn
30 ears of sweet corn

All in all, we've had a decent year from the garden (though we've learned how to make it better) and a very busy few days.

Our laundry-room leak has returned. Tonight, after laundry and canning are done, we are shutting the water off again, and tomorrow we go in search of a part that will NOT leak. Everything we've done so far should have fixed the problem, but we have problems with our lines maintaining steady pressure, so we think that may be part of the problem. The hot-water line in the laundry room is just fine and isn't leaking a bit, and it's M's hypothesis that the water heater helps a bit with the pressure equalization there, so tomorrow we go a-huntin' for something that might help...we may have to go to one of the stores up in Lafayette to find the part we're thinking of.

Oh, and things have been slowing down a little on the work front for me, so if you know anyone who needs some proofreading or editing done (for a modest fee...my time is valuable), send 'em my way! After all, we have a pregnancy to pay for (monetarily...I'll pay for it in other ways later). ;)

So all in all, kind of a frustrating past few days between the money and time for the extra prescriptions and tests ordered by the doc, the water leak, the exhaustion, and the slow work. But as M told his mom today, we don't have any problems a million dollars wouldn't fix. That helps keep things in perspective. We're healthy, we have no relationship problems, our house is 99.99% sound and problem-free, our time is ours to do with largely as we please, we don't have to sleep in a subway bathroom or on a subway train, and we have the love and support of our family and friends.

* Stringham high:
* Stringham low:
* Stringham super-high:

We Are Gathered Here Today to Join in Eternal, Perpetual (if we're lucky) Wedlock PVC and CPVC...

What was a tiny leak a couple of weeks ago and a very, very small leak this morning had turned into a leak (still small, but much more damaging) the size of the original this evening. It messed up our linoleum even more and left quite a bit of mold on the wooden plank that the pipe is secured to.

M has once again tried to fix it, with the last connector we have (from the bunch of 4 that I bought a few weeks ago) and one of the last o-rings (from a box of them we bought a few weeks ago). Interestingly, in the piece he sawed off tonight,we could actually see the disconnect between the cement and the piping. Needless to say, that didn't make us happy. But we tried a few more tricks (an extra layer or two of cement combined with the 90-degree twist, for one) and we're going to let it sit overnight to dry instead of just 5 hours like last time. *sigh*

This plumbing thing is for the birds. And we can't figure out why the hell this joint (technically, a new joint each time) is leaking, when none of the others we've done in our year here have leaked. We can only guess that it's because we're trying to connect PVC with CPVC. Hence why we're leaving it to set longer this time, in case the two materials need longer to bond together with the cement (the cement is for both CPVC and PVC). The problem is that we just can't find a PVC fitting that we need to match up to the PVC piping. Grr.

If all goes well, you, our friends and family, won't have to hear more bitching about this topic ever again. This last joint lasted a month or so. Maybe the next one will last to put off the formation of New Grand Canyon (see earlier post) until after our lifetimes...if we're lucky.(By the way, on blogger.com, clicking on the title of this post takes you to a video that shows some linoleum that ours is aspiring to be like...it's already peeling away from the floor and wall.) [I know, you're thinking all I can do is bitch, bitch, bitch. And I'm okay with you thinking that. Sometimes the two of us get a little isolated here and we need others to bitch to. :D ]

* Stringham high: Our kitchen table is loaded down with produce from our garden, both fresh and preserved.
* Stringham low: Water.
* Stringham super-high: What's there to be super-high about when it's 11:36 PM and you're fixing plumbing issues and will be without water for 12-24 hours? Oh, our health, I suppose. And the baby...sorry, fetus.

Garden Update (Ain't Life Grand?)

We’ve done really well with tomatoes and squash and green beans from the garden. Everything else, we’ve done OK on. We have a big learning curve, which we knew. We’ll probably plant all the same things next year, but we’re going to try using more organic matter in the soil to loosen up the soil. (Our root crops were all stunted this year because of the clay…it’s like they were all able to grow to about the size of the holes we dug to plant, maybe a little larger and that’s it.

But the tomatoes have more than paid for themselves. With me working and trying so hard to catch up and make a little extra money, M’s been doing the canning. We’ve managed to can 4 or 5 pints of pickles, 4 pints of spaghetti sauce, 4 pints of salsa (2 of which we’ve already eaten), and 4 pints of hot salsa. M’s going to harvest our third bunch of green beans today. Our first two batches each yielded about 2 pounds, so we just cooked them in the crock pot. But it looks like there are so many on the plants now that we may actually have enough to can green beans. I sure hope so. And we should have some more tomatoes so we can make another 4 pints of something in 3 or 4 days. All the tomatoes are just ripening—and we’ve got more buds started. We’ve gotten several peppers (Wenk’s yellow hots, jalapenos—though they don’t get very large and aren’t very prolific, cayennes, garden salsa hybrid). By far, the Wenk’s and the Volcanoes are the most prolific.

Potatoes gave a decent yield, but not a good return on investment. We basically ended up with “new” size potatoes. And the peas just didn’t do well. Cucumbers are still producing, and we can make a few more jars of pickles. One of our biggest fights this year has been the weeds. It’s been so temperate and wet this summer (very unusual) that the weeds have thrived. We just couldn’t keep up. We even did companion planting that’s meant to keep the weeds down, and it didn’t help much. So we “lost” most of our greens and our root crops (we hope to possibly reclaim the root crops—aside from potatoes and onions—after the first frost, because most of them taste better after the first frost) in the weeds. And M just tramps through the weeds around the beans (which don’t seem to care about the weeds) and the herbs (which also don’t seem to care about the weeds). We are still trying to figure out a plan of attack for the sunflowers, as we know that the snakes liked to curl up in the weeds in that patch earlier this summer…

Like I said, everything else fared decently (the corn cross-pollinated, as did our squash, so, yeah…we have a lot, but it’s all non-standard). The sunflower patch has all opened now, I think, though there is a wide variety in size. One plant is easily 8 or 10 feet tall with a huge head, and some are only about 3 feet tall with heads that have just opened. But the bees and butterflies have taken off on them. One day, not long after that first (now gigantic) head opened, it had at least 1 butterfly and 3 bumblebees on it. And all the other heads that were open at the time had at least 2 bumblebees each.

So all in all, not a bad harvest we’ve been raking in. Much better harvest than last year, and we’ve been learning a lot about what we can do, what is going to be problematic (cross-pollination of tomatoes, corn, and squash; raccoons; cabbage worms and caterpillars; bean beetles), so we should be able to do a lot better next year. We won’t be building raised beds as we had intended because we’re going to have to put up a fence around our overall intended garden area to help keep out the freaking raccoons. Although with all the fields around us being planted corn next year, we shouldn’t have a problem; it should be like last year, unless the coons have figured out that we have sweet corn and the fields don’t. After all, when they got into our corn this year, the ears that weren’t sweet just had a bite or two taken out of them and then were tossed aside, but the ones that were sweet got stripped—the husks strewn away from the garden and the cobs gone completely.

* Stringham high: Tomatoes and squash and beans, oh my!
* Stringham low: Weeds
* Stringham super-high: 16 pints canned!

Oh, and another mouse fatality yesterday. M saw one running across the living room floor and couldn't get the cats' attention on it, so he killed it. So far, our cats really aren't such good hunters (but really, why would they need to be?). This mouse was fairly small, so we think we've got a fairly new litter around here somewhere...

In the Garden of Eden

To quote M, “RacOONs!”

They ate quite a bit of our ripe sweet corn. Last night, apparently, during or after the rain. So much for squash leaves keeping them away…

And cabbage worms overnight have decimated our broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower plants.

*sigh*

These critters have to cross several acres –and maybe even the busy highway--to get to our garden. Looks like our plan for next year is to build a fence instead of raised beds…
Of course, M likes the idea of an electric fence. Call me crazy, but I’m not real keen on the idea of an electric fence taking up the backyard, where I’ll always have to mow along and where we always have to go to dump our compost…and, you know, with planning a family, and all…an electric fence as soon as you step out the back door. Yeah, gotta go with my wife veto power on this one.


* Stringham high: tomato plants so productive that their falling from the weight of the tomatoes
* Stringham low: cabbage worms and slugs
* Stringham super-high: March 2010

Livin' on a Prairie

I had a migraine that kept me from going to work this morning, but as it turned out, that was fortuitous. The headache was well under control and down to a dull roar by 11, then throwing a nasty hissy-fit around 11:30, just before we got a large delivery of trees and plants. This time, it was the rest of our seed potatoes, 25 strawberry plants, 2 magnolia trees, 24 evergreens for a windbreak, and [most of] our super fruit tree (8 of 9) collection.

Well, M wanted to get started right away, but we couldn't realistically plant all of them, especially with my head roaring at me. So we did our research (ah, don't we always?) and got my headache under control with the meds, the sunglasses, and some lunch, and away we went to get mulch and weed-blocker cloth and all the other planting things we needed. [Including a gorilla wagon, which is awesome. It has four wheels and has a dumping basket. We can carry up to 600 pounds in it and dump up to 300. It took an hour and a half to put together, but after 5 minutes of not having to lug around a bag of wet peat moss, it was totally worth it.]

M tilled a big stretch of 100 feet for the strawberries after we agreed where to plant everything. At 6:30, we started mixing peat moss into the soil, and at 8:30 we were done. Tomorrow, the trees...

* Stringham high: Trees, trees, trees! Straaaaaaaaaaaawwberries!
* Stringham low: What's there to be sad about on a day that was sunny and in the 50s?
* Stringham super-high: We took a break after working the soil and laying the weed-blocking cloth and laid down on the grass, staring at the sky. In that moment, ah, the contentment! I spent my morning and early afternoon freelancing (in the semi-darkness) and the afternoon working to plant our food. I spent the whole day with my husband, working on our little "mini-farm/soon-to-be orchard," and lying next to him in the sun. Only a couple of kids and a dog running around could have made me feel more delighted. [The title links to an article about mini farms. What we are doing is not absent of power tools, nor is it focused on making ure to be pesticide free, but it is very close to this.]

Sowing Our Wild Oats

Actually, oats are one of the few things we DIDN'T order to plant...

We filed our taxes on Saturday and went through our list of seeds, trees, and plants last night to remove extraneous items and get our list to a more-manageable volume and price. Today, while I was home sick, I ordered all those items. The damage:

• 15 fruit, flowering, or windblock trees
• 24 bushes for a hedge
• 18 bushes for a windblock for the driveway
• 143 fruit plants/bushes
• 2 packets of herb seeds
• 8 "decorative" plants
• 31 vegetable seed packets
• seed potatoes for white, red, and blue potatoes
• starter sets for red, white, and yellow onions and leeks
• 1/4 lb of sunflower seeds
• 1 lb of jerusalem artichoke starter
• all manner of food processing, storage, collection, and garden-maintenance supplies

In total (after taxes, shipping, handling, etc.): $541.86

And those totals do not take into account the 30 or so seed packets that we already have, the seed starter supplies that we already have, or the "free" seeds and plants that we will get as "valued customers" from three of the four companies we ordered from...

Sure, some people might say we're crazy. And M says he definitely didn't till enough ground for this garden, but these are not all going to be planted at the same time. We have specifically planned so that we will have some replantings, so some sort of vegetable production from late spring through fall, and even possibly into early winter (weather winter, not calendar winter). And several of the varieties we bought are heirlooms, rather than hybrids, so we can harvest the seeds and use them next year and know that we will get the same plant next year as this year...so, we won't need to buy as many seeds next year. And we'll already have a good windbreak and a small orchard/fruit yard started, in addition to perennial and re-seeding annual flower beds to keep calling pollinators back to our garden and yard year after year.

* Stringham high: Tax refund not as high as we had hoped, but combined with money put back, definitely enough to pay for plants, the installation of the coils for our geothermal heat pump, and a nice sum on a credit card.
* Stringham low: M is still going to be unemployed after this Friday.
* Stringham super-high: M is less stressed about being unemployed than about continuing in his current job (as attested to by his fingernails)--how sad is that?

Hell Freezes Over?

To borrow a line from my husband, "zomg, a blog! I haz eevuhl powers!"

For several years, I've told people that I would never blog because I wasn't interested in telling others about my life. Or I didn't have the time to write a blog. And certainly, no one would want to read my blog even if I wrote one.

But since we bought our house, I've written several interesting emails and been encouraged to keep them coming. Maybe somewhere along the line, this will lead to a book, but for now, it's the easiest way for me to document our success (or failure) with the garden, our failure (or maybe success) with canning the bounty of our harvest, our wildlife encounters, and--best of all for you lucky fans out there--our ongoing war with the mice.

In the next couple of weeks, I'll get posted here what I've written about regarding our experiences in going back to the land--but in a totally respectable, non-hippy, non-New Agey (okay, maybe a LITTLE New-Agey) way. We'll start there and see where that takes us.

But for now, a brief update:

• Stringham high: The mouse war had 4 casualties (M says 7); M is reemployed after a brief stint with unemployment; I'm watching M "dance" to a Wii game about crazy rabbits, and boy, is he goofy!
• Stringham low: Once again, a baby Stringham has decided to pass on our invitation to hang out with me for about 9 months.
• Stringham super-high: We received for Christmas (1) many, many books on gardening, natural pest control, and everything we could ever want to know about living like pioneers; (2) a large freezer (a few months early, but it was for Christmas); (3) a huge tool box; and (4) a FoodSaver. I don't remember the last time I was so excited on Christmas day. I was giddy. (Yeah, I'm a complete weirdo.)