By the end of this Fall, our kids will be firewood stacking professionals. We’ve been cutting and splitting some firewood from my father-in-law’s property down the road, and everyone has a job to do. Mr. Fix-It runs the chainsaw and I work the log splitter and help toss pieces into the back of the truck.
The Ladybug gathers up the smaller pieces and tosses them into the truck to be stacked. She also helps unload at stack when we get back home.
The Cowboy hauls the chunks from the tailgate and stacks them in the bed. After Irene, Speedracer was stacking too, but those pieces were smaller and the tailgate was closed.
This time Speedracer’s main job seemed to be drinking water. (His secondary job was sitting around asking for water.)
They got to take some breaks to play too. Those big, downed trees were perfect for climbing and crawling on, hunting up big black beetles, and playing make-believe. I overheard something about “falling in the water” and “crawling like puppies” and one reference to snakes that got my immediate attention for no reason.
Unfortunately, when we got home to wash up, we found out that the kids had brought some little tagalongs home with them. Actually, a lotof little tagalongs. The Ladybug and Speedracer both had 10 little ticks on them. Not the big, disease carrying, deer ticks, but the teeny-tiny little wood ticks that you can practically only see because their skin is soooo fair. Mr. Fix-It had one.
And the Cowboy, my little adventurer, my little trailblazing reptile hunter, took the prize with 39–yes 39!–ticks. The bug spray didn’t seem to make the slightest difference! A lot of them were still crawling when we found them. Ladybug and Speedracer only have one or two actual bites. The Cowboy has a bunch and they itch really, really bad, but it’s still only about a quarter of the number of buggers we found. We’re bathing him in Aveeno oatmeal baths and I’m keeping him slathered in Cortizone, but if anyone else knows of some home remedy that works better, please let me know!
Meanwhile, we’ve got another load or two to go before we’re done for the winter. What were you up to this weekend?
