Out to the wood pile

Camp Reed was over at 6 p.m. Friday, but we had a half-hearted reunion Saturday. Hannah's birthday party included a 10-year-old girl sleepover component so Alex got to come over after the party for a sleepover here. That morphed into a trip to Victory Field for Jeff, Ali, Alex and me today.

It was good to have him here because he and Alison are great companions and they keep each other happy enough that it's almost like they're not even here.

On Saturday, our neighbor Jason rented a wood splitter and he, Jeff and another guy spent most of the day splitting the sweet gum tree for firewood. The pile didn't seem so big until they started dividing each piece into several others. I stopped counting at 4 pick-up truck loads. Jason had lusted after the tree as soon as he heard it was going down and offer to get the splitter if we'd share half the wood.

We saved $100 keeping the tree, so Jeff was thrilled to add this to the bargain.

The boys were all more than a little woody, if you catch my drift, from operating a massive piece of power tool technology. At one point, a piece of wood got stuck and it took two chainsaws and a sledge hammer to get the thing going again.

I think they spent about 5 hours in the yard. Alison and I got all of the usual Saturday chores done and out of the way before they left.

Today, while Alison and Alex played, Jeff and I spent all morning stacking the wood.

Now, I'm from Indiana and we didn't burn wood at my house. Well, we did burn the house down eventually, but that's another story and it was on purpose. We played with gas and matches as kids and anything we destroyed was accidental.

My point it, I know nothing about stacking wood properly. The boy from Maine takes it seriously. Which is to say he bossed me around all morning and had 18 different steps that ensured the wood got circulation so it will dry correctly, was stacked in the precise formation so it would be be tight, etc...

In the end, as he was muttering about this and that, I swear I heard him say his dad would be proud, so apparently we did it right.

We ended up with four garbage bags of yard waste between the stuff left over from the splitter and some other stuff that I'd needed to get rid of a while.

By the time we got the last bag to the curb, I wasn't sure I could life a glass of tea. I was lucky to stumble to my seat at the ballpark. We have great seats, just above the Indians dug-out on the third base side. (Jeff likes to give the team advice from time to time, and he wants to be sure they can hear him. While I'm sure they'd hear him if we were still in the parking garage, I guess it's best to be sure.)

The downside of our seats is that they're in the blazing sun. The seats were so hot when we first go there that you had to perch on the edge and inch back slowly or lose part of yourself. Kind of like the opposite of sticking your tongue to frozen metal, only with this, you could smell your flesh burning.

After a while, the kids and I went high, searching for shaded seats. And on an ice-cream run, we ran into Team Noel -- it's not a good weekend for us if we don't run into them somewhere around town. The Indians won in extra innings, so it was a good way to end the weekend -- if indeed the weekend had to end.

We've been home since about 5 and beyond dinner, I've done nothing much. I'm hoping I'll have the strength to type at work tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Camp Reed Day 4 Report

In just one day, Captain Reed took my title as Queen of the Camp. I'm fairly ticked about it.

He drove the kids over to the Newport Aquarium in Cincinnati.

In the words of Alison Reed, "It was wicked cool."

There's no competing with that.

Walking in to the place, they went through a long tunnel that went through huge aquariums. Sharks swam around them and at one point, a fish rammed right into a shark right in front of them. They claim there was a sea turtle with a head as big as our TV. They got to pet sharks and sea stars and horse shoe crabs.

If that's not enough, on the way home, they stopped at the famous Cow Palace in downtown Shelbyville.

Alison has been a devoted fan of Dairy Queen ice cream ever since her Aunt Margaret talked me into buying her first cone there when she could barely walk. The Cow Palace is her newest love.

"It's the best ice cream I ever had!" declared the strictly vanilla lover. "Well, I guess I'd have to wedge it in between Boogie Burger and Dairy Queen. Right in the middle.

Hannah had Death by Chocolate. Alex had cherry and the captain had some sort of chocolate concoction. Ali kept going on and on about how great her ice cream was so I double checked to be sure she'd had her standard vanilla.

Yes, she'd stuck with it, but next time, she said, "I'm going to have bubble gum."

The only downside was that Ali didn't listen very well to her father on the way home and kept laying on one or the other of her seat mates. He's docked her allowance $1.

When I reported the incident to my co-workers, Paul (father of 3 boys) said, "Man, I'm glad he's not MY dad..."

Captain Reed's reputation grows....

Camp Reed Afternoon Report Day 3

I'm feeling pretty sad that my tour of duty at Camp Reed 2009 is over. Tomorrow, I go back to work and Captain Reed takes over.

The kids will love it. He's already set up a field for water gun fighting -- providing all kinds of crazy shelters for people to hide behind -- and he's thinking of taking them on a road trip.

Me? My nose will be firmly back to the grindstone. Heavy sigh.

Today we were stalled a bit as we waited for Village Plumbing to drop by and fix the clog in our basement drain and the leaks in our master bathroom. I'd missed the call that would have brought them early, and we were just coming onto Canterbury Park on a bike ride when the call came that they were 30 minutes out.

We opted for a quick spin and headed down the trail, with Alison scouting again. She and Hannah kept up a good pace and we made it to the edge of the State Fairgrounds before we headed back. We pulled up just as Tim the Plumber got to our house.

He was great, but the work took us through lunch. Right before it, our neighbor called, desperate for help with her 13.5-year-old dog who she thought was stroking out. I helped get Maddie (the dog) into Debbie's (the neighbor's) car and then added Chelsea to my camper list.

They were all happily watching a movie and munching on lunch when Debbie returned; harried but freshly convinced to prolong the dog's life. I'm not a dog hater, but Maddie is blind, deaf and prone to tremors. Debbie is a single divorcee, recently laid-off and caring for a special needs child.

I'm not sure I would have agreed to give Maddie another day. Another of Debbie's charges, Pearl the rabbit, hopped off into Bunny Neverland last week after 13 years. Frankly, I think the animal signals are clear and that Debbie needs a break.

After Tim had fixed all that ailed our pipes and faucets and I was able to tear the kids away from our Charlie Brown Special collection, we got back on the bikes and rode to Broad Ripple Park to try out the pool. (It wasn't up to the standards of the Jordan YMCA pool, according to the little otters.)

While they were happy to cool off, I'd just had my hair done. I could only dip my toes for fear of having my friend Julie from Ado disown me. She'd warned me away from chlorine when I left her Tuesday evening. She's not only a way better hair stylist than I deserve, she's a new mom and full of hormones. She probably would brand me with a curling iron if I dragged myself in there to get my freshly un-grayeed hair repaired.

Debbie's bad luck with animals seemed to follow us as we biked to the park pool.

"Aw! That poor chipmunk," Ali called, alerting everyone to the road kill. "Hey Hannah, my mom ran over a squirrel once."

"Mrs. Reed! How could you?!"

I launched into my speech about how I was certain the squirrel had committed suicide and used me horribly in its dastardly plot of self-destruction.

"I don't believe that for a minute," Hannah said.

"Yeah, Mom. You KILLED it," my offspring reminded me.

I battled them for a while before I reminded them that I could have let the squirrel live but taken evasive action such that Alison and I could have died in a firey crash. Alex, who loves me most when I'm pedalling him around on the tandem, jumped to my defense.

"I think it could have committed suicide," he said. "It shouldn't have run out in the road when a big car was coming. And besides, there are millions of squirrels. There aren't millions of Mrs. Reeds or Alisons."

I love that boy. He's so smart.

They played a little at the park before we came back home into the lovely air-conditioned house where they gorged on frozen yogurt and ice water before their parents came to whisk them away. (The basement drain problem was causing the a/c run-off to back up and pool on the floor but thanks to Tim, we're basking in the cool again.)

I may have to get sick Friday afternoon and have to go home early...

Camp Reed

Excerpts from Camp Reed:

Voices drifting up from the basement family room where Alison and Alex are arguing over what to name a new virtual pet on her Littlest Pet Shop game.

"Alex! I don't want to name him Alex."

"But I want to."

"No, Alex, He's a Boston Terrier. I want to name him Boston."

"Please, Ali? I want to name him Alex."

Editor's note: many of our virtual pets carry names of Alison's friends. Her two live fish are named Alison and Grace. Jenna (an earlier fish) sadly, bit it and Ali thought it was too sad to name the replacement fish after Jenna again.

"No. I want to name him Boston."

Alex apparently was at the controls and was quickly filling in the name: A-L...

"Alex, I WILL unplug this computer!"

"Awwwwww. OK."


*****

"Hey, Alex, I got in Big Trouble because of that stack of papers you knocked off the table."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"What happened?

"Well my dad yelled at me for like 40 minutes."

"Really? Wow. At least he didn't ground you."

"Yeah. Usually, he grounds me for like three days of screen time and makes me write sentences

"Oh my gosh. Really??"

"Well. That's for when I get a conduct cut. That's why I try not to get conduct cuts..."

****

In the car, Hannah was reading from Captain Underpants to Alex and Ali. She's probably gotten through three pages before they got antsy.

"Hey, Alex. Want to see the flip-o-rama in this book?"

"Sure!"

Flip, flip. Giggle. Giggle.

"Hey guys. I'm reading here," reminds Hannah.

Flip, flip. Giggle. Giggle.

Hannah and I agreed that her strategic error was in allowing them options.

****

They played on the woodpile for part of the afternoon, turning it into a wooded castle. They took turns playing King, Queen and Princess and jumping all around and from it.

At one point, Hannah comes running around the corner to jump for safety.

"I made it to the pastle. I mean the calace!" she shouted.

After that, they became pings, krincesses and peens.

***

We spent a few hours at the Indianapolis Childrens Museum and I camped outside each exhibit and let them have the run of the place. We've been there dozens of times and I'm pretty sure I've explored every corner of the dinosphere at least six times. It's great, but I opted to read a book while they got lost in time.

The entry way is different since we'd last been, and it wasn't well received. Used to, you walked into a huge, sunny room dominated by the famous water clock. Now, you enter into a still sunny but more commercial looking area where you buy tickets and can patronize the museum store.

"I don't like this," Alex said.

"Yeah. Me neither," said Alison.

I asked what it was they didn't like.

"It looks like it's for adults now," they agreed.

Once inside, they were OK, but I had to agree with them.

***

We started out the day attending a rally at the Statehouse where our legislators are fighting over the state budget. The rally was to encourage them to spend more on schools and less on other stuff.

Karin and Dale met us there. Hannah, at 10, was more inclined to at least pretend to listen than were Ali and Alex who were more focused on lunch.

It was strange to be there but not awful. It's good to see people involved in the democratic process and it's a great thing to expose kids to.

And we got to have lunch downtown...

Transportation

The other day, we were all three riding our own bikes and Jeff was remarking to Alison how great it was that we could all motor on our own.

We've nearly worn out the detachable tandem we bought about 4 years ago. It's taken us down streets, along the canal and Monon Trail, downtown, up to Carmel, to school and to the movies. She's loved it, and it's always attracted a few comments.

Once I spent part of the afternoon giving her school friends rides around the parking lot when I went to pick her up.

Getting her on her own bike may have been delayed a little bit because she liked both the independence of nearly riding on her own but the ability to lay back a little and coast if she wanted. Plus, she was bothered with little or none of the balance or steering.

She's been a demon her birthday bike now for the past several weeks.

We were out on an evening ride the other day. She was "scout," which meant she got to decide where we went but she was also responsible for letting us know if intersections were clear to go through.

It's helping with her braking ability -- a bit -- but she likes it mostly because she gets to be in charge. (I'm not bossy; I'm a leader.)

So Jeff and I were hanging back and he was waxing poetic about what a great thing it was to do this as a family; to see her take off and be so independent. I only grudgingly accept that she's growing up. It's not my favorite thing, in all honesty. I revel in her spirit but I hate to think of the day she moves out.

Jeff shifted from entertaining me to address his charge.

"Alison, do you realize what it means that you can ride your very own bike?" he asked. "You can go anywhere you want to anytime you want to!"

Never missing a rotation in her pedaling, she shouted back with a huge grin: "Just like a book!" she said.

I love that girl.

Camp Reed Afternoon Report

The tree cutters were amazing. In and out in less than 3 hours, they took down the sweet gum, trimmed the oak and took out an unsightly bush/tree out back.

I almost didn't recognize the yard.

The kids got bored after the first few cuts and spent most of the time in the back yard with the hose and Jeff's new Father's Day water guns. It was only after they were down to cutting what had the look of an uncarved totem pole that they thought it was kind of interesting. And then, they watched from the cool inside as the tree crew sweated in the muggy air. Wimps.


Complete Tree Care is my new favorite business. They come back on Friday to drill out the stumps. If they do then what they did today, they're going to get one sweet report on Angie's List...



Before the tree crew came, the four of us took a bike ride to Target. I needed a new seat for my bike and I've decided that Camp Reed has to have at least one component of physical exercise.

The girls were on their own bikes. Alex was on the tandem with me. We were zooming along when Ali missed a turn and we had to do a little cross-country to get over to the store.

"Geeze Mom! What are you doing?"

"We've got to get over there. It's just a little grass. You're good. Come on," I say as Alex and I push through the somewhat muddy field.

The girls got off their bikes and were pushing them across the grass. The plan was to cross an office parking lot, then the Lowe's lot, and over to Target.

"Follow me and stay close. Watch for traffic," I call, slowing down and circling to be sure they were going to make it.

"Alex, you are on the bike of doom!" Hannah calls out.

"Yeah, Alex, you're gonna die with that mad woman!" calls Ali.

I stop short. I look back. They're on their bikes. Sure, they're slow, but they're behind me. There are parked cars, but few are moving. I'm not sure what the problem is.

"Nice knowing you Alex," calls one.

"I don't believe you!" calls my defender. "I am NOT going to die."

"You know, Alex, she's a bad driver in the car AND on a bike," calls Ali.

"Well I think she's doing a good job," he says, pedaling like a champ.

I announce the winner of the My-Favorite-Camper award. I think he smiled. It's hard to see from the front seat.

Regardless, the girls do not relent. It wasn't even my fault we had to go off road. Alison missed the turn. In the end, we got safely across all the lots, to the store, to Taco Bell and back without a problem.

Camp Reed Day One was fun. I may never go back to work.

Camp Reed Morning Report

Day One of Camp Reed came early. I was up at 7, sweating from a really strange dream that involved vampires, the Indianapolis Star and a desperate search for a working pay phone.

I had intended to spend the morning in my neighbor's yard with three kids watching our sweet gum tree be felled. But I woke up to damp ground and a grim sky. For a moment, I considered whether Mother Nature was issuing one last warning about the planned destruction.

I actually thought about calling to cancel the tree guys. Instead, I decided I'd read too much trashy fiction and made myself some coffee.

The rain has forced Camp Reed in doors so far but it's been absolutely no problems for the campers who scampered downstairs seconds after they arrived.

They've got a laptop, a Mac, the television, movies and the Wii to keep them occupied. Perfect for the rain out.

The tree cutters are due around 2 p.m., so I think we'll have a short field trip but be back here in time to watch the thing come down.