Ice Possum, and Other Excitement

On a very cold day last week, we spied this little possum skating around our frozen pool.  Talk about weird.  For a while we were amused, and then we were worried, but he or she succeeded in climbing out of the pool and onto the concrete, so we assumed it was all right.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. The sad creature moved more slowly, then fell over, and died ignominiously.  Poor thing. Something was apparently wrong with it because it wasn't stuck in the pool.  Possums are usually nocturnal so the fact that it was out and about during the day was a bad sign.

Kevin and I didn't write out any kind of agreement when we were married about who does what in our household, but thankfully for me, he agreed (without argument) that I don't deal with dead animals.  Dead animals freak me out. So he and Isaac went out and dealt with the dead possum on the pool before the weather warmed and the water in the pool melted. Better to have a frozen possum than a nasty soaked possum.

I spent the week sick with The Virus.  Not the flu, thankfully, but quite annoying.  I am still a little sick and very tired of it, but it isn't smallpox. It isn't smallpox.  I try to encourage myself when I am disgruntled with illness that in the grand scheme of things, a couple of weeks with periodic headaches, and body aches, and sore throat, and fatigue, are not a big deal.

And they aren't.

Kevin nobly took Lydia to a hand specialist and Sarah to a foot specialist this week.  Lydia has a weird finger due to a break when she was 6 -- a break which didn't heal correctly because her foolish parents didn't NOTICE IT WAS BROKEN.  (What can I say, she was a super tough kid!)

Lydia had two surgeries on the offending digit a couple of years ago; the finger is now straight, but there is serious arthritis and it doesn't bend at one of the joints now.  The hand specialist this week said further surgery wouldn't help.

Sarah was born with an odd toe on her left foot.  It is now bent over in a strange way. But the foot specialist also said surgery wasn't a good idea because right now she is fully functional and surgery might make it worse.

All right then, no surgery. That's a fine thing!

Rose cold.

Rose with cute sock hat that my mother made. For a few days, she wore this non stop. Then it got warm and she put it away.

Rose and Sarah and Angela hanging out.

Sarah and her magnets. I bought more of these building magnets and while I was sick, the three litttles played with them a lot.  When all is well, they are creative and happy. When they are struggling, they fight like small cats and dogs over who has the pleasure of having particular shapes and colors.