"Uh, Dad, is that POISON IVY??!!?"

Well, yes, it WAS poison ivy, and one or two of us GOT poison ivy, but that's getting ahead of the story. First I have to tell you about a long, meandering, frankly sickening drive over bumpy, dusty, rocky, back country roads. Then I have to tell you about our lengthy search for the place we had taken that long sickening drive to. And THEN I can tell you all about the poison ivy.

You see, last Sunday Beka had the wonderful idea of taking a nice, relaxing stroll through some nice, shady woods in some nice, clean park somewhere. So we went online, discovered that Middlefork Park, a big park with trails and a river, had lots of nature trails, and off we went. Then came the long drive etc. It turned out we didn't exactly know where we were going, and we also didn't exactly know how to get there. But we didn't find that out until we'd been on the road for twenty minutes. And at the point there wasn't much we could do about it.

We finally did discover some nice woods with marked trails, which we sincerely hoped was part of Middlefork Park. We all piled out, and began tramping through thick, itchy woods on a little trail about a foot wide. Everybody shouted out the numbers on the signposts. That's when Timmy looked closely at one of the many plants edging onto our trail, and said, "Uh, Dad, is that POISON IVY??!!?" It was, in fact, and the three poison ivy candidates in our family all groaned. I happen to be Candidate Number 1, and I was in shorts, with tennis shoes. I stayed firmly to the middle of the path.

Well, I stayed to the middle of the path until Dad discovered luscious, ink-colored, though tiny, blackberries growing all over the place. Then I took a few tramps through briars, etc. to reach the coveted fruit. Dad and I lagged behind for a couple minutes to grab a few handfuls while everyone else eagerly 'blazed' the trail.

Dad and I eating wild blackberries. Photo by Mom.

We survived the wild wilderness of our first stop after thirty minutes, and safely arrived back at our car. We looked over the damage received. Everyone had a briar or two on their socks, and fur, if you count the dog. We all had a few scratches and some bug-bites, but so far we had traversed the wilds of Middlefork Park without much damage.

Being the wild adventure seekers that we are, we immediately set off for Destination Number 2. Exactly what that destination was remained to be seen. It turned out to be our first glimpse of Middlefork River. ("We'll know when we get to the river," Timmy said, "Because it will have dinner forks in the middle.") We all piled out again, and then stood in disappointment, when it turned out to be a very steep, ten-foot long drop to the riverbank. We made the drop, though, and began to explore the river. The river was very low, but we discovered some huge cement squares which made nice seats and footholds. Caleb and Timmy threw off their shoes and shirts, and began wading. I ran down to join them, and Beka soon followed. Matthew remained with his water-and-height-phobia dog at the bank with Mom and Dad.

Caleb the wild adventurer, trying out the water. (Note the white socks!) Photo by Mom.

We waded for an hour or two. Matthew joined us, and we walked up and down the river, Timmy constantly saying that he could see crawdads everywhere, and that he kept feeling them biting his toes. Poor Buddy looked like a bedraggled water rat as he swam around, undecided whether to be upset or have fun. We found lots of clams, some fish, an interesting loon/duck/heron kind of bird, and some pretty feathers. Beka got all wet...as did Caleb. I managed to stay pretty dry.

A funny little bug Caleb came across. Tell me, which end is the head? Photo by Caleb.

At last we were all pretty wet, sandy, hungry, tired, and miserable (if you count the dog again). We drove home, and spent the rest of our Sunday in as much peace as possible. Yes, that was last Sunday. But just today, Matthew came walking in and said, "Hey Dad, see this rash on my neck here? Does that look like POISON IVY??!!?"

The Weekly Bible Verse

Deuteronomy 34:10: Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.

Bits and Pieces

Whew! What a week! The first two days were alright, but since then we've been busier and busier. The house project, which we dropped momentarily, is in full swing again. Dad is about to install our new bay window as I write this. But not only are Dad and Beka working full-time on the house again, our garden is doing so well right now, that we are amazingly busy. I have tons of fun doing all of my normal jobs plus Beka's, and then juggling meal making and customer-serving as well. Mom goes into town a lot to buy parts and tools for Dad, and whenever she is busy or gone I take over the stand. Lots of customers, lots of vegetables...lots of work!

Our vegetable stand before the big storm. Photo by Mom.

Speaking of our garden stand, we've had some adventures with that this week. We recently put up a white canopy thing for Mom's stand. It looked very nice, and we all liked it. But, one night, an awful storm came up and hurled our tall canopy over the fence, twisting the metal and ruining our canopy. We were a little discouraged, and decided to try a different approach. Matthew and Dad built a straw-bale stand. So far, that has worked wonderfully.

Our vegetable stand after the big storm. Photo by Mom.

A Word About The Weather

Boy, it never rains but it pours! We've actually had a flash-flood watch on our county for the last couple days. And no wonder! We had three nights in a row of thunderstorms and torrential rains. Now we can't do much in the garden. And on the second day of rain, when I went into the garden to pick zucchini, I sank half a foot in muck.

A Word Of Wisdom

Though it may SOUND impossible to do fifteen things at once, I can testify that it actually is torturously possible. I've done it several times these past few weeks.