Voles--post not for the weak of heart or stomach

I wanted to title this post a swear word. Pick any one you can think of, it will fit the situation. Horrible little voles made my yard their personal playground under the snow this winter. They have destroyed the lawn that took hours of hard labor and thousands of dollars to install last summer. I have been trying to be reasonable about the situation. We live by a field. I love that field, so I'm trying to be calm. That calmness is over now. The creatures presented me with a gross out, want to throw up dilemma today. I kicked one of their piles of dead grass and guess what flew out? Little pink babies. I thought they were dead. I called my dad. He informed me they were alive. AHHHHHHH!!!!!!! What to do? I don't want them out there, but somehow killing a baby, even if it is a destructive, horrible swear word creature baby, seems more than I can do. I'm leaving them for Jeff.

P.S. I tried to make a learning situation of this awful mess and took Carter out to show him the babies. I pulled the dead grass back with a shovel and told him they were the babies of the voles that had ruined our lawn...our beautiful lawn. He said, "cool..mom, maybe you should stab them with the shovel."

P.S.S. I swear he doesn't have emotional disorders. He is just very much a problem solver. Some day his wife will endure his endless logic.

Day 48 of My Captivity ( I actually counted)

If you haven't seen us much this winter, be glad. If you have seen us, condolences. We are the plague. Honestly, the plague. The fall was good to us. We stayed out of busy public places, we washed our hands, we waited in line for vaccinations, we used bottles of hand sanitizer. We were hermits. I declared victory on disease. Call me mother of the year, my kids were staying healthy. God laughed at me.

I went on a girl's weekend in January. I felt so refreshed. I came home to the beginning stages of captivity. Carter had a cough, maybe a little fever. Generally not on the top of his game. He was sick for a week. Carter perked up and Spike got sick. Jeff got sick. I got sick. Ashley got sick. Gil got sick. My how we spread our love. Spike's little cough quickly turned to pneumonia. I waited too long to take him to the doctor. Three weeks of breathing treatments, antibiotics, steroids, supplemental oxygen, and three doctor's visits later he was better. We met our insurance deductible. We decided we were safe to leave the house.

Mom and Dad had a tragic fight with the weather that resulted in a missed cruise, so they took each of the boys for a couple days for "vacation." I swear I thought Carter was healthy when I sent him to Bear Lake last week. Again, I was wrong. When we picked him up last weekend, he was lethargic. He had a cough, a stomach ache, a little fever. He felt better by Tuesday, but Mom started to feel sick. Spike was getting sick and his breathing was a little off. At my mom's urging, I called the doctor Friday afternoon at 3:30 to ask what to watch for in case the pneumonia was coming back. I was told to bring him in immediately. Great news, it isn't pneumonia, he has H1N1. No worries though, it can easily turn to pneumonia again.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!! I asked the doctor three times if she was sure. Apparently she is. I told her it wasn't possible, because Carter had been sick and he'd been immunized. She told me that is why he only had mild symptoms. We have to stay home. We get to go to the doctor again tomorrow and, sadly, I'm just excited to leave the house. Spike is back on breathing treatments. How I hate "dinosaur breathing".(It has this name because the mask is the shape of a purple dinosaur). I'm sleeping in Carter's super bed to be by Spike. The super bed sucks. Mom and I missed my cousin's baby shower. I sulked. I've acted super grumpy. I've worn only sweats. I've eaten chips and candy and diet coke exclusively. I'm still not sure that he has H1N1. He isn't super sick. The fever is mostly gone, the wheezing has started. We are still captive and contagious.

P.S....the insurance plan year ended 1/31/10. So we get to meet the deductible again. Fortunately, it looks like with a job change and an insurance change, we'll meet the deductible for Spike 3 times this year. Awesome.