AlisonH
(Side note: Ostrich Plumes pattern on the afghan, kid mohair and baby alpaca doubled together.)
When our oldest was three, we found our house there in New Hampshire was mosquito central in the spring, there being a wetlands area nearby. We got to watch mallard ducks arrive in our back yard for awhile, eating the larvae, just, I guess there needed to have been a few more quacking back there.
She went out to play on the swingset one late afternoon and came back inside after fifteen minutes. One look at her and I was horrified. I stopped and counted, trying to wrap my mind around it: 64 little red welts growing–it was that fast. “Oh, my poor Jennie!” I exclaimed, very sorry I hadn’t bought bug repellent before I’d let her go out there, especially at that time of day.
She looked at me, and with the wisdom of a three-year-old that spoke of so many times to come when she would be able to shrug off bad things as something she could handle on her own just fine, more worried about upsetting me than about herself, offered thoughtfully, consolingly, “I’d be more poor if I got eaten by tigers.” I laughed and cried just a tear and scooped her into my arms to try to make it all better, knowing that only time would make the bites go away but a mom’s hugs helped both of us. Just amazed. Out of the mouths of babes.
And then our kids grow up…
Nina from my book and her daughter Amy just stopped by for a visit while Amy’s in town. Amy’s a young veterinarian, and her new home and job happen to be near a wildlife rescue center.
Which is why she was just telling my husband and me about one of her most memorable recent patients brought in, carried in in a cage; when I asked, she told me sure, I could blog it.
Cats are one thing. Um. The sick patient that came in their door was a three hundred pound lion. Well, let’s see, so many cc per pound of weight… An assistant drew up and delivered the dose after Amy calculated it, to knock it out so Amy could intubate it.
Sweet dreams. Okay, ready. So there’s Amy, at the lion’s head just about to go put the tube down its throat…
…and the lion roared. I guess it didn’t like that mosquito bite in its backside.
Note that there were no windows in that surgery room and no escape except, as she put it, “through the lion.”
Obviously, they got a second dose into that thing fast and everybody came out okay. But it makes a great story.
Besides, you’re not supposed to eat when you’re going to be under anesthesia.
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Oh my goodness! I can’t even imagine how loud it must have been, too, when it roared.
I have to chuckle at the mosquito story. We’ve all made that mistake in these parts! I’m sure you miss it, too. ha ha
Comment by Amanda 04.11.08 @ 11:27 pmI can imagine the thought goin through their heads! And then also knowing they had no escape if the lion decided it was hungry.
Thanks for the chuckle tho this am!!
“out of the mouths of babes” indeed! I do love listening to how their wonderful minds work.
Wow. The lion. Good story!
I think I would have passed out! LOL! Actually I probably would have done something else that would be TMI!!!! : D
And three-four is THE best age, can’t wait for grandkids!!!!
Oh right! Snow, mud season, then straight to mosquitoes… spring in NH. How is it that we manage to blot out the memory of the mosquitos, when we’re desperately wishing for warm weather? *g*
You remember the joke about the two mosquitoes, right? Two NH (or Maine, or Canadian) mosquitoes come upon a hunter in the woods. So they pick him up and fly off with him. After a while, they get tired and set him down. One says to the other, “Ya think we should eat him here, or take him back to camp?”
The other one replies, “Naw, let’s eat him here. If we taking back to camp, the big guys will take him away from us.”
Lions, now. That’s not a problem around here so much.
Comment by RobinH 04.12.08 @ 7:09 amHah! Roar! What a good happy ending! I never thought I’d “like” mosquitoes, but then I moved to KY. Chiggers are terrible, horrible things that many folks really don’t understand until they have big nasty welts. At least, I didn’t…they make mosquitoe bites look, umm, preferable.
Recently I had someone describe the weather in their home province of Canada as two seasons. Winter, and black fly. That one is still making me laugh, at least in NH you got other seasons?
Comment by Joanne 04.12.08 @ 11:50 amHow funny. Lucky the lion was knocked out enough for them to be able to knock it out completely. What a story to have to tell. As for your daughter, don’t we all have stories like that. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Comment by Vicki 04.12.08 @ 2:37 pmWow talk about a crazy day at work. Not many of us can say we could have been a lion snack. Eeek!
Comment by Lisa 04.12.08 @ 8:21 pmWow, I actually have that tiger in your photo! It was given to me when I was an infant, and it still hangs out on my dresser, so very many years later. PS, I just bought your book of lace shawls, and the designs are gorgeous! Trying to decide which one to start with.
Comment by Leslie 04.18.08 @ 2:56 amLeave a comment
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