Who’s the mom here? – Page 17

HOW TO BE PREPARED FOR A TORNADO

Posted on May 28, 2011March 4, 2016 by Katharine

Know Where to Go

Have a safe place. If you have a basement, that’s the place. Go to the side or corner where the tornado is COMING FROM. (If a tornado lifts the house a bit and then drops it a bit further away, you will not be under it, supposedly. Another somewhat safe place is supposed to be inside any super-reinforced structure, such as a stairway closet, hallway, or shower stall.

Stock the Safe Place

One fresh gallon of water for each person.
High energy snacks.
Up-to-date medications, or copies of prescriptions.
Flashlights with fresh batteries. Candles and matches in watertight containers.
Protective headgear for each person. Hail happens during tornados; bricks fall. A bike helmet is better than nothing. A thick mattress is nice, too.
A radio that works by battery or crank. Fresh batteries.
Light jackets for everyone. You don’t want to be too hot, but it will probably rain.
Diapers, wipes, and formula if you have a baby. Renew this as baby grows: keep it current.
Spare set of car keys.

Have a Plan

Know where you will meet, if separated. (Choose several places in case one blows away.)
Know whom you will call (someone outside your area) for an info base.
Make rules for tornado watches. (Everyone put on sturdiest shoes and jeans. Everyone put one keepsake in the basement. Move cars under hail shelter. Etc.)
Make rules for tornado warnings. (Everyone stays indoors. Everyone be aware [no headphones on, etc.] Everyone make sure nothing obstructs path to basement, etc.)
Make rules for take cover. (Go directly to basement, put on your helmet, and get under the mattress, now. Do not stop for anything.)
Drill your take cover plan, exactly like a fire drill. Practice helps! Also, should you be injured or incapacitated in any way, the children may still know what to do.
If you can, have a bed or two in your basement and put the children to sleep down there, with shoes on, when the nights are dangerous. This saves endless trouble and worry. If you can add a few toys, they can play down there, too, when the days are dangerous. If you have no toilet in the basement, you may want to add a small pot, too.

Okay, there you have some ideas to get you started.

My siblings and I slept in the basement many nights, to the sound of the radio broadcasting the cities and counties in the path of some tornado. Some nights I remember being lifted down those stairs, still half-asleep. Some mornings I awoke to the sounds of my parents readying for another day, upstairs.

The basement was the one my parents built immediately after that infamous tornado in Ruskin Heights.

Believe it or not!, Good ol' days, Inspiring, Who's the mom here?, Womanhood

RUN! OH, RUN!

Posted on May 26, 2011October 18, 2019 by Katharine

Tornado! I remember my mother’s voice that evening: It warbled.

And though I was only six years old, I knew the warble came from utter terror. We were running as fast as a heavily pregnant woman with three children ages 2-6 could run. She was watching the sky more than the path to the gate, carrying my sister, holding my brother’s hand, and sort of warbling to me, “Oh, run, hurry, RUN!”

I dug my toes into my flip-flops and ran.

I knew it was a tornado up there, whatever a tornado was. I looked up, too, and stumbled.

Mom scolded me sharply. “Don’t look up! Don’t look up! Don’t look up!” She seldom scolded sharply. It hurt my feelings but I knew it was no time for hurt feelings. Her words were like a mantra, a warbled charm against bad omens . . . don’t look up, don’t look up . . .

But, when I had looked up I was puzzled. It looked just like clouds.

Then I had seen a door. And when, disobeying, I looked up again, I saw a tricycle.

We were headed to our neighbor’s house. My mom screamed for them to let us in. We cowered under their huge oaken table, in the dark, with our mother’s arms encircling us. I heard my mom praying, so I prayed too. We cried and pleaded with God to protect us. I did not know what to be scared about, but my mom’s fear was plenty for us both.

The neighbor calmly stood on his front porch and watched the sky. His wife wrung her hands and paced through the house. I remember her shoes and feeling sort of dumb lying on the floor under her table while she walked by. I thought of a Little Rascals episode in which the children hid under furniture.

Then it was over. We went home. My mom talked for days about the foolishness of standing on the front porch to watch a tornado go by, summoning new terror at each telling.

It was over, yes, for us, but for the victims it still goes on. The forty-four dead would be burried. The over 500 injured would tell their stories.

And the RUIN still speaks.

More tomorrow.

To read a beautiful memorial written for one of the victims, read here.

Home School, Inspiring, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

Kinds of Babies

Posted on May 25, 2011May 22, 2015 by Katharine

Our firstborn son was bookish. From an early age, he could “read” himself to sleep. (They were pre-school picture books.) He loved lining toys in rows and dressing like and imitating his daddy. He was a visual learner.

My friend had two boys who disliked reading, although they loved a good story and she could hold them enthralled for hours if she read to them. Having difficulties with bookwork, they aced the hunter-education class, which was all lecture. They were auditory learners, picking up most input through the sense of hearing. Which explains why her sons could hear Mom calling for chores better than mine could?

Some children love to learn by touch. They love science experiments, lap books, and many other sorts of projects, whereas my kids cringed at them, resented the time they seemingly wasted. Math manipulatives greatly help tactile learners, even if it’s just Popsicle sticks. Coloring a picture of a horse can teach them more than hearing or reading a description of one, but riding a horse will teach even more.

I had one child who learned the most by talking about it. Oh, he could read okay, but until he reproduced what he had learned, his lesson was not done. He was one who also learned better when moving, so when he bogged down as an older child, he would slide over the piano and pound out some Rachmaninoff and then could study better. And then he proceeded to become a computer whizz.

What lesson do WE learn from these learners?

All of our children may look alike, but have extremely different insides.
Our daughters may look like us but have their dad’s personalities.
A perfectly excellent curriculum may not work for one child as well as it did for the others.
Einstein and Edison could both be immensely successful, although one was bookish and the other was not.
Institutionalized teaching of scores of children via the same methods will never work.

All of which statements are another good reason to homeschool.

Home School, Inspiring, Sayings, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

Babies!

Posted on May 24, 2011March 13, 2015 by Katharine

I love babies. Their clean, new innocence makes me want to hold them, smell them, touch them.

I know I am not the only one. Every day, someone wants to chuck a baby’s chin, stroke a baby’s arm, or hold someone else’s baby. In the store, at church, even total strangers smile and want to see the baby or hold their children up so they can see him. Even stodgy, yuppie types give half a smile and nod to the babe-in-arms.

What makes most people give goofy faces and noises to extract a smile back from a baby?

Why—when newborns look basically like little old men—do we croon about how beautiful they are?

And when they get fat and develop a glistening dribble of spit on the lip, why do we exclaim how adorable they are?

I think it’s because we naturally protect. Our nature causes most of us to envelope the innocent and helpless. Some think of the potential lying in that baby carrier and all the life ahead of it. We imagine how confused we must have felt when we were that size. We think of this small bundle as incapable of wrongdoing, worthy of protection and advancement.

Our thoughts mirror those Socrates called for in his dying words, that our children justly deserve our input during their journey to be our rulers.

We naturally call up thoughts like Plato expressed in his Republic, that the beginning is the most important part of any work, for that is when the character is formed.

We echo Aristotle’s Rhetoric where he says pity may well up in those who think we may eventually find some sort of good inside a person.

Even in Homer’s Iliad, we find:

He stretched his arms towards his child, but the boy cried and nestled in his nurse’s bosom, scared at the sight of his father’s armor, and the horsehair plume that nodded fiercely from his helmet. His father and mother laughed to see him, but Hector took the helmet from his head and laid it all gleaming upon the ground. Then he took his darling child, kissed him, and dandled him in his arms…

The thought of a ferocious warrior, removing his armor for a baby, rings true in our hearts. We may not realize we have such bold and universally defended thoughts. However, although written a bazillion years ago, this tender scene resonates with most of us, much as meeting a stranger’s helpless baby in an elevator does.

The fact is that every human with a truthful heart cares about a baby.

We can even say that about dogs: often they sense, they know.

The protection due a baby can alter what we would expect their reactions to be, can surprise us, as does the reaction of a seeming iron-clad soul in a chance meeting with a baby.

All of the above is one good reason not to abort.

And a good reason to homeschool.

Believe it or not!, Herbs, Homemaking, Who's the mom here?

Eye Came, Eye Saw, Eye Conquered

Posted on May 17, 2011May 11, 2011 by Katharine

I went to the eye doctor a week ago. I’ve had some sort of problem for months and am finding little satisfaction in the medical profession. Also am spending all I have on doctors, and we do have insurance.

At first, I had all the symptoms of glaucoma, except blindness, and all the exacerbating preconditions except heredity. I went to an eye doctor and behold, my eye pressure was okay, but I just needed bifocals. I put on the glasses and three weeks of headaches were gone in three hours.

Then vision changed again, with the things I looked at moving while I looked at them. The venetian blinds were bent, the words I typed were missing letters, my eyes did not focus at the same depth. Weird.

I decided I needed a different doctor, since I now thought I had macular degeneration and the previous doctor had not even tried checking me for that although I am 60 and complained of vision loss and slow and unequal focusing.

We investigated and found—at least a 6-week waiting period for an appointment. But, wonder of wonders, I contracted some kind of infection with red, swollen eyes weeping all day, and itchy. My G.P. was booked, everyone in town having flu, pneumonia, etc. Could I try my optometrist? Grrrr.

Of course, he was available. I had a staph infection of a non-fatal type, and should pitch all my eye makeup, wash my eyes with special towelettes, soak my toothbrush in peroxide, not let anyone drink after me, and use special prescription drops with antibiotics. And steroids. Grrrr.

I did everything he said, religiously, and although the symptoms faded, I felt they never were fully gone. My eyes still itched. Sometimes they were still matted in the morning. Everyone encouraged me to ignore this, because I was so improved.

But the dimness of vision, the eyes playing tricks on me, continued. I was seriously considering visiting the booked-up ophthalmic surgeon, when, wonder of wonders, the infection came back. I knew it: It never did go away.

Only this time, I had a blister on my eyelid. This was getting out of hand. Of course, this was Friday night. No eye doctors available for DAYS. I felt it time to take matters into my own hands.

First, I drained the blister. I could see better immediately after that. Then, I used a Q-Tip soaked in colloidal silver to treat the perimeter of the eye. This gave such instant relief from itching that, coupled with hot compresses, I saw and felt great improvement.

This was my vision, though, that I was nonchalantly treating without any expertise, so I tried for and got a quick appointment: Tuesday, not the six weeks I’d heard about. Hmm.

Oh, I wish I could tell you the good doctor praised me for anything I did. Nope. He also disparaged the first doctor, saying the diagnosis and the medicine were wrong. Okay, so my doctor and I were totally ignorant, but get this: This new doctor then told me that HE DID NOT KNOW what was causing my itching eyes and to USE HOT COMPRESSES. What!

Now I have another appointment, a referral to a big time specialist who can do an ultrasound on my eyes, because it is obvious the vision is not good.

Can you guess what I expect to experience then? I’ll keep you posted . . .

Blessings of Habit, Homemaking, Recipes, Who's the mom here?, Wives

The A-OK Breakfast – Blueberry Vanilla Spice Zabaglione!

Posted on May 16, 2011June 5, 2011 by Katharine

Zabaglione is an Italian dessert that is supposed to be just this side of cooked eggs. I like being sure about such things, so my recipe for it will vary from what the very best cookbooks say. That is okay with me. Cooking just a few seconds longer gives me peace of mind. Let this yummy recipe change your way of thinking about breakfast!

2 eggs
1/4 c. cream
1 serving stevia powder
1/2 t. cinnamon
dash nutmeg
few drops vanilla
1. t. butter
large handful frozen blueberries

Place blueberries in a cereal or soup bowl to be ready.

Place rest of ingredients except butter into mixing bowl and whip.

Melt butter in small saucepan and pour in egg mix. Cook on medium while constantly stirring with whip, until mixture thickens. Quickly pour over berries in bowl. Serve with beverage of your choice. Enjoy!

Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Homemaking, Recipes, Who's the mom here?, Wives, Womanhood

The Fastest Way to Put Up Greens

Posted on May 12, 2011May 13, 2011 by Katharine

Now that the wonderful produce from the garden needs preserving, let’s talk about how to get the job done as fast as possible and get out of that hot kitchen lickety-split.

Today’s vegetable is beet greens, one of our favorite treats. In fact, we love beet greens so much, we planted two rows of them and will not allow them to mature to beets. We will just pull them and use them for greens. These instructions will work well for any type greens you cook, though.

The first step is not to pick the greens, but to heat the blanch water, which takes a long time. If you have an exhaust fan over your stove, you will be glad if you turn it on.
Bushel of Greens
Now pull or cut your greens. I like to lay mine in a bushel basket as I pick them. Here you see them after a light rinsing. Now I place them in a five-gallon bucket and fill with water. After sloshing them around a bit, I place them into the basket again, tip it to allow most of the water out, and take it indoors.
They Float
To finish washing greens, I like to use my clothes washing machine. I always wash a bleach load of towels as the last laundry use, so my washer is bleached. Using the large load and gentle rinse setting, I fill it with cold water and add about 1/3 bushel greens. NO SOAP! I allow it to agitate for 3 to 4 minutes, then stop the cycle and allow it to sit for a few minutes. The greens will float and I scoop them off the top half of the water, into a clean pan or bowl. They will be a bit torn, but we are going to chew them, anyway, right? I then allow the cycle to complete, including the spin portion. (Hint: I always fold or iron clothes while waiting for this, so I do not forget it.)
Debris in Washer
In the bottom of the washer will be debris, which you should remove and save for your chickens. Then repeat step 3 to rinse another 1/3 bushel. Although this may seem like using too much water, the alternative is to wash them a few at a time in the sink, using at least seven pans of water for each fourth bushel. The mechanized way is much faster, and I don’t think it wastes water.
To prepare your kitchen, gather a couple strainers, one that will work in the boiling pan, and one that will stand in the sink. Fill either a very clean sink, or a large pan or bowl with cold water.
The StrainersSink Ready
Once the blanch water boils, fill a strainer with raw greens, and carefully lower into water. Cover pan and wait 4 minutes. Using a potholder, raise greens from boiling water and allow to drip a moment. Then plunge blanched greens into the cold water. Stir them gently to help cool quickly. Then transfer to standing strainer to drip before dumping into clean pan or bowl. Repeat this step until all greens are blanched.
Raw, Fluffy and CrispyBlanched, Four Minutes LaterPlunged into the Cold WaterAllowing Excess Water to Drip Off
I started with a bushel, but ended with this, which the pan says is 8 quarts, but only made six, when packed down.
Eight Quarts?
Box or bag for the freezer, and label with date and contents.
Boxed, Labeled, and Ready to Freeze