Angels and Others

The yard really needed mowing last night. The back yard was already done, but the front yard needed to be finished, and I was worn out from mowing the back yard and tilling the garden and planting new seed. (How did this end up as my garden, anyway?) I e-mailed Carl and asked him if he'd finish the mowing while I took Mary to T-ball practice, but he called home and said that his evil slave-driving bosses were making him stay late. (Maybe he had to write "I will not throw spitballs during teleconferences" 1000 times on a white board or something.) Anyway, so after supper it fell to me to finish the mowing. So I asked Hannah if she would help Mary take a quick bath, and I asked both girls that, if I wasn't back in by 8 pm, would they put themselves to bed? No problem, they said. So I finished the mowing. I came in around 8:20 - the house was quiet, so I washed my hands and went upstairs to check on the girls. As they'd promised, they were both in bed, and Hannah had helped Mary with her bath. My little angels, every once in a while they really come through for me. As a reward, I gave them both money so they could buy juice from the school's vending machine. They deserved it.

Well, my girls good behaviour was the angel part. The males of the Bode household, however, are the Others. They've not been bad or anything (at least, not that I know of) but they keep racking up doctor bills. Carl (poor, suffering, overworked Carl) has his Hernia Trio, and now Judah has a tumor on his eye that's gonna cost a couple Franklins to have removed. He needs to be to the vet's by 7 am (Thursday) and he'll stay all day because after they "burn" the tumor off, he'll have to recover from the effects of anesthesia. The vet's assistant told me that when we pick him up, he'll be a little "dopey", to which I replied, "He's always dopey!" I was, of course, kidding. They'll send the tumor to the vet labs at Iowa State University for a biopsy - hopefully this thing is benign. I can't afford the alternative.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but Carl will have his hernia surgery on June 21st. So keep him in your prayers. This tummyache is gonna last a looooonng time.