Mishaps

We've had a few interesting events around here lately, so I thought I'd share an oh no, an ew, and a really good laugh.

The Oh No

Saturday we finally got to paint our house. The last two Saturdays we scraped and primed in preparation for family painting day. All week we watched the forecast. By Friday they were calling for isolated thunderstorms. All summer whenever they have said isolated, they meant not us. It sprinkled a couple minutes in the morning and then quit. The rest of the morning and early afternoon it was a mix of sun and clouds and lots of humidity. With seven of us painting we got a lot done quickly. Our house went from white with red brick to two different shades of cream. Around 2:30 as I was leaving to go pick up a couple more gallons of paint, I heard my dad say, "Is that thunder?" I ignored that and left for the store. As I was driving I started to notice the clouds...the really dark thunderclouds directly overhead. Then my mom called. Their NOAA weather radio said the storm was 30 minutes away and headed our direction.

By the time I got home 25 minutes later there was a torrential downpour. I haven't seen it rain that hard in a long time! From inside the house we watched as cream rivers of water gushed across the patio into the backyard. Ugh.

Thankfully, it was only the last 10-15 minutes worth of paint from the front and side of the house. This is what the side of our house looked like after that rain.

It's supposed to be the creamy color...not the white.

My dad came back and helped us catch up on Sunday. Randy's dad came back and helped on Monday and Tuesday evening we touched up a bit and declared it done! Done except for the accent color for shutters and the door that we still have to pick.

Thanks to the family for their help! We really, really, super much appreciate it!

The EW

The last couple of evenings out on the patio there has been a really bad smell. I thought it was one of the polycarts, but trash day was Tuesday, and it shouldn't still be hanging around. But we all noticed it while my dad was cutting Wyatt's hair out there this evening.

Randy finally discovered the source of the stink. A lidless milk can that usually hangs out in the corner by our patio door. Because of the paint project, it was in the middle of the patio and was filled with the downpour Saturday. He took it out to the yard to dump it and spray it out. And out came this.

It might be a bit hard to see, but that is a skeleton. Maybe a squirrel? But we're confused. We moved that milk can to this house, so we think that squirrel had its own mishap this summer. But why is it just now stinking and isn't that a little fast for that much decay? Any biology experts are welcome to comment.

Randy did the nasty job of cleaning it up. He asked if that was worth a few newborn diapers, and I wholeheartedly agreed. I'll take tarry poo over dead squirrel any day!

The Laugh

Ever since Wyatt was about seven months old we've let him "help" with baking. Thanksgiving Day, to be exact, he got to look in the mixer as Randy added flour to the zwieback dough (for you who don't have a German Mennonite heritage - this zwieback is a little double bun, not the hard Melba-like toast). He patted the top of the mixer, and when it was time to knead the dough, he got to stick his fingers in it. I love the look on his face!

These days he loves to stand on a chair and help. He usually gets a scraper and a measuring cup to keep him busy, and we'll very carefully left him turn on the mixer. Last Friday I was making a coffee cake for Randy. A very simple one - dump in all the ingredients and mix. I left the mixer unplugged because Wyatt was playing with the switch. I loaded a cake mix, two boxes of pudding, four eggs, a cup of oil and a cup of water into the bowl. Just as I plugged in the mixer, Wyatt hit the switch. WHOOSH!!! I have NEVER seen such a HUGE mess created SO quickly! My first reaction as I laughed hysterically was to turn off the mixer and find the camera. Thankfully, my phone was nearby, so I caught this very shocked picture of my son.

Look at his hand - "Ew, Mom, WHAT just happened?!" We were both absolutely covered in goo. That entire corner of the kitchen was covered in goo. About the time I snapped the picture he started to wimper. And he continued to wimper until I washed his face off in the bathtub. This was definitely one of those messes that required an immediate bath. I don't think my uncontrollable laughter helped his wimpering, but I'm really thankful my automatic reaction was to laugh and not yell.

I did save the cake. Most of the goo, landed on the counter and the mixer, so I just scraped it into the bowl and finished mixing it. That is after I cleaned and cleaned. Then I cleaned again. That night when I was cleaning up from dinner, I found more. Oh so very very funny!