BB Guns and Other Things

So many of you have written expressing concern about the BB gun incident. I answered several of the comments but it's been a busy few days.

The boy's mom was in the hospital overnight and knew nothing about it. Their non-custodial parent was there. He had bought the guns and was foolish enough to let them out of the house with them. Totally stupid.

The younger boy was "sure" his gun was "unloaded" and pointed it at Rebecca and fired from very closeup - hence the mark on her spine. For some reason, he decided to try it again on Rochelle to make sure. If I have something to grateful for, at least it was BB's - not bullets. My God kids can be so stupid.

The boys compounded it by erasing my voice mail message before their mom came home. Big mistake. Did they think I wouldn't follow up? Now the guns are verboten and the boys are grounded.

If it had been a kid I didn't know, I would have called the police. I wanted to give my friend a chance to handle it herself, at least this time. I don't know if those guns are legal here or not but I'll find out. We're a small city surrounded by farmland and it would be a local ordinance.

It could have been worse. What if they'd found a real "unloaded" gun? We found one in our empty outside trash can a few months ago - loaded. My God, what if a kid had found it before we did? I still shudder thinking about it.

Thanks to all of you for the concern.

My closest (geographically) blogging friend has written an interesting post on her home town of Madera, CA For any of you who'd like to know more about the CA San Joaquin valley, drop over, say hi to Janice, and take a look.

I'm about 30 miles north on Highway 99 and I remember being so surprised when I found her blog somehow and her profile read Madera, CA. I had to let her know I was here.

I've "met" one woman from my home town (Ilion, NY - very small) and another five miles down the road from Jonesboro, AR where I lived for 8 years. I'm used to seeing people from the larger cities I've lived in but seeing Bay, AR or the NY Mohawk Valley pop up makes my day. I'd mentioned Diane (in Bay) before but I was reminded when I started writing about Janice just now.

Whatever Rochelle had the other day, left her and moved over to Rebecca. She missed school yesterday but, just like Rochelle, was fine the next day. I don't know what it was but it's gone now.

Elcie. The nurse practioner (who I trust - she's great) thinks the strange thing in her right ankle may be misplaced cartilage. Could be - all that surgery could have shifted some things. We agreed to watch it for a week and see if there was improvement (or if the pain became worse). She was reluctant to order X-rays that might not be needed. I agree - it's good to see a medical person on the conservative side where radiation is concerned.

While I was there, we talked about Depo for Elcie. Her periods started over two years ago, she's had a bad time almost every month, and she's erratic as well. Sometimes two in less than the "normal" 28 days. She lost a lot of time from school last year. Again, I've said this before. It's hard for her to change her pad in the school restroom (stiff legs - didn't you want to know all this?) and tampons don't work for her - we tried and we'll try again when she's a little older.

We opted for the "patch". The pill is too high maintenance and the shots every three months are painful. They are required to check for pregnancy, clotting factors, and anemia so we had her lab tests done the same day (needle sticks unfortunately that took two tries to get right). It worked in her hand but not her arm. I told her to remember that.

I have the prescription - we'll pick it up as soon as I get the go ahead from her pediatrician.

Then I took her to lunch - no more school for that day and she earned it. She was so brave about the whole thing.

I hope it works and there are no unpleasant side effects. I took the "pill" years ago when it first came out and had no problems at all. If it doesn't, we'll figure something else out.

Ray has a nine o'clock therapy session today; usually it's 8:00 so I had a few minutes before I have to leave. It's almost over - this session and two next week will be it. It doesn't seem like it's been five weeks but it probably has.

After that, I get to come home and deal with laundry. Did a lot of work in the kitchen yesterday - cleaning counter tops, rearranging shelves, etc. Sweeping and mopping (which I hate). Ray helped a lot. He can do some things as long as he paces himself. It's when he decided to be Superhero he gets into trouble.

Thanks again for all the comments. I'm sorry I don't get around to everyone - it's mostly off again - on again Blogger not letting me comment or access other blogs and I can't always get back a second time. I do read them all and I appreciate every one.

Take care everyone. We're supposed to drop to the mid 80's (F) this weekend. Maybe this time I'll try for that picnic.