Doozy of a Float, Farewell Dog Vader

It’s back to school week already! The boys had open house Tuesday afternoon to pick up their schedules, order spirit wear, pay for device protection and etc. Phillip was excited to see Javahnii one of his robotics friends. Everett was all bent out of shape because He was in AP History instead of Robotics Club with Phillip, the three boys are in a group together. He dropped AP History in favor of the robotics class. Amelia said she was fine and did not need to attend open house. I am still feeling unsettled by the lack of structure for computer lab, basically each school has their own program run how ever the heck the teacher wants. I was told me curriculum is a computer program called Typing Agent. Think Mavis Beacon, ha ha. How to make that fun? To be continued! I helped Sister Braden teach the Activity Day girls embriodery! She found complete kits at DI with frames, thread, fabric, tiny scissors, and all the things needed for a cute project. The girls worked to learn to separate the threads, thread their needles, and the how to backstitch. Evelyn did an excellent job filling in a flower shape all on her own.

I met with Mr Obert and Mrs Tompkins Wednesday afternoon. We had a good discussion about where they wanted me to begin instruction, with Digital Citizenship because the lessons are already planned. They will consider investing some money into curriculum, but I got the feeling that won’t happen. I peeked in the computer lab, it had a new smart board! That will be fun to use! Amelia and I went shopping for jeans right after I got back. She wanted jeans to replace the ones from last year that tore in unfortunate ways. I found several cute blouses for a more professional look. That was quite fun. Josie and I were 2 minutes late for violin, phew. She did a great job practicing her violin this week. I volunteered to spearhead a fundraiser for Fall, instead of a spaghetti dinner I saw an idea for Trivia night. Mrs Sene and I chatted for 30 minutes about logistics for that event, possible treats (popcorn), hosting quarterly Trivia nights, and even how parents would feel about donating money straight to Columbia’s PayPal instead of going to a fundraiser. Justin finally filed the quarterly report, it was a doozy this time. He still has a lot to square away but the hardest part is done. 

Dog Vader is not doing well. He is losing teeth right and left, drooling blood all over the house. He is blind in one eye, mostly deaf, and flinches whenever someone gets close. Poor thing smells like death. We had the hard conversation that Vader needed to peacefully leave his mortal body behind and go to Doggy heaven. Evelyn was flipping out, wapping her hands, shouting no, covering her ears…the rest of us were all bawling. It was a hard decision but a necessary one. Amelia had a panic attack driving herself and Phillip to the YM/YW joint swimming activity. I can only imagine! She and Vader were the closest. Vader loved Justin and Amelia the best. I called a home vet and scheduled an appointment for Thursday at 4:30 pm. So many tears and emotions, coming to this point felt like a part of our family was slipping away. 

I really, really wanted to have one last fun summer activity before worked starts on Tuesday. I’ve wanted to float the Boise River ever since we moved here. Check! I checked that box in true Jenni fashion, like a 3-ring circus. I figured we needed to be on the water by 1 pm to make it back by 4:30. We were in the water on time! Phillip and I managed the kayaks. Phillip had the heavyish cooler and towed Amelia and Evelyn on floats. I had Josie in the kayak with me while towing Everett. The first mile was heaven! Cool, laid back, sounds of rushing water, wildlife, and even some music entertaining us from the speaker. I had my phone secured in a plastic baggie, the speaker secured to my vest, and other valuables tucked away. The first set of “rapids” was thrilling. Then came a little waterfall area! Yee haw! That was fun. Everett and Evelyn almost feel asleep the ride was so calm and relaxing. Rude awakening! The second rapids and set of falls went much differently. My kayak went down smoothly, nose pointed down and rocking the kayak counterpoise to compensate for the drop. Phillip’s kayak flipped over. Josie immediately started screaming, afraid her siblings were drowning. There was a nice dry spot just to the left of the falls, with Josie in the front I could not get the kayak over to the shallow side with the strong current. Evelyn was screaming for me to wait…hummmm…ok. We drifted downstream about 200 feet when a shallow patch appeared. I asked Everett to stand up and slow down the kayak. He waited the requisite 2 minutes to jump into action. The current proved too swift for him, I jumped off to help, it was too strong. Our knees and feet got quite the whooping. Soon our feet were not touching the ground. As soon as my feet touched rock I tried to beach whale myself onto the kayak, trust me it is quite the sight. Josie had my phone secured but the paddle whacked it straight into the now boiling rapids. I watched in horror as my paddles swiftly drifted away. Josie was screaming and shaking because the kayak capsized as I tried to get on once more. She was blaming herself for losing my phone. I was more worried about getting Josie and myself back on the kayak and Everett seated in his float. A family in a raft grabbed my single oar before it floated away and then stabilized the kayak so Everett and Josie could get on. I floated the kayak downstream a bit more to the bum scraper section of rocks. We got everything, except the lost items settled back in the kayak and waited for Phillip, Amelia, and Evelyn. Poor Josie was violently shivering after her dunk, the water was crisply cold. The rest of our party showed up enjoying the ride, excited about their flipped ride over the falls. Amelia asked for the music again, it was hard to reveal that once again disaster stuck. Josie was quite traumatized, she sat right in my lap for the rest of the ride as I struggled with one oar. The loss of my double paddles meant we went down the rest of the falls sideways because Everett’s float went faster and pulled the kayak all wonky, all was relatively ok until the whirlpool. Yes, there was a whirlpool. I was desperately paddling my way to the right, Josie inched her way toward the nose making it impossible to steer. We landed straight in the middle of the whirlpool. The nose whirled around and went down about 2 feet, we flipped over once again. This time I lost my favorite hat, a water bottle, my single paddle floated away, and my shoes came off. The kayak landed on my head and the oar got stuck in some webbing choking me across the neck! I was trying to loose myself and free Josie from under the kayak. As I loosed the oar it got stuck in the whirlpool. Josie had the same terrified look on her face from when she went in the above ground pool for the first time. Everett was quite the good sport, just cold. A buff college dude swam against the current to retrieve my oar stuck in the whirlpool, he came back with my oar and water bottle. I looked up to see Phillip coming…he got caught in the same desperate fight! Flip! Over went the other kayak. Everett somehow secured the kayak against a large dead tree, as I climbed on a water snake slithered right next to my leg. Ack! Shiver. Amelia’s float popped right at that moment. Evelyn refused to get on her float so I had both littles, one paddle, and a kayak half-filled with water. It was amazing. Amelia and Phillip were arguing half the time, Amelia critiquing the way Phillip was paddling. They joined forces to finish the float down the river. The rest of the river was uneventful…if you ignore the whining. Are we there yet? I wanna go hoooooooommmmmme! I’m shivering. The girls were shivering so violently my kayak was swaying. As we finished the journey I tried to point out all the exceptional sights and sounds, redirecting the negative. By this time it was 4 pm, my heart sank knowing the Euthanasia Specialist was on her way. I had no way of contacting Justin or texting the lady to cancel. We made it! As we pulled out of the river the transit bus arrived, I was glad that at least worked out. Thankfully, my bus ticket was wet but legible. The kids waited at the park a good 45 minutes for me to get back up to Berber Park and drive the truck down to Ann Morrison park. I did not want to tell Justin about my phone, as expected he was madly calling my phone and Amelia’s. He was quite upset we missed the appointment, he had to pay a $75 fee for the visit, mad I can’t manage time, mad I lost my phone, all the things. I was just crying, letting out all the stress, vividly capturing the image of Josie under the dang kayak with her head under the water. He suggested I go back and try to find my phone! Nope. By the time we got home at 6 pm he had time to calm down and rationalize. He met us with hugs, listened to our stories without anger. Phew. That made me cry even more. I am relieved everyone made it home safe and one piece. Humans are more important than phones. We went to the Verizon store, I slunk into the store like a bad dog, tail between my legs. Guess we can’t end our Verizon bill for another 3 years, we wanted to try another service. My damaged/lost phone only had 2 more payments so we had to pay that off and then sign away for another 3 years. I don’t do anything half way! 

Friday morning the compassionate pet lady came at 11:30 to help Vader pass. The Ostlers were there to attend the service. We all huddled around Vader in his comfy bed giving him last pets and words. We were a mess of tears for quite some time. He will be very missed. Evelyn wasn’t sure about watching, Sara took her outside for a while until she wanted to come back in. Vader passed a little after 11:50 am. Aunt Nancy was home so we headed over to put our doggie to rest. On the drive over we reminisced, telling funny stories and memories of Vader. Stories from the first day we got him, how his nails clicking on the floor would freak Evelyn out (she was about 18 moths old). He used to steal the kids stuffies and hide them out behind the house. He could fly when chasing squirrels. He wanted to be a free dog, his favorite pastime was escaping the yard and going on long forays. His first foray in Arizona earned him a snout full of cactus spines. He once almost lost his life when he peed, yes peed on my back. We had lots of fun dressing him up as babushka boy, durgle, princess, bandanas, and shirts. He let us maul him! The smell of bacon could turn him into a young pup. Richard showed us a spot behind the corral where Vader could rest. The boys dug a sizable hole then called us out. Meanwhile the horse escaped the corral, blush. Richard coerced them back with a bucket of feed. We said our final goodbyes then the boys did the last work to bury Vader. Our family had several heartfelt prayers and the sense of love was quite bonding. We got to help Nancy prep lots of ears of corn for freezing. She had a fancy way of cutting the corn from the cob. On the way home we stopped at a fun fruit and vegetable stand for fresh corn, beets, cucumbers, cantaloupe, a huge watermelon, and a purple cauliflower! I inadvertently now had a huge chore on my plate of pickling and freezing corn. That ate into a good 3 hours of the evening. The pickled beets were amazing! Yum. I splashed boiling water on my face when one of the bottles splashed back into the pot. My skin slipped right off my chin, ewwwwww. I have a lovely scab now! Talk about being a mormon through and through. 

Amelia had a choir trip over the weekend to bond with her new classmates, learn their new songs, and create memories. She was in no shape to go at 12:30 pm, luckily, Mrs Izatt was leaving around 9 pm! She arrived at the cabin around 11 pm. I hear sleeping was scarce but the trip fun! At home Saturday felt strange. We moped around doing this and that all day. Directly after dinner Phillip, Evelyn, and I drove out to the cute red truck for their birthday photos. I wanted to get those done before all my time was gone. We had a fun time at the truck then at Lake Lowell. We arrive just 10 minutes before sunset, the sky was stunning! Our evening ended with treat, aka almost a full meal at Sonic, the seventh meal?! Ha ha. Phillip and Evelyn are the best, those two are great kids. 

Sunday Justing gave us all Father’s blessings before school resumes. He is an amazing conduit for blessing others. Fergus tried to tear apart a pillow right by Justin’s feet, that was a little distracting. Phillip got an early birthday present! He’s asked for a phone for over a year, asking us to trust him. We got him a Bark phone, which means we can basically control everything, see everything, monitor, limit, and take over his phone at any second. In return he can now listen to his audio books, read the scriptures on his phone, and demonstrate a shred of autonomy. He was grinning from ear to ear! I got several bullying alerts from Bark alerting me that I was bullying Phillip…I blocked an app. Ha ha. Amelia bullied Justin, told him he was a poop head. Serious stuff.