Baskets, Barks, Bangs & Boosters

So our wonderful first summer at DuckHead ended with a bang.  Or actually quite a few bangs.  We had a terrific labor day weekend complete with a good old fashioned lake picnic with kayaking and canoe races, a picnic, gift baskets made and won and a road race.  We participated in the canoe and kayak races or rather Rod, L and H did.  K and I double kayaked down to the start line for moral support and cheering them on!  H came in first in her age category.  She was the only one her age out there in a kayak.  L and Rod came in a solid second in their family canoe race.  Rod is very competitive.  I knew he would never let them come in last.  No matter how hard he had to try and K and I were chuckling at just how hard he was trying.  His shoulders even hurt the next few days!  They all won shirts.  Later we found out that K and I could have entered too as one of two double kayaks and placed too.  Next year!

H with the other first place winners!

Later in the day we headed to the same sandy beach for the end of the summer lake picnic.  As newcomers we had to don funny hats and sell tickets for the basket raffle that helps pay for the picnic.  They supply burgers, hot dog, corn, rolls, condiments, drinks and desserts and everyone brings a side to share. It is quite a spread.  There are also loads of baskets so everyone enters the basket raffle in the hopes of winning.  We had a couple themes in mind for ours including a dog basket or a margarita and cowboy caviar basket.  We ultimately decided on a banana split basket and had fun shopping as a family at the local walmart to fill up a bowl with these sweet treats.  Maybe the family that won it made a good old "Vermonster" and filled the bowl with ice-cream, toppings and whipped cream, grabbed some spoons and sat around and enjoyed it all together.  (That was one of our favorite ways to celebrate friends birthdays in high school!)

At first I got away with H wearing my hat. 

Our sister in law is new to the lake too!

Our cousins playing with their other uncle on the sandy beach.

Beautiful spot.  Big turn out!

We ended up winning a basket but at first only because the woman next to us won so many that she was starting to feel bad and gave her winning ticket to our girls.  The girls went  up and picked a baking basket filled with a dish towel, flour, baking mixes, cookie cutters and frosting mix.  Yum! Low and behold we won ourselves a few minutes later.  The girls chose an arts and crafts basket for younger kids and proudly carried it over to their cousins.  We decided if we won again we would give it to the little girls sitting in front of us who hadn't won yet.  Well we didn't but the same woman who gave us our basket won again (all in all I think she won 7 baskets and gave away 3 of them).  We kept telling her to go play the lottery because her luck was so good!  She only bought 40 tickets.    And there were hundreds of people there.  It seemed like every group had at least one winner.  A fun way to pay for the picnic and end the day!

The magic ticket spinner.

Girls waiting to see if they won.

We got home about 10 minutes before my cousin and her husband and two of her sons arrived.  Rod started mowing the lawn and before we knew it we were meeting and greeting Summer.  They are one of the most wonderful families that have chosen to train Summer for the Guiding Eyes Program.  They get to potty train her and sleep train her and train her how to be the best dog for someone that is blind and then they have to give her up.  But they are doing this knowing that she is not their dog. That this dog will help another person live more independently with the security of a seeing eye dog.  She is an amazing dog and got along wonderfully with our two labs once she finally calmed down enough from meeting them to walk down the stairs.  She swam and boated and finally conked out.  She did a bit of barking too.  Apparently with guiding eyes dogs you have to ignore the bad behavior know matter how long it persists and praise the good behavior.  They don't ever want her rewarded in anyway for barking or not settling so they have to ignore her when she is doing either of those things.  She only barked when she was tied up and wanted to be with our dogs who liked to stay just outside of her reach on her tether.   We got to enjoy dinner and a fire and the lighted boat parade and fireworks that are part of the weekends celebration.   Our dogs bark after each and every firework as if they are answering the boom with their barks.  Summer was peaceful and not bothered by it at all.  Such a great visit.  It was a wonderful time to connect, chill out and cohabitate together.  Our kids don't know each other that well but they are second cousins and they got along great jumping in the lake, boating together and playing card games around the coffee table.  It reminded me of growing up going to Camp Becket with Alice and my other cousins and just hanging out all day.  Such fun time together!

A paddle around the lake. 

Cards with cousins

Sunset Paddle. 

Family pix minus 1. 

Lighted boat parade.

My dad and Penny arrived the next day for the start of their On Golden Pond week.  So happy to have someone taking us up on our offer to come and stay while we can't be here!  They got to cross path with my cousin and her family which was nice.  We all met at the falls that we have come to love so much and had a nice lunch together.

Going nowhere fast fishing shirt.  

Dad and Penny's Dahlia's and flowers added some color to the house. 

                                             

An afternoon nap on a rainy afternoon at the cottage.

That night it was raining and we tucked the kids in bed for their last night of Summer.  We woke up in the middle of the night to loud banging on our wall!  The girls were yelling and banging and woke us up out of a sound sleep.  We were so confused at first wondering what in the world was going on.  At first we thought they were fighting but about what in the middle of the night.  Then we thought we heard K yelling about a spider.  I was so annoyed that she woke up the entire house over a BUG!

She was dreaming away that she had crumbs in her hair and a chirping bird was eating them.  She woke up to realize there was something in her hair and first thought it was a mechanical bug!  Don't ask?  She was asleep and apparently this was her first thought.  It was even confirmed in her mind when she reached up and felt a rigid mass and thought that yes it was something mechanical.  Until it moved.  Then she swatted it away like you would a bug that you felt crawling on you.  She had her phone next to her and turned it into flashlight mode to see if she could figure out what exactly had been in her hair.  That's when she saw a BAT flying around the room.  She was smart and started yelling to wake up her sisters and tell them to get under the covers so that the bat didn't land on them. They then started banging the wall to our room which is right next to their bunk bed at the cottage and yelling to wake us up.  That is when we woke up to the bang, bang, bang on the wall.  We got up pretty quickly to figure out what was wrong and try to quiet them down so they wouldn't wake up my dad and Penny if they hadn't already.  The girls were hiding under their covers telling us hysterically that there was a bat in the room.

Rod kept an eye on the bat while I got the girls safely to the bathroom.  They were all completely confused and upset to be woken up from such a sound sleep to this.  L realized we might need shots (we had them about 5 years ago b.c we found a bat in our antique at home).  She was hysterical at 3 in the morning not about the bat that was still in our house but at the thought of having to get a shot.  I quieted them down and Penny and I made up the bed in the captured bedroom off of their room to give them a place to lay down.  There was no more sleeping for the girls the rest of the night.  I checked in on them periodically to K telling me she read on the internet that she needed to seek immediate medical attention, less than 1 % of bats have rabies and other fun facts she was gleaning off the internet in the middle of the night.  Rod and I worked on getting the bat out of the house and eventually used a fishing net that Penny reminded us we had.  Of course the first time he captured it the bat immediately found the hole in the net and climbed out.  I tied the net so there was no more hole and we captured it again but then couldn't figure out how to get it out of the house as it was under the net.  We eventually used a game board and managed to squeeze the bat between the net and the board and throw the whole set up out the window.  Turns out we should have saved the bat.  Ugh. Now we know for future occasions which hopefully never happen.  We've had our fair share of bats in our lives!

The next day I tried to call the CDC who is not taking calls at this time.  And Rod and Penny did a little research online.  Looked like we were going to each need two boosters.  We didn't need to start the whole rabies series over again but we needed boosters to ensure that we were safely protected from rabies.  I teared up when I found out.  We are all still traumatized from our last rabies shots experience even though it was 5 years ago.  The thought of my kids having to endure more shots just felt so unfair to me.  I had to have Rod tell them so I didn't get teary eyed.  But first we packed up the cottage, went for a swim with our cousins and went for a boat ride with our grandparents.

When we hit the road we told them that we thought we'd need two boosters but that we were going to call the doctor's office to find out.  The doctor on call was not much help and asked if Kelsey was feeling ok or felt sore anywhere.  Most people do not know they were bit by a bat.   The saliva in their mouth numbs the spot and the bite is so small that it is virtually undetectable or looks like a scratch.  I was not going to take any chances with my babies.  If you start showing signs of rabies it is too late.  The only way to prevent rabies is to get the shot before you show any signs.  So on labor day, our last day of summer we drove home and stopped at the nearest hospital where they determined that not only would all three girls need 2 boosters because they were asleep in the room with a bat but that we would as well since we handled the bat and were the ones that got it out of the house.   Kwas a good sport and was joking that she has super bat powers and worships bats.  She did everything to bring a smile to L's face.  L cried for almost 2 hours and was miserable before the shot.  H tried to hold it together to make things easier on her older sister.  Once she had the shot she said "Oh that wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be!"  The booster shots 3 days later were much easier on all of us!  I got a fever and was sore and had body aches after the first shot and  was coincidentally diagnosed with golfers elbow that started the day after the second shot.  So glad the kids had no adverse effects from the shots as they started school that week.

We are off to the cottage this weekend to plug up any and all holes before we have an exterminator come to eradicate them from the cottage.  We want them going out and not into the house!

This statement is so true!  Except the bats
and the skunks...