Taming the Lion

I’ve been neglecting my blog because that quote “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all,” has been rattling around in my brain. I’ve struggled with Kaleb so much these last few weeks that I didn’t want to write down how I was feeling so I would never remember these days again. He’s been pushing the limits. Even with a “personal life coach” meeting once a week, he continued to lie to me, so my patience ran thin and I yelled at him more than I’d like to admit. I was sure we were over the worst of it a few weeks back, but I was wrong. It’s been pretty calm now for a few days so I can think again, and write again. The tension I was carrying around exhausted me like nothing else. I think I still need a massage just to break up the tightness in my shoulders, though. If I didn’t already have gray hair, I’m sure I’d have it now. Uff da. And he's only 11!


We have been living in a swirl of home improvement activity for the last few weeks. Kory is working full time on the house since the weather has been so nice and we’re trying to get many projects done before we go to Norway in May. He finally got the tile all set on the porch but he’s yet to grout it (see photo). We spent a whole day just cleaning it in preparation for sealing it, but the slate is so porous it didn’t dry right away so maybe soon he’ll have it sealed, grouted and sealed again. I love how it looks. I miss access to that porch though as I so enjoy sitting in the sky chairs looking out at the light filtering in through the woods in our backyard. But those days aren’t far off now.

Today felt like a monumental day because Kory finally tore the roof off our summer kitchen. I’ve never really liked that building as it blocks much of the view of the valley from our dining room window, but that will soon be remedied. We’d planned to put up a sod roof until we realized just how much more of the view we’d lose, so we’ve now decided to tear down the whole structure to the foundation walls and just see what ideas come to mind on how to use the space once all the ugliness is gone. The area the summer kitchen occupies gets the most sunshine around here so I hate to cover it over with any kind of roof, so we’ll see what may come of it.

I was thankful Kory had help today – a young guy from our church was here all day working with him. The same guy was here all last week clearing our hillside and pruning some trees. I don’t want Kory doing too many risky things around here. I’ve had enough accidents to last me for a while.

Yesterday Kory tried out the zip line for the first time in a long while. I’ve been telling him it hasn’t had any kind of safety check and I was nervous about other people wanting to use it. Kaleb only weighs about 55 pounds so when he goes on it, not much can go wrong. Kory tried it out, and sure enough, it failed. The chain slipped down the trunk of the tree it was wrapped around and Kory landed hard, first on the roof of the summer kitchen, then hard onto the ground. He’s been sore all day. I’m just thankful he didn't break anything. I so wanted to say “I told you so,” but the aches and pains he’s feeling today say enough. When I remind him how many dangerous contraptions he’s set up around here for Kaleb to “play” with, all he responds with is, “That's what makes them fun.” What kind of logic is that?

We have company here this week – the directors for Missoula Children’s Theatre are staying with us while they work on the play “Jack and the Beanstalk” with a group of homeschoolers. Kaleb (even with a bad cough) got cast as the “Lion tamer” today so he was pretty excited. The tryouts were just today and the production is on Friday so all this week he has five hour rehearsals. I need the break from schooling him and Kory is using the time off to continue tearing down the summer kitchen. Life is good once again.

My Norway column in the local paper seems to be going well.  I'd post the last two publications but they are held captive in my office computer and currently, someone is sleeping in my office, so it will have to wait.  The laptop I'm using has limited capabilities.  Boy do I know how that feels.