Spring Time

Spring at the cabin.
The apple trees with their pink and white blossoms in the middle of the green grass of the meadow surrounded by the tall pine and fir trees forming a perfect picture of Spring. Topped off by the sound of the creek running below.
A slight chill in the morning air, sitting on the front steps with a nice hot cup of coffee taking in the beauty God created for us. How can anyone not believe there is a God when surrounded by such a witness as nature?
I loved the apple trees in Spring. It was this time of year when the creek was high and provided not only our water for drinking and bathing, but adventure for the kids, especially the boys. It was the time there were actually fish in the deep holes and lots and lots of water dogs, otherwise known as salamander. Did you know they actually feel like smooth rubber? They're pretty cool looking. They would usually dig their way out of the ground and make their way to the creek. Before they made it to the creek was the time the boys had the best luck catching them.
Everything was so fresh at the beginning of spring. Fetching water from the creek for the cabin was a lot easier in the spring. We had several of those five gallon drinking water bottles. Everyday I had to fill at least five or six and carry them back to the cabin for the day. If you want to taste some awesome fresh crisp water, nothing comes close to mountain water drawn out of a creek.
I would heat the water on the woodstove to give the kids baths in the evenings. My son Jason should consider himself lucky I no longer have the pictures I use to of him sitting in the round watering trough we use to use for bathing, his knees sticking out above the edges as he was taking his bath, and getting almost too big to bath in the tub any longer. I think he was about nine or 10. I had planned on using those pictures to show his future wife just to embarrass him. You do know it's a parent's job to embarrass their children when they get older right? It's kind of a pay back for the times they embarrass us as they are growing up saying the exact wrong thing at the wrong time. But alas, he got lucky! The picture is no where to be found.
When the kids were in school I would spend the day cleaning the cabin, brining in water, washing a few clothes at the creek and then hanging out at the creek with our dogs. At one time we had more than 10 dogs. The nice thing about living on 15 acres we could have animals. The bad thing is I was a sucker for puppies being given away at the grocery store. Eventually we got down to three. Susie, who was half wolf and half husky, Little Boy who was, I think, Rottweiler and Doberman, and Little Girl who was Little Boy's sister.
I had my battery operated tape player and my Christian music which I would take to the creek with me. I would sit there and listen to music and read either the Bible or another book until it would be about time to get the kids from school. When the weather was good they walked home. It was a little over two miles, but up there it was safe for kids to walk home.
One of the things I liked best about living there was I felt I didn't have to worry about my kids safety. I use to say the only thing we had to worry about was the critters but my kids were safer around the various wildlife than around human beings. At least with the wildlife you had a chance, but there are so many sick people in the world death is not the worst thing imaginable.
When we first moved to the cabin I bought a book on wildlife. One which showed what kind of footprints each animal left, their habits and what one really needed to be afraid of. Most wildlife is just as afraid or curious about us as we are towards them. It told of ways to keep certain animals from getting too close, what not to do, such as make sure you don't have garbage or any kind of food close to the house as Bears will come sniffin around. Helpful things like this.
One of the concerns I had was of snakes, not regular snakes, but rattlesnakes. There were a lot of wood piles and tall grass around the property as well as Gooseberry bushes. I had never even heard of gooseberries until we moved there. If you have never seen them they grow on bushes with long and sharp thorns. Even the berries themselves have thorns on their outer skin. You have to peal the outer peeling to get to the berry itself. They're actually quite good, but as far as I was concerned way to much work. Anyway, rattlesnakes like these bushes especially when they are shedding their skin. Boys being boys, of course they wanted to catch things like snakes. Jason and Matthew we old enough to know what they could and couldn't touch snake wise, but Christopher was only three and had no fear of anything.
One morning all three boys were out playing in the meadow by a big tree stump. We could see them from the front steps. They were a few yards from us. All the sudden Jason started screaming, Christopher was crying. I went running out and all I heard was Jason say something about a snake. My heart sank, my biggest fear had come true. Jason had Chris in his arms when I reached him. I looked down and Chris' right hand was laid wide open. All I could think was "what kind of snake could do this?" Jason was hysterical. They had caught a water snake at the creek and decided to kill it. Jason had an old axe and had laid the snake across the stump. Just as he was bringing down the axe Chris decided to save the snake. He put his hand out to retrieve the snake and the axe hit right in the middle of Chris' hand.
My first instinct was to start praying for the bleeding to stop and the Lord to take away the pain.
We got all the kids in the car and headed up the hill to the hospital, which was more than 20 miles away. I felt as bad for Jason as Chris. Accidents happen and kids get hurt but I know Jason was hurting as much as Chris was only in a different way. I just kept praying!
Before we even got up the hill Chris was no longer crying, he was quietly sobbing as he asked if we could stop and get him a ButterFinger candy bar on the way to the doctor. His dad and I just stared at him amazed. I explained to him we did not have time to stop, we needed to get him to a doctor.
When we arrived at the hospital and they took him to the emergency room the doctor said it was a miracle he still had his hand in tack. He was also amazed there didn't appear to be any nerve damage considering the depth of the cut and it's location. I don't even remember now how many stitches he had that day. He still has a very visible scare across his hand.
The Lord was definitely watching over the kids. One - the axe was old and dull had it not been Chris would in all probability, be missing part of his right hand. Two - with that kind of cut there should have been A LOT more bleeding than there was and lastly, the child should have been in more pain than he was, yet was thinking only wanting to get a candy bar! (Kids)
I know the Lord answered my prayer that day. I know he kept Chris from losing his hand, stopped the bleeding as well as the pain and prevented him from having any nerve damage. There have been so many instances in which the Lord protected us when we lived in the mountains, I will share more next time.